Must Everything — Everything? — Be Politicized Nowadays??

When, exactly, did every ridiculous little aspect of our lives become a “political” issue?

I can’t be the only  one who remembers a time when the government didn’t care if I wore a bike helmet, or ate a bag of chips.  In fact, we had a lot of latitude before political activism came and spoiled the fun.

There was a time when you could order a chicken dinner, without it being a political statement, or when pro sports were just interested in how well you played the game.

There was a time when a lemonade stand could be a kid’s first business venture, without some bureaucratic rules-lawyer killing that dream with zoning laws.

Maybe you can remember when a scout’s biggest worry was poison ivy, not political indoctrination. That was back before boy scouts (Canada) became co-ed and girl scouts (USA) supported Planned Parenthood.

Do you remember a time when useful products weren’t outlawed on the basis of contested health studies — BPA, for instance?

Do you remember a time when we weren’t drowning in fine print and waivers?  A time when people could tell a joke — even an off-colour one — without offending someone?  Did people just have a better sense of humor back then?  Were they less uptight?

Have we really come to a place where a 26 year old gold medallist with a wife and kid has an “alternative lifestyle”?

It wasn’t that long ago when some feared religious people holding government positions, because it was alleged that they “wanted to control everything”.  The worry was that they would “cram the Bible down our throats”, and curtail everyone’s freedoms.  They would meddle in people’s lives where they had no business doing so.

People obviously believed the hype.  Those with known religious convictions (unless decidedly “liberal”) were increasingly edged out of influential positions.

Whatever the underlying causes, the paradigm shift has taken place, and people hostile to the earlier conservative and/or religious convictions have taken the reigns.

What was that accusation, again?  Oh, yes.  “If you let those crazy Christians into government, they’ll create a Theocracy!”

This alleged Theocracy would be a Bad Thing, as the story goes, because they would insist on controlling every detail of your personal life.  They would (gasp!) moralize, and finger-wag!  Imagine the horror!

In one sphere of society after another, agents hostile to traditional values have used tried-and-true tactics to gain an upper hand.

What were their strategies?  Surely you’ve seen them in action:

Don’t try to win the argument, it’s better to just discredit the person you’re arguing with, and win by default…  Emotional appeal, sarcasm, and innuendo are always better than honest debate…  Have a TV panel of three guests dog-pile on one token conservative, so their view seems foolish and minority… Shout them down… Call them fascists…  Claim religious convictions invalidate their argument… Play the victim card! Don’t worry about “playing fair”… Tactics don’t matter so long as you win.

But then came the bait-and-switch. Our “liberators” started to dictate things — lots of things.  The meddling and scheming they had long accused others of became their primary means of remaking the world in their image.

Every time these guys raise an issue, they dress it in political clothing.  Why?  Because political problems will always require a political solution.

Observe: In 1969, Canadian sodomy laws were stuck down on the grounds that (and I quote) “There’s no place for the State in the bedrooms of the nation.”  Since nobody was actually enforcing those laws anyway, that seemed a reasonable response. Fast forward 40 some-odd years, to when foreign policy is being decided based on American opinion of ANOTHER nation’s domestic policies concerning what may or may not happen in the bedrooms of THOSE nations.

See what just happened?  See how quickly we went from “don’t force your values on me” to demanding that other countries comply to values they do not hold?  Just a little bit hypocritical, hmmm?  Their own buzzword for such action is “Imperialistic”.

It isn’t just sex, either.  Every issue is potentially political. From food labeling and health care to leisure pursuits, education, and it extends over a whole range of various products and services.  It goes right down to our supposed freedom of speech, whether on the sports field (NFL) or even what language your company’s Facebook page can be written in.

Once an issue is made political, you have adequate pretext for two things.

First, you can shut down most opposition with the convenient — albeit inaccurate — “separation of Church and State” mantra.  (This allows the next step to proceed unopposed.)  Next, they claim that this “political” issue will require a political solution.

(Everything is political for these guys.  Politics IS their religion, and it’s a religion that will tolerate no rivals.)

This means legislation, control, bigger government, and ultimately, forced compliance for their version of the Utopian Dream.

Curiously, however, this Utopia is always “just over that next hill”.  You know, it’s the hill where their next rival is making a stand.  

There will always be a scapegoat. There will always be a victim.  It’s part of the formula they use. Then, once the dust settles, there will always, ALWAYS, be that much more power concentrated in the hands of those who crave it most.

You know those freedoms conservatives and Christians keep defending?

You don’t really need those, they’ll only slow down the “progress”.  

Forward, Comrade! Forward!

Image: Courtesy of: http://blogs.plos.org/globalhealth/2013/11/jojewell2/