I was strolling through downtown Traverse City Friday night when I stumbled upon a newly erected monument to hypocrisy in the form of an armored truck wrapped in yellow caution tape and parked in front of the State Theatre. It amazed me that a town that owes so much to so many capitalistic entrepreneurs who put so much of their time, sweat, and finances into making a living and providing jobs, and into making Traverse City the vibrant downtown area that it is, and who donate so much to so many causes, including the State Theatre, would accuse those same people of being greedy, deceiving, heartless capitalists. On the marquee was a movie title decrying the evils of the capitalistic system and, I would have to assume, thereby extolling the virtues of socialism.
I recently heard Michael Moore, the creator of the so called documentary being shown inside the theatre, explaining to a reporter in the most convoluted, illogical manner imaginable, how he, although he has made millions in a country he seems to despise, is not a capitalist. Michael explained that he had made his money in spite of capitalism not because of it, and suggested that if only we had had a big socialist government taking the money of other citizens and doling it out to people like him, it would have been much easier for him and others like him. In the meantime, the brown lipped Michael Moore sycophants living in this area, applaud him as he shovels his millions into that same armored truck and drives it off to his million dollar getaway in northern Michigan where he stuffs his face with popcorn and Coke (both, of course, products of capitalism), while watching his favorite movie, Das Leben der Anderen which documents how wonderful life would be for actors and producers like him in a socialist utopia like the former East Germany.
I, for one, am tired of listening to hypocritical Hollywood elitists like Michael Moore, preach their “do as I say, not as I do” sermons day after day. When Michael Moore sells his million dollar homes and buys a 1500 square foot house in Grawn, resolves to live on $30 to $35 thousand a year like the rest of us, and gives the remaining millions to his beloved government to be redistributed to those of us who don’t have as much as he does, then maybe I will listen to him.
I am tired of listening to movie stars and entertainers preach to us about global warming and saving the planet while they maintain several multimillion dollar mansions, each of which consumes five times the energy that my house does, arrive at the Oscars in gas guzzling limos, jet from left coast to east coast weekly to appear on government controlled network shows, and vacation at energy gobbling, exclusive resorts and on personal yachts.
I am tired of celebrities who degrade and belittle our country and of a president who spends a great deal of time traveling around the world apologizing for the evils of his nation, when he lives in the most benevolent, caring country the world has ever known. I tremble to think what this world would be like today if the United States had never existed. I can, with certainty, guarantee that the entire world would currently be living under the swastika or the red star today if it had not been for the United States and the sacrifices of tens of thousands of its sons and daughters who gave their lives to protect the world from despotism and to preserve freedom for millions. Instead of hating and envying us, the nations of the world ought to get down on their knees daily and thank God that He, out of his grace, created a nation like the United States.
And I am tired of intellectual elitists and politicians who despise our constitution, and decry the fact that, as President Obama has said, it is too much a document which defines what the government cannot do to you rather than what it can do to you. These people daily tear away a little piece of that document that cost so many so much to create and preserve, and replace it with ever expanding government bureaucracy and regulation. In the not too distant future they will tear away the last remaining piece, and we will awaken, too late, to find that we are no longer a free people.
Unfortunately we have a large number of zombie eyed pseudo intellectuals in Traverse City, who have compromised their integrity in order to hobnob with the Hollywood elitists, and as a result, we have to put up with the kind of twisted left coast logic that thinks that there’s nothing wrong with Roman Polanski raping a 13 year old girl and with the kind of lunacy which the Hollywood crowd brings to us and which we see currently on display downtown. The State Theatre and Michael Moore may have been a boon to Traverse City, but I for one, think we would all be much better off if he took his fawning, zombie eyed pseudo intellectual wannabes off to Cuba where they can all live in eternal socialist bliss while enjoying the best health care in the world and leave the rest of us to fumble along in our out of vogue capitalistic ways. Oh, and I hope the police ticket his illegally parked armored truck. That way, the city can at least get a little return on what the film festival costs us.
Gary Roush
Traverse City, MI
