THE CURSE OF LIBERTY

In science, we’re always talking about sensitivity and specificity. As an example, consider the COVID-19 test: the more sensitive it is for detecting the disease, the more likely it will over-call it in some individuals; it’s a yin and yang thing. Now, as the tests improve, both sensitivity and specificity can too, but there’s always a trade-off. Liberty is something like that.

Everyone, including politicians, plays lip service to fealty to freedom. It seems a no-brainer. Then why, time after time, do people vote away their freedom? We’ve seen the Palestinians do it for Hamas, and the Venezuelans for socialism. These are just two of the dozens of examples that could be cited. It’s because the ying to freedom’s yang is law and order, or more broadly, security. It’s not that freedom is incompatible with law and order; we’ve admirably demonstrated this for over a couple of hundred years and have had remarkably peaceful transitions of power. It’s just that it takes constant effort and sacrifice. And the people have to decide if it’s worth the price.

The sacrifice is obvious in obtaining liberty; it’s usually a war with casualties and death and a tremendous outlay of resources. Maintaining it is another matter. Liberty naturally fades, even in (one might say especially in) a democracy. Over time, in a successful society, people become acclimated to security. A free society, with equal access to opportunity, naturally favors those with greater talent who exhibit greater effort; those who have high levels of competence and conscientiousness, in the words of Jordan Peterson. This results in disparity of outcome. It does not mean that a rising tide doesn’t raise all boats, just that some boats are much larger and more opulent than others. Every good society with a conscience strives to help the small boats in danger of capsizing; this charity, or welfare, is a good thing. The problems begin when the people in the small boats begin to think those in the large boats are bad, and that the government needs to fix it. Then the charity moves to sanctioned theft. The argument about the point at which this occurs is the basis for politics and ideology. The bottom line is that democracy inevitably deteriorates into socialism which more quickly devolves into poverty and fascism. History proves this. Unequivocally. So the founders tried to create a democratic republic with checks and balances to slow the deterioration, recognizing that it could serve only a moral people.

As government and the welfare state has grown and crony capitalism inevitably along with it, the family has shrunk. Charity is slowly being replaced by government largess. One or two generations ago a check from the government was seen as failure and often shunned. Now it’s more common to see it as an entitlement and something to be sought after. Being taken care of is slowly becoming more important than liberty.

With liberty comes free speech with the downside of allowing “hate” speech. Law and order with the downside of more rogue agents misusing it with criminal intent. More reliance on self, family and friends, and the Church, and less on government. Clearly, some societies favor less freedom and more security.

The coming election is so important because it will demonstrate the net vector of America in terms of this preference. It will serve as a bellwether as to how much time remains in our current system of government, founded on the values of the Declaration of Independence and implemented in the Constitution. History tells us this. Unequivocally.

The curse of liberty is that it has in its seed the very essence of its own destruction.

AN OPEN LETTER TO RIGHT-WINGERS: RESTORING AMERICA

America can be healed. It won’t be easy or quick, but the disestablishment has not been quick, or disintegrationism, if you prefer Ben Shapiro’s term. And I suppose the latter term is easier off the tongue than antidisestablismentarianism. Easy in concept, difficult in implementation: Simply reverse the program of the far Left. If Trump loses, it’s questionable whether the values of the nation’s founding have sufficient prevalence to ever reconstruct. If he wins, we buy a little time. But if we haven’t learned the lessons that brought us to this point of existential instability, it won’t matter.

Other political minds have stated, correctly, that the Republican Party has focused almost solely on politics and policy to the exclusion of culture, falsely secure in the knowledge that the principles upon which the country was founded were so solid that their value was self-evident. The Left recognized the importance of winning minds and hearts. They invested their energy in commandeering the educational system and the mainstream media. The results are inarguable: The curriculum from grade school through college is dramatically Leftist, and almost all professors are on the far Left. It’s so bad, conservative professors routinely risk losing their jobs for expressing an alternative point of view. From the perch of a far-Left viewpoint, even moderately right-wing views are seen as far-right, or even alt-right. In the mainstream media, sources such as CNN, MSNBC, the Washington Post and NY Times and, to a large extent, any of the news networks other than Fox, the so-called journalists are 85-90% or more liberal and/or Leftist. Judging by the quality of the “journalism,” it seems most are Leftist. To varying extents, especially with CNN, MSNBC and the aforementioned newspapers, any attempt to preserve good journalistic ethics have succumbed to political/ideological activism (examples are legion, and include changing headlines and chyrons in real time). The Left will counter by citing bias on Fox News and other conservative sites such as OAN, and there is conservative bias, but this is like comparing a spring shower to a hurricane. I know this not only because I’m a convert, but because despite being a conservative it’s impossible to avoid left-wing sites. However, Leftists and, as I’m learning even many liberals, rarely if ever see unfiltered right-wing reporting and opinion in the left-dominated media.

