January 6, 2021.
Why? Because it's the greatest threat to humanity since Satan? Because it's the worst demonstration of evil since the Holocaust? No. That's how the press/Left/mainstream conservative leaders are framing it. No, it's the day America died because mainstream conservative leaders, Republicans, religious figures, and those we imagined would stand firm have buckled and accepted carte blanche the left's narratives and demands.
None of this is to say I support the worst of what happened. It is to say I can recognize propaganda, lies, falsehoods and appeals to idiocy when I see it. When I see on the morning news that "health experts" are concerned the Wednesday "riots" could be a super-spreader for Covid, and yet remember the same deny BLM "protests" could be a super-spreader for Covid, I know we are sinking into Pravda levels of brainwashing.
The problem is, those who know what's happening, and sometimes even bemoan what's happening, nonetheless continue to cave, surrender, compromise, grovel, or join the very things they lament when the manure hits the fan.
Right now a growing number of right leaning figures are toying with supporting the forcible removal of Trump from office with only days left in his presidency. That whole maneuver is merely a ploy to incite more radical Trump supporters to do what they did on Wednesday. The Left needs Trump/MAGA to fame as Hitler incarnate, therefore tearing down all standards, principles, values, morals, rights and freedoms in order that they should be defeated.
The worst thing on Wednesday wasn't what happened. For the Left, the worst thing was that it was over in a few hours. They need that sort of thing, but they need it to be more than it was. They need those film clips and photos. They need death and destruction. They know that the same ones who dismissed the carnage and destruction last summer can call this the worst evil since the Holocaust and will be supported by a growing number of - everyone.
But they need it to happen, and they're betting they'll get just enough of those in the opposition to sign on. Meanwhile, fewer and fewer of the Left's opposition will stand firm. That is the most important takeaway. It isn't burning cities or breached capitals. It isn't riots and racism. It isn't storming senate hearings or anything. It's creating photo ops to use to crush the opposition, and rejoicing that with each passing day, fewer and fewer of the Left's opposition are willing to fight.
I agree completely.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure this is "the day America died". Oh, America is dying alright, but it's a slow death, something like it must have been to watch the Great Fire of London destroy one landmark after another and know that you are powerless to stop it.
ReplyDeleteIt may be, however, the day the Republican Party died. The GOP establishment, never happy with Trump in the first place, has turned on Trump and his followers. Oh, maybe some of those followers will forgive the establishment, but suppose even 25% of them do not: that would mean ZERO chance at the White House in 2024, ZERO chance of regaining control of either house of Congress, and loss of many of the GOP gains in governorships and state houses. Nor do I think they will return after 2024. They might form a new party, or they might gravitate towards the Libertarians, but they will not return to the party of Mitt Romney and the Rockefeller Republicans, who offer a "kinder, gentler conservatism" that is all "kinder and gentler" (accepting with feigned reluctance changes to society engineered by Democrats) but very little "conservatism".
But let's face it: politics is only the most superficial aspect of America's sickness, and hoping politics could cure that illness was like expecting soap and water to cure gangrene. I suspect that 9-11 was a call to national repentance, but instead we turned to national pride, glorying in our freedom to be deviants. I suspect we have crossed an event horizon, and our punishment cannot be avoided; Josiah learned that Judah had crossed such a line, and in their punishment even "Noah, Daniel, and Job" would have only been able to save themselves.
AND there were present, at that very time, some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answering, said to them: Think you that these Galileans were sinners above all the men of Galilee, because they suffered such things? No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower fell in Siloe, and slew them: think you, that they also were debtors above all the men that dwelt in Jerusalem? No, I say to you; but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish.
DeleteTechnically the GOP has never been thrilled with religious and social conservatives, being forced into the mix by Reagan's swing to the right and the Dem's embrace of radical secular and leftwing ideologies.
DeleteBut your point reminds me of something Max Lucado wrote after 9/11. When everyone said 'let's get back to normal and show those terrorists a thing or two', he suggested normal as it was by 9/10 might not be that great. Perhaps we needed to do more soul searching about where we were as a nation. His plea, of course, falling on deaf ears.
It helps to distinguish party leadership from registered voters. The leadership of the two parties has never been very far apart, they've just been playing a game of good cop / bad cop. That's probably the main reason they hate Trump so much; he's not in on their game, and they were unable to control him either through shame (which has no effect on him) or by threatening to withhold party funds. Voters, on the other hand, are more polarized than ever before.
DeleteHere's my political nightmare scenario, one which I think is well within the reach of possibility: the Democrats and Never Trumpers merge to form a Party of National Unity. It would be for our own good, of course, to heal and unify the nation; if it meant there was no actual choice on the ballot, well, some sacrifices must be made for the greater good. It is already nearly impossible for 3rd party candidates to appear on the ballot in many states. It would be easy to increase those barriers everywhere -- in the interest, it goes without saying, of denying a platform to dangerous, evil extremists. Once America is officially a single-party state, look out; we would soon be envying the Chinese their comparative freedom.
Correction: National Union Party. See, America, there's nothing to be worried about: this has all be done before under Abraham Lincoln!
DeleteI don't think the Dems have to reach too far for the NTs, since some have already joined formally, while others (John Kasich leaps to mind) have been with the Dems for some time - and long before Trump We're watching so many we imagined were firmly planted giving in, and I fear it isn't just among leadership. Many look as though they're not sure it's worth the fight, we've probably been wrong all along ,and it's best to change and get with the times. Those who won't will increasingly be seen as some loony cultists at best.
DeleteFinally! Nice to see someone else say what I've been feeling and trying to grasp lately.
ReplyDeleteIt's so obvious I think people have forgotten, but a contract which has no enforcement nor punishment for one of the parties breaking it is no contract at all. Well now we see here that the Left can break the social contract all they want, but woe be to anybody who tries to enforce it or punish them for doing so. Well now we see - even by the conservatives who claim to love Rule of Law - that enforcement against the Left is just a step too far.
I'm not holding my breath to see many on the right stand up and resist. The Left has that little trick. It can break whatever rules, morals, standards, principles, and so be it. But anyone on the right does it, and the Left screams bloody murder ... with the full knowledge that an army of [other] conservatives will try to take the high ground and join in. It's a brilliant strategy that would never work without the equally stupid strategy on the other side.
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