Appearances can be deceptive. In this age of open disclosure and the Internet, one would think we have access to all knowledge, but we don’t. We are still at the mercy of those in charge of providing any given piece of information. Unless we are satisfied with the lop-sided information being spoon-fed to us by those having an agenda, it is up to us to do our own digging for the truth.
Odds are you haven’t heard much about the results from the portion of the Oct. 5 Gallup Poll that asked young people from the age of 18 to 34 the objective question: “Some people think the government should promote traditional values in our society. Others think the government should not favor any particular set of values. Which comes closer to your own view?”
With media hype surrounding the “Occupy” protests suggesting America is on the throes of revolution, and this purported revolution is being executed by young Americans speaking for the majority of their age group, you’d be surprised to find that 53 percent of the young people participating in the Gallup poll said they believed government should promote traditional values.
Most intriguing is that Gallup found what appears to be a sure and steady climb toward traditional values over the past three years by the same age group that had overwhelmingly embraced the antithesis of traditional values when they backed Barack Obama’s hope and change campaign. Prior to the election, in September 2008, just 38 percent thought the government should promote traditional values. In 2009, the numbers rose to 41 percent, 47 percent in 2010, and climbed to 53 percent this year.
I’m not a statistician or a pollster, but I do know if one takes this poll seriously, it seems the word “revelation” rather than “revolution” better describes what’s going on in the minds of tomorrow’s leaders who have witnessed firsthand what happens when an ideologue takes over the Oval Office.
The evolution of the grassroots tea party movement taught us that disciplined anger expressed by way of peaceful protest or sensible debate is both healthy and productive. Given the current state of the economy, no one can blame young people without jobs for being angry.
Problem is, their anger is misdirected.
Young Americans should also be angry that they were lied to about green energy being the industry of the future and then watched more than a half-billion dollars to fund it disappear overnight. They should be outraged that the president they adore saddled them with more debt than could be paid off in a lifetime. They should be livid they were promised a strengthening of America’s economic standing in the world that instead made it the laughingstock.
Young Americans should be infuriated at the one who promised to transform the way Washington worked but instead became its biggest offender. They should be incensed that a Constitutional lawyer promising to work for the common man provided the environment for the common man to lose his ability to work. They should be irate that a Chicago community organizer who promised to bridge the gap between the left and right has only served to agitate either side, thus creating what now seems like an insurmountable divide.
C.S. Lewis once wrote: “What you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing; it also depends on what sort of person you are.” Digging for truth takes much effort, but from where I’m standing, it makes a lot of sense for young Americans to take GOP presidential-hopeful Herman Cain’s recent advice and move their protests to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
• Susan Stamper Brown is a motivational speaker and military advocate and can be reached at www.susanstamperbrown.com
Leon Ceniceros posted at 9:21 am on Tue, Oct 11, 2011.
Dear Ms Brown,
Thank you for the great article. Obviously you are not a graduate of the ASU-Cronkite School of Journalism. You can still find love and reverence for what America stands for and not spew the Liberal...."What Wrong With America" ...rhetoric that is so prevalent to today's young Columnists (or should I say..."Fifth Columnists"). Keep up your great work in motivating America's youth. So many Columnists seem to have forgotten that they are Americans at all. They look at the "Global World". They want us to become another "Greece" with only the wealthy paying taxes and the local, state and Federal Government worker base bloated by sky-high wages, benefits and pensions. When the "well runs dry"...they riot and strike...just like the "Occupy Wall Street" anarchist mobs we are seeing in many of the Democrat run cities here in America.
If someone is smarter than us = do we strip them of their grades ???
If someone is better looking than us = do we make them less handsome or beautiful ???
If some one has a nicer house than us = do we make them move to the ghetto ???
If some one drives a nicer car than us = do we force them to sell it and buy a clunker ???
Then why should someone who is making more money than us = be forced to pay a "surcharge" on "X" amount of wages or income ???
Folks, that didn't work in Red China, it didn't work in Stalinist Russia, it isn't working in Communist Cuba or Venenzuela.....then why in the heck would President Obama and the Democrats think that ......taking money from wealthy people and giving it to poor people is going to work here in America.
We are a Capitalist Society...not a Socialist Society.....maybe President Obama, the Democrats in Congress and the "Occupy Wall Street" mob should read the...Constitution of the United States..........instead of ...Mao Tse Dong's..."Little Red Book".
Rich posted at 11:06 pm on Tue, Oct 11, 2011.
I'd really like to know what "traditional values" are. If they are the, 'Don't Tread on Me" values that made the American Revolution, they haven't been around or respected since the 1930s. If they are the Libertarian values that forced people west of the Mississippi, they died in the early 1900s. Religiously are they the Deism of our founders, the Calvinism of the majority in the early years, the "secular city" of modern days, or maybe a religion founded here like Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons or Christian Scientists. The problem with polls is that ambiguous questions get ambiguous answers.
Ring of Gyges posted at 10:47 am on Wed, Oct 12, 2011.
Traditional values=Liberty, justice, equality, fairness, and tolerance, and the pursuit of happiness. All of these are classical liberal values held by Thomas Jefferson, John Locke, Adam Smith, John Keynes, Milton Friedman, FDR, and Reagan etc. We all know what these values are, Ms. Brown. They are not exclusive to only certain groups of people.
RationalHuman posted at 2:27 pm on Thu, Oct 13, 2011.
Hey Gyges.
Care to wager a bet that Ms. Brown's definition of "traditional values" is not even similar to the values you listed?
I'll start with 5 dollars. ;)
Ring of Gyges posted at 10:34 pm on Thu, Oct 13, 2011.
What values she talking about then? I hope she is not talking about the traditional values of apartheid, slavery, property requirements for suffrage, not letting women vote, or the other values the Founding Fathers blessed us with. I like my list better.
davidflucier posted at 8:54 pm on Fri, Oct 14, 2011.
While I find that I am strangely drawn to Ms Brown's blog, I also find that I know what it is she is going to yammer on about in ...about 10 seconds , which is exactly how much time it takes for me to blow through her rants since her conclusions, which are always far fetched, are based upon the same right wing, fundamentalist tripe she has always been spewing...the same sophomoric drivel she's been espousing since...well, since she was a sophomore in high school.