THE DIRTY PITCHERS: Neo-Con-Artists at the Gate

THE DIRTY PITCHERS: Neo-Con-Artists at the Gate

Is misrepresenting the truth acceptable in the Name of……?

by Larry Pearle

In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world – The Great Society and A Shining City on Top of the Hill.  Those ideas that inspired us because they spoke to the basics of the best of who we were and of who we wanted to be.  The love and reverence of Freedom that was our collective soul stood as the underlying principle that governed our behavior.  And it was what the world stood in awe of and wanted to be like.  It was truly a great time in America.

Fast forward to the present day and we no longer hear visions of greatness from our leaders.  No, now all we get from our politicians is promises that they will protect us from our nightmares like parents who pat our foreheads and tell us “Do not worry, Mom and Dad are here to protect you from the evil ghost”. 

1. But are these nightmares real and do they really threaten our social fabric?
2. Is the threat of terrorism a real threat to our society?

With our U.S Military on the line, lives at stake, and our country at risk, I wanted to find out.

So, I looked at both Neo-Cons, that group of like minded conservatives who are now in the halls of power and who believe that democratic liberalism is the main threat to our society and, ironically, the Islamic Fundis, who actually feel the very same about their society.  Weird huh?

These ideologies were born out of the failure of the liberal dream to build a better world.  These two groups have changed the world. Together they created today’s nightmare vision of an organized terror network that has us all in a world of fear. A myth that politicians then found restored their power and authority in a disillusioned age.  Where now, Freedom and Liberty are gladly surrendered in the name of security by a populace gone hysterical while our Constitution and Bill of Rights resemble used toilet paper.

Think about it! 

Since 2000, Americans have a .00003% chance of dying in a terrorist attack.  That is a about the same probability that we would die by shark attack.   That does NOT diminsh the tradegies of 9/11 but only highlights, that with 275 million americans, the reality is that virtually none of us will directly die in a terrorist attack.  So the questions is:

• Should we be making policy, changing our laws, and throwing out our Bill of Rights for such a probability? 

Yes, I know terrorism is a dramatic event just like an airplane crash, but the fact remains, it is an unlikely event. In fact, if you shut off your TV, you would know that it was not something to be afraid of.

Look, starting in the early 50’s with the radical conservative ideas of Sayid Qotb in Eqypt and Leo Strauss in the USA, both of these movements began just the properous materialism of the Eisenhower generation made its move forward.

Ultimately, these two obscure and forgotten men seeded the forces that would inspire the attacks of 9/11 and influence the neo-conservative movement that dominates Washington today.  Both these men believed that modern democratic liberal freedoms were eroding the bonds that held society together.  That  by creating myths for the masses, they could assuage the tide that they believed was decaying their respective societies. 

In America, creating a shared value system based on the Neo-Christian ideology was a perfect match for the NeoCons who needed a thread that would weave society’s fabric into a cohesive shared value system.  And the preachers on the right were more than happy to oblige, turning a mostly obidient group into a political force.

Neo-Cons do not believe that allowing people to be free was good.  They believe that Freedom spawns decadence, self-indulgence, and thus decay. They know what is good for us!  Sound familar?

Look, it did not and does not matter if they believe in Christianity.  It only matters that the masses follow so that common shared compliant values would rule. That would keep society stictched up and thus allow them to move forward on the international stage with the new manifest destiny to further their power and New World Order.  To get support, they created the “good vs evil” mantra so that the public can “understand”.

Clearly, the two movements these forgotten men inspired set out, in their different ways, to rescue their societies from what they believed was this decay.  In turn, they stopped selling a great idea and turned to selling fear just as the great fascists have done before them.  And I believe, in the end, the lies will be their demise. Why?  Because we Americans do follow, that’s true.  However, eventually, we will collectively reject because, inherently, Americans are good people.  They want good.  I don’t subscribe to the Neo-Con mantras that the masses are “Vulgar Idiots”.  The contempt for us “masses” has been tolerated because we believe that our leaders do good.  But lie and lie – WMD’s and now saying that Iraq exported terror against us when the WMD thing didn’t fly is getting boring.  And what’s this thing with not finding Osama bin Laden.  I am starting to think that we don’t want to find him because that would, for intents and purposes, end the terror war.  Maybe we want him alive?  That keeps the lies going!

Hey, nobody lasts forever and I don’t believe the Neo-Cons will rule our world for much longer. It just won’t last…..people will eventually wake up from what Leo Strauss calls the “vulgar existence” and call him and his disciples what they are, which is “Vulgar Contemptous Fascists” who should be locked up for sending on men and women to war on lies – for effectively launching an unprovoked war against another country who was NOT threatening us.

1. So who are the Neo-Cons and the Islamists and do they ironically share the same set of values? 
2. And where will all this chaos end up?
3. In the end, do we Americans want to live in a society whereby the underlying principles of which we live are based up lies perpetrated on us by a group of thugs who do not extend us the dignity of leading by truth?
4. Is it acceptable to to lie to us in the name of what our leaders believe is our national welfare? 

Some say it’s so – that lying to the people as long as it helps our nation is right!  I don’t believe in that mantra.  For in my day, I was taught that professional selling required genuine leadership.  It was a principle!  To provide the clients with value that benefited them based on a product and/or service that was good, was right!  It made cents!  If our product and/or service was below average, we Americans were taught to make it better so that it did what we said it did.

We were also taught that misrepresenting one’s product to a client was called Dirty Pitching and not only was it illegal, it was morally wrong and not only hurt our client, but worse, it would hurt us at a level that would undermine who we were and what we stood for. And this, would ultimately be our downfall. 

Do we still believe in these values?  Personally, I do! 

And thus, I conclude that the true decay of America is when we, the people, allow the DIRTY PITCHERS to continue to abuse our intellect and our dignity.  Contempt for us and our traditions of democracy and freedom will not last.  We can and will do better than that and someday we will return our country to world prominence as a true world leader for good.  But for now, in 2005, We are a Dirty Filthy City on the Hill and our men and women  are in harms way because of it.   Thanks for nothin’ Leo!  Reaction?

Larry Pearle can be reached at [email protected]