JUDGMENT - The Missing Moral Principle

Who is the Ragnar Danneskjold* of our time? Who is calling the destroyers of value to account?

We live in a time of a giant sucking sound. The WEST is flushing itself down the toilet.

Why? It cannot pronounce moral judgment. When I say "it," I mean that the culture is in such a weakened state that a strong pronouncement of moral judgment to true matters up would be shouted down as unseemly. Given this state, the strong pronouncement will have to be yelled through a din of naysayers. Someone will hear it anyway. I promise you, I will hear it if it can be heard.

I dedicate this piece to Bosch Fawstin. He's fearless, especially in his fingering the contradictions and inhumanity of the Muslims, and I love him for that. I really liked his entry into the Twin Towers Goes Global contest. Maybe now they can get why people don't want the Ground Zero Mosque.

Along this line, I've been thinking of all the "brands" that are being diminished because the people who speak for and work to enhance those brands will not pronounce moral judgment against Obama who, highly associated with them, is taking them down with him.

Here's some: Democrats, Harvard, Columbia, Chicago, Illinois, Oprah, Unions, Blacks in general, and the USA. (The only one I care about supporting is the USA. The rest will have to earn my respect one man or institution at a time.)

Wouldn't it be something if a leader from Harvard came forward and said that he now sees, with Obama as its currently most famous product, the enormous cost of Affirmative Action? OR wouldn't if be astounding if a black leader came forward and said that it's time for blacks to stop acting like a "pack" that "goes along to get along" and call Obama to account for all of his violations of human freedom, the most precious of conditions for the people who knew and tell the stories of slavery? Wouldn't it be amazing if a Democrat denounced Obama for enacting policies destroying the economy stating that it is time to call him to account regardless that he is black? Or gosh, wouldn't it be something if someone would stand up for America and apologize to "the best within us" for "forgetting who we are," by letting Obama, our President, besmirch the ideal that quickens the beat of the human heart around the globe?

All of us are going to pay dearly for "going along" with Obama - the Con. Every brand associated with Obama will pay. Oprah has never been held as high as she was before she endorsed Obama. (It's interesting about Oprah. People loved her and were always talking about her when her program was geared to all people. Who is she now that Obama favors blacks over whites in instance after instance and she says nothing? Swiss cheese?)

Harvard and Columbia are being drug through the streets insofar as providing a solid education for real values. They are gaining the reputation of being an intellectual hot house that doesn't know what goes on in the real world.

Chicago and Illinois have been corrupt for a long time, but now they have taken on a real and dangerous quality that they didn't have before. Why? Obama thrived there.

America granted grace, which I don't think has been an entirely good thing since freedom is its own reward, to blacks because their ancestors were slaves. That's over. I called the grocery clerk to account where before I would have let her slide.

The thing that is so clearly missing in the public arena of our era is judgment. No one will pronounce it. No one will take action for a proper standard. No one in Congress is making a dent on the corruption that is overtaking our government. It is simply missing.

In the ever-present choice of wings or spine, we've chosen wings.

36"w x 24"h acrylic on canvas, 2004

Where is the spine. It doesn't exist in this soupy, slurpy world of words. Just words - words that mean nothing except to have you think they do. For every statement coming out of Obama's mouth, we have a video or audio clip of him saying the opposite. Insanity reigns. Obama, the Con, spins more words tonight in his Jobs Speech. Words, just words. Except they are costing us not only our treasure, but our moral vitality.

Obama may paint a socialist utopia, but we all know that it shall not happen. Never has, never will. Why would it? No one gives a damn. And, no one does because the government won't allow it. Who can care when you are regulated from morning 'til night and this plague is spreading faster than we can get rid of it?

All will stop when someone with a voice that can be heard pronounces moral judgment - the judgment that gives one's moral vitality a bracing jolt!**

Who among us possesses THE VOICE THAT CAN BE HEARD? That is who we are waiting for.

_______________________________

*Ragnar Danneskjold is a character in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. He was a pirate for justice. He calculated the amount a businessmen deserved from his production and trade, because he earned by trading value for value. Then he would attack ships which the government used to transfer wealth from America to People's States around the globe. (Sound like Obama?) When he got the wealth on board, he took it to a place where it was held in account for the producer of it. It became available to him when he chose to take his power back, go on strike and renounce being a sacrificial lamb.

