Right now, we have a “once in a lifetime” convergence of factors threatening to undermine life in America as we know it. What are these factors, why have they occurred, and what can we do to defend against them?

Preface

Innocence Remembered

One of my favorite songs, from one of my favorite bands, is Once in a Lifetime, from Talking Heads (see video at the bottom of this page).

I first fell in love with that song as a student at Michigan State University.

I distinctly remember walking to a class at Berkey Hall in the freezing darkness of a frigid December night, listening to that song on my Sony Walkman (man, am I dating myself here).

My favorite line from that song: And you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?

That song holds a special place in my heart, and in my soul.

First, because I think it’s an amazing – and amazingly original – song.

Second, because it takes me back to one of the most magical, wonderful times of my life: my college years.

That Was Then

The world felt so wide open, and so full of potential and of possibilities.

I felt like I could do anything.

I felt like I could become anything.

America was united.

Americans were united.

Racial tensions were at an all-time low.

Police brutality and misconduct were not significant issues.

There was no social media.

There was no social justice movement.

It didn’t matter whether you were a liberal or a conservative.

Whether black or white, rich or poor, Democrat or Republican, everyone seemed to want the same things: an unfettered and unencumbered ability to pursue one’s individual goals and objectives, to make a decent living, and to live in a safe, law-abiding place where people respected the rule of law.

Everyone simply wanted to be able to pursue the American dream.

Extreme voices at either end of the political spectrum were viewed exactly for what they were: extreme, and not representative of the views of the majority.

No one knew your political party affiliation.

And no one cared.

How Did We Get Here?

I find myself thinking about that song a lot lately.

It was brought back to mind recently, when David Byrne reprised the song on Saturday Night Live on February 29, 2020, and I happened to stumble on that video.

Less than a month later, most of America shut down with the onset of COVID-19.

I think back to what life was like back when I first heard that song vs. what life is like today, and I find it very hard to process how radically everything – almost every aspect and every facet of American life and of American culture – has changed.

Which begs the question: Well, how DID I get here?

Or, better yet, how did WE get here?

Once in a Lifetime

When you stop and think about how quickly America has changed since Once in a Lifetime came out in 1980 – which (gulp) was forty years ago – it is crazy.

And when you think about how much and how quickly America has changed in just the last three or four months, it is breathtaking.

In what it feels like the blink of an eye, we’ve gone from the most prosperous, robust economy in world history, to a place where more than 40 million – FORTY MILLION! – people have lost their jobs as a result of all the government-mandated shutdowns.

And we’ve changed even more radically socially and politically.

Identity politics dominates everything.

We might as well wear uniforms that declare our political party affiliation.

At the moment, it is not an exaggeration to suggest that America is at war.

America is at war with, and against, itself.

It feels as if we are dangerously close to that war – which, for the moment, has not been officially recognized or named – scaling into something we haven’t seen on American soil in 155 years.

Truly – to again quote from that Talking Heads song – it’s taken a once in a lifetime convergence of factors to create the sea change we’ve watched unfold over the course of the last few months.

What Has Changed

Before I get into why and how I think all of this has happened, let’s quickly recount the specifics – and the scope and scale – of the things that have changed in recent months:

The Shutdown of the Most Robust Economy in World History

We’ve watched our economy be forcibly shut down on the basis of a supposedly deadly pandemic that experts assured us would likely kill many – perhaps, into the millions – Americans.

While COVID-19 is real, people do die from it, and I am not at all suggesting it is not legitimate, the degree to which the risk was exaggerated – particularly in terms of the mortality rate, which has now dropped down to a very, very low percentage – is unprecedented in world history.

As is the degree to which our collective reaction to the pandemic has devastated the economy.

There is no way to know this, obviously, but I find it hard to believe that the ACTUAL damage to the economy what would have resulted from the virus – if we had simply done nothing and let it run its course – would have been worse than the massive damage we wilfully inflicted upon ourselves via the shutdown.

It’s almost likely someone is trying to intentionally ruin our great economy…

Goalposts on Wheels

We’ve watched as the leading experts have changed their predictions and recommendations so many times it’s almost literally impossible to keep track of it all.

We’ve watched the narrative shift seemingly every few days…

This is just for a few weeks!

This is just until we flatten the curve!

This is just until we develop a vaccine!

Wear a mask!

Don’t wear a mask!

Stay at home!

Get out and protest!