So, it’s apparent that any hope for a return to a sane, color-blind and unified society governed by the high-minded principles that defined the birth of our nation and that, ironically, we’d come so close to fulfilling until five minutes ago, will require unpeeling the layers of toxic Leftist thought. We need to inject conservatives back into the educational system, expand the conservative influence in the online, social, and dwindling print media, and actively speak with minorities about issues for which we share a common goal, such as liberty, law and order. We cannot reach minds closed to facts and the truth that are clouded by a false narrative and ideology. As a fellow right-winger, or an open-minded liberal, you know that we are not, writ large, hateful or racist, and share a desire that everyone, regardless of race, creed, color, or sexual orientation have the same opportunities to succeed. Unfortunately, the Left has masterfully marketed the opposing viewpoint.

It’s a difficult but not an impossible task, and will require a sustained effort, assuming we can buy the time. Anything short of this cannot succeed.

Editor’s note: The original version erroneously attributed the term “deconstructionism” to Ben Shapiro.

HOW TO MANIPULATE AN ELECTION

The results of the election are already in: they’re invalid.

If you’re paying attention to the talking heads out there, the political field is already being sown with the seeds for a disputed election. The clues are not subtle. Hillary has already made a public statement to the effect that Biden should not concede if the election is close. The Left is claiming Trump’s unwillingness to fund the US Postal Service deficit as voter suppression and disenfranchisement, despite the service’s adequate funding into next year and a multitude of reasonable explanations for not wanting to underwrite a failing enterprise with more taxpayer dollars. All of this presupposes that universal mail-in voting is a good thing, and ignores the evidence to the contrary.

A superficial case can be made for mail-in voting in a time of pandemic. However, the argument falls short when experts such as Birx and Fauci (even despite “expert” fallibilities) rightly point out that if we can go out to buy groceries, we can safely figure out a way to socially distance and vote. The weakness of the opposing argument is further underscored by the absent condemnation by the Left of mass gatherings when implemented for the purpose of protesting for social justice causes. Absentee balloting remains a viable option for those at highest risk from COVID-19, but is distinctly different from universal mail-in voting, which magnifies the risk of fraud tremendously.

The Left has maintained that the evidence for voter fraud is lacking. This is untrue. Even recently, the trial balloon of a New Jersey primary election with mail-in voting required a redo. You can only imagine the potential disaster on a national scale. And vote harvesting, recently legalized here in California, will only magnify the problem. Neither side can be trusted to make arguments based on “principle.” Time and again, the striking inconsistencies in the application of values have demonstrated that political expediency and power come first, and adapting the principles to match is the means to the ends And the political parties aren’t the only threat to the integrity of our election in a digital era susceptible to outside influences.

Whatever your political beliefs (and you know mine), it is in the best interest of both sides to have honest and transparent elections. The move on both sides to preemptively delegitimize the election belies a concern that the results are not in the bag. Barring a blow-out by either side (and possibly despite one), we can expect a contested election. The military has already weighed in that they will not intervene in a disputed election. Will Nancy Pelosi be interim Commander-in-Chief?

In any case, don’t expect the day after the election to be an antidote to our ongoing chaos.

WHEN RIGHT IS RIGHT, WHAT’S LEFT?

I’m the only conservative among the blood relatives in my family. For years I’d related a decade old telephone conversation with a relative as an example of parallel liberal-to-conservative sociopolitical evolution, (he’s stayed back East, I’ve migrated from NY to CA). So I thought it was time for my next 10-year call. He’s a smart and logical guy, and after the familial updates, we got around to discussing COVID and I expressed my view that eventually we’d overcome the pandemic, but I wasn’t as sure about the rent in our sociopolitical fabric. He responded, “Yeah, we need to get that guy out of office.” I’d erroneously assumed that if anyone would be immune to the “orange man bad” rhetoric, it would be him; and his casual response indicated that, like others on the left, he was certain I shared his beliefs. We avoided lengthy discussions of the issues, agreeing that we would be unlikely to change the other’s mind, but he did ask what seemed to me to be his litmus test of the depth of my eccentricity: my view on climate change (the implication being it is “settled science”). Both of us lacking the time for an in-depth discussion, I accepted that I’d likely be viewed a “flat-earther” and simply indicated that I’d researched the subject, listened to speakers on both sides of the issue (yes, there are two), and believed the climate is warming but don’t subscribe to the alarmist take that is being used for political purposes, or the validity of the proposed “solutions.”

