July 9, 2016

The Gong Show Election of 2016

Many of those reading this article remember The Gong Show. It ran on NBC from June 1976 to July 1978 and briefly reprised in the 1980s. It featured amateur talent, much of it rendering absurd humor. Three judges awarded ridiculous prizes to the least deplorable performance. Ironically, The Gong Show was in some ways an unintended reflection of an era of uncertainty in America at the time.

Many of those reading this article remember The Gong Show. It ran on NBC from June 1976 to July 1978 and briefly reprised in the 1980s. It featured amateur talent, much of it rendering absurd humor. Three judges awarded ridiculous prizes to the least deplorable performance.

Ironically, The Gong Show was in some ways an unintended reflection of an era of uncertainty in America at the time.

In August 1974, President Gerald Ford declared the end of “our nation’s long national nightmare” after pardoning President Richard Nixon for his role in the Watergate Scandal fostered by Nixon’s paranoia over leaks during the latter phase of the Vietnam War. In April 1975, a massive North Vietnamese offensive performed the coup de gras for the Saigon regime birthed by Washington in 1955 and sustained through two decades of bloody civil war then relinquished like some prodigal child no longer deserving of forbearance. An Arab oil embargo in the wake of Washington’s support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War of October 1973 had tripled the cost of gasoline. By the late 1970s gas rationing and long lines at filling stations were part of the motoring scene. American-made automobiles were by 1978 smaller, less powerful, more expensive, and shoddily built. President Jimmy Carter advised the people to embrace limited expectations. It would be 1980 before Ronald Reagan rallied the country and the sun began to rise once more on American exceptionalism.

In 2016, unless the Democratic Party and the Republican Party conventions experience a few moments of temporary sanity, the electorate will be choosing between candidates with political acumen best suited for The Gong Show: a bumptious billionaire whose political rhetoric consists of name calling and a woman whose infamous claims to policy experience include blaming a video for the tragedy at Benghazi in September 2011. This year’s election will place an exclamation point on the end of American exceptionalism.

History, or what passes for it in this postmodern 21st century America, should mark 2016 as America’s “dimmest hour.” A year marked by the triumph of political asininity. How this nation, one that two generations ago led the world to triumph over demonic fascism in Europe and a cruel imperialism in Asia, then closed out the twentieth century with the dismantling of the Soviet Union’s evil empire, came to this point is something that should bring sane people to their knees.

Those few Americans who are still inclined to hit their knees in humble supplication to what hopefully remains a merciful God need to do so. Pray that by some miracle a leader will emerge over this summer. Someone with a strategic vision born of a grasp of history and stoked with faith in the Almighty God who blessed this country with resources and with citizens who struggled — sometimes gave their lives — to secure the blood-bought blessings of liberty and freedom. If so, as was the case in January 1981 when Ronald Reagan brought a new birth to America, the republic can survive — even thrive — once more.

Otherwise, The Gong Show Election of 2016 will give us an idiocrasy — and maybe we the people deserve it.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.