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Feb. 8, 2010 The other day I watched Sarah Palin's rapturously received speech at the Tea party convention on C Span. It appears that the empress of conservatism has been crowned. Hooray and Lah dee dah! But it also appears that the empress has no clothes. Sure, she told the tea party audience and conservatives who watched the speech on television everything they wanted to hear. Let's take America back- let's fight Obama's "socialism." Let's make government smaller, reduce taxes, "protect" the unborn and turn America into the great nation it supposedly was in the past and restore "freedom" to this great nation. It was all so stirring, so seductive to conservatives. But let's examine what all this really means.Is Palin really going to improve the economy, create jobs, make government smaller, promote general prosperity, restore our "freedom"(as if Obama has actually stolen it), and stop abortion once and for all? And more importantly,does she really have the intellectual depth and strength for the job of the Presidency, since many conservatives would like to see her become America's first woman President? I think not. She's all talk and no substance. She's aiming at pie-in-the sky. Take abortion. Is she really naive enough to think that no women will have abortions if Roev Wade is reversed? How will the government enforce the law if abortion becomes illegal again? How will we stop back-alley abortionists from doing a brisk business, as they did before Roe v Wade? And also risking the lives and health of pregnant women who seek illegal abortions. Will the government appoint a force of thousands and thousands of anti-abortion agents scouring every corner of the USA 24/7 to make sure no abortions happen? Is this realistic? In fact, this sounds more like Orwell's 1984 than the "free" America Palin claims to want. And if taxes are greatly reduced, how will the government be able to prevent even greater poverty among poor pregnant women which exists today, and therefore more abortions? But noooo- our government isn't supposed to hand out money to the poor-that's socialism, and we don't want that here, do we? This is typical of Palin, and American conservatives in general. They don't really want to help the poor, but they expect poor women to give birth to children even if they don't have the means to provide decent care for them. They want it both ways. Yes, they talk about adopting poor children, but that's not a realistic solution to the abortion problem. Palin and conservatives in general still delude themselves into thinking that prosperity will "trickle down" miraculously if we just reduce taxes and make government "smaller". Yes, to be worried about government waste,extravagance and ineficciency is absolutely legitimate. But you don't solve all our economic problems by weakening or destroying the safety net for the unfortunate, as conservatives would have the government do.
That's why this Empress has no clothes.
A former free lance French hornist who has performed with numerous orchestras, opera companies, concert bands and chamber music ensembles. Also a former substitute music teacher at varous public schools. Has served as music critic for student newspapers at Queens college and Hofstra university and currently involved in music appreciation programs for people with diabilities and the elderly and infirm. Has performed in Italwy, Australia, Switzerland, New Zealand, Fiji and Samoa.
Classical music blog The Horn, at blogiversity.org. Discusses all aspects of classical music, orchestral, operatic, chamber music etc, music history, theory, current events, composers, conductors, instrumentalists, singers etc, and much more.
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