NO NUANCE II

THE FRENCH LEFTIST NEWSPAPER, LIBERATION, HAS BEEN ACCUSED OF BEING "TOO NUANCED, TOO MUSHY, TOO LIBERAL." NO DOUBT! BEGUN BY THE EXISTENTIALIST, JEAN PAUL SARTRE, IN 1973, IT CARRIED ON THE TRADITION OF ANGST AND ANGER OF THE STUDENT REVOLTS IN FRANCE IN 1968. THE SIXTIES REVOLUTION IN AMERICA SPOUTED A SIMILAR PHILOSOPHY OF COUNTER-CULTURALISM, SOCIAL UPHEAVAL AND DARK, DESTRUCTIVE THINKING. AFRAID OF THE FUTURE AND FIXATED IN THE PAST, LEFTIST LIBERALS - PAST AND PRESENT -EMBRACE FAVORITE CAUSES SUCH AS MARXISM, MAOISM, ANTI- ESTABLISHMENTARIANISM, SOCIAL ENGINEERING, COMMUNISM AND COMMUNES.

IN CONTRAST, UNAWARES IN THE 60'S AND 70'S, I NEVER ENGAGED IN MORAL, POLITICAL OR CULTURAL DISSENT. CONSCIENTIOUS, HARD-WORKING AND MAINSTREAM, I APPROVED OF MUCH MORE IN AMERICA THAN I OBJECTED TO. IN THE 80'S AN, OPTIMIST, RONALD REAGAN, WAS PRESIDENT. I HADN'T FOLLOW HIS LIFE OR CAREER, BUT MILLIONS DID. PRES. REAGAN WASN'T INTIMIDATED BY THE FUTURE OR ITS CHALLENGES; HE REJECTED LIVING IN THE PAST. HE EMBRACED CAPITALISM AND DEMOCRACY AND DREW HIS INSPIRATION FROM THE GOODNESS AND GREATNESS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. NO PERSONAL CREED, SOCIAL OR POLITICAL POLICY OF PRESIDENT REAGAN SMACKED OF NUANCE, MUSHINESS OR LIBERALISM. RATHER HE PREACHED ABOUT 'MORNING IN AMERICA,' WAKING UP TO POSSIBILITIES, NOT PROTESTS. HE NEVER ENVISIONED BLOWING UP THE "SHINING CITY ON A HILL," TO CREATE A BRAVER NEW WORLD. LEFTOVER SYMPATHIZERS OF THE DEBACLE AT THE BASTILLE, WOULD!