Democracy --- A Flickering Star?

by Patrick Buchanan - August 8th, 2008 - Human Events

What calls to mind the popularity of the Third Reich and the awe it inspired abroad --- even after the bloody Roehm purge and the Nazi murder of Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss in 1934, and the anti-Semitic Nuremberg laws --- is a poll buried in The New York Times.

In a survey of 24 countries by Pew Research Center, the nation that emerged as far and away first on earth in the satisfaction of its people was China. No other nation even came close.

"Eighty-six percent of Chinese people surveyed said they were content with the country's direction, up from 48 percent in 2002. ... And 82 percent of Chinese were satisfied with their national economy, up from 52 percent," said the Times.

[snip]

Contrast, if you will, the contentment of Chinese and Russians with the dissatisfaction of Americans, only 23 percent of whom told the Pew poll they approved of the nation's direction. Only one in five Americans said they were satisfied with the U.S. economy.

Democrats constantly berate Americans and insist we need to give our wealth to our failures, the poor. In the nation with the greatest personal freedom in the history of the world, anyone who has not succeeded is told it is not their fault. Be resentful. Others owed you success and they did not give it. Therefore you can demand more material wealth from those who worked for it. Who cares what the hard workers feel. Tell them they are scum for succeeding.

Democrats also tell Americans that we have no reason to be proud. Our culture is no better than any other. Glorify the attributes of others and be ashamed of your success. At the same time, Russia and China are telling their people that they are better than America. They say we don't deserve our great success. We are weak and they are strong. Though they are not close to having our level of prosperity, the difference in attitude is clear. Extol national pride and people will tolerate tyranny and autocratic control. Berate the successes in a nation and the nation will be unhappy no matter how free.

Though I do not agree with Patrick Buchanan on much, I do respect his ability to see the insanity of our current political dialog. No one in America is allowed to be proud and compare our nation favorably. Yet we are the greatest nation on earth. A great number of the people who live here though hate us and spew vitriol at their fellow citizens. We are told we must be tolerant of their hate.

It is interesting how little time it took for the greatness of our system to be turned against us.