RECENT POSTS
- This Flu Kills
August 29, 2009 - Serious Doubts on Healthcare
August 27, 2009 - Ted Kennedy Dies
August 26, 2009 - Two and a Half Men: The Return of the Sitcom
August 24, 2009 - MJ's FBI File
August 24, 2009 - How Youth Make a Difference
August 22, 2009 - Hurricane Katrina Four-Year Anniversary: Have We Done Enough?
August 21, 2009 - Bringing Guns to Obama Town Halls
August 19, 2009
E-mail a friendYOUNG VOICES
Peggy Noonan's Patriotic Grace
On Friday's program, Peggy Noonan reminded us why she's one of the most important conservative voices in American politics today. The former Reagan staffer and speechwriter to George Bush, Sr. is a Republican at heart, but she is by no means a supporter of the kind of dirty politics we've seen popping up in the McCain-Palin campaign ever more frequently in the last few weeks. Whatever your feelings about Barack Obama and Sarah Palin, it's incredibly important for Republicans to speak out against the totally unfounded personal attacks that have recently become the mainstay of Republican rallies. While Noonan didn't discuss this specifically, her words about patriotism speak to a higher ideal than is present in most of those feverish, chanting mobs.
Despite this, however, you have to wonder if Noonan isn't being just a bit naïve in her expectations of politicians. What our leaders need, according to Noonan, is “candor, honesty and seriousness.” Hmm. Well, yeah, of course our politicians should ideally be honest, but isn't that a bit too much to ask? Maybe it's just my personal opinion, but it seems like politics and honesty are about as compatible as a piranha and a tank full of goldfish.
“If you are honest with people about the causes of something,” said Noonan on Friday, “If you make an honest diagnosis, then people will understand… okay you're thinking clearly, maybe you can help us through this.” That is very true, and I would certainly like to live in a place where that kind of politics exists, but if it ever did in America, those days are long gone. No matter who the candidate is, or what party they're backed by, the emphasis is always on selling an agenda. Honesty rarely enters into it most of the time.
Perhaps the most important moment of the discussion came during her and Tavis' exchange on Obama's refusal to wear an American flag pin on his lapel. “Any cynic can wear a pin and many cynics do,” she said.
For more of Peggy Noonan's thoughts on patriotism and politics, check out her new book Patriotic Grace: What It Is and Why We Need It Now.