Etc., etc., etc.

The goalposts have been shifted so many times they might as well have wheels.

We’ve watched social platforms delete any commentary that dared question the infallible powers-that-be regarding this pandemic. Here’s one example, from Vox.com.

And the more we learn about this pandemic, the more questionable all of the actions taken in response to it become.

This is a classic case of the cure being worse than the disease…

The Complete Distortion of the Reality of Racism

We’ve gone from a place where – over the course of the last 50-70 years, during which enormous strides were taken to eradicate prejudice and discrimination, culminating with the two-term election of America’s first African American president – racism and racial tensions were on the clear decline, to a country in which many of its own citizens believe America has a massive race problem.

To be clear, I am NOT suggesting racism does not exist.

It does exist, and there is still work to be done there.

But all we have to do is look around at the number of African Americans holding top-level, prominent positions in politics, entertainment, professional sports, the media, business, etc., to see how much progress has been made over the past 50 years.

But don’t take my word for it.

Check out this podcast from noted liberal thought leader, author and podcaster Sam Harris. Here are some copy-and-paste excerpts from that podcast (here is the full transcript):

“The truth is, we have made considerable progress on the problem of racism in America. This isn’t 1920, and it isn’t 1960. We had a two-term black president. We have black congressmen and women. We have black mayors and black chiefs of police. There are major cities, like Detroit and Atlanta, going on their fifth or sixth consecutive black mayor. Having more and more black people in positions of real power, in what is still a majority white society, is progress on the problem of racism. And the truth is, it might not even solve the problem we’re talking about. When Freddy Gray was killed in Baltimore, virtually everyone who could have been held accountable for his death was black.”

Lest you disagree, please allow me to repeat: those are not my words.

They are the words of Sam Harris, who is a liberal.

Is America perfect on this point?

Of course not.

But we are among the least racist countries on the planet, particularly when one considers the melting-pot nature of our demographics.

People of all colors, creeds and religions still flock to America because they know what so many American seem to have forgotten: even with its problems and shortcomings, it is still – by a wide margin – the greatest country in the history of the world, affording the most people the best opportunities to do and be whatever it is they want to do and become.

That so many of us have seemingly lost sight of this shines a very bright light on the power of the narratives that have been perpetuated in recent times by various parties, almost none of whom have America’s best interests at heart…

The Complete Distortion of the Reality of Police Misconduct

We’ve gone from a place where police shootings have been consistently declining for years, to a country where seemingly half the people think the key statistics relating to killings by police are the exact opposite of what they actually are.

Again, do not take my word for this.

Here is what Sam Harris had to say about this point in the same podcast mentioned above:

“Blacks are 13 percent of the population, but they commit at least 50 percent of the murders and other violent crimes.

If you have 13 percent of the population responsible for 50 percent of the murders—and in some cities committing 2/3rds of all violent crime—what percent of police attention should it attract? I don’t know. But I’m pretty sure it’s not just 13 percent. Given that the overwhelming majority of their victims are black, I’m pretty sure that most black people wouldn’t set the dial at 13 percent either.

The weekend these protests and riots were kicking off nationwide—when our entire country seemed to be tearing itself apart over a perceived epidemic of racist police violence against the black community, 92 people were shot, and 27 killed, in Chicago alone—one city. This is almost entirely a story of black men killing members of their own community. And this is far more representative of the kind of violence that the black community needs to worry about. And, ironically, it’s clear that one remedy for this violence is, or would be, effective policing.” 

In fact, the evidence we have suggests that black and Hispanic cops are more likely to shoot black and Hispanic suspects than white cops are.

“But Fryer also found that black suspects are around 25 percent less likely to be shot than white suspects are. And in the most egregious situations, where officers were not first attacked, but nevertheless fired their weapons at a suspect, they were more likely to do this when the suspect was white.”

“If you’re attacking a cop, trying to get his gun, that is a life and death struggle that almost by definition for the cop, and it most cases justifies the use of lethal force. And honestly, it seems that no one within a thousand miles of Black Lives Matter is willing to make these distinctions. An attitude of anti-racist moral outrage is not the best lens through which to interpret evidence of police misconduct.”

“This is something that everyone really needs to understand. And it’s something that Black Lives Matter should be teaching explicitly: If you put your hands on a cop—if you start wrestling with a cop, or grabbing him because he’s arresting your friend, or pushing him, or striking him, or using your hands in way that can possibly be interpreted as your reaching for a gun—you are likely to get shot in the United States, whatever the color of your skin.”

