Today, I will borrow an article style from that legendary economist and commentator of American culture and society, Hoover Institute fellow Dr. Thomas Sowell – particularly his column series he does from time to time on various issues of concern titled, "Random Thoughts." My foray into this genre will be called, "Arbitrary Ideas."
Victory parade for Gen. Douglas MacArthur, New York, April 22, 1951 |
Two pictures of Americana that haunt me to this day: One, the firing of Gen. Douglas MacArthur by the diminutive President Harry Truman; Two, the ubiquitous white/colored water fountains from America's Jim Crow era.
What precipitated the battle between MacArthur and Truman was after defeating Hitler's Germany and Hirohito of Japan, the proactive general wanted to protect America's vulnerable flank., i.e., defeat communist North Korea and China.
Truman said no; Gen. MacArthur said you're a fool. The president won, and the general was forced into early retirement. History has shown that America's "tie" in the Korean War in 1955 vindicated MacArthur's war policy over President Truman.
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Jim Crow drinking fountain (circa 1940s) |
The second picture that haunts me is the segregated water fountains you see in all the history books. The white water fountain is always so clean and inviting. The black one is always dirty and disgusting.
I asked the students in my American Government class this week: Why didn't anyone 50, 75, 100 years ago think to clean to up the "colored" water fountain, to make it shine like the sun?
Why? To show white people that black standards of cleanliness are just as high or better than white ones, but more importantly to demonstrate initiative, industry, pride and the power of the individual to change a racist paradigm.
The segregated water fountains are a sober metaphor dealing with racism. In other words, how much further would black people have gotten in America had they spent less time marching in the streets, "assailing the ears of [white] America" (W.E.B. Dubois' philosophy) and more time studying in the library, holding each other accountable as productive citizens and daily practicing the "fundamentals of civilization" (Booker T. Washington's philosophy)?
I believe the transcendent words of JFK's Inaugural Address of January 1961: "The rights of man come not from the generosity of the State, but out of the mouth of God."
Last weekend, Hollywood came out yet again to present itself with an award – The Emmy Awards, which were the least watched in history. This reminds me of the biblical verse, "If the blind lead the blind they will both fall into the ditch."
How many awards can these infantile adults give each other before someone will stand up and say enough is enough?!
All of the Ivy-League educated advisers to the president, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Wall Street, the secretary of the treasury, the chairman of the SEC, the majority leaders in the Senate and House Finance Services Committee (Sen. Chris Dodd, Rep. Barney Frank) didn't predict nor can they seemingly solve our critical mortgage crisis and Wall Street collapse.
This scenario begs the question: Perhaps we should throw out the Ph.D. economists, the financial experts and investment bankers and get some philosophers and advisers of President Reagan to solve this financial crisis?
How about some truth in advertising? What I mean is, regarding the shrill tone and hatred Democrat women have shown Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, the National Organization of Women should now be called the National Organization of Liberal Women.
Ditto for the NAACP. Remember the summer of 1991 and how disparaging the entire civil rights movement was to Clarence Thomas during his Supreme Court hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee?
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a man whose country is the largest sponsor of worldwide terrorism for 40 years, speaking before the U.N. this week, received more applause, more respect from the media, liberal Democrats, academics, civil rights groups and foreign nationals than Justice Clarence Thomas has received during his 17 years on the Supreme Court … and Justice Thomas has never killed anyone.
Activist judges, revisionist historians, politicians and civil rights groups love to congratulate themselves for outlawing poll taxes and literacy tests as relics of the America's racist past. I am not convinced.
True, most times poll taxes and literacy tests were administered in a racially discriminatory manner, but that could have been remedied by the courts under the due process and equal protection clauses; instead, the courts capitulated, invalidated all poll taxes, literacy tests and many rational ID requirements. The result – now any dead person, illegal alien or imbecile can vote. And we wonder why we keep electing the politicians we deserve.
If you want to know why America cannot decisively win any wars as of late, compare the manner America fought World War II to the politically correct way we are fighting the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
Also compare the wartime leadership of FDR and Ronald Reagan to LBJ, Nixon, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter. Compare the brass-balls military leadership of men like Gens. Douglas MacArthur, Patton, Eisenhower, Marshall and Benjamin O. Davis Jr. to the Ivy-League degree generals like Wesley Clark, Earle Wheeler, David Jones, John Shalikashvili and Michael Mullen.
As Golda Meir courageously led Israel (1969-74) and Lady Margaret Thatcher led England (1979-90), perhaps America needs a heroic woman figure like a Gov. Sarah Palin to show us metrosexual males in the 21st century what a real man is.