We’re Doomed! Again!
The Europeans — and the American intellectuals who yearn to be European — have long believed that America was doomed. It goes way back. There was already a significant literature on the inferiority of Americans during the colonial period, replete with scientific proof: those who lived in North America were held to be shorter, weaker, and stupider than those who stayed put under the old regimes. In the view of the transatlantic intellectual elite, we never really had a chance.
Even though the American Revolution is the only durable success among the Big 3 — ours, the French, and the Russian — the intellectual elites on both sides of the Atlantic rarely admit that America is the only truly revolutionary country in the world, and they routinely reserve the term for Russians, Cubans, Iranians, and even Chinese. No matter that they are all failures, and that the only good news from those unfortunate countries is the result of the occasional leader — the great bridge player Deng Xiaoping, for example — who emulates American revolutionary principles.
So the belief that America is a failure has been with us for centuries, and it’s snugly wrapped in the currently fashionable quiltie of multiculturalism/political correctness, according to whose poisonous doctrine all cultures are morally equivalent. Except some — ours and the Israelis’ — are less equal than the others’. And some other cultures — nowadays notably the jihadis’ — are more equal than the rest.
These doctrines are dominant among our intellectual elites, and have been for at least a generation. It should not surprise us to see their consequences applied by men and women who were taught them throughout their schooling. The president’s world view can be found in most any dormitory bull session at our top “educational” institutions. And it is no small source of alarm to me that our best and brightest military officers are routinely sent for reeducation to such places.
SIDEBAR: True confession. I told our children that I wouldn’t pay for tuition at an Ivy League college. The boys went to school in Texas, served as Marine officers, and, along with an impressive number of friends, are combating these doctrines and their political/cultural consequences. Just to show that it can be done, our daughter went to school in Massachusetts, got a graduate degree in Italy, served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and keeps me intellectually alert.
BACK TO TEXT: Inevitably, the “America is doomed” sermon is preached in many places, both by prophets who welcome it, and by those who dread it. Lots of true believers in the American Revolution are currently whining that all is lost, that the counterrevolutionaries have won an irreversible victory, and that we should either trim our sails and adopt the multiculti doctrines, or emulate the heroes of Red Dawn and take to the hills, fully armed, and fight back a la Davy Crockett.
Maybe it comes from the failure to study history (we historians love to blame current error on the lack of historical knowledge). Somebody should tell the garment-renderers and sackcloth-and-ashes crowd that we’ve been through a lot worse than this, and recovered well enough to save the world. We fought, amongst ourselves, the bloodiest war of the 19th century. We’ve been through recessions and depressions. You think we now have it worse than our parents and grandparents, who survived the Great Depression and World War II?
Michael this is making 1nt X’d and XX’d
one of your of best ever
God Bless you and your family
tks, jaytee, blessings on you and your dear ones.
Mr. Ledeen,
All those noble instances are correct. That, was the past.
Today, you ARE writing to a doomed America.
LA and Detroit looked great in the past. They had reason for hope. Look at them today – THAT is your future amerexica.
Some people take up drink after a divorce, I went to graduate school in Mathematics. Deep sigh. Between maintenance payments and the little stipend for being a graduate assistant, I was one of the 47%. Now that I have returned to the classroom I have student loans to pay off, and if I’m not in the 47% it’s just barely. Now I would be happy to pay more as I don’t need that much help.
I believe everybody should pay some taxes, even if they have to pay it out of their government subsidy. Are they paying taxes on their 0bamaphones? Back in the day people could say “I’m a tax payer and you can’t treat me like that!”
By the way, located in the heart of flyover country is Illinois. Could you amend “The Dems are stuck with New York, Massachusetts, and California, who incarnate true blue doctrines, and are in a mess.” to include them?
Great article, Mr Ledeen!
The problem with your apparent assertion–”We’re NOT doomed.”–is that you seem unaware of the problem. We here in California just elected a *Supermajority* of Democrats in our legislature, and the statewide offices are all from that party. When they screw up the economy further (and they certainly will, they have no clue what they’re doing) they’ll simply blame the bad results on Bush, Karl Rove, the Koch Brothers, whoever, and keep sailing on with their failed policies, raising taxes and hiring more bureaucrats to regulate business until the whole thing collapses and people are living in cardboard boxes. When that happens they’ll still be blaming Bush, and a majority of the state’s population is dumb enough to believe them.
If the economies of California, New York, and Illinois collapse, we’ll pull the rest of the country down with us, especially with Brilliant Barack, Clueless Joe, and Tim “I can’t figure out Turbotax” Geithner running things. If the states with the most people in them go belly up, the rest of you are going to A) have an economic crisis and B) be expected to bail us out, while also paying for tax increases at the Federal level. And when we collectively crater, we’re going to destroy the economy of the rest of the world along with us.
I’m just glad don’t have kids…hoping I’ll check out before the cardboard-box-as-luxury-condo part of things catches on…
Meaning no offense David, but for the love of God WHY are you still in California? I cannot think of any industry – none at all – that is so firmly wedded to the Golden State that it lacks opportunities in any other place.
Why not leave them to their decay and rot? Why not escape, and in the very worst case (which I don’t think will come to pass – too many votes in the House opposed) you’ll at least spare us the expense of bailing you out with them? It may not be what they wanted, but brother, they certainly asked for it!
Always had a small boat growing up and i assure you that when people drill holes in the bottom you sink! The remaining normal people from Texas,Wyoming,Oklahoma etc.should get out now!
Am I worse off than Americans who lived through the Civil War, the World Wars, etc? If 10 or 20 years from now they engrave my name on a Second Civil War monument, the answer to this question will be “yes”.
indeed.
The problem is that the citizens of the failing blue states move to red states like CO and vote Democrat. They know CA was too expensive, too permissive and too heavily taxed and the laws on business were horrible but somehow can’t put two and two together. I wish they would just stay put.
