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Everyone is doing their Year-End round ups,
think pieces, retrospectives, and so on. Here is mine.
Back in 2009, I signed on to the Tea Party
because I agreed with its 3 core values: [1] Fiscal Responsibility (don’t spend more than
you have); [2] Constitutionally Limited Government (big government is not
the solution; keep the accountability as close to your backyard as possible);
and [3] Free Markets (as
little regulation as is possible)
But for me, there is another motivator. And I go back to President Trump’s historic address in Warsaw, in which he talked about America’s role in global society: one of things he said was “we write symphonies.” Some of the media had no idea what he was talking about, but his comment struck me right where I live.
The great divide in America is now a crisis: it's about the
magnificent culture of Western Civilization versus a nihilistic movement to
destroy that Western Civilization. We (today’s generations) can’t claim any
credit for its development, but Rome and Greece are not at the forefront today,
Europe is collapsing, and America is the de facto or default
flagship and guardian of Western Civilization. Or at least it was.
But how long can America lead the Free World
if our citizens do not acquire the skills of critical thinking and logic; learn
our language and history; and embrace the American culture? The collectivist
left has infiltrated, quite successfully, our major cultural institutions:
academia, Hollywood, and the media. And it is weakening our once robust can-do
culture. It may even be that in 50 years’ time, classical music will be
performed only in the Far East, not in Europe or the United States. I am
thinking here of Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Gershwin, etc. and dwindling support for the
orchestras.
I spent many years in the trenches employed
by various performing and cultural arts organizations, and most of my erstwhile
colleagues would be in the “left’ to “hard left” categories. I identify as a
fiscal conservative. Not as a Republican, but as a fiscal conservative. Until I
stood up and signed up for the Tea Party, I thought I was in some sort of
socio-political Siberia. That changed with the emergence of the Tea Party.
All this ties into my thoughts about the cultural collapse of America, the disintegration of behavioral self-restraint, and why I am grateful beyond words that our President is Donald J. Trump. He treasures a culture that writes symphonies, and he wants to ensure that future generations inherit that culture.
When
you have a media that calls FLOTUS Melania’s
Christmas decorations at the White House a “nightmare”
that would scare little children, despite the grade-schoolers
flocking to her for hugs, there is, I would say, something seriously wrong
with that media and those who agree with their “narrative.” I am one of many
observers who think we are witnessing some form of mass hysteria. When Morning
Joe warns his viewers that Trump is "mentally unstable," Joe
is exhibiting the phenomenon of projection: Accuse those with whom you disagree
with what you yourself are doing.
What has all this to do with my cultural
concerns? In the past several years, I’ve been involved in some projects that
aim to preserve our cultural assets -- much
as the early
Catholic monks did. They labored in many ways, and some of them sat
there in seclusion, attempting to preserve the artistic, intellectual, and
literary accomplishments of their cultural heritage (not to say literacy
itself), out of fear that the barbarians at the gate would destroy the
flowering civilization.
Archival projects today tear off a page from those monks. Maybe the Golden Age of Musical Theater (think Rodgers and Hammerstein) is not your thing, but The Musical Theater Project here in Cleveland is dedicated to such preservation. Maybe your thing is the visual arts. Cleveland has a world-class Museum of Art that offers free admission. Maybe your thing is classical music. The Cleveland Orchestra excels in performing and preserving that repertory. Maybe you’ve heard them for free at Public Square on the Fourth of July. My work over the last 20 years involved research on Shakespeare and his biography. I am so lucky that we live in close proximity to the Cleveland Public Library – it is another cultural treasure trove.
The point is: How long will these world-class institutions
survive, whether in Cleveland or anywhere else in the United States? Where are
their future audiences and readers? Many schools no longer require that
students read any Shakespeare or Charles Dickens. Mark Twain’s
masterpiece Huckleberry
Finn is banned in many schools. I weep.
I was in a conversation about some of this
recently with a friend and colleague who leans liberal, but we found ourselves
on common ground when it came to our cultural history and traditions. I
expressed some of my concerns, and he mentioned the monks. I took his point and
mentioned them above. It is frightening to even have to think that we need those monks now.
So-called "Safe Spaces" are
increasing, especially on campuses. The "Snowflake" population continues to insulate itself and reject critical thinking in favor
of emotional self-gratification. Identity Politics are everywhere, and as
groups like BLM and Antifa turn to violence, our cultural heritage is being destroyed. Attacked.
Erased. Our historical monuments -- representing our very history -- are being destroyed. Literally.
Look at what’s happening to the legacies
of George
Washington; Christopher
Columbus; and Robert
E. Lee. We expect that sort of historical erasure from ISIS
– destroying Palmyra’s sacred antiquities. But we do not expect it in the
United States. Except that it is happening NOW before our very eyes. Even
our language
is being corrupted.
So I continue with my little contribution to
the Cleveland Tea Party. Most of what I blog on is related to the three Tea
Party core values, often to post Action Alerts for legislative initiatives at
the local, state, and federal level that affect those three core values. But
for me, it also impacts the heritage that has been entrusted to us, and I speak
as a senior citizen who is so grateful to our forebears for our cultural
inheritance.
I stand for our National Anthem. I recite the Pledge of Allegiance to our flag. And I blog for the Cleveland Tea Party (deferring always to Ralph King, who is my mentor on whatever is going on in the political world). For me, being a Cleveland Tea Party blogger is also about a devout reverence for our Judeo-Christian traditions and values; a profound gratitude for our freedoms; and a sense of responsibility to preserve and pass on to future generations our cultural endowment, history, and yes, symphonies.
MERRY
CHRISTMAS!!!!
