Commentary An Open Letter to Democrats

Source: Wall Street Journal

Date: Thursday, November 30, 2000

Commentary An Open Letter to Democrats By Dennis Prager. Mr. Prager hosts a national daily radio show based in Los Angeles and is a director of Empower America. He is author of "Happiness Is a Serious Problem" (Harper Collins, 1998). You finally made a big mistake. You probably never thought you would live to see middle America and mainstream Republicans galvanized to resist your ongoing takeover of America. But like other power-hungry groups in history, you didn't know when to hold back. Your party and its standard bearer, Al Gore, have attempted to thwart an election not in the quiet of the night (as in 1960) but in daylight, before the cameras of the world. And finally we have begun to resist. Most of us have never attended a political demonstration. Most of us are not particularly political, preferring work, family, sports, and communal associations to political activism. But now we are angry. By golly, even Bob Dole is angry. Republicans are actually organizing demonstrations. Such activism is so rare that "conservative activist" is an oxymoron. But for the time being you have changed that. Call it the Chad Revolt. In fact, it is thanks to your changing ballot-counting rules, your emphasis on hand counts in only those Florida districts you dominate, your invalidation of military ballots, your sending of Jesse Jackson to rouse race-based anger and of Alan Dershowitz to smear Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, that many of us have decided, finally, to fight back. We have watched in silence as you have undermined our children's schools, taking more and more money to pay for union members who teach our children less and less. We have watched in silence as you have taken over our once-great universities, as you have substituted political correctness for pursuit of truth. We have watched radical students in university after university shout down the few conservatives ever invited to speak on campus -- while liberal college presidents and deans defend this censorship of speech. We have watched in silence as the fires of racial hatred and anger have been repeatedly stoked by "civil rights leaders" such as Al Sharpton and Kweisi Mfume. Most recently we saw the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People run an ad on American television associating George W. Bush with the lynching of James Byrd. This ad was perhaps the most venomous political ad ever shown on American television, yet no liberal or Democrat offered a condemnation. We have watched in silence as organization after organization has been taken over by liberal and Democratic activists -- from the American Bar Association, to the League of Women Voters, to the American Library Association, to the American Psychological Association, and on to virtually every academic association. We have watched in silence as you attempt to destroy the Boy Scouts, one of the only groups helping boys, especially inner-city boys who have no other constructive outlet for their energies. We have watched in silence as you have made war on the "masculinist" culture of the military, leaving a demoralized and less effective military in the wake of your social experimentation. We have watched in silence as you've taken over children's courts and the ranks of social workers. Many of these people believe that children are better off with no parents than with parents of a different race. They believe that children should almost always be given back to blood-related parents, even those who horribly abuse them. We have watched in silence as trial lawyers take over more and more of American life, leaving citizens prey to lawsuits they cannot defend themselves against. We watch them dominate the Democratic Party, and we watch them become judges who substitute their wills for the democratic process. We have watched in silence as the White House and its sacred rooms have been put up for sale to Democratic party donors and Hollywood stars, as the presidency has been degraded to the point where young people could ask the president of the U.S. on national television what type of underpants he wears. We watched Bill Clinton respond to that question. Likewise, we watched Mr. Gore attempt to demonstrate to the nation that a prolonged and probing kiss before a large national audience somehow dignifies the office of president. We have watched in silence as the leading news media have become indistinguishable from liberal spokespeople, to the extent that NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw actually said "we are ahead" when speaking about Democratic electoral gains on election night. We have watched in silence as the Democratic Party has relied on fomenting anger among Americans for its victories. The more that blacks are angry at whites, the more they vote Democrat. The more that Jews fear Christians, the more they vote Democrat. And the more women distrust men, the more they vote Democrat. Given all this silence in the face of your attempt to control America, it is no wonder you thought you could litigate your way to the presidency. And maybe you could. But lo and behold, the rest of us are beginning to fight. Not enough yet to take back the schools or the courts or the professional organizations or the news media. But enough to let you know that we are out here. Yes, that large block of America between New York and California that in your hearts you believe to be racist, bigoted, anti-Semitic, homophobic and misogynist, is fighting back. You think that way because, in your arrogance, you confuse liberal with decent. But tens of millions of us have a different view of liberal -- as increasingly nihilist. And now, thanks to Mr. Gore not having the decency to do what Richard Nixon did 40 years ago, much of America might still find you frightening, but they no longer find you intimidating. Thankfully for America, you made a big mistake.