[The Urban Sombrero]

Or maybe a Robert C Byrd and a Malcolm X?

I have a different view. Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan and Jeremiah Wright and their ilk, could go about stirring up trouble all they wanted and still not make a blip on the radar screen. The past eight years however, have seen their influence greatly increase. The one and only reason for that was the Administration in power at the time. When the federal government publicly backs a cause, whether that cause be Occupy Main Street, the Trayvon Martin affair, the Michael Brown affair, Freddie Gray, opposition to business leaders, Wall Street, Banks and the rich, and then tries to tie all that controversy up in a bow and pin it on the chests of Republicans, now we have a real example of culture war.

Identity Politics is culture war, and it has been perfected to an art form true enough. Have you heard the one about the Statue of Liberty being an Arab? I mean, first they were saying Lady Liberty was black, and now they're saying she's an Arab. French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi was her creator, and was said to have modeled the woman’s face after that of his mother.

I saw Identity Politics take over this land. There's a reason Obama always went to a university somewhere to make all of his speeches. The left has done well in indoctrinating our youth, and they should be ashamed of their actions. But not nearly as ashamed as the rest of us who did absolutely nothing to stop it. They didn't write songs like 'America the Beautiful,' because they'd seen streets filled with rabble rousers and anarchists. We were the apple of the world's eye up until the moment the liberal began to gain power. I saw the whole thing go down. News media used to mock the very ones they now adore.

After WW2 ended and prosperity swept this land, everything was going well. The US was a Super Power with a deterrent great enough to hold even a belligerent Russia at bay. Jobs were available, civil rights were affirmed for all, and optimism was the rule. Gradually the media began to change, and Eisenhower was the first notable I know of to recognize the media could have a powerful impact on public opinion, and how they perceive the two Parties. It is said that Eisenhower harbored some measure of concern should the media become politically biased. LOL, ya think?

As of 1976 the media seemed to be still on the straight and narrow, as Carter was scrutinized and reported on in an evenhanded manner. By the days of Reagan the media had become somewhat caustic but still, it was more about tone and appearances than outright negativity or contempt. The Clinton era was a media love fest which survived the impeachment proceedings, even to the point of opening up a clear divide between themselves and their beloved Dems, and the GOP. By the days of George W the media had taken to calling the President a liar and finding fault with nearly every move he made. If Clinton enjoyed a love fest, Obama's tenure was an orgy. And if W had it tough with the media, they are so far treating Trump like public enemy number one. I've seen it go from suggestion, to subversion.

I saw the civil rights unrest, the Viet Nam War protests, the fire hoses turned into instruments of crowd control, and all the rest. Never in all that time prior to 2009, did I see government take a side. Considerations for the common good guided governance, not identity political wrangling. Especially as championed by only one Party.

Sanity has been supplanted by insanity. We have always defended Freedom of Speech here in this land, but where we once recognized subversion, we now think we are bound by the Constitution to embrace it. Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito were fascist, and Stalin was a communist. If they were alive today would you say they should be afforded the privilege of roaming the land to compete in our idea marketplace? I'd hate to think how many NAZI refugees it would take to satisfy today's left that the taxpayer had done their 'fair share' to that end.

Advocacy of violence as a means to social change (Malcolm X until right at the end) sure ain't getting any good word from me. Robert Byrd was a politician: he was skilled at sniffing the scent of change in the wind, and his ultimate loyalty was re-election.

I think the "Hey, Mr. Nielsen, 24/7 news, above all we must have advertisers" corporate media was glimpsed by President Eisenhower, and it deeply concerned him. To me, when the Watters guy on O'Reilly goes out from time-to-time to gage the political and cultural literacy of John and Jane Q Public...it is sobering. Folks like Bob and Hoot and you and me, we can disagree, but we at least have some sense of culture and politics and history. In my mind, the culture war is manifested in trying to silence, intimidate, lampoon any and all views that conflict or oppose. The KKK can have a parade. Skin heads can throw a rally. The new Black Panthers can stage a march. They can throw ideas out there. If they advocate or employ violence, looting, etc., they are subject to the law. An example: Westboro Baptist... they have the right to speak their minds, put their ideas out there; however, in my view, the rights of veteran's families to not have to look at that or hear it on the day of a funeral of their serviceman would make a "no see, no hear" buffer zone between protester and place of funeral acceptable. I enjoyed your analysis.