Interactions like this with people I respect that have a divergent world view are profound and frequently cause me to pause and reevaluate my current beliefs. However, the opposing viewpoints and reportage, rather than becoming more coherent, are diverging more and more from the overt reality, sometimes expressed through hyperbole, and often via omission or outright lies. These tactics are not limited to the Left, only extraordinarily more extreme and frequent to an extent that continues to amaze me. There is little question the apparent success the radical Left has achieved would not have been possible in the absence of control of the mainstream media, an educational system with preconditioned minds, and the ability to disproportionately filter major social media sites such as Twitter, Google, and to a lesser extent, Facebook. For normally intelligent, logical and discerning people to look at all the information and boil it down to “Trump” seems to me to be impossible. There are bad people who are willfully using misinformation to accrue power, but the people I’m referring to are honest, well-intentioned, and bright. So only two possibilities remain: I’m wrong or they are misinformed. My having acquired a conservative state of mind via a liberal upbringing and a difficult evolution, I’ve excluded delusion through nurture. And there are countless historical and contemporary examples of the end result of what is happening now in the US, if one is willing to critically examine them. In addition, my perception spans a couple of decades, long before COVID, Black Lives Matter, Inc., or Trump. So my only conclusion is that good people on the left are being pounded again and again with the same inaccurate or incomplete information; they are far less likely to seriously listen to conservative sources than I am to visit liberal/Leftist ones—I can hardly avoid them. My occasional visits to some right-wing opinion sites I normally avoid due to excessive pro-Trump bias confirm that even they cite facts more frequently and completely than the Leftist equivalent.

I recognize that it’s difficult to go to places at odds with our deeply ingrained ideology, and the instinct is to dismiss views that make us uncomfortable. Simply put, no one wants to be “wrong.” Withdrawing into the protective cocoon of “it’s Trump’s fault, and things will be better if only he’s gone” can be comforting, but also simplistic and lead to wrong conclusions. I could rehash details ad nauseum to support this, but it’s already been done, by me and others. Instead, I choose to hope that many of these bright, busy people just haven’t started paying enough attention yet, but will be investigating more thoroughly in the time remaining before the election. And, perhaps, there are a lot already out there that see, but are afraid to speak before going to the ballot box. In any case, the result will demonstrate the net value system of our great but beleaguered nation.

AMERICA DIDN’T BECOME GREAT BY ACCIDENT

America has been the greatest world power in history. The relatively young nation achieved a preeminence in influence, wealth and power in an astoundingly brief period of time. Despite those denigrating this as evil, there is a wealth of historical evidence to the contrary that is suppressed or buried using anti-American rhetoric (a few examples: overcoming slavery at great human cost, defeating Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan, and aiding in the fall of the USSR). But that argument is not the point of this rant.

I posit that the rapid ascendance of the US on the world stage occurred precisely because of the values upon which the Union was founded, and a common bond between the people that allowed it to function throughout most of its history as a cohesive nation. First, it was unique in affirming that the government existed to serve the people, rather than the other way around. Second, its Constitution was built on negative rights intended to restrict the government, rather than positive rights, which were acknowledged to come only from God. Third, it employed an economic engine of capitalism, which, when unencumbered, allows the individual to benefit from his/her hard work in proportion to demand for goods and services as determined by free trade. This combination of factors fuels the true engine for success: innovation. People haven’t flocked to America in droves since its inception because it’s a racist nation built on inequity, but because it’s a forum in which, if you have a good idea, you can achieve unimaginable levels of success, regardless of you race, creed, or socioeconomic status. While politically-motivated groups would have you believe otherwise, there is no caste system here. And this is demonstrated almost daily by the “victimized” millionaires decrying the system that made them rich and privileged.

If you doubt that we’ve found the recipe for success, remember the old adage, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” China, one of the most anti-American powers in the world, engaging formally in the group-think that is now starting to gain ascendance here, and committing endless political/humanitarian atrocities that make US corruption appear like a penny-ante poker game to a Las Vegas casino, has been stealing our intellectual property for years. It’s not that they’re not smart enough (on average, academically, Asians outperform other ethnic groups, including Caucasians); it’s that a repressive society run by individuals who think they know how things “should” be will always, in the long term, stifle innovation and choose courses of action that the marketplace, both economically and of ideas, will take far longer to correct. The Chinese have also been smart enough to understand that a socialist economy wouldn’t cut it, but would fizzle out in decades. So they borrowed capitalism which they grafted on to the weak Communist root stock to buy time. And if you measure their success by whether they outlast the US and achieve world superiority, it might work.

I have no illusions but that in the long term the Chinese experiment will fail. History is on my side. Watch what will happen to Hong Kong once they begin installing the mainland China ethos. A country without innovation simply can’t compete in the long run against a free society. The short run, however, is a different animal. At the present time, the sociopolitical climate in America has become alarmingly divided, and the common values that have made us a nation, a potent force to be reckoned with, are failing. From E pluribus unum we’ve gone to E unum pluribus in the name of diversity. Forget the “one nation under God.” We’ve become balkanized, and the effects of this are evident in the heightened racial tensions (ironically following the election, twice, of the first black president) and violence. Equally important, America has now turned inward, providing an opening for tyrannical nations, with China the most important, to take advantage. If we don’t take our heads out of our … the sand, we will all get a taste of what a world without the United States at the helm is really like. And it will make our “systemic racism” look like, well, a penny ante poker game to a Las Vegas casino.

