November 11, 2008
The Final Perspective
Vol. 3 Issue 21
As readers of my Op-Ed Articles, you know
that they are always filled with original
content. As the Author and Editor of Bring
Back My America, on occasion an article will
come along that is so powerful that to not
share it with my readers would be an
injustice. That is why I have chosen to
share with you an article piece written by a
friend from San Francisco. Sally Zelikovsky
is an attorney who was transplanted from
New York to the West Coast by way of Russia.
Her words have inspired me; so with her
permission I have decided to share them with
you.
"I want to extend my heartfelt
congratulations to America on a truly
historic election.
Having endured what some believe were
eight excruciating years of poverty and
devastation, I know that
those of you who voted for Obama must all be
relieved.
I have also endured the last eight-years,
but my experience is notably different from
yours. I believe in
looking ahead to the future, we must look to
the past for lessons learned and take
responsibility that
those lessons won’t be repeated.
From the minute George Bush was elected,
the Democrats began their next campaign--and
it was a
brilliant one--to tarnish the Republican
brand. With the exception of a short blip
during 9-11, when
politicians and their constituents had no
choice but to put politics aside, Bush met
with nightly assaults
in the media on everything he said and did.
First, there were the periodicals and the
networks; then, the
nightly talk and comedy shows; then books
and movies; and finally, supposed parodies
like "L’il Bush."
It was an endless onslaught defaming the
brand and, it is true, you know, if you say
it enough, they will
believe it.
Most of us have endured your parties with
your relentless scathing and often
unsubstantiated claims
about Bush and his policies, his lies and
distortions, his nefarious character and
Machiavellian desires;
the constant barrage of ridicule of all
things Bush and all things conservative; the
distortion and
manipulation of incidences…all to prop up
your own brand, whether wittingly or
unwittingly. I say
"unwittingly" because many of you fail to
recognize the role you played in this daily
onslaught against the
President, in particular, and the havoc it
wreaked on this country, in general.
Many times I tried to engage you in
conversation, as many of my like-minded
friends have done, only to
be met with scorn, ridicule, all too often
ignorance and almost always the brush off.
People talk a good
game about robust debate, but they have
shown they do not live up to it.
I am not trying to anger you; quite the
contrary. I want you to remember "your"
behavior over the last
eight-years and contrast it with "mine."
First, notice the congratulatory nature of
the right regarding this
victory; the authentic well wishing, despite
the disappointment; the articulated support
for all things
Obama in the hopes that this man will think
about his children’s future and hence will
benefit the future for
all of our children. While you observe that,
recall how the right was treated by the left
from the moment
(back to my opening salvo) Bush took office.
He, we, never stood a chance. He was the
original
candidate outside of the beltway seeking to
reach across the aisle and nearly all of his
gestures were
rebuffed, only to be met with a revision of
events that could only occur with the
complicity of the media.
Second, as Obama transitions into the
White House, recall again, the way the Bush
team’s truncated
transition was handled: from offices left in
shambles, to the very juvenile prank of "W"
keys missing on
all the computers, to White House staff
members, CIA and State Dept. employees
vowing to undermine
Bush and his administration at every
opportunity. Contrast that with Bush’s
statements and guarantees of
a smooth transition; his establishment of a
Transition Council to aid the Obama
administration. And let’s
not forget that in Bush’s attempt to govern
moderately, he displayed boundless good will
by leaving in
powerful positions, much to his detriment as
hindsight has shown, countless holdovers
from Democrat
Administrations, all done with the mistaken
belief that good people would put partisan
politics aside
when it came to the defense of this country
and doing what was best for it. Again, scan
the annals of
your memory and recall the Bush transition
in the wake of Clinton and contrast that
with what you are
witnessing today.
But most of all, I am most proud of my
conservative friends and family who never
gloated when Bush
was elected (twice) and aren’t spewing
vitriolic hatred for someone they didn’t
vote for, like you all did. I
recall many comments but maybe this one will
jar your memory: "He’s not my President." I
may not agree
with Obama on much, but, like it or not, he
is my President.
And, in the course of this, you closed
your minds and mouths to discussion, open
and robust. You had
a complicit media, feeding you only the
information it wanted you to have and that
you wanted to hear. I
would like to think, as opposed as I am to
everything Obama stands for; I will at least
expose myself to
the other side. Well, I know I will because
I always have and frankly, you cannot live
in America without
being exposed to the mainstream media.
However, it saddens me that the electorate
is not exposed to a
balanced media unless individuals
proactively seek it, something I’ve notice
few of you do. Moreover,
when some of you do take a glimpse into the
alternative press, you often start asking
questions and
reading and pondering and you begin to see
what we all see so clearly. I am always in
awe of those who
do; for it takes great courage to break out
of one’s somnambulism. Now you seek to shut
that down with
the Fairness Doctrine. What are you afraid
of?
Our family comes from a repressive
socialist regime. When children are
inundated with carefully
constructed programs of information at
school, when their ability to speak freely
is stifled, when they are
given a psychological evaluation by a school
because they dared to share conservative
viewpoints,
when the electorate is so ignorant they
cannot explain the difference between
socialism and democracy,
when freedom to associate and speak and
publish are first mocked and then stifled
with the threat of
legislation, when hard work and success are
rewarded with punitive tax measures and
wealth is randomly
redistributed instead of being steered
towards investment, then we are in trouble.
It’s a delicate balance,
a democracy. It does not take much, when the
winds are blowing in the same direction, to
knock it off its
balance and tip it towards a place we do not
really want to go. Today, all of the winds
are blowing to the
left and, while that isn’t in and of itself
necessarily grim, the power to tip society
one way or the other
now lies in the hands of a Democrat
President, Democrat Congress and Democrat
leaning Supreme
Court. I ask nothing more of my Democrat
friends and family to temper your enthusiasm
with caution,
your call for change with reason.
I do hope our fears about Obama and the
power the Democrats have is unfounded. I do
hope he brings
continued prosperity and security to this
nation (and I say continued because now that
you have
prevailed and the gloves are off, I think we
can dispense with the charade about how bad
off we all have
been for the last eight-years; you did spin
it brilliantly to make for a successful
campaign). In addition, I
do hope all of you exercise this power
responsibly. More than anything, I hope you
remember to give
credit to the right for its collective
behavior during this transition and I ask
for some intellectual honesty
and historic accuracy when I beseech you to
take responsibility for the lack of peace
during the last
transition and the downright divisiveness,
even nastiness, throughout the last
eight-years.
Be very skeptical of a society with a
biased or controlled media. Take the time to
talk with a few
refusniks to refresh your memories about the
powerful impact a controlled media has on
its population
and its politics. I doubt very much that
there will be a movie about Obama called
"Hussein" or that there
will be a ridiculous show called "L’il
Obama." Watch carefully on your TV screens
for the onslaught of
Obama jokes and reporters who ooze nothing
but disdain and loathing for him before he
even takes
office. In addition, don’t forget to check
The New Yorker to see if his caricature
morphs into a big eared,
tiny monkey-like figure like the one Bush’s
has. I doubt it."
I would like to add one last thought; let us
pray you don't find yourself awakening one
morning with
buyer’s remorse.
And, that is my opinion.
Michael Solomon
If you want to
help restore sanity to America, join the
Flag Day campaign.
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