**Ayn Rand is the only one in my lifetime that has done this. And she did it the hard way. She earned it.

Which One Are You Ready to Saddle Up?

A friend. Rob Diego, with whom I exchange observations of current affairs and often test ideas is guest contributor tonight. Thanks, Rob.

During the questioning (at the Saddleback Civil Forum) last night, Obama was repeatedly equivocating on important issues and this exposes his inability to lead, his lack of any clear convictions. A leader must be decisive, he must use his own mind and rely on his own experiences; and he must know the right questions and how to get the right answers from knowledgeable people. I've been a leader during certain times of my life, and even on that modest level, it was a major responsibility and a very sobering thought to know that my job was making decisions about others and inspiring them to be better. I loved being a leader because I saw the results in people who were better every day and happier and more secure because my leadership helped them be more productive employees.

Obama would never be worth a $32 million dollar CEO salary because he could never be decisive enough to steer a company in the right direction. How can we put him in charge of the most powerful institution in the world? Equivocation and ambiguity are not signs of leadership ability; they are signs of indecision. We can't afford to have him learn on the job. Our lives are at stake. I'd put those million dollar CEOs (that Obama criticizes for making too much money) in the oval office any day before Obama.

McCain was decisive last night, clear and forthright...a characteristic that is rare, even in Presidents. Obama has never been in the line of fire where his own personal freedom was at stake; he's never been in the line of fire where his own life was at stake; he's never had to make a decision that meant a crucial turning point for the nation...he wouldn't know how to recognize such a situation. He'd equivocate and call a meeting of a bunch of people to tell him how to nuance his responses.

A man who makes a decision to become a street organizer is not making a decision that affects an important issue for the country; he is making a decision to avoid making a difference. It sets him up to blame others for problems rather than show the leadership necessary to solve real problems. He admits that 10 years ago he didn't know the value of work as a social phenomenon. Doing things for others by causing a redistribution of someone else's money is not the same as making decisions that make it possible for people to be successful.

Anyone can "bring people together." That takes no special skill, it does not make Obama unique. Even Bush said he could do it. The real problem is that Obama has no real tangible leadership skills, has demonstrated no such skills, and has never made the amount of money in his life that makes him something special. He cannot prove that he is special. He is no Bill Gates, no T. Boone Pickens, no Warren Buffet...he is nothing special. Knowing how to leave people free takes a lot more leadership than knowing who will pay higher taxes.

McCain wants us to all be rich. That Obama doesn't even think in these terms tells you so much about him...it tells you everything. With terrorism one of the major issues of our time, we can't afford to wait for a man to ask his wife or grandmother, or even Ted Kennedy, what to do (I can almost tell you what they will say to him: "Do what helps the most people, honey.") I'm wondering if he asked them what to say before he made his early statements about the situation in Georgia. He clearly is only reciting leftist cliches without an understanding of how his statements relate to the real world, or whether they relate at all. I wonder what his grandmother's leadership skills are and how many thousands of people she has led. And why haven't scholars written about her unique mind? I'd like to read her books. Where are they?

Obama came off of a vacation and the media had to use that fact as a reason why he didn't do as well as McCain. All he has to do is get back on the campaign trail and he'll get his words back. That is a rationalization of the worst kind. What a tough life he's had...his vacation complicated his candidacy and muddled his mind. Imagine McCain saying that he was indecisive because he spent 5 years in a prisoner of war camp tied up with ropes, unable to move. Imagine the media using that fact as an excuse for McCain. It is unthinkable because that event molded his convictions, gave him certainty for a lifetime about important issues, helped him to see things clearly. A vacation that makes a man not have the presence of mind to remember his convictions is not an excuse; it is a sign of no convictions.

What defeated Obama last night is that he had no idea what McCain would say so he could not adjust his statements to match McCain's convictions and passion. Obama has no convictions of his own. That is clear. The worst thing is that there are a lot of people who don't care that he has no convictions; there are lots of people who think Obama's equivocations are an indication of a refined and educated mind. I'll take a prisoner of war, even a graduate of the University of Hard Knocks over Obama any time.

Rob Diego