HOW IDEOLOGY CLOUDS THINKING

I did something I’ve never done before: called in to a radio show twice within the same broadcast. It’s a good, local show hosted by Dave Congleton. Dave is a liberal, not a Leftist, and a capable and generally fair interviewer. I caught the end of his discussion about whether the leader of the Black Lives Matter protest in San Luis Obispo that ended with the group blocking traffic on the 101 freeway should be charged and/or jailed. My brief suggestion at the end of the segment was to reverse the cause (i.e., make it about, say, anti-abortion or “build the wall”) as a test to demonstrate how much political ideology was influencing higher brain function.

In the next segment, David interviewed the head of a local San Luis Obispo intersectionality group who was making the argument for systemic racism. The discussion included references to County Sheriff Ian Parkinson’s recent speech that angered many, in which he acknowledged the presence of racism but didn’t see it here in SLO. The main thrust of the guest speaker’s “evidence” for systemic racism turned out to be the disparate outcomes socioeconomically of people of color that are universal, even in SLO. While Dave suggested “attitudinal racism” (what I call personal or individual racism) as potentially operative, this guest insisted both were in evidence.

I called in with the following counter-arguments: the election of President Obama, twice, the fact that 2 million blacks have emigrated to the U.S. over the past 50 years, and the fact that race relations seem to crop up as an issue every 4 years, just prior to a presidential election. In addition, I argued, disparate outcomes alone do not, a priori, prove the existence of systemic racism and I pointed out that black fatherlessness has rocketed from about 10-15% of families to about 60-70% since the 1950s, while only increasing to ~40% in white families, and that well-intentioned policies have encouraged this sad state of affairs within the black community (one of many contributory etiologies for the socioeconomic disparities). I suggested that reflexively pointing to systemic racism as the cause was a narrowly focused analysis. I expressed distress that this narrative is being used to destroy a great country at the time of the least systemic racism in history, and is turning the most color-blind generation in history into one that is highly race-conscious. His answer? Unsurprisingly he didn’t refute anything I said or even try to support the view of a systemically racist country. He tacitly assumed the concept of systemic racism needed no further buttressing, acknowledged the issues and facts I brought up without refutation, and stated that he wanted things to progress “faster.”

Prior to our interaction, he did cite one study to support his contention: Reportedly black students are cited for infractions at 3 times the rate of white students. There are data here to support disparate outcomes. (For data regarding more serious issues, such as white on black police shootings, please refer to prior rants.) It is arguable whether this should be interpreted as systemic or individual racism, or to what extent racism is playing a role. But I don’t believe the rules and regulations in this day and age explicitly target people of color, and, like everyone I know, would oppose any such attempts.

I must admit that despite the predictably underwhelming counter-response, I was surprised (and encouraged) that such a weak argument was espoused for systemic racism by someone regarded to be in a position of expertise. The lack of knowledge, and wisdom, is striking and sad. We should all stand shoulder to shoulder to snuff out any residual policies or activities contaminated by racism, which will likely exist “attitudinally” as long as we walk the earth as flawed humans. We should also unite in defense of a great country and a great system that should not be deconstructed because of misdirected anger.

IF YOU CAN’T VOTE TRUMP—LISTEN TO A LIBERAL

I had a discussion with a conservative friend recently. Both his daughter and her husband are liberal; I don’t know if they are Leftist or SJWs, but the fact that the son-in-law labeled my friend racist on the basis of his conservative beliefs alone, gives me a clue which way he’s heading. To maintain the peace (and retain the right to visit with his grandchild) his objections to the characterization were restrained.

My friend is only one of several I know that can no longer discuss politics with their offspring. To foster productive debate, the other person has to have a willingness to engage and the time to defend his or her beliefs with facts on issues that are often nuanced. This is becoming less tenable in the current political climate. I fear I’ve lost at least two childhood friends simply by expressing my views, and I’m not alone in this.