That is true. I was witnessing just how close the vote for Obama was in New Hampshire – where countless Liberals from Massachusetts have moved during the last several decades – and there it is right there. They took their failed ideas with them, and are now replicating that failure anew.
A cancer Fails wherever it’s tried!
What makes you think refugees will be allowed to vote ?
Oh, I know you are referring to more Californication of
the solvent States, but that is part of the current order
of things; After the world economy crashes, the Federal
government goes broke, the solvent States are struggling
to survive, and the Blue States are failing, the rules
will change.
In this sense, Liberalism is literally a viral idea. It infects a state, and convinces the people of that state that they are right–but they destroy the state in the process. When the state explodes, it sends viruses into surrounding states, where they infect the population with their poisonous ideas, and it continues.
Mexico is just as clear an example of this happening as well, with illegal immigrants; so would Cuba be, to a certain extent, except that communist ideas are so poisonous, that the people who come here are inoculated from the disease.
This makes me think that the solution is to find ways to inoculate the people who flee socialist “paradises”: explain to them that they are welcome to their new home, where they can practice liberty, but their old homes failed because of high taxes, onerous regulations, and inefficient government social programs; that, if they vote for those things here, then their new home will suffer the same fate as the old; and that, if they repeat the cycle too many times, they won’t have a place to flee to.
This pamphlet should also explain that, while scare, freedom also makes us prosperous; that everyone who comes here has the potential to succeed, even the most destitute among us; and that accepting government “help” will destroy this potential, and actually *encourage* the destitute to remain destitute!
Another great article. I’m always delighted when I see you’ve posted something.
We are certainly not in a depression. But we are 16 trillion dollars in debt and adding 3 billion per day to that tally. We are indeed doomed. Accept it.
Thanks, Michael, I needed that.
I 2ND. THAT THANKS…….DEEP IN MY HEART I FEEL WE HAVE LOST OUR COUNTRY, WHO DO WE TURN TO FOR HELP, NO ONE
The real question is how much economic runway was does America have before we go crashing off the end of the tarmac and end up as a burning hulk in the weeds?
Half the people on the right seem to think we can convince people that have no capacity for rational thought, or at least no desire to engage in it.
The other half seem to think that we can’t beat the hand out crowd, so hey, let’s join them!
Not many on either side seem to get that we are approaching an economic tipping point that can’t easily be undone and that pretty soon the majority will be a takers, and Obama and the left surely love that idea.
I suspect that the right will fold eventually, and that when it starts getting worse (and it will) the left will simply say
“Well, because the Republicans obstructed us for so long of course it’s going to take some extra time, but hey things are getting better!”
Of course they won’t be getting any better but since they can manipulate the numbers and have the media in their pocket all the tards in the country will buy it.
The limp RINO’s will once again have muddled the water enough so that the 30 second attention span voters will put more dim’s into power based on Obama’s shuck an jive act and songs composed of empty promises.
I think the only way to win is not to play. On the economy get the dim’s to make some concessions, like a proper way figure out real unemployment, and independent auditors that will do more than read from a script like the CBO does.
Then give them the economy, literally hand them the keys and at the ceremony tell them “Ok, now you do own it lets see where we are at in 2014″ Then let the people decide.
What will happen is the RINO limp wrist crowd will act tough then fold, over and over again just like the always do. No consistency, no principles, no real conviction for anything other than winning the next election.
Never been a third party person, but I am starting to think it’s the only way to do it, and just quite listening to all the talking heads that say it can’t be done, the same ones by the way that told us that Romney was going to win in a landslide.
Glad I’m not the only one who feels and thinks this way. Thanks for the re-affirmation Sir.
It’s nicely affirming, but I think it ignores the demographics. You sneer a bit at Romney, but as Mark Steyn observes, had the demographics been the same in 2012 as in 1980, Romney would have won in a landslide much bigger than Reagan’s. What he was up against is the tribalism and racial spoils system of the Democratic party, coupled with a massive surge in the Latino vote and a shrinking white vote, and what you hear the left now crowing is that “white America is dead.” I don’t choose to embrace that tribalism or think of myself as a “white voter.” But for “Americans” to rise to the challenge, surely we’ll need less racialism and more people identifying as American.
Perhaps we are doomed because now a majority of Americans WANT to be like Europeans instead of Americans? We can all see how “well” the social welfare state is doing in places like Greece and Spain. But those examples don’t seem to bother socialists right here in the United States, most of them young people educated in our far-left school system. I think it would be ironic if we fall not because of a flaw in the original American character that created this nation, but because we became more like the people we ran away from, the Europeans.
“You think we now have it worse than our parents and grandparents”
No, I think the problem is, collectively, we are now worse than our parents and grandparents. As Libertyship says, there are too many people who don’t want to be Americans and follow that ideal. We got through those earlier tough times because our basic identity was intact. Now it seems to be dissolving. A majority of our voting citizens now seem intent on following a path of failure instead of a path of success.
Kcom, don’t you think many of those “following a path of failure” would rather be zooming up the hill of success? And was our identity intact during the Civil War? We’ve always been a very fractious people.
Sir, with all due respect: if you pay people not to work, you usually get what you pay for. Would such folks rather be zooming up the ladder of success ? I suppose so–but the gravity of “free stuff” is a tractor beam far exceeding anything the Empire could produce. As long as that beam is lit and speaking directly to the souls of men and appealing to the lowest in them, then the state will continue pointed down and a crash seems inevitable.
To paraphrase a contemporary of your Founders (Sir E. Burke) that a BYU professor made us memorize 30 years ago: “Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains on their own appetites; in proportion as their love of justice is above their rapacity; in proportion of their soundness and sobriety of understanding are above their vanity and presumption; in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsel of the wise and good in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power on the will and appetite is placed somewhere…and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. Is it ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free: their passions forge their fetters.”
