Obama's America: a state of anomie

  This morning we wake to learn there have been numerous incidents of Black Friday violence around the country, much of it in Walmarts.
  A $2 wafflemaker inspires a crowd to go nuts, ripping and shouting.
  A woman sprays pepper spray at the crowd in a fit of "competitive shopping."
  A robber shoots a man who won't surrender his purchases.
  A grandfather is slammed to the ground in an overreaction (it appears at this point) to the charge of theft.
  And the crime wasn't only in "Walmart" parts of towns. 
  In an upscale neighborhood in New York, the Hollister store was broken into by an angry mob who didn't realize the store wasn't opening early. 
  After breaking in, the mob shoplifted numerous items in a "leisurely" manner, leaving before the cops could get there.
  Granted, the economy is difficult right now, particularly since so many job opportunities have been damaged by the current administration.
  But we might wonder if there is something else at work here.
  The entitlement mentality that has pervaded and been encouraged by the current political group in office certainly has contributed to a general feeling of malaise, greed and selfishness.
  What has the administration done to foster this mentality?
  Instead of "Morning in America," it's "Animus in America."
  We hate others. We hate what they have. We hate their possessions. We hate our "enemies," who have more than we have, don't see things our way or generally are happy with their lives without "helping" us out personally and financially.
  It is, Americans are told, their right to want what is not theirs.
  It is, Americans are told, their right to be angry and upset with the way things are.
  It is, Americans are told, their right to grab a pitchfork and march to someone's house to chant, cultlike, our unhappiness.
  Obama gives address after address, giving one glum, sour, resentful appearnace after another. "Times are bad," he says, and then goes on to blame Bush repeatedly. We are our brother's keeper, he says, and he though he doesn't financially support his own family members, he wants to "spread the wealth around" from you to whomever he feels appropriate. Often, the appropriate recipients are Democrats, oddly.
  He gave your wealth, that is, the fruit of your labors, to someone like this woman. Remember her?
< Peggy Joseph synopsizes the problem.
  He promised so much and now she's disappointed. Oh, he indeed delivered a great deal to the Peggy Josephs of the world.
  The problem is, with people like this, it's never enough.
  They aren't self sustaining, they aren't hard working and they aren't about to take responsibility for their lives at this late date. They've been taught, both by generations of dependency and by the government, that the only way to get what you want is government handouts.
At that, Obama has excelled. 
  Then we have this woman, a 34 year old mother of four children and Harrisburg occupier who felt the need to, juvenile as it may seem, paint her face as a zombie and walk the malls, moaning and staring at shiny window merchandise in an effort, apparently, to discourage materialism. Or something.

photo by Donald Gilliland  The Patriot-News

  What do you suppose goes through this 30 year old mother's mind as she paints a blood slash across her face in preparation to stalk happy grandmothers and babies at the mall? 

  Does she giggle at the prospect of frightening the grandmother? 
  More importantly, does she actually think this activity gives her life meaning?
  She is an example of the great spiritual vacuum that exists in this country. 
  Trying to fill Pascal's "God shaped space" in their hearts, they supplanted a creator with a flawed, egotistical, narcissistic individual who loves no one but himself.
  Consequently we find ourselves living in anomie. The cultural rules and laws are breaking down; the occupiers have done exactly what the progressives have nurtured. 
  Though they claim anti-materialism, they are the most materialistic and greedy of all, by making it acceptable to take anything they want without paying, to steal, to whine, to break laws, to exhibit the behavior of bad dreams, unthinkable in days past.

  This is Obama's America.

  Let's make no JFK comparisons.

  This is Obama's America.