“About a week into these protests I heard Van Jones on CNN say, “If we see one more video of a cop brutalizing a black man, this country could go over the edge.” He said this, not as indication of how dangerously inflamed people have become. He seemed to be saying it as an ultimatum to the police. With 10 million arrests a year, arrests that have to take place in the most highly armed society in the developed world, I hope you understand how unreasonable that ultimatum is.“

Full disclosure: I have had several bad experiences with police personally.

As one example, in the year 2000, in Times Square in New York City – on my birthday, no less – I was attacked by a cop. I did absolutely nothing to provoke the attack. I have multiple witnesses who can attest to this.

This police officer, who was carrying a bike-rack-looking crowd control metal barrier, charged me and slammed the end of that barrier directly into my chest, knocking me back into a group of other people, who caught me and prevented my fall.

That said, my personal experiences have no bearing whatsoever on my larger perspective, which is this: our society will literally implode if there is a significant reduction in police protection.

We will descend into a wild-west mode almost immediately should that actually occur.

Lots of people seem to understand this, as evidenced by the fact that – at the moment – it is literally impossible to find a decent home protection weapon on any traditional firearms website.

Everything even remotely reputable is sold out.

America has been stockpiling firepower and ammunition, and for good reason…

The Insane Call for Defunding and Disbanding Police

The “racial bias of the police” narrative has spun so far out of control that cities are actually calling for the defunding of the police, or, in the most extreme cases, the literal disbanding of entire police departments, as the leaders of Minneapolis voted to do recently. Here is what Sam Harris had to say about that in his aforementioned podcast:

“There are now calls to defund and even to abolish the police. This may be psychologically understandable when you’ve spent half your day on Twitter watching videos of cops beating peaceful protesters. Those videos are infuriating. … But if you think a society without cops is a society you would want to live in, you have lost your mind. Giving a monopoly on violence to the state is just about the best thing we have ever done as a species. It ranks right up there with keeping our shit out of our food. Having a police force that can deter crime, and solve crimes when they occur, and deliver violent criminals to a functioning justice system, is the necessary precondition for almost anything else of value in society.”

Want to spend literally every night for the rest of your life sitting in your front room with a shotgun in your lap, staring out your front window, waiting for the next group of criminals to try to break your door down?

Get rid of your local police…

Violent Social Justice Mobs Fueled By Misinformation

In ironic conjunction with the calls to defund or even disband the police, we’ve watched the emergence of something I would have bet we would never have observed during my lifetime in these United States: the rise of large-scale, organized, permitted-and-seemingly-even-encouraged mob violence.

We’ve watched as lawless, government-and-media-fueled masses have rioted, looted and burned large swaths of entire cities, with little or no opposition, and with virtually no condemnation from local mayors and governors.

We’ve watched anarchists and protestors assault, attack, beat and even murder people simply trying to get from point A to point B, or to go to work, or to prevent people from vandalizing, looting or destroying the businesses they’ve devoted their lives and resources creating.

As examples, below are two videos. The first is of a couple being attacked defending their business in Rochester New York, and the second is of a man in Dallas who was beaten unconscious while defending his neighborhood in Dallas. (WARNING: These videos are graphic.)

We’ve watched programmed-from-childhood, insanely ignorant social justice warriors (more on that in a moment), purportedly in the name of fighting racism, tear down a statue  of a famous abolitionist and – if this isn’t the epitome of the absurdity of all of this nonsense – target the statue of the very man who was most instrumental in advancing the interests of African Americans in the history of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.

Here’s is what Sam Harris had to say about this phenomenon in his aforementioned podcast:

“What’s easy to know is that civil discourse has broken down. It seems to me that we’ve long been in a situation where the craziest voices on both ends of the political spectrum have been amplifying one another and threatening to produce something truly dangerous. And now I think they have. The amount of misinformation in the air—the degree to which even serious people seem to be ruled by false assumptions and non sequiturs—is just astonishing.”

“In a city like Los Angeles, 2019 was a 30-year low for police shootings. Think about that…. Do the people who were protesting in Los Angeles, peacefully and violently, do the people who were ransacking and burning businesses by the hundreds—in many cases, businesses that will not return to their neighborhoods—do the people who caused so much damage to the city, that certain neighborhoods, ironically the neighborhoods that are disproportionately black, will take years, probably decades to recover, do the celebrities who supported them, and even bailed them out of jail—do any of these people know that 2019 was the 30-year low for police shootings in Los Angeles?”

