“When a man, a business corporation or an entire society is approaching bankruptcy, there are two courses that those involved can follow: they can evade the reality of their situation and act on a frantic, blind, range-of-the moment expediency — not daring to look ahead, wishing no one would name the truth, yet desperately hoping that something will save them somehow — or they can identify the situation, check their premises, discover their hidden assets and start rebuilding. America, at present, is following the first course.
“The grayness, the stale cynicism, the noncommittal cautiousness, the guilty evasiveness of our public voices suggest the attitude of the courtiers in the story ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes,’ who professed admiration for the Emperor’s nonexistent garments, having accepted the assertion that anyone who failed to perceive them was morally depraved at heart.”
Ayn Rand said this in 1960. Wow !
Someone has to be the child in the story and declare that the Emperor is naked — or that America is culturally, ethically and economically bankrupt.
Do not expect the Mediacracy to do that. No, they have installed their president and regardless they will continue to redefine reality with their last gasping breath.
Rand said, “Bankruptcy is defined as the state of being at the end of one’s resources.What are the intellectual values or resources offered to us by the present guardians of our culture?
“In philosophy, we are taught that man’s mind is impotent, that reality is unknowable, that knowledge is an illusion, and that reason is a superstition. In psychology, we are told that man is a helpless automaton, determined by forces beyond his control, motivated by innate depravity.
“In literature, we are shown a line-up of murderers, dipsomaniacs,drug addicts, neurotics and psychotics as representatives of man’s soul — and are invited to identify our own among them — with the belligerent assertions that life is a sewer, a foxhole or a rat race, with the whining injunctions that we must love everything, except virtue, and forgive everything, except greatness.”
In politics, we are told that America, the greatest, noblest, freest country on earth, is politically and morally inferior to socialist states, that have led to the bloodiest dictatorships in the world — and that our wealth should be given away to be fair, with apologies for the fact that we have produced it, while others have not.
If we look at modern politicians, we are confronted with the grotesque spectacle of such characteristics as spineless denial, uncertainty, crusading cynicism, dogmatic agnosticism, boastful selfabasement and self-righteous immorality all used for the attainment of power at any cost.
Cosmetic political correctness which is divisiveness designed to maintain power over those who pay the bills that they create. If this is not bankruptcy, what is?
“The child is the father to the man.” Wordworth said.
There are children out there who will pay for all of this. But does it take one of them to tell us that we need to grow up?
Robert H. Snyder
Swanton
Letters
Politically correct won’t pay bills
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Freedom isn’t exactly what he thinks it is
In the June 2 Times-News, R. Steele Selby (“Just how free are we?) defines freedom as “the capacity to do whatever he or she wants to do” and asserts that this definition is “most likely nearly universal.”
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What Maryland calls the Fair Share Act isn’t fair at all
The Fair Share Act was passed in 2009. This law allowed for service fees to be part of the collective bargaining process.
The law does not mandate that service fees be negotiated, it simply provides that they can be. -
We have lots to show for our education dollars
I would like to take this opportunity to respond to Judith Weller’s latest anti-education diatribe, “The money they already have isn’t being spent wisely,” (June 3).
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Western Md. Veterans continues its mission
My name is Dan Brashear, I am the founder and director of Western Maryland Veterans.
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Maybe the cyclists and casino workers should be armed
Again, unfortunately I have to remind Don Carns Jr. of Beans Cove, Pa., on his latest repeatedly inaccurate letter published June 10 in the Cumberland Times-News (“Township is nothing like either Pittsburgh or Philadelphia”).
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Let’s all kick in $1 to help save Frostburg’s Palace Theatre
As a former resident, I have many fond memories of the Palace Theatre (“Theater wall crumbles: Palace exterior collapses, unfit for entry: officials,” June 6 Times-News, Page 1A).
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Develop the waterway
Since the debate over removing the dam started about four years ago, I have been concerned about the effect the dam removal would have on the area’s welfare.
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Living center marks national nursing assistants week
Golden Living Center will join in the celebrations honoring the hundreds of thousands of nursing assistants across the country during National Nursing Assistants Week, June 13-20.
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West Virginia, Johnny Cash, coal miners honored on stamps
While this most likely won’t fall under the category of the most earth-shattering letter to the editor you will read today, it is still big doings for those of us here at the U.S. Postal Service.
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If you build a whitewater play spot, they will come
Regarding “River Project Prospects: Experts reveal benefits, challenges at Allegany Museum” (June 7 Times-News, Page 1A):
- More Letters Headlines
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Freedom isn’t exactly what he thinks it is
