The Real And Presnet Danger Of The 'Joy Campaign'

In 1949 songwriters Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein faced a dilemma. 

They needed a cheerful song for a show (South Pacific) that told a not altogether cheerful story. It took place during World War II in the Pacific and involved the loss of young lives, the abandonment of innocence, racism, star-crossed love and death. Heavy stuff!

Obviously, somewhere the audience would need a respite -- a moment of buoyancy, if not outright merriment. After all, this was a Broadway musical. And so, the moment, and the song came at the top of the second act. It went like this:

Happy talkin' talkin', happy talk
Talk about things you'd like to do
You've got to have a dream
If you don't have a dream
How you gonna make a dream come true.

In the name of 'joy,' the Democrats are selling happy talk, pure and simple. They're selling a fantasy world -- a dreamland in which everything is fine, happy and joyful so long as you keep dreaming that it is. 

But if you should wake up, you'll find the reality: we're now living in a world characterized by the menace of foreign wars, diminished real income, growing unemployment, chronic inflation, deteriorating cities, a foreign invasion of unwelcome intruders, rising crime, mass indoctrination, immorality, perversity and the deconstruction of the pillars that once held our society together.

It's a frightening scenario -- one that, as America weakens, even makes the possibility of World War III all too real.

Who wouldn't want to escape from this world and stroll into a sweet, somnambular state? That's the temptation of the Democrats' frothy offering.

But be forewarned -- you'll embrace such a state at your own peril. This is no Broadway musical. This is real life. 

There is no second act frivolity and no guarantee of a tidy, happy ending.

So, you damned well better snap out of it, America. 

And lest you be further seduced by the DNC's joy campaign and all their vapid happy talk, we suggest you take a trip to the nearby supermarket or gas station or shopping center. Open your eyes and ears (as well as your monthly utility, mortgage and credit card bills) and pay attention to what's happening in our schools, our community centers, our neighborhoods and our downtowns. Take note of the condition not just of our infrastructure but our inner structure -- the shared values that once bonded us: faith, family, fortitude and freedom.

The hour is late.

This is no time for solitary slumber. We must act together to save the land we love. And we can start, not with happy talk but with a tune full of the sort of resolve that rededicates us to American strength, pride and exceptionalism:

This is my country, land of my birth.
This is my country, grandest on earth.
I pledge thee my allegiance, America, the bold.
For this is my country, to have and to hold!