Monday, September 23, 2019

PBS primes young viewers for the upcoming elections with "Prohibition"





Right down to the last stunning image, where the superimposed copy reads “by viewers like you,” PBS has gone all out with its production, “Prohibition.”

Created by the revered Ken Burns (with Lynn Novick), narrated by the left’s darling, Peter Coyote, this is a spectacular exposition of American history, from the causes leading up to the Volstead Act to its repeal and the unintended consequences thereof.


As we would expect, “Prohibition” is lavish with compelling photos & footage and voices represented by elite big-name actors. The script, and Coyote’s reading of it, is powerfully and deeply manipulative emotionally.

We are led from the horrible alcoholism that gripped the nation, to the sincere and well-meaning efforts and movements which arose trying to battle the scourge. We watch sincere, driven crusaders lay their lives and reputations on the line, sacrificing and striving courageously until they actually succeed in convincing the country to address the crisis.

Then, we witness the crucially tragic attempt to legislate the problem away by means of an actual Constitutional amendment, and the sad cascade of “unintended consequences”—a tsunami of crime and death.  This part is grindingly thorough and completely honest.

As the law becomes a joke everyone is in on, a political movement even more aggressive and intense than the "dry" one arises, and, on the promise of repealing the hated amendment, FDR is swept into the Presidency.  The triumph in Coyote’s voice is palpable.

We see the heartbroken clergy and statesmen and women--who so dearly wanted to save us from alcohol and its associated evils--crestfallen, defeated, and discredited.

To the infamous tune of “Happy Days Are Here Again,” we celebrate the “liberation” of our society and watch our national descent into libertinism as though it were a virtual renaissance of the culture.  In the usually ignored darkest sense, it was.  Just like the 18th century movement away from God, taught to us in state schools as “The Age of Enlightenment,” the ensuing era was an all-out, nation-wide spree of hedonism.

FDR, always lionized by the left elite, brought us an era of ever-expanding government, crucial changes in the banking system, growing dependence on government, and the concomitant, eternal tax and debt burden, making him a hero to the suffering working class. Had death not taken him, who knows how long he might have reigned as Father of the new socialist state?

The film is a monumentally successful expose' of why prohibition of sin does not and can not succeed.

The tablets no sooner came down from the mountain than they were shattered.

No legislation is effective against the desires of the flesh.

It is no accident this film has been released leading up to the next season of elections.
If the effort to lower the voting age succeeds, the Demonrats will be carried to victory by a landslide of adolescent self-indulgence triggered by the single plank of the national legalization of marijuana.

If the Republican'ts hold their “moral” ground on this single issue, and fail to also get behind the inevitable, we’re doomed to the final step toward totalitarian socialism.

2 comments:

  1. Welcome back! Your well thought out and written pieces always edify (or at least inform and entertain). A little more on "the inevitable" would be appreciated.

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    Replies
    1. The reference was to the inevitability of the national legalization of marijuana. Just as with the prohibition of alcohol, the unenforceability of the ban on cannabis has resulted in harsh consequences and illegal activity. The number of states where it has been "legalized" has increased along with public demand nationwide, creating pressure within the federal government to abandon its prohibition.
      Sooner or later, in spite of law enforcement agencies' opposition, and to the chagrin of moralists (like Christians), the ban will fall to popular will.
      Standing firm on this issue is sure to result in losses for candidates who insist on holding the line, causing many more important issues to be sacrificed to the tide of liberalism.
      Getting on the popular side of this might forestall some of that.

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