The official Chinese Communist Party and Amerian leftists have exactly the same message on the July 4 weekend:
China’s government-run Global Times newspaper observed American Independence Day on Sunday by claiming Americans have nothing to celebrate, as their country has become “selfish,” failed on “the race issue,” and is currently “in its least confident stage.”
Actually, I agree that Americans, on the whole, lack confidence. Self-loathing and confidence do not mix — any more than Joe Biden and Donald Trump mix.
To be confidenct means you are certain — and proud in your certainty — that you are right. You KNOW you are right, and why … and you don’t shrink from it.
Leftists are dead wrong, on so many fronts, and are riddled with self-contempt, as well as hatred for others. But they are self-righteous. There’s a difference. You’re self-righteous when, deep down, you’re anxious and probably know you are wrong — yet you must lash out, like a terrorist, to bring down others who disagree, so they don’t challenge you to see what’s true. Self-righteousness is not confidence.
Confidence comes from a place of certainty. But too many Americans who are NOT truly bad people are nevertheless not confident, either. They’re not confident about their country, the USA, because they know that country stands for individualism and liberty. Everywhere they turn, they are told those things are bad. It has been like this for generations, but the issue is, at long last, reaching a grotesque and horrifying climax. Why? Because, unlike the 1930s, 1940s or 1950s, today millions of Americans believe it. And the one party presently in charge not only believes it, but stands ready to impose it at gunpoint. Just like the Communists.
In a free country, YOUR life is an end in itself. Period. END OF STORY. You have NO obligations to others, except to leave them alone, and respect the same sovereignty over their own lives that you demand for yours. You are free to take on obligations or responsibilities beyond that — of your own choosing (as in starting a business, or raising a family). But you are not born with an obligation to anyone, certainly not because some corrupt authority tells you so.
Yes, this is “selfish”, if selfish means being self-interested, and concerned first and foremost with self-preservation. SO WHAT? The entire Declaration of Independence is based on upholding individual rights.That’s the very thing that today’s woke haters are out to destroy — and they know it. Communist China smiles on, knowing they are winning the war, at this time. The war is deeper than geopolitics. It’s psychological. It’s about ethics and morality. The Soviets, back in the 1950s, promised to “bury” us with economic superiority. That never happened. The Chinese are succeeding at helping us bury ourselves, with the use of psychology and ethics. It’s far, far more powerful, and on the present course, it’s going to succeed.
If living for yourself, while respecting the equal right of others to do the same, is an immoral thing, then the Chinese Communists, as well as the Democratic Party Communists in the corporate, educational and entertainment elite of America, are right to say it’s bad. You are bad, by their standard, unless you submit to the arbitrary and total will of the elites who not only know better than you, but are, in every respect (since they loathe liberty and individualism) morally superior to you.
It takes serious confidence to fight an onslaught of this sort. In my experience, very, very few people have this confidence.
So the whole question boils down to: Is your life an end in itself, or not? Is your right to life, liberty, private property and the pursuit of happiness an inalienable right that is part of your NATURE … or is it a right only bestowed by those deemed “moral” by the awakened, morally superior elites?
This question is never going to go away. At crucial points in every individual’s existence, you must answer it for yourself.
And so long as most people continue to doubt their rights, we will continue to sink into dictatorship and despair.
If you are certain, and if YOU know your life is an end in itself, you won’t have to give up on confidence, at least. If things continue on their present course, you will eventually be forced to surrender everything of value. But nobody can take your confidence. Even if they force you to lie.
The totalitarians writing propaganda in China actually get this better than most Americans, I fear. It’s just that they’re on the wrong, bad side of the answer to the question. Frankly, so are most of the leftists or Democrats you will encounter, not just in the elite circles but throughout America. Most Democrats loathe themselves and life; they lack confidence, but they’re riddled with nasty, authoritarian and spiteful self-righteousness. It’s literally all they have.
Is the problem fixable? Sure it is. But it starts with your individual self. And please believe me when I say: time is running out.
Follow Dr. Hurd on Facebook. Search under “Michael Hurd” (Rehoboth Beach DE). Get up-to-the-minute postings, recommended articles and links, and engage in back-and-forth discussion with Dr. Hurd on topics of interest. Also follow Dr. Hurd on Twitter at @MichaelJHurd1, drmichaelhurd on Instagram.