The State Of Our Country

There was an interesting poll taken by the Wall Street Journal - NORC (out of the University of the Chicago) from March 1 through March 13, 2023.  The poll sample consisted of 1019 people and has a margin of error of +/- 4.1%.  62% of the respondents were employed, with 38% not employed.  That is a fairly typical employment rate.  

The survey asked for the respondents' political outlook.  10% said they were "very liberal," with 13% "somewhat liberal."  12% were "very conservative," with 16% "somewhat conservative."  47% described themselves as "moderate."

In a survey of values, the respondents were asked what was "very important," "somewhat important," "not that important," or "not important at all."  In that order, with regards to "hard work," the numbers were 67%, 26%, 3% and 3%.  Not too bad at all.

With regards to "marriage," the numbers were 43%, 27%, 18% and 10%.  A little disappointing.  "Patriotism" came in at 38%, 35%, 16% and 11%.  Very disappointing.  This sense of patriotism is no longer instilled in our public schools.  Instead, students today are taught about the evils of America - slavery, white supremacy, racism, sexism, gender bias, etc.  Without a love of country, it is no surprise that the U.S. Army was 25% off of its target for recruiting in the last fiscal year.  Who will fight America's wars?  If there are an insufficient number of volunteers, will the country will be forced to return to conscription?  

More importantly, how does a country survive if the population no longer believes in the basic goodness of the country?  And, in an indication of the direction American values are headed, a 1998 New York Post poll found that 70% said that patriotism was "very important."  Currently, only 23% of Americans under 30 said that patriotism is "very important," compared to 59% of seniors over 65. 

As for religion, the numbers are as follows:  39%, 20%, 21% and 19%.  Also disappointing.  And the NY Post poll in 1998 found 62% saying that religion was "very important."  In terms of attendance at religious services, 32% said never, 19% one time a year, 9% about twice a year, 8% several times a year, 3% about once a month, 5% 2-3 times a month, 5% nearly every week, 13% every week, and 6% several times a week.  Only 31% of young Americans said that religion was "very important," compared to 55% of seniors.    

Insofar as having children is concerned, only 30% said it was "very important," then 36%, 18% and 15%.  This is also disappointing.  Children are our future.  But many young people believe having children causes an extra burden on the environment.  By age, only 23% of young Americans said having children was "very important," compared to an also disappointing 32% of seniors.

Not surprisingly, Republicans supported traditional American values more than Democrats.  59% of Republicans said that patriotism was "very important," compared to only 23% of Democrats.  For religion, the percentages were Republican 53% and Democrats 27%.  And for having children, it was 38% for Republicans and 26% for Democrats.  

These declining numbers in traditional American values should come as a surprise to no one.  Not when "leftist" values have increasingly replaced "liberal" values in American society.   

The Subtle Indoctrination Techniques Used By The Mainstream Media

(Note.  Over the years, I have written quite a few posts about media bias.  Many focused on the New York Times.  I have suggested to some on the left that they can pick out any day's edition of the New York Times, and I will show them the bias.  This post focuses on a single front page story, continued for a full half page on page 17, of the April 21, 2023 New York Times.  The article is titled "Moves by Israel Open a Divide With U.S. Jews."  And yes, I acknowledge that conservative media also has a bias.  However, my friends on the left often are unable to detect the subtle bias of the mainstream media.) 

On page one we learn of the new "far-right" government in Israel.  Yes, there are a couple ministers who might be described as far-right.  But Benjamin Netanyahu is not, and he is the Prime Minister.  Besides, a  descriptive term such as "conservative" government, is not sufficiently disparaging.  Nor, apparently, is even "right-wing" government.  And make no mistake, the idea is to disparage the Netanyahu government.  We are also told of this government's "efforts to undermine Israel's independent judiciary."  This is a gross exaggeration at best.  (See the March 30, 2023 post regarding "Israel's Proposed Judicial Reform, Part II," for a fair discussion of the proposals.)

On page 17 we get many quotes from prominent American Jews and American Rabbis.  These people are Democrats and left-wing.  They start with Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass):  "On this issue there is unanimity."  No, there is not.  "There are extreme concerns about the direction that Israel is headed, toward illiberal democracy."  The current government was democratically elected.  The conservative parties won.  The left in Israel can no more tolerate that than the left in the US was able to tolerate the victory of Donald Trump.  

After saying P.M. Netanyahu previously courted support from Republicans and evangelicals, they malign our former president with this: "President Donald J. Trump, in turn, did virtually whatever Mr. Netanyahu wanted."  What President Trump did was show his support for Israel by moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Israel's capital city of Jerusalem, and by recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and by refusing to fund the Palestinian Authority until they stopped killing Jews.  But the leftists at the New York Times opposed those measures.  They opposed U.S. support for our greatest ally in the Middle East, and one of our greatest allies in the world.  The Times prefers the anti-Israel stances taken by Presidents Obama and Biden.    

The Times:  "For American liberals, the Netanyahu government's push to overhaul the judiciary came on top of the marginalization of liberal parties in Israel, despair in Gaza and the absence of progress toward Palestinian autonomy and equal rights."  The marginalization of liberal parties?  Does the Times no longer believe in democracy?  The liberal parties lost in the last election.  Despair in Gaza?  Did the Times forget that Gaza is run by Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization?  Did the Times forget that Hamas does not accept Israel's right to exist?  The absence of progress toward the Palestinians?  Did the Times forget all the times that the Palestinians have been offered a state of their own, only to refuse as long as Israel still exists, with the Palestinians choosing war instead?

I give the Times credit for providing a quote from Morton Klein, the president of the Zionist Organization of America, the strongest pro-Israel organization in the U.S.  Although the quote comes near the very end of the article.  The Times asserts that Mr. Klein said that "American Jews of all stripes see its high court as the last lever of liberal power," although that sentence is not put in quotes by the Times.  Here is what they quote Klein as saying:  "That is the main motivator" of American Jewish criticism.  "They're losing their power to control policy."  Exactly.

One of the biggest objections to the judicial reforms is that politicians - not sitting justices and bureaucrats - would be able to select High Court justices.  The conservative parties won the last election in Israel, and if the reforms pass, those conservative politicians would be able to select High Court justices.  How is that any different from all the objections we heard about President Trump being able to appoint 3 justices to the Supreme Court?  Not only did the left viciously attack Trump's nominees to the Supreme Court, a number of Democrats decided the selection process needed to be changed, or there needed to be term limits for the justices, or the Court needed to be expanded under Biden so that more left-wing justices could be nominated.   

Is there bias throughout the media?  Yes.  But the more subtle bias tends to be employed by the left-wing/mainstream media.