The fetters are being forged; we are listening to the flattery of a knave; there is not a majority with internal constraints on their appetites–but they ARE passionate.
Kcom, my thoughts have been quite similar to yours lately. I have known many hispanic people and have traveled widely in Latin America. There, I see an intact, strong cultural identity that has in no way been impacted by cultural relativism, multiculturalism or nihilism as ours has. We older Americans do have a national identity, but I see little of it in younger generations and I have lived for thirty five years in a college town. My father’s generation, the “greatest generation”, had no doubts about who they were. My father fought the entire Pacific War, and when asked how they defeated the Japanese, against initially daunting odds, his simplistic answer was always something like, “because we were God-fearing Americans and they were atheistic bastards”. My apologies to the Japanese, against whom I hold no grudge whatsoever. But I wish only to point out the unflinching strength of his national identity, which could not even be uttered today. How can we prevail against our enemies if we cannot at least say “I am, and I will not retreat”?
There is a huge difference. In EU the populous is used to taxes for everyone at huge rates. The socialists here have promised without funding or taxing. The current smokescreen of taxing the rich will fail for many reasons, mostly that it will not generate revenue. If the Dems raise taxes as needed to pay for their largesse, Americans will rebel. The poorer among us will not easily give up their lifestyle. That is why we may want to acquiesce now, while they are demanding little (compared to what is needed).
BTW, excellent article. Even the new immigrants among us are Americans in that they came here for a better life. Not an easy action. It is in our dna.
That’s why i come to this site,great writing and clear thought!I come from that big blue area that stretches from the Canadian boarder to D.C.and in my neighborhood i seldom meet parents like you.Around here normal child rearing consists of the [parent] pulling a girl out of school early,she gets pregnant and retires at 18!(I exaggerate a bit but the result is the same).
Yes we are doomed. we are doomed by two tribes of people who have formed a coalition and outnumber us. One tribe can best be illustrated by this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0yv-nFheug&feature=related
This tribe is simply going to vote for the party that gives her the most free stuff.
The second tribe are the ones I call the ‘Blue Pill People’ (from the matrix). These are the people who hear Obama say he’s going to bankrupt the coal industry and never give a thought to the percentage of their own electricity that comes from coal. Just as an example.
It’s not so much that Obama’s election doomed us; Instead, Obama’s election informs us without a doubt that we have reached a tipping point. It’s time for the members of OUR tribe to refocus our energies on saving ourselves.
Bingo!
Thank you for the pragmatic perspective of our current state of affairs, and as much as I don’t want to admit, it could be worse (and based on your historical recitation, has been).
A perfect example of the problems facing NY were manifested by the super storm Sandy. I know they are suffering, and being cold and without power is miserable, but the incessant whining and complaining is falling on deaf ears now. Didn’t they see what happened in LA, FL, TX, and other locales pounded by hurricanes? Did they think they were immune and didn’t need to prepare for the worst case scenario?…evidently so. And the sorry truth is no amount of govt freebies and hand holding by Obama and Bloomberg will fix it.
This is harsh, but the “sympathy cup” down here in the southern half of country is empty. New Yorkers and the rest need to live with the leaders you elected.
Dr.Ledeen
While I appreciate your attempt to cheer up those of us who are wondering if we have crossed some threshold and the beloved country we once thought we lived in is gone forever, I don’t think that a pep talk is enough.
What we need is to know how did a failed president get reelected? I think that articles like this one http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/11/when-the-nerds-go-marching-in/265325/2/?single_page=true are an important part of that. The Democrats used better tactics. As a historian perhaps you might appreciate the analogy to the WW I German general staff deciding to buy machine guns and heavy artillery with recoil mechanisms while the French generals thought that the bayonet was the decisive weapon in battle. Or, to update it a bit, the blitzkrieg that overran Poland and France in a few weeks was a major tactical advance but it did not mean that National Socialism was a better way of organizing society.
The Democrats put together an operation that used modern marketing methods which make use of big data computing. They used these tools to analyze the electorate down to the individual level and then tailor individual messages designed to persuade those who could be persuaded to vote for Obama and discourage those who would vote against Obama so that they would stay home. While there may be a need for pep talks, what we really need is analysis of how the Democrats pulled off this remarkable election and how we can prevent anything like that from ever happening again. Otherwise you are just encouraging people to make another bayonet charge against the machine guns.
Mark, it isn’t a pep talk, i’m not cheery or particularly optimistic. I’m just trying to provide context and remind us that the future is probably not set in stone, that change is, as always, rampant, that things have been even worse in the past and we overcame those things. and that the fight against evil will not end in this life. I think it’s important to keep fighting evil. We might well win. If any country does, it’s this one.
Well said, sir.
Dude you still dont get it. The real game is in our education and media institutions, not in some ground game tactics (and voter fraud) which no doubt the Left has kicked our butts in. Hollywood and academia are firmly Left and they are rolling out Cultural Marxists, our future.
This is what has changed, and why we are doomed.
We are in agreement that the left has been effective in persuading people to ignore reality and accept their distorted world view. What can we do about it?
Probably more than you think. Republicans control the legislature and Governor’s office in many states. We should accept the sad fact that leftists have killed academic freedom and use it to replace their mandatory teaching points with ours. For example, text book manufacturers are unhappy that they cannot just produce one version of textbooks that is compatible with the California mandates and instead have to also produce a version that complies with the Texas requirements. Which version does your state or school district use? Ar teachers at your schools using Howard Zinn’s book in their classrooms? Those teachers need to find another career. Are there state laws that prevent getting rid of those teachers? Those laws need to change. This needs to happen at all levels of education. If an institution is receiving state or local funding, there needs to be more state or local oversight of what is being taught.
When it comes to Hollywood, the Instapundit call for increased taxes on movie tickets, as well as DVDs, rentals and downloads can be done at the state level as well as the federal level. No reason that Hollywood shouldn’t have to either “pay their fair share” or at least explain what is wrong with excessive taxes.