“Why is all of this happening now? Police killings of civilians have gone way down. And they are rare events. They are 1/10,000 level events, if measured by arrests. 1/50-60,000 level events if measured by police encounters. And the number of unarmed people who are killed is smaller still. Around 50 last year, again, more were white than black. And not all unarmed victims are innocent. Some get killed in the act of attacking the cops.

“And the streets are now filled with people who imagine, on the basis of seeing some horrific videos, that there is an epidemic of racist cops murdering African Americans. Look at what this belief is doing to our politics. And these videos will keep coming. And the truth is they could probably be matched 2 for 1 with videos of white people being killed by cops. What percentage of people protesting understand that the disparity runs this way? In light of the belief that the disparity must run the other way, people are now quite happy to risk getting beaten and arrested by cops themselves, and to even loot and burn businesses. And most people and institutions are supporting this civil unrest from the sidelines, because they too imagine that cops are killing black people in extraordinary numbers.”

“Think about the politics of this. Endless imagery of people burning and looting independent businesses that were struggling to survive, and seeing the owners of these businesses beaten by mobs, cannot be good for the cause of social justice. Looting and burning businesses, and assaulting their owners, isn’t social justice, or even social protest. It’s crime. And having imagery of these crimes that highlight black involvement circulate endlessly on Fox News and on social media cannot be good for the black community. But it might yet be good for Trump.”

“The imprecision here—the bad-faith arguments, the double standards, the goal-post shifting, the idiotic opinion pieces in the New York Times, the defenestrations on social media, the general hysteria that the cult of wokeness has produced—I think this is all extremely harmful to civil society, and to effective liberal politics, and to the welfare of African Americans.”

Summing all that up as succinctly as I can, here is the bottom line of everything Harris said: the cold, hart facts and statistics do not even remotely support the opinions, the thinking or the behavior of the majority of Americans on the topics of racism in America, or of racism on the part of the police (at least not as it relates to shootings and killings).

In other words, all of the chaos we’ve watched over the last month or so has been based on false narratives…

Aided and Abetted by DNC Leadership and the Media

We’ve watched government leadership, time after time, issue “stand down” orders to law enforcement, to the point where the Minneapolis Police Department, under heavy attack and with seemingly no authority to defend itself, abandon its Third Precinct building and then watch it be set afire.

As you may have noticed, the absolute worst of the rioting, looting, arson, etc. has taken place in cities run by Democrat mayors located in states controlled by Democratic governors.

I am sure that is merely coincidental.

We’ve watched as the media has informed us that gathering to protest, riot, loot or burn was completely understandable, reasonable and acceptable, and would have no impact on the spread of the pandemic.

We’ve watched as those same voices have told us that it is unconscionable, selfish, privileged and socially irresponsible to want to go to work, or to the gym, or, God forbid, to church, as such activities would immediately trigger a spike in the virus.

We’ve watched as “mounting evidence suggests the coronavirus is more common and less deadly than it first appeared.” That quote is from NPR, people.

And yet many states are still not completely open.

That list includes my home state, which is governed by a woman who seems hell-bent on doing whatever she can to destroy what had been, prior to the shutdown, Michigan’s strongest economy during my lifetime.

Overt, Explicit Discrimination

And if ALL THAT was not enough, now consider this: the door has been opened to overt, explicit discrimination. In case you missed it:

“Last week, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced that the company would be waiving delivery fees for customers who order from black-owned restaurants for the rest of the year.”

Here is the legal definition of discrimination, per dictionary.com:

“Treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit.”

Can you even imagine what the public reaction would be if the aforementioned quote had read like this:

“Last week, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced that the company would be waiving delivery fees for customers who order from white-owned restaurants for the rest of the year.”

And yet, a household name in the food delivery business enacts a blatantly discriminatory practice, and no one says anything about it.

This is where we are, people.

“Traditional America” is under attack from so many different directions it’s hard to even keep track of it all.

How Things Changed

So, how’d we get here?

How did we go from one of the literal high points in the history of this country to a place that feels frightening on the edge of becoming the next Venezuela?

Nonstop Narrative Machines

First and foremost, everything I’ve described above has been created and driven by a series of false narratives.

