Columns

Election review

LEN TRIA, Uncommon Sense
Published: November 11, 2012

It is now confirmed and winning strategies that divide and conquer is the most potent political source of power. The Democrats have perfected the divide the people of the country into groups that, for the most part, are single issue voters.

They have promoted class envy and successfully poisoned the minds of people that want the benefits of success without working to become successful. It seems most people are of the mindset that government is responsible for their well being and look to government as their surrogate parent.

I am most amazed at the campaigning of Bill Clinton as he talked about character and truthfulness on behalf of the incumbent president. This from the man who went on national TV to proclaim "I never had sex with that woman… Ms. Lewinsky" that was until the blue dress showed up and exposed him for the liar he is.

He was convicted of perjury and lost his law license but that for a democrat is a resume enhancer. We are now faced with a country that is Balkanized; that is to say instead of "out of many one" we are now one out of many.

We are now merely groups of people categorized and catalogued as minorities, (blacks, Hispanics, women), rich and poor, then seniors and young people and gays. If this is the future of American politics then we are on our way to the European model of a social democracy; even though that model has been shown to be an absolute failure.

Freedom that we once enjoyed unfettered will be corroded into a society of people standing in line for our government largess and sacrificing our liberty for security. That brings to mind a famous quote from one of our Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, who said "when you sacrifice freedom for security you deserve neither."

Is that where we as a people are heading? Giving up freedom to have a paternalistic state takes care of our needs; time alone will answer that question. What was supposed to be the major issue, the economy, didn't seem to resonate intellectually with the voters.

They have no idea of the financial cliff that we are certain to fall off of. One other point that I would be remiss if I didn't mention it was the role of the main street media that was completely in the tank for the president.

What they did in managing the news and failing to cover items that were detrimental to the administration such as Fast & Furious, murder in Benghazi, $6 trillion in debt during his term, unemployment of more than 8 percent, people leaving the workforce in droves, and constantly railing against conservative people and their ideas.

This, in my view, was a powerful propaganda onslaught that could not be effectively countered. Yet with the re-election of the president the voters chose to keep divided government and kept the House of Representatives in Republican control. Stay tuned more to come on this subject!

Len Tria, a regular columnist for Hernando Today, lives in Spring Hill and is a former Hernando County commissioner.