I love the idea of ‘sin’ taxes on Movies, DVDs and downloads!!! Priceless! Can we do it on Video Games, too? I’m serious.
Mr. Ledeen, this is the pep talk we needed! Thank you for your reminder of the revolutionary bedrock of our nation. Said bedrock provided the foundation for capitalism. Though cap has fallen on hard times, she will rise again. You have also wisely referenced the Civil War as an experience that gave us a toughness which (in my opinion) is in our collective memory.
Yet, it seems to me that the divisions in our nation are so deep that we have a de facto geographical division once again. Though I believe a second Civil War is doubtful, the rhetoric will only get more and more strident–though my hope and prayer is always that there will be civil discourse.
Finally, referencing the “Roaring 20s” reminds us, indeed, that bygone eras have seen their share of “gloom and doom” preachers just as ours today. As a Christian Minister, it seems to me that the 18th amendment was an attempt to address a very real problem plaguing our nation for 200+ years before its passage. Yes, said amendment was a “bridge too far”. Yet, the tragedies brought on by excessive consumption of alcohol continue to plague us. The tobacco companies came first in the courts. It is only a matter of time until families bring lawsuits against companies which produce alcoholic beverages.
This piece is a real testament to the spirit and resilience of the American people. Our children are the future of this country and its looking good; and that’s what the Left want to destroy. What better method to cause the soul of America to hurt and be dismayed than to usurp the education system and use it to destroy the hope of a bright future; and prevent us from reaching our destiny as a country.
I disagree with Mark in Texas – this election what not about how wonderful the Democrat’s strategies were; this election was about fear, manipulation, intimidation and control.
Half Your Paycheck To The Government In 2013
http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/willis-report/blog/2012/11/15/half-your-paycheck-government-2013
Not doomed? Let’s hope you’re right.But the enemy this time is Ourselves.Can we prevail?
Who is this “we” that isn’t doomed?
If I accept your conclusion that the future isn’t predestined—and I do—that doesn’t mean that some sheiss isn’t about to hit the fan.
After Obama managed to fool so many people, indeed con them like the flim flam man he is, in combination with his minions stuffing ballot boxes in places like Philadelphia and Cleveland, how can any awake and knowledgeable person NOT conclude that “We are doomed”—at least for the immediate future?
Look, essentially OBAMA IS A FOOL! And, to riff on Forrest Gump, well you know what comes next. As I’ve been saying for years, the leftists in America are Shiva, the Destroyer, in action, and they have only just found their groove.
I think America has chosen to “enjoy” another FDR-like “depression”. That is, the people, led by their foolish noses by their rulers, the MSM, are hot to trot for the next four to twenty years or so in an economy that will look back on today as a high point. In short, it’s 10% -20% unemployment, lots more people on the government dole, and a whole bunch of twisting in the wind by the “intellectuals”.
Besides, while we await the guaranteed deleterious effects of Obamacare, don’t forget that Americans continue to get fatter and fatter, one person at a time. The older and leaner generation shuffles off the coil, and the newer and grosser one keeps on foolishly hustling more and more non-nutritious “food” into their bodies. The only exercise too many people are getting is lifting forks and chewing!
Anyway, the worsening condition of America and Americans is way beyond mere words.
Intentions and will power are no match for actual physical reality. I can easily imagine a plethora of grossly obese people using “other people’s money”, by needing wheel chairs to move around—despite their desire, or will.
It will be EVENTS that cannot be ignored that will happen, that are required to wake people up, I’m afraid. And I don’t mean that in a positive way!
Indeed, I’m actually amazed we haven’t had runaway inflation yet. I still think much higher interest rates are coming, AT LEAST.
Doomed, no.
Tough times ahead—YES!
right. as i said, we’ve entered hard times.
“There was already a significant literature on the inferiority of Americans during the colonial period, replete with scientific proof: those who lived in North America were held to be shorter, weaker, and stupider than those who stayed put under the old regimes.”
Heh. The actual data shows the exact opposite with regard to anthropometric measurements. Americans of the Colonial period and early Republic were in fact taller and healthier with lower mortality and morbidity rates, and consequent greater longevity, on average than the British and French of the same periods. Check Fogel’s, “The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death” for details.
I’m reminded of an astounding factoid–
the average Japanese soldier in WW II was all of 5′ 2″ tall, the same as my mother, an American born in 1910.
thanks. yes, of course the claims about inferior north americans were false. should have put “scientific” in quoes. or something.
You get the same sorts of claims about US Civil War soldiers. The mythology is that the average CW soldier was 5’7″. In reality, the average of the largely immigrant US Eastern Army of the Potomac may have been close to 5’7″ because from ’64 on, that Army was largely composed of bounty soldiers recruited in Ireland and Germany or right off the docks in NYC, that part of “Gangs of New York” is very realistic, and were half starved peasants fighting for the $50 bounty and soldier’s pay. The native born American soldiers in the PACS or Sherman’s Western Army were BIG men. I’ve read lots of muster rolls of the PACS and men 5’10″ and 180 pounds are the rule, not the exception. Read the newspaper accounts of Sherman’s men in the victory parades in Washington. The authorities in the East were actually afraid of Sherman’s men; big, corn-fed farm boys from the Old Northwest. My two ancestors that I know specifics about in Gen’l. Lee’s army were 5’10″ and 5’11″ and both 175-180 pounds, and they were starving Confederates.
As a former professional soldier, I can assure you that if I get you in my sights, it does not matter how tall you are.
It is not the dog in the fight, it is the fight in the dog.
Abn Rgr
All European political thought of the 1800′s captures the intellectual elite’s attention in America the bastardized. Sadly our own illustrious and decidedly homegrown thought is forever trashed.
