I grew up listening to
Paul Harvey, and had been listening to him since I was 11 years old. I can certainly credit Mr. Harvey with instilling in me many of my conservative ideals. During the late 80s, however, it appeared that Mr. Harvey was getting more liberal in his views, and my listening became more and more sporadic. that is, until
Nihilist transcripted a
broadcast Mr. Harvey made yesterday (23 June):
I've been choking on something for weeks. Lets get it, up and get it out, for what it's worth. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Winston Churchill said that the American people, he said the American people he said, and this is a direct quote, "We didn't come this this far because we are made of sugar candy." That was his response to the attack on Pearl Harbor. That we didn't come this far because we are made of sugar candy. And that reminder was taken seriously and we proceeded to develop and deliver the bomb even though roughly 150,000 men, women and children perished in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
With a single blow, World War II was over. NewYork'ss September 11 Pearl Harbor, Winston Churchill was not here to remind us that we didn't come this far because we are made of sugar candy. So following the New York disaster we mustered our humanity, we gave old pals a pass even though men and money from Saudi Arabia were largely responsible for the devastation of New York and Pennsylvania and our Pentagon. We called Saudi Arabia our partners against terrorism and we sent men with rifles into Afghanistan and Iraq and we kept our best weapons in their silos. Even now, we're standing there dying, daring to do nothing decisive because we've declared ourselves to be better than our terrorist enemies, more moral, more civilized. Our image is at stake, we insist.
But we didn't come this far because we are made of sugar candy. Once upon a time we uh, elbowed our way onto and into this continent by giving smallpox infected blankets to Native Americans. Yes, that was biological warfare. And we used every other weapon we could get our hands on to grab this land from whomever and we grew prosperous. And yes, we greased the skids with the sweat of slaves.
And so it goes with most great nation-states, which feeling guilty about their savage pasts, eventually civilize themselves out of business and wind up invaded and ultimately dominated by the lean, hungry, up and coming who are not made of sugar candy.
Paul Harvey - Good Day!
While browsing the site, I listened to
today's broadcast and came along this gem:
American voters can watch themselves these days in the mirror of California. Californians had wearied of politicians; insisting they wanted courageous, hard dollar pragmatists to lead them, a pay-as-you-go statesman for governor. So they found one. And they elected him (laugh) and today his popularity rating is down to 37%--and this relates to that:
The Heritage Foundation has been auditing us, to discover that Americans more than ever before depend on government--depend on government to pay for their education, their health care, and their housing, yet more Americans than ever before pay NO income tax--NONE--ZIP, ZERO-- nada!
Federal spending on education is up 150 percent. Federal spending on health care is up 48%. On housing 27% and yet-- 42.5 million Americans pay NO income tax. Who do? You do!
Mr. Harvey is getting on in years, and is getting only sharper. It will be a true loss to this nation when his voice no longer graces the airwaves.
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