Blindness By Design

Im sorry if Blindness by Design seems to be a rather harsh title for a book. It is one thing to be ignorant another thing entirely to be ignorant by choice, and still another to be selectively ignorant.

I recently listened to the heart-rending story of a young English college student whose jaw was somehow dislocated in the course of a huge yawn during an apparently captivating class lecture at her universitythis young ladys mouth literally stuck in open position. Jay Leno then observed, with his characteristically deep compassion for such individuals, that despite this awful situation, there had been an even more tragic case reported previouslya persons mouth stuck wide open for five long years. Glenn Beck, in Lenos opinion, having been the unfortunate victim.

Oh, that divine Providence might so intervene in our behalf during the Sean Hannity program one of these afternoons. But then, all Mr. Hannity asks is just three hours a day. Three hours of your lifeevery single day. Just sixty hours a month. Just a few thousand hours each decade Wow, how very sad.

On a personal level, I do not really despise Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, or even Rush Limbaugh. As a matter of fact, I believe that they are totally sincere in their belief that we are all on our way to Hell in a hand-basket if things continue as they are. And I even think that they may be correct in their assertion that if things dont change, this nation is in real trouble.

The problem, however, is that what emanates from the mouth of these individuals, and others in the conservative mediathe harsh and incessant criticism of the government of the United Statesis the very reason that we are in such grave trouble. A nation divided against itself cannot stand, said Abraham Lincoln. And he was absolutely right. What our supposedly super-patriotic and ultra-conservative friends do not realize is that their own anti-government rhetoric is perhaps the major element in what is currently dividing our nation against itself.

On the cover page of Blindness by Design, I chose to quote this short passage from the New Testament: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Boisterous anti-IRS Tea Party protests around the nation, venomous anti-government commentaries on conservative talk radio, violent public unions rallies in Wisconsin and Indiana, partisan gridlock and in-fighting over the federal budget issues, continuing U. S. military involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libyadoes anybody see something wrong with this whole scenario, and with the entire direction of so-called conservative thinking in the past ten years? I do, and Im a conservative.

The purpose of Blindness by Design is to suggest that individuals who so loudly proclaim their patriotism these days need to close their mouths for a moment, take a step back, and analyze the effect of what they say on the nation they profess to love. You cant claim to support the U. S. constitution and forever tear down the government that it established. You cant forever promote contention and animosity in American society and still claim to be a patriot.

Blindness by Design also explores the selective blindness of those who, while loudly proclaiming conservative ideals are not only promoting, but actually living by dangerously liberal standards. You cant be blatantly liberal-minded in your attitudes toward military spending and corporate tax incentives and still claim to be a fiscal conservative. You cant be wasteful in your personal or business use of priceless, diminishing national resources and pretend to be living like a conservative. You cant be completely blind to the need to address critical environmental issues and then claim that conservative ideology somehow justifies your ignorance.

In Blindness by Design, you will read about an entirely new conceptthe concept of corporate liberalism, which has spread like a cancer, by