Thank you for writing this, sir. I’ve gotten so very sick of conservative handwringing the past month.
Also worth noting, for those in the crowd worrying about America “losing” its superpower status: China was the most powerful, advanced empire on Earth at one point. At a couple different time, actually. It also fell apart a couple times and hey, now it’s back together.
I’m not offering China as the future of the US; their hideous mixure of crony capitalism and racial triumphalism is something I’d die to keep out of this country. But it is a good example of a state that has fallen and risen again.
We can make it, guys. Hard times are not End Times.
I think the writer forget two things:
1. The makeup of Americans are vastly different from the 1860′s and 1930′s. 40% of kids born out of wedlock now, divorce rate much different, morals much different, much more self-governing going on back then.
2. It is possible to be on the losing side of the next WW II and the next Great Depression (think complete gov’t takeover).
I think a collapse is about the only thing that will save us at this point as it will get our attention and show that keynesian economics doesn’t work.
yes we could lose. no question. we’ve got real enemies, domestic and foreign, who are working hard to make it happen.
Yes, but it’s a forgivable conceit, considering the massive evidence in support of it.
I don’t think Romney thinks in those terms. He can’t, really, because he’s basically a statist himself. He doesn’t understand, or care about, political philosophy.
He’s a pragmatist, period.
As President, we would have gotten plenty of statism from him, and plenty of statist appointments, too.
And had that been pointed out to him, his rebuttals would have ALL been based on pragmatism. “Oh, he can do this, he can do that, we’ll get THESE results.”
Such men are dangerous.
“He thinks people who receive stuff from the state are automatically statist. But that’s false (for starters, I am on that list of “takers” — I get Social Security — and I’m no statist). Some number of those on government payments are unhappy; they’d like to get out from under. It’s wrong, politically and morally, to write them off as lost souls.”
Same here. I vote against the people (Democrat or GOP – one of the things I most disliked about the Bush years was the way the Republicans tried to buy votes like the Democrats when they held power) who promise to increase/expand my gubbermint bennies but as long as they’re handing them out, I take them. The “rules for radicals” work both ways.
Doom and boom.
Israel won’t have much time, fate is in approaching process, there’s not much time. Iranians evil will come above Israel’s; they’ll launch that satanic wound toward Israel. A horrible fate will come at last and will happen. Many times it thrilled me, its anxiety pains my muscle and my nervous system, I feel its bad ache in my hands, in my head, many nights I can’t sleep, very bad taste I feel in my mouth. After many years, and its hundred time repetition, before many terrible accidents, and nightmare sleeping, it proved me this tremendous energy and its fearful nightmares, what it means. I’ve seen a shocking hit with a hellish burning wind came after it, a shocking strike, where it was? I don’t know, who did it? I don’t know. But I feel a gigantic accident is in coming way. Where it is and what it will be, I just saw in my sleep a burning wind with shocking flash…. I hope and want of almighty that all of these feelings and revelations be bullshit, not a destiny. O, my lord salvage us, save us, give us peace against evil, damn Satan who hate us and want give us harm, O lord, give us peace, save us of doom and evil.
God, forgive me…. before September attacks and before Fukushima tsunami, before Syrians conflict before Egypt turbulence and many more from my childhood until now, I’ve had these senses. Why, why these revelations must come and catch me! Many times I hide them and I force myself to shut my mouth, but this time so much different of other times, It really hurt me this time about one week it is I couldn’t sleep well and I see very bad nightmares, continuously repeated, one by one, a hit flash that blind my eye and my sight …. What is it? I hope it will be bullshit, from one side I can’t say something, on the other hand if I be quite and then if it happened, after happening, my superego do not let me calm. for many times and constantly it will torture me.
Go back to sleep, Barack.
Whether or not we’re “doomed” depends on one’s point of view & where & in whom one puts all of their hope, faith & trust. If one puts all of their hope, faith, & trust in politicians, then yes that person is “doomed”. We’re all fallible human beings who make mistakes. If one put all of their hope, faith, & trust in The One, True, Living God who created us all & everything in creation & is in total sovereign control, then thoughts of being “doomed” will not exist. If one believes everything is possible with God what reason is there to feel “doomed”? Colossians Ch. 1, vs. 17 says it all:
“He (Jesus Christ) is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
Of course we’re not doomed. I’m tired of this post-election pity party, because it’s gone on much too long. And it’s everywhere. They say we lost the election because the Christians stayed home. Or because Carl Rove and the Old Guard Republicans stabbed us in the back. Or because we didn’t suck up to the illegal immigrants. Boo Hoo, get over it. We lost, and early next year the Dems are going to start waging economic war on America. Now’s the time to gear up and go into survival mode. Because now there’s a 50% chance that you will lose your job next year. Are you going to whine about it and get mad, or are you going to take steps to prepare yourself for the inevitable? The choice is yours, not theirs.
I am reminded of the period of the Civil War before Lincoln appointed Grant command of all Union armies in late ’63.
The problem in prosecuting the war then, as now, wasn’t purpose but leadership and strategy.
With voters or maybe some elite group put in the place of Lincoln, who do we pick? How do we proceed?
The current dissatisfaction begs for a major change. We cannot go all Adm. David Farragut, damn the torpedos, full speed ahead.
Go this way, please.
Pick me four small states. Elect me one Libertarian from each to the U.S. Senate. Those four control the government.
I’m done wishing for the next election going to the Rs. They’ve had it all twice in my lifetime and won awards for FUBARing the joint. Nor do I harbor any hope that the Ds will wake up to their campaign of destroying the country. They want a different country. They are waging political war.
The Rs aren’t up to the battle. They’ve proved it to me. They’re the Quakers of politics. Good folks but useless as wet Kleenex in war. All they make is spitballs.
AGAIN: Pick me four small states. Elect me one Libertarian from each to the U.S. Senate. Those four control the government.
