Why a surprising number of true Conservatives applaud Jon Stewart for exposing Fox news hidden agenda. Churchill would condemn the ostrich-like ignorance fostered by Fox, Sarah Palin, Donald Trump, the birthers and especially the distorters of the second amendment.

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Why a surprising number of true Conservatives applaud Jon Stewart for exposing Fox news hidden agenda

The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is.

With integrity, nothing else counts. Without integrity, nothing else counts

- Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill, the conservative rock of  ages, was conservative when it counted the most: with the truth. No matter how painful, Churchill told his countrymen (and the world)   to wake up: stop fooling yourselves, the wolf is at your door.  Rome fell through ignorance, do you want the same? Only an informed, energized citizenry end a storm.  Take arms to oppose outrageous ignorance, and by opposing, end the sea of troubles. Churchill never sugar coated. He never surrendered. His blood, sweat and tears  inspired a vision for victory, so that government by people need not perish.

So what would Churchill say about so-called "pseudo-conservative" news outlets like Fox news? Without hesitation, he would denounce them as the enemies of democracy. Deliberate ignorance lay waste to civilizations. Sophists destroyed Greece. Decadence and sloppiness destroyed Rome. Similarly, Fox-lead assaults on reason may end the Pax Americana.

Jefferson, agreed. "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." -- 

Klingons would tell Fox more forcefully:  "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, prepare to die."

So now Fox news has admitted to Jon Stewart what everybody knew all along. Fox has no interest in being fair, or balanced, or even the news. During an interview with Jon Stewart, Chris Wallace finally admitted that people can hear "the other side" on other channels. "The other side" he apparently means the persons who base their news on science, facts, and balance. Stewart pointed out that millions of very "misinformed" people who watch Fox News are able to have their prejudices validated, and can listen to what they wish was truth- but in fact is not. These persons think they're watching an objective news network. They listen to people like Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, Donald Trump and Glenn Beck and think they're viewing reality. Instead, they are getting wishful distortions bearing resemblance to the bygone Archie Bunker era. In an astounding admission of Fox's true agenda, Wallace said "I think we're the counterweight. I think that they have a liberal agenda, and I think we tell the other side of the story." Incredible! Fox abandon's its pretense of being "fair and balanced." Fox news exists of, by and for the corporations, specifically to counter the effect of science and education.

In the long history of the world, false fox-like conservative cultures have resisted the advance of knowledge. Evolution has been and remains anathema for many of Fox-style conservatives, even after decades of science, even after the scopes trials, unacceptable. Fox-like commentators deride the overwhelming fact of global climate change, the limits of oil-based economy, and even the usefulness of vaccines.

Was Leonard Pitts right in declaring that Fox was leading "America's secession from objective reality?"  

So it appears conservatives are divided into two camps: the Churchillian, hard-nosed, fact based, historical and scientific conservatives, who carefully conserve an promotes facts, and the Foxnews-based anti-scientific conservative pretenders, who destroy democracy by promoting wishful thinking and Ostrach-head in the sand philosophy.

Examples:

-       Americans may find Sarah Palin a sugary candy-coated candidate that promises a new America ascendancy based on blind faith and a rejection of facts. The answer to the oil crisis? Drill baby drill! Despite the known fact that America does not have a supply of oil that could nearly meet our needs. A bit of pixy dust would be more effective.

-       "What man or mouse with a fully functioning human brain and a resume as thin as Palin's would flirt with a presidential run?" Realist conservative Joe Scarborough asks. The founders of the American conservative movement, Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, must be rolling over in their graves.  

-       Donald Trump? His idea of solving the oil crisis is to just tell the middle east and China that "listen, your day is over." Really? That certainly sounds like the empty rhetoric Chamberlein approach. Did Trump base this policy based on the same "fact finders" who were finding "unbelievable" data in Hawaii on Obama's birth certificate?

-       Second Amendment? Fox commentators have opposed even the most reasonable steps to stop  Al-Qaeda  from exerting the right to bear arms in the United States.

  "The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers." --What would Jefferson say about citizens misinformed by the Fox faux news? Mr Gore said: "Winston Churchill aroused this nation in heroic fashion to save civilisation in World War Two. We have everything we need except political will, but political will is a renewable resource."

Palen, Trump and Fox are the opposite of a Churchillian true-heart Conservative. I have no doubt that Churchill would today look history and destiny in the face, and tell the world that if we want to survive, we must wake from our slumber and fight. We must fight for our world on the beaches, and in the artic, and on the sands. We must never surrender!

Would Churchill find a common bond with Jon Stewart? Surpisingly, I believe he would. Labels like conservative and liberal have gotten confused. What cannot be confused is the realists versus the persons who slumber.

Stewart sounds an alarm, as once did Winston Churchill, "The era of procrastination, is coming to a close. We are entering a period of consequences." Our heads must come out of the sand, or our children will amazedly wonder why America slept as the coming storm darkened the sky. Unbridled, unregulated, swindling, corrupted, anarchy Fox news-type media has strangled itself. Only a return to real democracy and a commitment to moral values and advancement of the middle class can save it.

Bluntly, can Foxian faux-conservatives save themselves? If we fail to inform our citizens, we face not just a new Great depression. We are looking at a new Dark ages. Given the vast expansion of humankind, a new Dark ages may be far darker than anything in history. If we don't wake up, humankind could go the way of the dinosaur.

Have we learned anything in the 15-odd centuries since the fall of Rome? This is not a time for sunshine patriots. Now, the right and the left must unite for love of our country. In ten years, let's not wonder why America Slept. Instead, this can and will be America's finest hour. Stewart's prescriptions- a return to democracy, morality, and decorum, with a premium on real discourse- make eminent sense. Frankly, we don't have any choice but to face the coming storm now.

Imperial Rome probably would have thrown nettlesome soothsayer Jon Stewart to a lion. Let's hope America doesn't make this mistake. Stewart is a genuine comic-philosopher king, and within roars the heart of a Churchill.

Authors Bio:
James J. Murtagh, Jr. is a doctor of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine, and the Medical Director of several sleep laboratories in Southern Ohio. Dr. Murtagh extensively writes on medical ethics. Dr. Murtagh is the founder of a new company launched August 3, 2011 to promote innovative methods to treat sleep disorders. Dr. Murtagh maintains a consulting service with Georgians for Justice to advocate for dignity and respect for all healthcare workers and patients, and to protect electronic privacy.