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Note: This is the full text of the essay. The letter that appeared at the Austin Chronicle Web Site was edited by me to 300 words to meet that publication's "Letter to the Editor" Guidelines. It is time to come forward, confess my transgression, and accept my punishment which will certainly be for no small part an ad hominem firing squad of countless verbal rifles aimed right at the heart. I am ready to let these bullets rip my personal and political flesh. I can no longer hide the truth. Not only my very soul, but the very soul of this nation and of Western Civilization itself lie at stake. This is my written confession. I hope that it's presented soundly enough to instill leniency in my judges and jurors. I, Joe Mitchell, am 40 years old, an American, Texan by birth, a "white" male of Anglo-Celtic-Dutch descent, a registered Democrat since the age of 18, a professed Lefty who marched in two protests against the present Iraq War in Sacramento and San Francisco, and presently a resident of the "Blue Island in the Sea of Red" known as Travis County, Texas (Austin). In early October of this year, I voted in absentia for John Kerry to become President of the United States. During the early morning of November 3, I felt a twinge of disappointment as Ohio fell to George W. Bush, thus returning him to the presidency. However, just after November 10, I not only began to accept that George W. Bush had won the election, but actually felt the country and the world were a better place for it. I am now strongly convinced that both are heading in the right direction under the guidance of Mr. Bush and his administration. My transgression is double-edged. Conservatives will certainly be vexed by my voting for Kerry when it is obvious that I think Bush is the right man at the right time. Be assured that my being convinced of this came just a little too late. However, this newly discovered appreciation of the President does not make me a born-again conservative as it is too often defined today. If I am indeed a conservative, I would think of myself as one of the McCain stripe. Bush conservatives are a wee bit zealous in their disdain of the constitution and their desire to impose their evangelical brand of Christian values upon whoever crosses their path. Liberals will be offended that I have turned my back on them. For this, I am not really concerned. If anyone has turned a back, it has been the left. They've been ignoring the working class and guys like me in favor of limo-liberals far too long. They've become a rabid vigilante posse of wine and cheeseheads bent on demonizing white working class males, especially from the South. Just when the Left need a southern populist more than ever (excuse me, folks, but the last three Democratic Presidents have been from the South), the lefties in the blue states are ready to completely divorce themselves from the region. The Left and the Democrats in this country have dug their own grave. I'm content to let them rot in it. I do not wish to be in there with them. As I've stated, I still have my reservations about Mr. Bush's stance on domestic issues and his endless riffing on "Moral Values." This is first and foremost a secular nation, and I am confident the notion that religion is a private issue and not for the public realm will eventually prevail. The fact that the anti-abortion Mr. Bush will have at least one Supreme Court nominee and countless more Federal Court judicial nominees should be cause for pause among libbies and true conservatives alike. His attacks on Civil Liberties via the Patriot Act and other legal implements of destruction he manages to drop upon a compliant congress should invoke equal concern. This is not exactly a "lovefest" I am embarking upon, but a marriage of necessity. In searching my soul and, more importantly, my brain between 11/3 and 11/10, I discovered three major foundations for supporting Mr. Bush as our president, and being relieved that Mr. Kerry did not take the White House. Through intensive reading and introspection, I discovered a solid base for not only departing from my Lefty leanings for unknown, yet greener pastures, but justification for departing the prevailing atmosphere of liberal and conservative lock-stepping altogether in order to claim a new independence. Rather than let an ideological checklist (where do you stand on abortion, gun-control, the war in Iraq, etc?) determine where I stand, I am letting the facts, history, common sense, and enlightened self-interest be my guide in a new world that requires bravery more than ever. Europe is Not Our Friend In the present international state of things, we need a hardliner in the White House. Mr. Bush is that man. Kerry would have led the nation and world further down the path of ruin by following the European rubric of appeasement over resolve. We are currently in the midst of a World War no matter how much the American left and Europeans in general deny this fact. Don't forget the denial of the import of World War II to America prior to Pearl Harbor. This new World War erupted in no small part due to the passivity and backroom dealings of our European "brothers" who have been crumbling under the demands of Islamic Extremists for more than three decades. In 1973, in reaction to the Arab Oil Embargo which was itself an Arab reaction to their embarrassment in the Yom Kippur War, the European Community sold its very soul by agreeing to the Euro-Arab Dialogue as a way to keep oil flowing to its member-states. The agreement opened up the floodgates of Arab immigration into Europe. What was meant to be cheap labor has become an expensive danger. Europe is now reaping the "rewards" of this Faustian Pact in the form of seething Islamic Ghettos and violent, often deadly, attacks against its citizens and western culture itself. The recent assassinations of Pim Fortuyn and Theo Van Gogh at the hands of an Islamic Sympathizer, and an Islamic Extremist, respectively, have been rude awakenings for laid-back Holland. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Dutch Parliamentarian who helped Van Gogh produce Submission, the controversial film that got him killed, is under fatwa. There is a rap song calling for her death. Dutch Rightists like Geert Wilders are standing up to the violent tsunami, calling for a 5-year moratorium on all immigration from non-Western countries. Of course, there's now a fatwa against Wilders and mainstream politicians in Holland are distancing themselves from him. It appears many of Holland's politicians are still so "pc" that the feelings of homicidal Islamic Extremists are more important than the lives of native citizens, even the descendants of one of the country's greatest artistic families. France, sticking to its Vichy and Dreyfus Affair traditions, is actually pandering to the extremes of Islam within its borders as attacks against Jewish citizenry and synagogues by young impoverished Muslims proliferate. Nicolas Sarcozy, the man who will most likely step in for Chirac in 2007, actually thinks it's a good idea to build mosques with taxpayer money. The same offer is not extended to churches and synagogues. Chirac certainly had nerve to take umbrage at Ariel Sharon's statement that French Jews are in danger and should immigrate to Israel toute suite. Spain's appeasing turn to the left in the wake of the 3/11 Madrid bombings is just another case of a decadent European nation under the delusion that despite thousands of years of bloodshed, intellectual rigor, and political progression, Western Civilization is just no longer worth a second thought, much less defending. No time to think of the future of a once-great superpower when Sangria is flowing and Real Madrid is on telly. The current birth rate of the Arab population in Western Europe is now four times that of the native population. At this current level of reproduction, this demographic will be dominant on the continent by 2100. This wouldn't be such a problem if the group bothered to assimilate into Western Culture. As many as three generations of Muslims living in many parts of Europe have refused to learn the local language, much less its customs. Half the Muslim and Arab population in France haven't bothered to apply for citizenship. Europe is quickly becoming, as termed by author Bat Ye'or, Eurabia. The European Union itself has gotten in on the macabre dance of continental self-loathing. As Ilka Scroeder, a former EU Parliament member from Germany has been shouting to a deafeningly silent response, there is substantial evidence that a good chunk of the EU's $10 million monthly stipend to the Palestinian Authority has been used for murder and terrorism inside Israel. Gosh, it's really surprising that a terrorist organization would use money for terrorism. And they say Americans are naïve. Continuing its "roll over and play dead" position in regards to the oil-rich Arab World, the EU is refusing to investigate. The slogan "No Blood for Oil" is ubiquitous among the left in this country and in Europe. Little do the deluded left and their muddled anti-Israel acolytes like Noam Chomsky realize that blood was being shed for oil long before the current conflict in Iraq. With a little investigation of the Euro-Arab Dialogue and its progeny, and the EU's funding of the Palestinian Authority, one would see that for years the blood has actually been European and Israeli. If you want to see "Blood for Oil," see Van Gogh, Fortuyn, the numerous Muslim women throughout Europe killed by their own families in "honor killings," the countless Israelis killed by Palestinian suicide bombers, and the young Jewish student in London stabbed 27 times on a London bus for having the nerve to study Torah in public. Europe is no longer our friend. In fact it is an enemy joined in a quasi-war with the Palestinian Authority and various oil-producing Islamic nations against the U.S. and Israel. There is no telling if and when Europeans will awake and see just how great the number of their cities that have become large Ramallahs (ever been to Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Paris, Lyon or Marseilles?). If they do, we all know to whom they'll certainly run for help. We'll, of course, despite the deceit with which we have been treated for three decades, take the moral high ground and save their useless little decadent butts from the results of their own ill-chosen course. Multiculturalism is a Pernicious Tool of Liberal Elitists As in the European illustration above, hypersensitive multiculturalism is nothing but a tool of the powerful to retain its power through division. The mandatory "respect" for Arab and Islamic cultures in the guise of cultural tolerance, no matter how disrespectful and destructive this new culture may be toward the pre-existing culture, benefits the powerful at the expense of the rank and file. While the Elites of the Left sit in their ivory towers across this country and the globe, anyone of the rank and file who dares complain that they are