If you’ve been paying attention (and how can you not, given the 24/7/365 assault from the mainstream media), you know that the majority of the MSM has engaged in a now 3.5+ years-and-counting, concerted, unified attempt to take down the current administration.

Here are some examples of what I am talking about…

A Brief History of False Narratives

He’s going to trigger a nuclear holocaust because of his handling of North Korea (he didn’t).

His Secretary of Education is going to ruin the schools (she didn’t).

His Secretary of Housing and Urban Development will destroy the housing market (he didn’t).

He will cause the stock market to crash (he didn’t).

He can never bring those jobs back (he did).

He colluded with Russia (he didn’t).

He puts kids in cages at the border (he did the exact same things Obama did).

Michael Flynn is in bed with the Russians (he wasn’t, and the political weaponry known as the FBI engineered the framing of a completely innocent man; keep watching; that story is just beginning).

The Mueller investigation will prove everything (it proved one thing: the whole “Russia” narrative was a complete fabrication from the start, wasting million of taxpayer dollars in the process).

Brett Kavanaugh is a rapist (he isn’t).

He’s a racist (he isn’t)

He’s a white supremacist (he isn’t).

He’s an authoritarian (if he was, he would have shut down CHAZ an hour after it was established).

Spectacular Bias

The engine that created and perpetuated all of those outright fabrications?

The non-objective, insanely politicized, completely dishonest, bought-and-paid-for mainstream media.

The bias in the majority of the media is truly spectacular.

Here is a very small, recent example of what I am talking about:, from An0maly:

It’s been said that, “He who controls the media controls the masses.” America, circa right now, is a living embodiment of that…

The Normalization of Dishonesty

Continuing the prior point, the end result of:

…all of the attempted takedowns of the current administration, and

…the literally thousands of editorials, predictions and proclamations by monster liberals disguised as journalists, none of which were ultimately substantiated, or were explicitly proven to be false…

…is that all of the overt, abject lying and distortion of the truth in the media has served to normalize dishonesty.

It was not that long ago when journalists actually cared about getting things right.

And about reporting on the basis of facts.

And about confirming sources and making objective, professional judgments and assessments about potentially significant news stories before publishing them.

No Longer Even Pretending to be Objective

Reading that back to myself, I almost LOL’d.

It seems almost funny to realize how far the media has strayed from even PRETENDING to be objective or honest in their reporting.

And we, as consumers of the nonsense the MSM ejects into the world on a non-stop basis, have been poisoned and toxified by that filth, much like the oceans have been polluted by the tons of garbage that have been dumped into them in recent decades.

Instead of being enraged and calling for the resignations of the Don Lemons, Anderson Coopers and Rachel Maddows of the world, we have turned a collective blind eye and a deaf ear to all that noise.

To quote another of my favorite bands, Crowded House, in Don’t Dream It’s Over:

In the paper today tales of war and of waste

But you turn right over to the T.V. page

We’re no longer upset when the media lies to us.

You can only watch so much of it, and see no one ever pay any price for lying, before you turn right over to the TV page, looking for a distraction of any variety to help you escape the madness.

Truly, lying in the media has become the norm.

Dishonesty has been normalized.

The Rise of the Social Justice Stepford Children

The other day, while driving, I happened to catch a small part of a conversation on SiriusXM Radio between Chris Rock and Bono, the lead singer of U2. At the 19:29 mark of their conversation, Bono said this:

“I was asking somebody recently, of the top 40 colleges in the United States, how many of them were conservative? And I think like three or four was the answer. And that explains a lot.”

There’s more Bono says that is worth hearing, but you get the gist.

What we are seeing right now is the end result of the indoctrination of an entire generation of young people who have been brainwashed into thinking socialism is a viable concept for governance.

And that making a profit is evil.

And that capitalism is horrific.

And that America is the most racist nation in the history of ever.

And that America itself is an evil place.

And that disagreeing with anything they happen to believe is “hate.”

When you have a significant chunk of the adult (and I use that term loosely) population in America absolutely, unequivocally and completely convinced that up is down, in is out and good is bad, that is a problem.

A major problem.

A major problem that I see no real way to fix, long term…

Rise of Cancel Culture

Continuing the prior point, a major factor that has served to suppress free speech in recent years is the rise of cancel culture, which is one of the primary weapons social justice activists use to shut down anyone who dares express a point of view that is not in lockstep with whatever their prevailing opinion on any given topic happens to be.

