Fight the Orwellians!

In another Brushfires essay, we’ve noted that we’ve entered an Orwellian era where the mainstream media and the state are essentially one (let’s call them the “Orwellians”).

[NEWS NOTE: Confirming Brushfires: The White House Chief of Staff is reportedly on the phone daily with media correspondents George Stephanopolous, James Carville and Paul Begala.]

Truth can seem totally obscured, if not lost altogether, if we aren’t careful to look past the media’s headlines and the government’s PR spin. Thankfully, there’s an internet that allows us to bypass the media and the government, and keep truth alive—sort of like stoking brushfires of freedom. Here are just a few reminders, or brushfires, to keep you sane (and warm):

The Orwellians say America voted for bailouts. We didn’t. We opposed them, but the inside-the-Beltway crowd went ahead anyway with an elitist ‘we know better’ attitude. We will not forget this.

The Orwellians say the people want Obama’s agenda to proceed. We don’t. Over 46% of voting Americans did not even want him to be President, and a very large portion of the 54% who did voted for the symbolism of his election. A vote for symbolism is not a vote for an agenda.

The Orwellians tell us we don’t mind a tax cheat confirmed as Secretary of the Treasury; and we haven’t noticed the confirmation of a Secretary of State whose husband’s financial dealings would have disqualified any other candidate. We don’t like tax cheats, period, and we know full well how corrosive it is to public trust when high level officials so obviously disdain compliance with the laws they insist the rest of us abide by. We don’t like the Clintons, and haven’t liked the Clintons since the end of his presidency. Rank-and-file Democrats tried to send that message during the Democratic primary. Putting both of them back in our faces is not, in the vernacular of the day, resonating with Americans. The Orwellians have long tried to tell us that Americans love the Clintons. This just isn’t true.

The Orwellians say America believes a government ‘stimulus’ is the only way to 'fix' the economy. We don’t. We are a 21st century society that doesn’t buy ‘roads and bridges’ as the way out of a recession. We know pork when we see it, and we know its purpose is not economic recovery but political power. We resent this.

The Orwellians believe Americans trust government more than they trust individual freedom and responsibility under God. We don’t, and we never will.

Brushfires are breaking out all over this country. They are going to spread, and they are not going to be stopped.

POSTSCRIPT FROM MARCH 2009

Commentator Victor Davis Hanson, a Brushfires favorite, called up the specter of George Orwell's 1984 in this column. The prime excerpt:

I feel like Winston Smith in Oceania, confused about all the doublethink coming out of Washington. Great Depression—no Great Depression. Recession for years; its end at the end of this year. Signing statements bad; signing statements good. Fundamentals hardly strong; fundamentals really sound. Earmarks terrible; 8,000 wonderful. Bush’s $500 billion deficit reckless; Obama’s $1.7 sober and judicious; Iraq horrific and the worst whatever; Iraq suddenly quiet, democratic, and hopeful; highest ethical bar in an administration ever—Richardson, Daschle, Killefer, Solis, etc. cannot meet the lowest; Guantanamo a Stalag; Guantanamo open for a year, pending the recommendations of a “task force”; Guantanamo a torture place for unlawful combatants; Guantanamo a nice place without unlawful combatants; Obama not to be blamed for massive collapse of stock prices since November; Obama to be praised for modest gains last week. At some point, someone in the media must be getting embarrassed that they are all working at the Ministry of Truth.

Paul Gable

Posted January 27, 2009