Friday, June 18, 2004

WSJ in Wonderland

Nobody who regularly reads the Wall Street Journal can escape noticing how disconnected its news reporting has become from its Opinion Pages. I've often wondered if the reporters ever speak to the people who write the editorials or to the opinion columnists. I think they actually work in separate buildings.

A prime example of this is today's "Wonderland" piece by Daniel Henninger, titled "'Under God' Is the Firm Link To U.S. Security." The WSJ is of course by paid subscription only, but I thought under fair use laws I would post the entire piece here for you to read (pdf).

His concluding paragraph is the crowning achievement of insipid, right-wing, religiously fired nationalism (in the worst meaning possible of that word):

This innocuous little Pledge and its two words, "under God," has become for school children the last link joining national purpose to God -- a union that is this country's best, proven hope for ensuring national strength. When that link is finally broken, the U.S. will start to become, well, France -- smart, sophisticated, agnostic and save for nuclear bombs, inexorably weak. That is one test case I'd as soon not try.

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