We just did a podcast on this last week on this very topic, in which we discussed how one of the most popular personalities on YouTube, with over 20 million subscribers – Jenna Marbles – quit the platform in response to the onslaught of negative comments she received relating to things she posted literally years ago.

Cancel culture has become such a powerful thing, and it is unleashed with such little provocation – if you deviate 1% from the narrative, you are the enemy! – it has all but shut down free speech in America right now.

And if you are commenting on anything that is within hailing distance of any issue that involves “race” in any way whatsoever, your commentary will quickly be labeled “hate,” and you will be labeled a racist.

Summarizing one of the biggest points Sam Harris made in his aforementioned podcast, there can be no progress without conversation; and in today’s America, it is all but impossible to have any conversation without being shouted down, attacked, labeled and, ultimately, canceled.

Ergo, no conversation.

Ergo, no progress…

Attack on Traditional Family Values

Traditional family values are under attack from many directions.

As just one example, this quote is directly from the Black Lives Matter website, on the page entitled “What We Believe:”

“We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.”

That SOUNDS not so bad, until you consider this: if they had said, “We AUGMENT the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure,” or “We SUPPORT the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure,” or “We REINFORCE the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure,” or “We SEEK TO ENHANCE the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure,” that would have been fine.

But they didn’t say any of those things.

Instead, they said: “We DISRUPT.”

The traditional family structure is the very foundation of a truly civil and civilized society.

Most of us understand the importance of a solid family structure, inclusive of a strong father figure.

This nice man from CNN explains this point quite well:

Make no mistake: the traditional American family structure is under attack.

Will we defend it?

Or will we stand idly by, keeping our mouths closed and our opinions to ourselves, lest we offend anyone with our political incorrectness, cowering in fear of the social justice toddlers who will call us names and say bad things about us if we dare say anything that deviates from the narrative that “all must follow or suffer the consequences”?

The fate and future of this country hang largely on how we collectively answer that question…

Attack on the Right to Defend Your Property

As you probably are aware (as all of this has played out over the course of the past two weeks), a couple living in a gated community in St. Louis have come under attack for wielding guns at a crowd of protesters who entered their neighborhood through a gated entrance. The couple, Mark and Patricia McCloskey, claim they were “in fear for our lives.”

On July 11, 2020, a search warrant was executed and “the search resulted in police seizing the rifle that Mark McCloskey was seen holding during the incident.”

Per LawEnforcementToday.com, “St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner apparently does not agree that the McCloskeys’ actions were justifiable.

In her statement issued June 29 regarding the McCloskeys’ conduct as protestors gathered in front of their home, Gardner declared,

“I am alarmed at the events over the weekend, where peaceful protestors were met with guns and a violent assault.  We must protect the right to peacefully protest, and any attempt to chill it through intimidation or threat of deadly force must not be tolerated. 

“My office is currently working with the police and public to investigate these events.Make no mistake:we will not tolerate the use of force against those exercising their First Amendment rights, and will use the full power of Missouri law to hold people accountable.”“

While this story has not yet reached its conclusion, and while no charges have been filed against the McCloskey’s as of the date this post was published, that there was even discussion of the filing of charges against homeowners simply defending their property – particularly given the larger context, with all the rioting and looting that was happening just prior to this incident – is chilling.

Also, from a criminal justice perspective, we now live in a country where it’s more acceptable to loot, riot and burn than it is to simply stand your ground and defend yourself and your possessions.

I say this because of the following:

“Police confirmed that the 36 people arrested Sunday and Monday night for rioting and looting have all been released from custody.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt blames Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner. Gardner’s office said they still need essential evidence from police.

Schmitt tweeted about alleged looters and rioters being released from jail without charges being filed.

“In a stunning development, our office has learned that every single one of the St. Louis looters and rioters arrested were released back onto the streets by local prosecutor Kim Gardner,” read Schmitt’s tweet Wednesday morning.”

Maybe it’s just me, but I detect just a bit of a prosecutorial double standard there on the part of Ms. Gardner.

Are you OK with that?

The Enemy Within

On July 7, 2020, Democrat Representative Ilhan Omar held a news conference on “systemic racism” in America. This is a direct quote from that news conference (also, see video below):

“As long as our economy and political systems prioritize profit without considering who is profiting, who is being shut out, we will perpetuate this inequality. So we cannot stop at criminal justice system. We must begin the work of dismantling the whole system of oppression, wherever we find it.”