Hence, I discuss politics little at this time with my daughters. While they are intelligent, and certainly well-loved, we agree on little politically. Discussions became cantankerous, so we avoid them. I accept part of the responsibility; I’ve a tendency to become irritated (yeah, I’m working on it) which causes me to appear to them as judgmental. Hence, I’m uncertain how far into woke SJW territory they’ve wandered. I know they support the BLM group-sponsored protests and they regard them as generally peaceful with the violence viewed as an aberrancy and distinct from the protests. They have never overtly called me racist, and I doubt they will, as racism is a sin and they are honorable people. But I’m not sure that they don’t think it. And this uncertainty irks me. I fantasize that if they were coming from a position of believing I’m not racist, but a thoughtful, informed individual who started where they were, my current conservative beliefs would spark introspection and exploration of how I’ve come to this place. Instead, I imagine they regard me as consciously or subconsciously racist, a product of an unenlightened generation. If true, I suppose this was inevitable. They were schooled in a system that increasingly defined the country by its flaws rather than its foundational values and its remarkable progress in living up to them. This has been reinforced by the mainstream media and peers. Such indoctrination beginning at a young age would be hard to overcome.

I recently came across this important video. It should have more credibility than I for people on the other side of the aisle, coming from a former SJW, Keri Smith, who professes to still be a liberal. It is well worth the time to watch. She eloquently validates my fears for the country if the current ascendance of Leftist wokeness is allowed to take its course unimpeded.

I understand that many liberals cannot bring themselves to vote for Trump. If I had a reasonable alternative, I wouldn’t either. While I like many of his policy decisions, his tweets have served to accelerate the alarming social rift (the political malpractice I’ve previously discussed). I don’t see the current Democrat Party as an alternative, not just because I oppose its policies, but because it, and its politicians, have allowed themselves to be commandeered by Leftist woke dogma. I know a lot of informed liberals out there are not fans of this. The recent letter defending free speech, signed by J. K. Rowling and many other prominent liberals, is one indication of this. I believe this ideology to be so toxic to the continued success and unity of our country that a Democrat power shift at this time is untenable, and yes, worse than four more years of Trump. While radical change under Democrat rule will inevitably be opposed, it will continue to accelerate the social/cultural destruction we are now witnessing in this climate of strident mob mentality and appeasement born out of a fear of being labeled and ostracized. I would ask that traditional Trump-hating liberals that are uncomfortable with the effects of the woke transition, dig deep, get some more information, hear out Keri Smith, and then, if you become as alarmed as I am, consider the impact of a Leftist-infused government with fewer checks. I believe that wokeness and informed knowledge of the facts cannot comfortably coexist.

AN OPEN LETTER TO TRUMP

Dear Mr. President:

As a citizen and a constituent it pains me to say you’re a terrible politician, and hence a failure. I know you were elected as an outcry against the status quo, and your training and background are as a businessman and an entertainer. Like many, I thought not being a politician was a plus. I was wrong.

The decline of our nation has been so insidious, so well crafted, that at least half the country now believes that the system is evil and must be excised, or are oblivious to what the notion of “fundamental change” means. The Left has convinced too many that “hate speech” must be exorcised, and they define what it is. They have convinced too many that dissidents to their ideology of diversity, intersectionality, and “anti-racism,” nothing more than Orwellian terms for separation, socialism, and racism, should be “canceled,” demonetized, muffled, and unemployed. They are taking the nation down the path of the Soviet Union, China, and Venezuela. And too many can’t see it despite its unfolding right before their eyes. The increase in racial tension, the violence, the suppression of dissenting voices—and you are, in large part, to blame.

I will give you credit for your energy and perseverance. Few people, at any age, could have swum against the political currents as you have, righting an anemic economy, passing criminal reform legislation, confronting Chinese deviousness, and increasing the security at our border. You have been consistently demonized beyond your flaws, and they are many, and lied about. It’s not surprising you’ve had judgment lapses in the setting of a 2-year hoax promulgated by the Left of Russian collusion with the full-throated support of the mainstream media, followed on its heels by an outrageous politically-motivated impeachment. And without recognition of any accomplishments. To the contrary, everything has been blamed on you, including COVID-19. You have become, to many, the devil-incarnate. It has been the second most impressive marketing campaign ever undertaken, only eclipsed by resurrecting the image of the United States, probably the fairest, most tolerant nation in the world in 2020, as the most systemically racist and economically elite. But I still blame you.

To quote a prominent conservative thinker and commentator, you constantly commit political malpractice. There are still many of us out there that believe in the fundamental principles that undergird the country. Many of us can still distinguish between the value of equality of opportunity and the evil of enforced equality of outcome. Many of us still understand the reason our Constitution defends all speech, because tomorrow someone who disagrees will decide your speech is “hate speech.” Many of us still understand that anti-white hatred and discrimination is also racism. We see that the cities suffering the most, tragically presided over and populated by the same citizens of color that blame you, have been run for decades by the very people calling you out. We are not fooled by references to past sins to paper over the present in service of a malignant movement, and can understand statistics and hard facts that undermine the Leftist talking points being used to fundamentally change the country. And you’ve failed us with your tweets. You take a step forward with grand speeches, and instead of pressing forward, presidentially, and underscoring the inevitable outcome of the ascendant Leftist agenda of more violence, race hatred, and restricted speech, your ego takes over and you take two steps back, devolving into self-absorbed tweets about trivia, such as Bubba Wallace and the noose incident. You’ve reinforced the media’s false narrative so many times that even those who don’t like the lurch to the far Left that has consumed the Democrat Party won’t vote for you.

