In my travels through countless small towns and big cities, I got the chance to view the America that most people only read about (or see on their television). Having breakfast in a small town diner as the sun came up, and listening to gatherings of the “greater generation” gave me an idea of what they knew, what they told their cronies that needed to know, and what was being pushed as “gospel truth” to them by whatever media was of the most influence.
This view that I got reminded me of days of old, when those who got important news would stand on soapboxes and “cry” it out to those who could not read it for themselves (hence the term, “Town Crier”). I refer to this as the theory of the village soapboxes.
Imagine an old village where you have the populace being informed by “men of importance,” strategically located around the area, so that the majority of the people get informed. Now consider this scenario: of the 10 “criers,” 9 of them are paid to misinform and steer the people around them in a direction preferred by those holding the most gold coins in their purses. What do you suppose is going to happen to that town, and worse yet, what becomes of those good folk who are ganged up on for thinking opposing views to what the 9/10ths of that village have learned?
I know for a fact that there are countless numbers of residents surrounding me who are fed one-party information by way of aerial antenna reception to their televisions, which was designed to be dispersed to the majority, thus causing those who know the truth to be scorned and ridiculed.
One example, as I see it, is of the 100 percent of the populace in this country, there is a good 40 percent who know that the last presidential election was coerced and highly corrupted. I’ll say that 30 percent probably watch the liberal-leaning shows on CNN and MSNBC. I would have to say that the 30 percent remaining, who might be called the “rabbit ears” group, get their news (that used to be fairly accurate) from broadcast networks like ABC, CBS and NBC. If those people ONLY KNEW what differences exist between the left-leaning “bias directed” and the conservative “opinion” channels, they would most likely find a way to rectify the situation.
Now, I cannot say that everything on the FOX stations is “Gospel truth.” In my OPINION, it is closer to the truth than what is found on those other alphabet-syndicated networks!
This is where I am trying to make my impact.
This is one of the most important times of national crises that we (the people) have ever faced! This country (and a few others as well) are being squeezed by way of politics, combined with the wars and rumors of wars, the uber-rich corporate giants paying off demonstrators to trash our communities. (We could almost call them “Soft Shell Terrorists.”) If those of us who know the difference between the truth and a bald-faced lie do what we can, as soon as we can (ESPECIALLY IN THE VOTING BOOTHS), there may be some hope for this republic.
Now I will leave you with these parting thoughts: From philosopher John Stuart Mill, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” and from Lord Acton (whoever he was) “All power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” And from one of my favorite presidents, Ronald Reagan, “Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. And those in world history who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.”
We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected and handed on to them to do the same, or one day, we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States, where men were free! I hope that y’all have a good week this week until we do this again!
Steve Goodwin is a recently retired Christian conservative veteran (of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division), who still feels that “duty to country” did not end when the military uniform got hung up. He and his wife Cecelia live on the edge of a beautifully wooded tract of land just south of the bypass, and are involved in not only church activities, but also attend school board meetings and local community action events as well.