Analogies are never perfect (then and now); OK…The current reality is the degree to which these countries are social welfare states and which direction are they headed; the world of the 1860s-early 20th century was mostly: work and eat or die.
Now the Europeons seem to resemble the Neanderthals…The human instinct that brought humans into the 20th century was marriage and reproduce. Could be the Neanderthals all got enlightened and became gay and self consumed and did not reproduce their species (see Europeons ), maybe that is what happened to the dinosaurs too!
Even if the economy gets “worse”; for the genetically mutated species of “non reproducers” (gay) it will still be Bushes fault….same holds true for the ultra religiously secular: they “believe” that printing money and running trillion dollar a year deficits does not result in cooking the goose that laid the golden egg (end USA reserve currency status)… if/when that day comes we go back to: “work and eat or die.
Could I be wrong?
Count me with Michael on this.
I’m no Pollyanna–I know that Obama’s reelection will result in enormous damage to our country–economically, in security costs (read blood), and socially. Most discouraging of all is the fact that a majority of our fellow citizens voted for him after seeing him in action for the past 4 years–he was no “blank slate” this time.
That said, we continue to have enormous resources, advantages, and opportunities as a nation–material, geographic, legal and institutional legacies that possess great residual value, and we certainly have a very large plurality of our fellow citizens, possibly even still a majority, who remain imbued with the traditional American mindset and values. No one can have had close contact with our grievously wounded soldiers & marines over the past decade–as I have been privileged to have–and not recognize the great moral reserves that our country still possesses.
I will add that I’m a 3rd generation American of German/Celtic Catholic background–i.e., not “diverse” by current definitions–and I deeply resent the wailing I hear about adverse “demographics” from many of those whom I otherwise regard as political and philosophical allies. No American is defined by his or her “bloodline”. Everyone here either left a homeland or descended from those who did in search of something different. If that’s not obvious enough, look at Thomas, Scalia, and Alito–a generation ago, with their “demographic” backgrounds, they would have all been “liberal” Democrats, but are today among the foremost champions of our constitutional heritage and philsophical ideals.
That all sounds good, but there is only one problem. Have we, ever, had a country where the losers, the takers, the welfare recipients, the minorities who will NEVER switch parties, and all the rest, simply outnumber the producers?
Bush won both elections just barely. Obama won easily, save a closer popular vote. We hear all day long that the white males are dying, and should just shut up. The majority of women who are obsessed with their vaginas and birth control and will never stop voting for liberal offerings. Those on the dole will never vote for anyone that suggests they give something back.
50, 100, 200 years ago we had people that kept their sex to themselves, abortion was for some sort of monster, thought clearly about their votes, and most importantly, had self-reliance and a rejection of charity unless they were ill or really desperate, and even then it was refused often. All that has changed, and I don’t see it changing back.
So the author asserts it has been worse before. Well, yes it has, we used to be eaten by wild animals and at the mercy of cruel kings. So what bearing does that have on us now, as we see our culture and country slip away at the hands of mindless, grabbing, jealous, useless liberals?
“…we’ve been through a lot worse than this, and recovered well enough to save the world.”
The latter part of the above comment is apples too oranges when trying to compare to the great depression and WWII or any other previous domestic events. The principals of the UN and CFR blueprint can hardly claim any ‘real’ ROI successes in terms of the U.S. saving the world. Millions of people have died, been maimed and otherwise slaughtered around the world since the great UN plan. Worldwide conflicts are growing at a new high today. The new global economy is in the tank as well as the principal nations of the UN and CFR strategies.
I for one believe its well past time for americans to have a good old conversation of sorts out behind the barn with the elites who have ‘steered” our national politicians for decades bringing america too the state it is today. Time to bring these shadowy elites out into the public and have them face public conviction for leading american into one strategy after another to save the world while we crumbled from within as a result.
Yes, the america will survive in name but its original culture of greatness as known by so many millions of earlier generations — wil not!
i’d love to be at that conversation. and please be more skeptical about our abilities to foresee the future.
“…please be more skeptical about our abilities to foresee the future.”
*smile*
I’ve never once given credit to all those elites of the defense and foreign relation think tanks and their sidekick special advisor types for any ability to see beyond their noses. Because they really suck at the human nature part of any equation they assure us that the history of global conflict and war will repeat itself time and again.
Semper Fi to your sons!
One of the filters you missed is the pluck that it took to cross an ocean and to survive the journey.
We got the deep end of the gene pool on that score.
From that spirit emanated the courage to revolt against England, the strongest Army and Navy in the world.
From that spirit we spurred the American sense of entrepreneurial adventure.
The flame has not died and we shall be great once once again.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Mr. Ledeen, thank you for this article. It has cheered me in a time when I really need cheering.
A good article over all until this nonsense.
“Romney seems to be a sort of economic determinist. He thinks people who receive stuff from the state are automatically statist.”
Well, you don’t have to adopt multicult doctrines, it’s being done for you. In the last decade, 90% of immigrants have come from the Third World, and that does not include illegals.
You can link decades and say: yes, this one is much better for people in terms of medicine and educational opportunities and I’m much better off and that’s true. However those decades had one thing in common, there was no great movement among those people that despised their own culture and achievements.
Each decade in America’s history built on the success of the one before and we honored our past. Today we ignore our past or revile it. Everything we did was wrong.
As for cycles: yes, they exist, but we’ve never had 7 billion people on Earth before
The “America is too big to fail” meme is just as deluded as the “America is doomed” one.
And you really do yourself no favors by completely misrepresenting what Romney “thinks” of people who are on social security (i.e., automatically “statist”). That’s your own bias/resentment there because it didn’t come from anything Romney said.
@30 kabbalah
The flash or too-bright light might be the onset of glaucoma. I’d get checked if I were you – in a hurry. It’s not something to fool around with, believe me.
I needed to hear that.