I know you think your tweets helped you win the last election. I used to think so too. Now I realize you won in spite of them. I now believe you would have won not only the electoral college vote, but the popular vote as well if they had been less off-putting. I believe the current polls, indicating double-digit losses to probably the weakest presidential candidate ever (yes, that includes Hillary) reflect your own political sabotage. There are few votes out there for Biden; he’s a place-holder—they’re anti-Trump. The current climate of violence and racial tension fomented by the Left should be your political ally. Even the COVID-depleted economy, in the setting of your prior demonstrated success, should be a friend. But instead, your political malpractice and malfeasance has let us down. Under your continued leadership, our recovery would by no means be assured, but it will assuredly be devastated by your opponent and his as yet unnamed but likely far-Left running mate. And your intransigence may also shift the balance of power in the Senate.

If you can’t overrule your temperament and ego and place wisdom between your twitter finger and the screen, and quickly, you will fail the country. Too many of us are counting on you.

Sincerely,

A Worried Constitutionalist

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE UNDECIDED

Dear Voter:

A very small group of American citizens will be determining the fate of the nation in 4 months. You are one of them. This is not hyperbole. The signs of a terrible rent in the fabric of our society are everywhere. The Democrats have decided to go with the far left version of America, that of a systemically racist nation, built on the backs of slaves, rotten at its core, and in need of fundamental change. The Republicans, weakly in my opinion, support the notion of a sinful past overcome on the back of a nation built on the principles of God-given rights, equal opportunity for all, and a limited government of, by and for a people entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

As concerning as the riots, statue disfiguration and destruction, killings, and isolation, with the consent of the governing, by activists of a portion of a major American city are, I see signs of things even more disturbing. This is not tantamount to the Awakening in the ‘60s and is not a “one-off” or a blip, but a sea change. There has been wholesale acceptance of the Democrat narrative by the major corporations, the most recent evidence being the removal by Nike, long a fan of the far left, of all products with the Redskins logo, until the team name is changed. As Ben Shapiro, a conservative commentator points out, conservative thought is now counter-culture. Some of you may think this is good. But as corporate actions indicate, this is just a warning shot of the power about to be exerted over your lives. The cultural shift is not limited to race relations. A new video shows BLM marchers protesting; not decrying police brutality, but Israel, as child-killers. But the most disturbing indicator to me is the story of Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the armed St. Luis, MO couple that received national attention for defending their home from angry BLM protesters that entered a private, gated community, possibly forcefully (narratives vary). Fortunately, no shots were fired. The Left’s take on the incident sarcastically complains that it doesn’t matter that the protesters were heading to the Mayor’s house, what matters is that the McCloskeys were afraid— a “boo-hoo” criticism coming, ironically, from a member of the group that invented the idea of feelings over facts and “safe spaces.” Interviews with McCloskey suggest the event was not the benign encounter portrayed by left-leaning sources, and the couple appear to be credible, their account buttressed by the chilling aftermath of multiple death threats, an unreturned 911 call, and multiple private security firms refusing to provide service to the frightened couple. One even recommended that they abandon their home and leave it to be burned. Regardless of your personal take on the incident, what is clear is that the appeasement of violence and abdication of responsibility by our elected officials in concert with the withdrawal of the police (in the wake of their unwarranted wholesale demonization), has led to a mindset that will only lead to more of the same, and eventual injury and death.

I know the Republicans are weak. I know Trump can often be boorish, non-presidential, egotistical, and has a history of sexual immorality. I know you’ve heard ad nauseum the far left descriptions, adopted by the activist media as gospel, of Trump being a racist Nazi myogynist who is mentally incompetent. If you’re undecided, it means you haven’t completely bought the hyperbole. At this stage of devolution, I don’t know that Trump, or anyone for that matter, can patch the social rent, or even the ailing, COVID-ridden economy. I do know that changing leadership to a party that has adopted a far left agenda that is dividing the country with a narrative that is demonstrably false, and is catalyzing the burning down of the country both literally and figuratively, will only hasten its demise. Changing from a president who has proven track record of energizing the economy to one that will assuredly adopt the failed economic policies of more aggressive and wanton spending and taxing at a time of maximal financial distress is like following lemmings over a cliff.

So I ask you to look closely at what is unfolding, and realize that none of us is immune. I implore you to hold your nose if you must and give the current leadership 4 more years. We may still hemorrhage, with an uncertain prognosis, but it’s better than a head shot, and maybe we’ll buy enough time to locate a tourniquet in the interim.