The last time I checked, capitalism is, by definition, a system that prioritizes profit without considering who is profiting.

You may know that concept by different names: free market economy, laissez-faire economy, open market, etc.

The whole point of our system is to let the free market dictate and determine who wins, and who loses, economically.

The minute we allow subjective, human interference into that process, we no longer have a truly free economy.

To be clear, capitalism is NOT a system of oppression.

It IS a system in which the best products or services wins economically, without any regard for who provides those products or services.

It is a system that rewards the best and the brightest.

It is a system that rewards hard work, persistence, tenacity and innovation.

It is a system based on MERIT, and nothing else.

Exactly as it should be.

While you may not love capitalism, because it may not benefit you personally, history has proven – recent history Exhibit A: the collapse of Venezuela – that capitalism IS the best economic system possible.

And it’s not because capitalism is “perfect” per se; it’s because every other alternative – socialism, communism, etc. – is so clearly inferior.

Finally, capitalism is a bedrock, foundational element of America, and the American experience.

Ergo, if you are against capitalism and a free market economy, you are against America.

I’m sure the point is not lost on you, but this is a US CONGRESSWOMAN making these statements.

An elected, government official.

The enemy within…

This is NOT Organic

Even if you disagree with some, or maybe even most, of what I’ve said so far, then consider this perspective, from a woman (she uses the username “@_WhatsHerFace_”, and I can’t find her actual name anywhere) I stumbled upon on Instagram recently who has quickly become one of my favorite commentators on the things happening in the world today:

“Even if you don’t think that we’re going into communism, or a technocracy, or you don’t think that 5G is going to blast our brains, whatever you think, you at least know there’s some fuckery going on, you at least know that, you gotta at least know that there’s something fucked up going on, beyond a virus and racism. And those people are still choosing to go along with it, right? Because it’s not acceptable yet to go against it.”

To echo _WhatsHerFace_’s sentiments, even if recent events are entirely organic, real and legit in terms of their actual occurrence, the specific manner in which these stories have been reported to the masses, and the degree to which these stories have been spun for very specific political purposes, is an entirely different conversation.

The majority of the mainstream media have seized upon the opportunities these events have provided to incite, to divide and to throw gasoline on the fires of explosive, socially-and-racially-charged issues that have further served to keep America in the political gridlock we have at the moment.

The big point: unless your head is buried so deep in the sand you have no sensory perception whatsoever, or you are so into identity politics that things like “facts” and “reality” have literally no impact on your thinking at all, you know – YOU KNOW – to quote @_WhatsHerFace_: there’s some fuckery going on.

Some MAJOR LEAGUE fuckery.

Being Liked Vs. Doing the Right Thing

From the same Instagram post linked above, _WhatsHerFace_ made these additional observations:

“It’s a lot more important for people to be well liked, than for people to do the right thing.”

And… 

“If your opinion on every issue is equivalent to the popular opinion, then you would have been a Nazi. If every one of your opinions is popular, you would have been a Nazi.”

To clarify what she meant by that last quote, she is saying, “If you are not willing to stand up and speak the truth as you see it, even when it goes against the grain of what most people seem to be saying and thinking publicly, then – had you existed in pre-WWII Germany – you would have supported the Nazi party.”

Because that’s how the Nazi party came into power: people were too afraid to speak up, and to confront evil when it was standing right in front of them.

And we all know how that ended up.

Watch the video I linked above, from which I excerpted these quotes. It is powerful.

And it is largely about people being afraid to speak the truth because they are more concerned with being liked than being right.

Sound familiar?

My Two Cents

Obviously, I’m coming from a more conservative perspective. So, my opinion is probably not relevant to you if we don’t see eye to eye politically.

But, just in case you are interested, here is my opinion: The radical left wing of the Democratic Party is going to be the undoing of the Democratic Party.

What’s going on in recent weeks has made a certain segment of the political spectrum appear insane.

They are playing right into Trump’s hands.

And that’s not good, if you happen to be a liberal.

He Didn’t Take the Bait (Oops!)

Stop and ask yourself this question: why did Trump keep such a low profile in terms of the protests, and in terms of CHAZ?

People paint him as an authoritarian, as the guy who loves to send in the muscle to bust heads every chance he gets. Every card-carrying member of the DNC knows that, right?

