[From article]
Now's the time to reread Melville. This was the Year of the Swindle. Melville's Confidence-Man depicts all the chicanery of cultural and political discourse in the U.S. today. Consider the money quotes from Melville's book alongside the biggest con games played this year.
[. . .]
Think of the middle-American everyman, someone with strong moral values but struggling. Let's call him John. He wants his country to be moral and God-fearing, but he also might need a helping hand from the government despite all his efforts to take care of his family without asking for handouts. He's the one person nobody cares about in politics. Democrats think he's a homophobic bigot, and Republicans don't consider him a "job creator."
[. . .]
Whether it was immigration, Islamophobia, gay marriage, campus rape, racial diversity, or the environment, a similar pattern played out ad nauseam in 2015. John reacts with compassion and concern when he sees suffering. He trusted authorities
[. . .]
John got swindled. If he decides to say to Hell with everyone and vote for Trump, I can't blame him. (I wish he'd vote for Cruz, but by now John probably won't trust anyone in government on anything.)
The rise of Trump has intrigued many people not so much because he reveals anything about the left, but rather because of what he reveals about the sense of betrayal people like John feel about the promises made by the Republican Party.
[. . .]
A few conservatives in Los Angeles, Boston, New York, and Washington control the right-wing media. It seems that every week this cadre unveils another aerobically cross-trained, elite-educated, and telegenic spokesperson, describing the optimistic future that ostensibly awaits us if only we could stop caring about traditional family structures, chastity, and the sanctity of life.
[. . .]
Just pretend you are okay with sodomy and abortion, and this time it will work; all those fiscally-conservative-but-socially-liberal people who've been holding out will rush into the arms of the conservative movement, and singing angels will descend from the heavens.
Perhaps nobody embodied this call for trust, and won our trust, more than Paul Ryan. And we all saw how that budget bill turned out – the biggest "achievement" in his early months as the supposed "Tea Party favorite" speaker of the House.
[. . .]
They want high taxes on other people and heightened entitlements for themselves. This deflection of concern and sacrifice coupled with a need for easy social standing is largely why they don't care about the unborn, God's commandments against sin, or the right of children to a mother and father.
[. . .]
Con games depend on illusions and bluffs. [. . .] Trump is not the problem or even a symptom. He's just the whistleblower on a sinking steamboat.
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/12/paging_melvilles_ghost_the_top_swindle_of_2015.html
December 27, 2015
Paging Melville's Ghost: The Top Swindle of 2015
By Robert Oscar Lopez
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