I think people needed to see this piece. Especially the “doom and gloom” people who I feel either didn’t see that we have been through much worse, or just refused to.
@Charles, Nov 20, 3:32:
I don’t get it. You start by talking about “the tribalism and racial spoils system of the Democratic party, coupled with a massive surge in the Latino vote and a shrinking white vote. You then say “I don’t choose to embrace that tribalism or think of myself as a “white voter.”
Why not? Aren’t you in fact a white voter?
The era of the Melting Pot, if it ever really existed, is over. America is now a multiethnic, multiracial empire, and it is going to be controlled by whichever ethnic/racial group (or coalition of groups) can seize and hold power. By refusing to identify yourself with your own ethnic/racial group (white people), you reduce the ability of white people to compete with the other ethnic/racial groups for that power.
Now, if you don’t mind being subject to the rule of people who share neither your culture nor your ancestry, then by all means continue to think of yourself as a generic “American”. Perhaps you’ll be treated well under the new order.
I, however, have chosen to stop playing pretend. I am a white person, and I want white people in America to hold power and control their own destiny.
Does this sort of talk make you feel uncomfortable? Tough. Reality is often uncomfortable. And the reality we must face is that the era of mainstream, flag-wavin’, Hugh-Hewitt-Rush-Limbaugh-Sean Hannity colorblind conservatism is over. You must now choose: you can face the reality of racial and ethnic conflict we now inhabit, or you can withdraw and continue to live the “It’s a Small World After All” fantasy. The choice you make will determine what kind of world your children and grandchildren will inhabit.
Will the America of the future be more like all-white Iceland or multicultural Brazil? Will our future more closely resemble monoethnic Japan or colorful, diverse Palestine? The choice is up to you.
You write, Mr. Leeden, that our country has been through worse times than the present and foreseeable future and survived. That happened thanks to the moral mettle of the majority of the American populace. That moral majority no longer exists.
I’m not that optimistic.
there is plenty of conservative minded people in the USA in fact the majority are.
still the American dream, the constitution are not the default position for humans. they will always gravitate towards a strong man rule if left to there own devises.
not that there isn’t hope just that conservatives have not gotten to the point where they will fight.
the republican party has shafted the conservative majority.
from this side of the pond, what you call “American Revolution”, is rather called “War of Independance”
I’m a lot more optimistic than I was 10 minutes ago. And I wholly agree that Republicans/Conservatives need to hold to their principles if they hope to see a resurgence of common sense. I always shudder when the handwringers start talking about jettisoning pro=life principles, or “compromising” on the need to put government on a strict diet (salt and water?). Besides, if we go down let’s do it with our hands outstretched with hope. The quickest way to lose is to surrender before the enemy has fired a shot.
One other thing. It is absolutely true that many, many people who receive somethibng from the government are committed conservatives, but for reasons truly beyond their control are getting government checks. I am one of these. I receive SS Disability. I have been chronically ill for 50 years, since I was 7, and the illness got the beswt of me about 3 years ago. I don’t want to be disabled, but I am. However, that is life, and I planned for it by carrying disability insurance from a private insurer–and this is where I am involuntarily forced to take SSD. My PRIVATE insurer insists that I take SSD at the risk of losing an equivalent sum from the insurance for which I paid thousands of dollars over 25 years. My income is less than half of what I earned when I left work 3 years ago, and while my family never lived high, it still costs more and more everyday just to keep afloat. Meanwhile, my payments from private insurance never go up–no cost of living adjustment, and I get no benefit from SSD cola’s because my insurer deducts an equal amount from my private payments. I am effectively forced to take SSD at the risk of leaving my long suffering wife with substantially less than it takes to stay afloat.
Maybe I should have seen this when I purchsed my private insurance. I am a lawyer by trade so perhaps I should have read the insurance contract more closely, in which case maybe I could have gotten a policy which did not require that I apply for SSD. The problem is that I have looked and so far have not found ANY policies of this sort–even if I were to pay a higher premium.
Frankkly, this is a scandal and I think should be at least in some way illegal. But that is the way things are. I wonder how many others are out there who also find themselves on the federal dole because the insurance market is playing the margins with taxpayer money?
So, while I always hope for a miracle of healing, maybe I should pray to be delivered from those who would force the government on those who paid good money for a much different product.
I have a dream.
Target,Tehran.
Tehran is the best bull eye for a good strike, nuclear strike. A hellish nuclear strike targeted at Tehran is very good idea for annihilate this venomous viper. Tehran is the head of evil snake. Tehran is the head of Iran, head of evil, head of threats, head of madness that just want misery for all neighbors. Tehran never stay still, stay in peace, stay in calm, mouth of Tehran constantly produce poison, proxies who always just want harm to Arabian gulf neighbors. Arabian Gulf belongs to king Abdullah king of Saudi Arabia and triple islands belongs to United Arab Emirates. Mullah’s regime is our dirtiest nightmare for globe and for stability of Middle East. Tehran’s regime just always wants escalate the bad situation against the global peace. For about thirty four years their tendency for evil and destruction, harm to global peace and smuggling weapons, was and is in advancement. They never let the peace exist, their satanic essence always tend to harm and evil. Their revolution export policy, and uprising Shiites in south east of Iraq and security threats against the Iraq government, compel them no other way but war against Iranian evil. They many times warned Iranians that “your proxies busy in smuggling weapons and destabilize Iraq security, therefore, just please do something to protect the peace between us. Otherwise it’s our obligation to declare the urgent situation against warmongers comes out of your country”. But that infernal devilish Khomeini announced that “Saddam must go! The war is grace; war is gift come of god! We are the hero of war, if this war even twenty years continued we stand by it until end” .there’s no need to repeat all the past years events, all the politicians and countries know that. Mullah’s regime just produces poison. What is the main cause for their satanic rule on Iran? Westerners. Western countries let them get power, their support, their trade, their embassies, their relation Reveal or hidden, front or behind curtains relation, diplomatic and so on. Westerners support and petrodollars, is the main cause of their damn life. Close all your embassies, all the globe countries embassies in Tehran, and shut down and cut off your international affairs with this satanic regime, please. Please close and expel the mullah’s regime embassies and their so-called fake diplomats (mullah’s spies) from the entire globe and your countries. Please demand this fact that Tehran’s regime must destroy completely by any means and anyhow and any price. The Iran’s nation absolutely want freedom and peace but mullah’s evil satanic regime never let them live in peace; the nation of Iran will pay any price for freedom and termination of mullah’s regime. Iran’s nation never wanted war but mullah’s misuse and bad use treat and deal to neighbor’s nation to start war and send the Iran’s nation to war and make them martyr for their justification and legitimatize their power and their rule appearance. Mullahs are the seed of Satan, Devil, if you really study their historical existence and their plots, easily their satanic soul is detectable, it is exactly like the damn devil soul, unclean soul. Their deception, their terror is devilish, for power. This bastard regime must destroy by any means and any how.