losing jobs to immigrants or can't safely walk through their own neighborhood is branded a racist, and an unenlightened trog who can't see the glory right before his very eyes. It's a convenient little logical twist that handcuffs sensible discourse and makes every issue, be it economic, social, or political one of race and identity. The Left love to forego reason in favor of touting their associations with the "downtrodden" as a method of foregoing argument in favor of demonstrating moral superiority. In truth, their concerns for the "downtrodden" are nil, except as a source of votes and power. In Europe, it may be too late to reverse the damage that jettisoning common sense has wrought without taking-up arms. Hopefully, in the U.S. we still have a fighting chance against this abominable double standard that is itself inherently racist. By holding certain minority groups, the poor, and other termed "disadvantaged" groups to a lower standard of behavior than that of the mainstream, we are in fact saying that these persons are inferior and incapable of succeeding in the predominant culture. This lower standard perpetuates moral, intellectual, and financial laxity within these "disadvantaged" groups leading to a geometrical decline over generations and the proliferation of an underclass that is violent and hopelessly beyond any notion of civility and self-advancement. It subverts every philosophical tenet upon which this nation was built. Rather than exert any sort of authority in these "communities," the Left have worked to assure that they rot and seethe. Incarceration prevails over education and welfare prevails over achievement. Those who were written-off long ago are paid lip service and mollycoddled for their votes. There is a policy of containment, rather than control, as well as one that will assure institutionalized failure in place of opportunity. At the same time, these neglected groups are held up as morally superior to the dominant culture by our own educational system and in our media. The very founders of our country, not being perfect men and women, are scorned for having done the dirty work of civilization- the stealing of land and the taming of the native culture - all the things necessary to make our present prosperous society possible. In present day America, if you are not a victim, you are an oppressor and oppressors must feel guilty. Achievement, be it immediate or cumulative, equals shame. Not only does the sham of multiculturalism and political correctness infect the underclass, it is wantonly leaked into the mainstream, expanding and perpetuating the poisonous atmosphere in which it thrives. In this atmosphere of historical amnesia and perverted ideas of character, the notion of what it is to be an American is diluted by hyphens affiliated with ethnicity or whatever repressed social group is the belle du jour among the self-appointed cultural arbiters. To claim oneself as an American first is considered antiquated, a sign of lack of education, and, of course, racist and bigoted to its very core. We have lost our national character and identity and have been reduced to various warring, self-serving tribes whose only concern is the here and now. It's time to drop the hyphens and be Americans again. The Left's Own Elitism has Made it Irrelevant The Left and the Democrats in general have been perpetuating this multicultural morass for more than a decade now to justify their very tenuous existence, and it is time for it to stop. The Michael Moores, fuckthesouth's and Retro vs. Metro's of the world in their yelling about how divided the country is are only dividing the country even more. They are elitist and self-centered, and luckily the majority of the voters are not so insecure as to buy their snobbish delusions of superiority. So what do the people on the Left do in the wake of losing the election? They yell and scream about what a Neanderthal country this must be to reelect Bush and how they want to move to Canada or Europe to get away from all those uncivilized fascist red-staters. They make signs and stickers declaring "Bomb Texas." Too narcissistic to imagine that they lost this election from their own ineptitude at checking the nation's pulse, the left are too myopic to find the mirror, much less look in it. The more they fall prey to their own delusions of the victimhood of the morally superior, the more their speed toward irrelevance accelerates. The Left have done nothing but alienate the mainstream. It is doubtful they can repair the damage before 2008.
Please cancel my subscription to the left. I no longer wish to be a hyphenate or make excuses for know-it-all radicals. I no longer wish to associate with a divisive group of elitist whiners and complainers. I only wish to be an American, using common sense to protect a great civilization built on blood, sweat, and tears. I am tired of defending uptight, politically correct fascists who wouldn't know honor, character, and intellectual subtlety if it fell in their Chomsky Readers and squawked in resonate hipspeak. I'll try not to laugh too hard when Hillary gets her opportunistic little tokhes kicked all the way to Amman in 2008. For those of you still too good for this country, Madrid is nice this time of year, and all year. There should be plenty of Sangria and numerous shots of David Beckham corner kicks on telly. Just don't come crying to me when you can't hear the match over the droning loudspeaker of the mosque next door.
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