We no longer share even a rudimentary understanding of what makes this country “America” and what makes us “American.” In other words, we’ve collectively lost a substantive sense of what differentiates America from all other countries, and perhaps more importantly, what differentiates Americans from all other peoples.

Placing the state in charge of moral principles is equivalent to putting the proverbial fox in charge of the chicken coop.

Will Starbucks Illinois certify that its coffee will not cause cancer – contrary to the California finding that coffee is a probable carcinogen, and a judge’s ruling that Starbucks must post warnings on its cups?

It is tragically ironic that in America, cradle of freedom, we are losing the most precious freedom of all, that of the mind – specifically, the freedom of the mind to amble through concrete reality and engage in purely original thought. In times not long ago we got hints of that reality from artists and writers and professionals in every field who explored the world beyond labels and symbols and gave us direct and helpful insight into the amazing world we inhabit. But today even artists can’t raise themselves above the fences of labels and symbols that enclose their minds.

The drift from reality in so many young minds today – thanks to the progressive dismantling of intelligence in the public schools – must halt if living in a civilized society still means anything at all.

How often do we actually use our own eyes and ears and individual powers of observation? How many think for themselves? True, a great many are either “up to here” in work, too disinclined to think, or boxed in some ideology to think freely for themselves. Yet, without the immensely useful faculty of having a mind as well as a heart, people too easily become agents and playthings of unprincipled leaders.

Wonderland may have been a mind-expanding experience for Alice but when she returned from her adventures she didn’t start calling a spade a club. Analysts, journalists, artists and other professionals, who don’t look at things as they are but pursue a “message” that isn’t there, are apt to invent curious substitutes for reality and engage in curious symbols and interpretations that in fact interfere with communication.