I believe one of the primary reasons that everything went down the way that it did – in terms of the protesting, the rioting, the looting, the burning, the occupation of a chunk of downtown Seattle, etc. – was to provoke Trump into proving, once and for all, that he is every bit the ball-busting, violent, militaristic maniac the left believes him to be.

But here’s the thing – while I will absolutely concede that Trump often acts in a manner not in keeping with his position (i.e., he behaves like an ass far more than I’d like, and I totally get why people hate him) – the man is not stupid.

At all.

And because he is smart, I’m guessing it was plainly obvious to him that the left was attempting to goad him into over-reacting and then, in the process, providing them several months worth of video highlights (of him looking like the authoritarian they need him to be) to use in the final months approaching the election.

Because he has been painted as such an authoritarian, for him to confirm that theory directly by coming out with guns blazing against the protests would’ve been foolhardy.

It probably would have cost him the election.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Moderate Trump!

And even though he probably did want to get the rioting, looting and destruction under control, he saw the bigger picture, which was this: if he didn’t do anything in response to all of the chaos, not only would that directly contradict the authoritarian label the left so desperately wants and needs to hang on him in order to advance their political agenda, but it actually has the opposite effect, and makes him look – dare I say it – “moderate.”

And that is THE LAST thing Democrats need at the moment: a moderate Trump.

Not only that, it’s clear to everyone with a modicum of objectivity that the people doing all the rioting, the looting and the burning come from the left end of the political spectrum.

Also, why do you think he let CHAZ sit there like he did?

Because he knew if would ultimately implode, and that it would reflect poorly on the larger liberal agenda.

Exactly as it did.

And the same thing happened with respect to the tearing down of historical monuments and statues.

My guess is that Trump thought, “Go ahead, have at it. To what percentage of the overall population do you think that type of behavior appeals? Maybe 5 to 10%? We can rebuild those things torn down. But the 90 to 95% of Americans who are repulsed by such behavior won’t forget this when it comes time to vote in November.”

Trump didn’t take the bait.

The left gambled, and they lost.

And, in the end, Trump comes away from that chaos appearing moderate and almost centrist, while Democrats simply reinforced their position as the party of those who would and will destroy the rest of America, if we give them the opportunity to do so.

Speak Now or Forever Regret that You Didn’t

It is so easy to keep one’s mouth shut right now. I totally get that.

When you see people attacked and piled onto for making comments that, at a minimum, were mild and clearly not maliciously intended – like the NFL’s Drew Brees did not long ago – it gives you good cause to pause.

And when you see people charged with hate crimes – HATE CRIMES! – for painting over a BLM “mural,” it sends a chill up one’s spine.

I totally understand that.

But here’s the cold, hard truth: If we don’t stand up now, and call things for what they really are, if you think it’s hard to do that now, just wait until you see what comes next.

This is it.

This is your shot.

This is your opportunity to stand up for what you really believe in.

Worth the Fight

America, and the principles on which this country was built, are worth fighting for.

And if we don’t stand up and defend the things in which we truly believe, I cannot imagine what kind of world we’re going to be leaving to our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

That would not be a world in which you’d want your loved ones to grow up and live out their lives.

I know you know that.

You have to act on that.

And you have to act on that now…

OK, But How?

You may be thinking, “I agree, America IS worth fighting for. But how, exactly, do I do that?”

Great question.

And I’m not saying I have all the answers; I don’t.

But here are a few things that come to mind:

– Speak Your Mind Unapologetically – Don’t be afraid of cancel culture, or of offending people. Speak your truth, always and forever. We simply cannot allow free speech to be compromised. That alone could be our undoing.

– Get Involved Politically – Self-explanatory.

– Notify Your Representatives – Let the people who are politically responsible for where you live know how you feel.

– Vote – It is no exaggeration to suggest that the next election will be the most important election of the past 100 years or so. You simply must vote.

As just noted, I do not have all the answers.

But those things are a start…

Once in a Lifetime

We are living in treacherous times.

Not everything happening in the world right now is happening entirely organically.

We are confronting a “once in a lifetime,” perfect storm of events, forces and factors that have the potential to forever alter the American way of life.

As such, we need to rise up with a “once in a lifetime” response to ensure that does not happen.

Be strong.

Be bold.

Speak your mind.

Get involved.

Vote.

God bless America…

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