Mr. President Barack Hussein Obama, kindly, there are some words for you, I hope you see, and consider. As you know clearly, mullahs never want to negotiate with you; do you know what they exactly want? Tehran’s regime want and desire that you and all Americans and all westerners head not to be on your and their body. They want you be dead, they want your death, they want you go to grave. They just want your corpse. Tehran’s regime extremely hate of western culture, western societies, western people, and your smiling faces. They want to cut your throat. If you think that with pressures you can force them to obey your commands, you are so wrong. Maybe they show some deceptive behavior, but their wicked and satanic soul will continue their past evil tendencies for hellish power. They just think about their satanic imperialism and their benefits in Middle East. These satanic creatures are anti humanity and are in eternal clash with humanism. There’s no way for you but deal and treat them like themselves. Just think about their wipe and erase of the earth. If other alternatives in spite of above just mentioned could be done in these thirty four years, it could solve and end without problems, and this agony never could be start with hostage crisis in 1979.
Mr. President,
Please do something about this disease. You are the most powerful man on the earth, your decisions can be highly valuable and powerful and effective, as the same jimmy carter wrongly did, and let them grab power and cause many troubles for world after 1979, all sorts wars, all sort terrorism, destabilizing gulf region, who mullah’s are the main cause and mother producer and money payers and influences etc, that was a very bad decision that cause united states lost its basement and best friend and many cost and many damages to U.S. Khomeini deceived the carter administration. Have you ever think about history stream? If, yes! if, just if on the sensitive momentous moments of turning point of history times which are on the go and change to past form now to past moments, if right decisions get to do, many problems will not occur. Do you know right decisions can effectively lead the history of human to right route? If this satanic regime hadn’t come to power many chain uncontrollable reactions never happened from the USSR invasion to Afghanistan, Iran/Iraq war …. Until producing gangs like Al-Qaeda and so on until 9/11 attacks catastrophic disaster. Right decisions sometimes can be like Kennedy decision on missile crisis to avoid a horrible clash between USSR and U.S above Cuba, to, do not allowing the darkness back warded reactionary acquiring power in Tehran. And many more, right decisions and wrong decisions, sometimes by one person, sometimes by a whole bunch of humans, like renaissance, like scientific progress, and bad decisions like crusade wars, like wwI and II and etc. and Now you can do a positive decide against Tehran’s regime. Tehran’s regime is a real tumor cancer that must absolutely destroy by any how and any price, and any means. Iran’s nation is ready to pay the price. They are paying price for about thirty four years, with their children blood, with their soul and effort. At last they find that these creatures are the verses of Satan, not the God, Mullah’s are the omen of devil. They’ve woke up of long deceptive unconsciousness sleep. Iran’s nation wants illumination and freedom. Iran’s nation wants real science and scientific progress. At last they’ve found these creatures are some wolves in sheep’s cloth. Please don’t negotiate, don’t talk to satanic mullahs. Just think about and look for how to destroy them. Iran’s nation will help you; these satanic creatures have many enemies, look for how to unite all the enemies of Tehran’s regime and walk toward victory. I’m sure if Doctor Martin Luther King would be alive now, he’d confirmed freedom logic against Surrender to tyrants.
Thank you so much indeed.
Faster, please.
Well said, Sir! But respectfully I disagree with you on one point.
The region there is full of evildoers. In that region, nothing is belong to Al Saud, it is belong to the people of that region. The fact is a large part of Saudi Arabia should belong to the Jews.
As an Arab dissident from the tragic and nasty world “aka Arab and Muslim world” honestly think that Gulf is belong to the Land of Persia, because historically and internationally always known as the Persian Gulf.
Please do not forget that Mr. Obama is the good proxy of Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood in Washington!?
Arabian Gulf, Just only Arabian Gulf no word extend no word expel.
Arabian Gulf.
Gratitude
Gratitude is an inspirational short film from Moving Art filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg that will hopefully cause you to be Thankful for today. I’m just as guilty as the next person as taking so many wonderful things that we experience in our daily life for granted but I try to be thankful for the little things as much as possible. He mentions having hot and cold running water and this is definitely something I’m thankful for.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj2ofrX7jAk&feature=player_embedded
American women, seek not your prophet in times of crisis and turmoil.
For they hide away from mortals and tight lipped in wisdom and prophecy.
Rather find yourself a quiet garden in the city, and let Ilion be your guide.
And let the men know
O Gods of this world
Let not the city of lights fall
Till the prophets swan-like, have given their poetic call.
Michael, one thing is different now, than in the past – the US had better opportunities back then to pay off debt.
These days, the only way this Canadian sends money to the US is if I buy something built, or grown, in the US. Forget about any bond from any local government in the US, or any State government, or the US federal gov’t.
Grapefruit from Texas is still tasty.