Or, to buy a gun.

Sincerely,

A truly frightened conservative

TEACH THE CHILDREN, SAVE A NATION

If the current sociopolitical divide doesn’t succeed in destroying the nation politically, or changing it into an unrecognizable shadow of itself, without a conscious course correction we can anticipate it happening within a generation.

Probably everyone has heard the saying, “If you’re not a liberal when you’re 25, you have no heart. If you’re not a conservative by the time you’re 35, you have no brain.” There’s a kernel of truth to that, especially the first part. Certainly there are young people raised in conservative families that, by upbringing, share those beliefs from the outset. But many of us, myself included, having grown up typically in liberal large cities, have been overwhelmingly indoctrinated in left-of-center ideology. Despite this, back in the day, far Leftism, now termed progressivism or “wokeness” (metastasizing ever more quickly into the moderate liberal ranks) was either a fringe ideology or nonexistent. “Back in the day” we all pledged allegiance to the flag (although, even then, the phrase “under God” had a brief period of controversy, with God winning) and flag-burning went from illegal to legal (don’t like it, but personally view it as free speech, just like hate speech, as long as you own the flag and don’t break any fire laws). It wasn’t that we weren’t taught about our checkered past, including slavery, the white man’s devastation of the indigenous societies (back then “Indians,” now Native Americans), women’s suffrage, and Jim Crow, but we simultaneously ingested (and took for granted) the extraordinary principles upon which the nation was based. We were taught to respect the flag, the Constitution and the nation and regard it as exceptional. Because wiser minds understood the distinction between good principles and bad behavior that didn’t live up to them, we were taught to recognize this distinction even through the era of Jim Crow (although I was still in grade school at the time). What was true then, and remains so now, is that the principles upon which the nation was founded are unique, extraordinary, and moral. What is also true, and being buried under an avalanche of misinformation, is that there has been a progressive, accelerating, and exponential change in our society toward racial (and sexual) equality. Not only do the statistics, cited in prior rants, support this, but I’ve lived long enough to personally witness the more recent expressions of the trend. Young people, by definition, have not, so the mind diet they’re being fed is not only misleading, it’s pernicious. And it’s turning them from the most color-blind generations in our history to the most race-conscious. Nothing good can come from this.

