I'm thinking of submitting this to the JHU Newsletter. It's not due til Tuesday, so your feedback is appreciated so that I can improve.
I realize that it's no different than most of the stuff already posted on DKos, but not everyone at my school visits this site, and I admit I used DKos as a source for much of the info.
Many thanks!!!
I’m frightened. Not, ‘the world is a scary place’ frightened. Not, ‘times are a’changin’ frightened. No, I’m legitimately frightened for my life. I can’t sleep at night, I have no appetite, and I’m scared to leave my apartment. Why? ACORN. Homosexuals, too. And fascism, socialism, Marxism, and Islam, all rolled into one really scary black man. I’m scared that they want to take my guns and my savings and hand them out to poor people and Muslim countries. I’m scared that they’re going to take my Bible and my values and throw them into the flames. I’m scared that they’re going to indoctrinate my children with materialism, atheism, evolution, and absurd amounts of political correctness. Who are they?
Liberals. And they’re coming to get you, too.
Don’t believe me? Ask Glenn Beck. Ask Newt Gingrich. Ask Rush Limbaugh or Michele Bachmann. Or better yet, ask Richard Poplawski. Two weeks ago he shot three police officers in the face in Pittsburgh, PA. Having coaxed the officers to his house with a domestic disturbance call, he loaded up his AK-47 and answered the front door with a message: you’re not taking my guns. A friend of his said that Poplawski, an avid fan of Fox News, feared "the Obama gun ban that’s on the way" and "didn’t like our rights being infringed upon." The best part? There is no gun ban on the way.
But the assault on your freedoms doesn’t end there. Liberals aren’t just coming for your guns, they want your values as well. Ask the National Organization for Marriage. They recently ran a minute long ad depicting ‘real’ people expressing their fear of the upcoming moral crisis. A crisis so devastating that it could only be caused by one thing: gay marriage. Featuring men and women expressing such persecution as, "I’m a California doctor who must choose between my faith and my job," the ad shows clips of actors talking about how their rights are being infringed upon because homosexuals can now marry in four states. Let me clarify this: four out of fifty states now allow homosexuals marriage-associated tax benefits and health care benefits, and conservatives are up in arms because their poor, poor children must be taught that God loves all his creations – not just the straight ones. Watch out Louisiana, the gays are marryin’ again.
Are you frightened yet? If not, then maybe you should tune into the ring-leader of the paranoia-fest: Fox News – more specifically, Glenn Beck. Stating that the only way to save our country is to "drive a stake through the heart of the bloodsuckers" (I wish I were making this up), Glenn Beck has launched the most aggressive fear campaign since – dare I say – the 2008 Republican presidential bid. He recently aired his ‘9/12’ project in which he cried on television about how he "loves [his] country and he fears for it." "It seems like the voices of our leaders and special interests and the media, they're surrounding us," he admitted on Fox News. He then aired an actor dressed as Thomas Paine (this poor soul must be rolling in his grave) to incite populist rage like that "not seen in recent history like December 7th, 1941." Mr. Not-Paine informed the American people that it was their duty to rise up and take back control of their government. "Your democracy has deteriorated to government of the government, by the government, and for the government," he told the fearful viewers.
Enough is enough. Conservatism still exists in this country because of one thing: paranoia – sheer insuppressible fear that the world (meaning: democratically elected government) is out to get you. Glenn Beck just compared the 2008 election to the attack on Pearl Harbor. The National Marriage Association wants you to believe that homosexuals are going to convert your children to gayness. Michele Malkin is convinced that ACORN is an anti-American organization planning to violently disrupt conservative Tea Parties. Newt Gingrich told the people that Obama appointed a gay rights activist to the council on faith-based initiatives to help his "anti-religious...war on churches". The liberals want your life, your liberties, and your pursuit of happiness. And you’re never getting them back.
When will the Republicans learn? Since 2004 they’ve been labeling Democrats as ‘anti-American’ and ‘terrorists’. It is now 2009, and still blind to the fact that their fear mongering lost them the presidential election, the Republican Party insists on stirring up populist rage. When they aren’t lying to the people about the imminent gun ban, they’re inciting anger about homosexual rights. When they aren’t labeling our democratically elected leaders as ‘fascists’ and ‘totalitarians’, they’re warning Americans about the dangers of secularism and progressivism. The American people are sick and tired of this paranoia propaganda.
Our economy is in shambles. Republicans need to face the issue at hand. Instead of voting ‘no’ to every bill placed on their desk, they need to embrace the will of the people. Conservatism lost this election because its McCarthy-esque politics are worthless, and while the American people have made their political choice plenty clear, Republican pundits and journalists continue to scream ‘persecution’ at every turn. There is no doubt in my mind that if our government’s plans to fix the economy fail, the blame will lie on the immaturity and idiocy of the Republican Party. And frankly, I’m frightened.