One of the blessings (caution: sarcasm) of living in the era of Obama is that the mainstream media come out of the socialist closet and blatantly lie. Political gains have a way of emboldening leftists, and they begin to actually show their contempt for Americans.
A key plank in the leftist media propaganda program is the contention that our country’s younger generations are sweepingly liberal, as well. Among other things, such a declaration has a tendency to demoralize conservatives.
Guess what? Since we know leftists lie, it’s fairly easy to see that the “younger generations are sliding toward our view” is also a lie. At least in large measure.
That’s what makes a new book, “Proud to Be Right: Voices of the Conservative Generation,” such a compelling read. Edited by Jonah Goldberg, this is a collection of thought from some our country’s best and brightest.
Goldberg, editor at large for National Review Online, as well as a guest columnist for USA Today and the Los Angeles Times, is barely past 40, so perhaps we can respect the fact that he serves as editor of “Proud to Be Right.”
From the first page, the reader can see that this list of contributors is a brainy lot, as Goldberg himself – in the introduction – pens a provocative and witty line: “Did you ever wonder why the best comedians are blacks, Canadians and Jews?”
No, I haven’t, but the point is well-taken. Goldberg answers his own question by stating that blacks, Jews and Canadians are both insiders and outsiders in our culture, and can therefore observe certain truths about people. And Goldberg, who’s spent quite a bit of time on college campuses, compares these comic groups with conservatives and liberals.
He contends that comedians are sharp enough to both observe what’s really going on and articulate in telling the rest of us.
Likewise, Goldberg says: “The best conservatives are, on average, simply sharper than the best liberals.”
He adds that conservative kids are “better at explaining and articulating their ideas, better at weighing their feelings against the facts, better at sticking to their principles despite pressure from both their peers and their professors.”
The 22 contributors to “Proud to Be Right” are blessed with a heavy dose of what one could call Goldberg’s criteria for smarts. It’s difficult to pick even the three best essays, simply because they are all so compelling. And the book’s brevity is also an asset, since the essays can be read and digested quickly. Which is why it will no doubt prove to be a classic on college campuses, especially among its constituency.
Michael Brendan Dougherty, a contributing editor for the American Conservative, in his essay “Splendid Isolation,” displays not only a sharp wit, but also a renegade spirit that is a hallmark of conservatism.
Writing that he emerged from group-think regarding American intervention in foreign affairs, Dougherty proves that he isn’t afraid to stand for his values, even within his own community. He argues that isolationism is not the ideological equivalent of a skin disease, but rather a conviction that has much merit:
“The I-word is normally a pejorative, but I happily embrace it,” Dougherty writes. “The policy of isolation is simply this: America should avoid the quarrels of foreign nations.”
Dougherty introduces his thoughts on the subject by referring to Madeleine Albright’s fairly famous thuggish question to Colin Powell: “What’s the point of having this superb military you’re always talking about if we can’t use it?”
Dougherty then goes on to set the matter on reasonable footing with the following witty line: “Albright made it sound like American armed force constituted some kind of tricked-out lawn mower, and she was anxious to ride it across Serbia.”
(A warning for conservative Christians: the language in some of these essays can be salty. Just saying.)
As stated earlier, each of the essays is quite good, and although some would say that it’s sexist to say so, the female contributors to “Proud to Be Right” are equally superb.
Ashley Thorne, with the National Association of Scholars, reveals her own journey toward conservatism in the humorously titled “Ducking the Coffins: How I Became an Edu-Con.”
Thorne relates that on her week in New York City, while attending a small Christian college, she didn’t get a job at a clothing store. One of the interviewer’s questions centered on whether Thorne actually liked George W. Bush or not. The reader will understand that the correct answer would have been, “No, I don’t,” if the goal was to secure a job.
The young Texas girl had received her first education among the liberal elite, and she said that when she tried to traverse the city’s streets during the Republican National Convention of 2004, she had to navigate through gay-rights activists and folks carrying coffins!
Her progression toward a more robust conservatism can be summed up in this statement: “Today I identify with the principles of the intellectually conservative movement for which I work. I believe that higher education colors the contact lenses through which we see the world. It can either bestow our civilization’s legacy or prompt us to reject that legacy.”
Reading her brilliant essay, and those of the other contributors, gives one a sense that the people of this book, “Proud to Be Right,” are among the best and brightest in our country, as we look to the future.
In this reality, we are blessed.