Some of the those on the left engaged in this re-indoctrination campaign come from a good place. Troubled by the egregious sins of the past, however, they are unable to get beyond this to see the progressive (and I use the word ironically) and remarkable redress of these sins and inequities that has occurred. In fact, the faster and closer we have come as a society to approaching the principles upon which the nation was founded, the more they are convinced that nothing has changed. How is it that otherwise rational, intelligent people can be blind to demonstrable reality? I believe it is due to the same indoctrination techniques that have led to the rise of fascistic socialism before. It’s remarkable how powerful these techniques are, blinding so many people to its sinister recurrence despite the numerous past and current examples, the most recent being Venezuela. It’s becoming so extreme and infiltrating the mainstream so quickly, that it’s now difficult to distinguish those that are simply misguided and misinformed from those that are manipulating cynically in the name of power and fundamental socialist change. And the preparation for its resurgence has been careful and well-planned. Leaders of the movement knew that starting with the young and impressionable would have an inevitable cumulative effect, so they co-opted the educational system and the media. From kindergarten through university, the curriculum was slowly inched more and more to the left, emphasizing the sins of Western civilization and minimizing its unique blessings by removing the context of our country’s evolution from history and the rest of the world, past and present. Vigorous efforts were undertaken to define our country as a nation founded on slavery culminating in the presentation by Nikole Hannah-Jones in the New York Times of the 1619 Project, referring to the year the first black slaves arrived on American soil. Despite credible sources criticizing the opinions and questioning the historical facts behind this interpretation, it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize (another indication of the success of the Left’s program) and it is still widely accepted as fact by many on the left. If you ask for proof of the systemically racist state of the country, you will invariably be directed to historical evidence decades or more old (undisputed), or isolated, recurrent events by bad people, amounting to anecdotal evidence, since the data supporting a systemic problem don’t exist. The concept of “white privilege” was invented to further the narrative of a racist nation and to sow the seeds of white guilt. Racism was redefined; now you need only to have been born white, and if you haven’t regarded yourself as or engaged in anything racist, then it’s “subconscious.” Color-blindness and consideration of character, the goal of Martin Luther King, Jr, is now racist; it demonstrates an unwillingness to see the racist nation as it is, and to acknowledge your white privilege. And countering the narrative becomes as difficult as pushing a boulder uphill, with an inarguably long history of slavery and systemic racism and an endless stream of negative white-on-black interactions, often ending in the death of the black party, used to bolster it, frequently without regard to circumstance, context, or countervailing data demonstrating its rarity relative to our nation’s size. Vigorous efforts to demonstrate the manifest hatred of racism by the vast majority of white people are ironically used as further ammunition to demonstrate the systemically racist state of affairs. The more the guilt and anger can be inflamed, the less the facts matter. The success of this approach is evident. One need only watch the videos of the “guilty,” citizens and police alike, kneeling, the renewed interest in reparations (passed in the California State House), the constant emails from every large corporation decrying systemic racism with pleas to look elsewhere for transgressions, and the adoption of the Leftist narrative by professional scientific association associations (in my case, the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology). The desperation to bolster this straw-man narrative has gotten so bad, that even fake racial incidents, like the recent, debunked noose incident in NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace’s garage, are being used to support it, even after the debunking! (And this despite the fact that the other drivers, all white, escorted Wallace’s care to the front position in protest of the soon-to-be discovered faux-racist non-event.) And if you still think this ideology is limited to the fringe, you need only look to sales of Robin Deangelo’s book, White Fragility. The basic premise of the book is that if you are white, you are racist. It’s so extreme, many on the left (likely members of the dwindling group of brave liberals) have even criticized it. Here are some of the contentions expressed in the book: the history of America has not changed; individualism is bad because it causes you to not think of yourself as a member of a race; attributing causes of inequality between whites and people of color to other than racism, is racism; backing meritocracy and objectivity is racism; claiming you are color-blind or having celebrated color takes race off the table and if black and white friends don’t discuss race it indicates a lack of cross-racial trust, but if you ask a black person about racism, then you are tokenizing the black person. Why does this matter? Because sales have driven this to the status of a perpetual best-seller since its publication in 2018. So, clearly and disturbingly, the message of racial disunity is being effectively promulgated, and accepted. Conveniently forgotten in all this are the recent election of a black president who, because of ingrained belief of a systemically racist nation, rather than using his bully pulpit to united the races, chose to further the narrative and the racial divide. One example reported, among others, was Obama’s remark, “African-American parents are right to fear that their children may be killed by police officers whenever they go outside,” after five Dallas police officers were ambushed and murdered in 2016. It is more convenient to blame the current widening racial divide on Trump, ignoring that a better case can be made for his having implemented policies that benefited the black community (such as, pre-COVID, the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years and prison reform). For those who still believe, despite what is unfolding in real time, the current analysis is conspiratorial or delusional, consider this: It is now considered sacrilegious in many quarters to come down against the group Black Lives Matter, and people fear speaking out due to digital tar-and-feathering and even job loss. Some mainstream politicians have publicly minimized the heinousness of rioting and destruction, fearing it would be interpreted as decrying peaceful demonstrators against police brutality. Anarchists have been allowed to occupy a portion of a city, a blind eye is turned to destruction of statues and other public property, and the police writ large have been thrown under the bus by government leaders for the same reason, based on the heinous action of a few rotten apples and fabricated crimes of a few others. But believing that black lives matter and supporting the group that has co-opted the name aren’t remotely related. In fact, there’s proof that the group, using police brutality and the infrequent but real instances of true racism as fuel, are bolstering a Marxist agenda, to complement the indoctrination of the youth and conversion of the rest by means of the white privilege/white guilt meme. One of the founders of BLM, Patrisse Cullors, admitted that the group is ideological and lead by trained Marxists.

Still, there may be hope. In a recent op-ed, speaking about potential Gen Z voters, Madison Moore wrote, “I’ve sat in a room of Bernie supporters who listened attentively to my eager, if simplistic, explanation of the tenets and moral defense of capitalism and limited government. They responded in a manner surprisingly engaged and open, despite my many requests that they stop me if they preferred we change the subject. ‘Wow, I never knew that’ was perhaps the most frequent response I received.” This suggests that despite attempts at indoctrination, many young people may still be reachable with facts. Although my own indoctrination when young was less over-the-top than in today’s classrooms, it’s still notable that upon transitioning my worldview and political leanings in my 30s when exposed to facts and opinions I’d not previously heard, this relatively apolitical (at the time) person had a difficult adjustment, revealing the insidious and unconscious nature of the process. So it appears that the road back, while boulder-strewn, may not be entirely obliterated. However, nothing is possible without a concerted effort on the part of conservatives to expose more politically/informationally-isolated citizens of all ages to the truth. And it will take some courage. The longer we wait, the more daunting the task and dangerous to our online and potentially physical health; it already takes courage to even hint of a conservative viewpoint in many quarters. Many out there will not be interested, something to which all of us in the conservative camp who have tried can attest. But those that are still open, and they are identified by being willing to listen and debate rather than withdraw passively or angrily, need to be approached. This should be done respectfully; name-calling does not influence anyone. Along with this, if we do nothing to reverse the insidious trend in our schools and universities, the culture battle cannot be won. I hope it’s not already lost.