'What Has Happened to Cal Thomas?'
By Christopher Adamo (07/19/07)
Few Americans, back when first subjected to the insipid banalities of Jimmy
Carter, presumed him to be a deliberately malignant force striving to wreak
horrendous harm on the country. Rather, he was perceived as a naive imbecile
who had merely gotten in over his head after falling into the presidency in
the wake of Nixon, Watergate, and the lackluster administration of Gerald
Ford.
Yet over time Carter continued to degenerate, and especially in recent
years, arrived at a point where he consistently calls good “evil,” and evil
“good.” As a result, he now holds a prominent position as spokesman and
apologist for any vile entity that seeks to justify itself on the basis of
America’s faults. Clearly, at some point Carter crossed over to the “dark
side.”
Sadly, another prominent American is headed down this same path. Nationally
syndicated columnist Cal Thomas, once a beacon of light for mainstream
America, has descended beyond the point of mere ambiguity and confusion. He
can now be counted upon, presumably in the name of offering a “Christian”
perspective, to advance the cause of the counterculture while insidiously
undermining those on the right.
If anything, Cal Thomas has inflicted far more harm in recent years than
that which resulted from Jimmy Carter’s venom, since Thomas fell from a
position of far greater trust. And if his current writings are any
indication, he is determined to take as many as possible with him. Consider,
as one particularly stark example, his July 4 column.
Ostensibly presented as an uplifting piece focusing on American commonality
set against an Independence Day backdrop, Thomas’s narrative quickly
deteriorates into an affront against traditional America, while attempting
to elevate the political left. He begins by taking the kind of swipe at
“talk radio” worthy of Harry Reid, Diane Feinstein, or Nancy Pelosi.
Worse yet, he does so under a completely false pretense (itself a fitting
tactic among liberals) by suggesting that the American Heartland is some
sort of sanctuary, free from the likes of Limbaugh and Hannity, as if the
better part of the country is that which is shielded from them.
In truth, Middle America is the domain of talk radio, with its advocacy of
American values and heritage, and rejection of those who would undermine
such things. Yet Thomas sinks further still, to eventually make a contextual
comparison between the segment of America that embraces talk radio
(apparently meaning the conservative grassroots) and Nazi chieftain Herman
Goering. Pelosi and Reid should be proud.
In his not-so-subtle manner, Thomas thus disparages conservatism and its
ties to the Christian faith which is present on the political scene as a
result of true conservatives in the Republican Party. In contrast, the only
politician who he credits with speaking truth is Illinois Democrat and
presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
While Obama’s assertion, referenced by Thomas, that “religion is not the
exclusive property of conservative Christians” is technically true, the
suggestion that Republicans in general, or conservatives in particular claim
otherwise is itself a vile and patently false accusation.
What conservatives have continually said is that although many Republicans
do not uphold conservative or Christian values, the Democrat Party is, on an
official basis, openly and thoroughly hostile to such things.
It is ludicrous to suggest that a party, which embraces every element of the
counterculture from sexual perversion to the slaughter of the unborn to a
view of “spirituality” that lauds any and every religious concept with the
sole exception of the Christian worldview, can somehow be considered a haven
for devout Christians.
For Thomas to imply as much, even in as indirect of a manner as he does, is
to aid and abet proponents of those ideologies in their efforts to undermine
and destroy the Christian heritage of America.
His timing particularly appalling since Republican “moderate” Rudy Giuliani
is likewise working hard to reach this same conclusion, albeit by
approaching the argument from the opposite end of the political spectrum. If
Thomas helps Giuliani succeed in blurring these lines, the only beneficiary
will be the party of Obama.
Ultimately, Thomas attempts to make a case that religion and patriotism,
from the leftist perspective are on an equal par with that of conservative
America. Yet what he apparently does not recognize, or perhaps does not want
to consider, is that when both high and low standards are accepted on an
equal basis, only the low will prevail.
Such is the morass into which he stumbles, as he tries to denigrate
traditional values by drawing comparisons between them and Nazism. But if
Thomas is going to invoke the words of Herman Goering in order to make his
case, he should check out the eighth chapter of William Shirer’s monumental
work “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.”
There he will find that in their efforts to reorder the German culture,
Goering and his kind were enabled in large part by a “church” that had
gladly abdicated any role in differentiating between such things as
spiritual or unspiritual, patriotic or unpatriotic, and eventually, good or
evil.
Germany’s multifaceted and fractured “church” helped dispel any clear
understanding of Biblical absolutes, whereby the time honored definitions of
faith, patriotism, and even “right and wrong,” had been upheld. In its
place, the Reich stood ready to forcibly substitute its own warped and
poisoned version of such things to a pliable population.
In their attempted defense, the common cry of liberals, now with the help of
such as Thomas, is that government “cannot legislate morality.” But does he
dare deny that, as a result of the legislated efforts of liberals (good
religious patriots all), a climate of immorality and social decay has been
imposed upon America which visits immeasurable suffering on helpless victims
and from which the nation may never recover?
From “hate crimes” (read: thought control) legislation to “sensitivity
training,” to Madalyn Murray O’Hare’s conversion of public schools into
temples of secularism, America now suffers innumerable social plagues, as a
result of mandated and legislated immorality from liberals. And with the
help of people like Cal Thomas, they are aided and abetted by a church
community that is increasingly indifferent and morally confused.
Attempting to make a similar case of left-wing “patriotism” as being no less
legitimate than that of the right, Thomas points to the absence of political
party affiliation on the grave markers at Normandy beach. Again, he
partially speaks the truth, but from an event long separated in time and
spirit from the present.
World War II Democrats would not have tolerated the treasonous denigration
of America or the lauding of its enemies by liberal partisans such as Harry
Reid and Jack Murtha. Nor did the media of that era spend its time working
to minimize American victories while magnifying any errors or gains on the
part of its enemies. Now, both work tirelessly to dispirit American troops
while legitimizing and thus inspiring Islamic terrorists.
Patriotism has not changed. Neither has mainstream America’s concept of it.
But the Democrat party most assuredly has. To suggest that patriotism can
now be defined as everything from traditional flag waving on Memorial Day to
Cindy Sheehan fawning over hostile foreign dictators is to suggest that it
no longer means anything at all. Thus patriotism becomes just another victim
of liberal nihilism.
Cal Thomas can do his worst to demean and lower conservatism in his vain
effort to establish moral equivalency between the left and right. But real
America will never accept it.
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