America the Combustible
If we had all only known in March how everything was going to turn out we might have been able to do something different. Like move to Antarctica. What passed for worries for most Americans last year at this time certainly seem a bit trivial now that lockdown fever has exploded into full-blown civil unrest.
If this all seems a little too slick, organized, and, well, scripted it’s because it is. The first draft of this nightmare was written by the original hipster beard boy commie Karl Marx over 170 years ago.
What we are seeing play out across the land these days often looks like Marxist street theater. Commies hate private property, which is why they feel it’s perfectly acceptable to destroy it as a manifestation of “the struggle.”
Marx was a big fan of dismantling institutions, and the current push to radically transform policing as we know it is just an updated twist on that. Part of creating a collectivist hive-mind is the destruction of the individual, which is precisely what the “we’re all part of the problem” rhetoric is about (and which I address in my latest VIP column).
I’m just setting all of this up to make clear that the end game of all of these “peaceful protests” is the utter destruction of the United States of America. If one immerses oneself in the news all day — especially as conveyed by social media — one could easily believe that America’s death rattle is upon us.
I’ve even gone from being an eternal optimist about the future of the Republic to the pessimist-in-chief among my conservative friends. I found myself at the end of last week twice saying “The American experiment is over” and meaning it. Fortunately, I’ve been hanging out with me for so long that I know I can sometimes be a bit of a hothead who completely commits to saying something in the moment but will rethink it later on.
For the last couple of days I’ve been pondering whether I truly believe this messy experiment in freedom is over. After careful deliberation, combined with another ammo purchase, I have come to this conclusion: not just yet but I’ve definitely moved it into the “realm of possibility in my lifetime” column on whichever chart it is I keep such columns.
The 2020 ‘Quadrupling Factor’
I just made this up. My new theory is that at this point in this hellscape of a year, everything probably just seems to be four times worse than it actually is. I say that as one who really didn’t have a rough quarantine/lockdown. Do feel free to adjust for your personal circumstances.
Nobody is going to look back on these days and say, “Well, that wasn’t so bad,” of course, but here’s hoping that some temporal distance and perspective make us realize that the apocalypse wasn’t really nigh.
It might be a good idea for us to operate as if it might be, though. Everything isn’t an existential crisis but sometimes it’s best to operate as if it is and plan better for worst-case scenarios.
The scenes from all over America the past ten days have been truly disheartening. That’s one thing that Americans who went through troubled times in the past didn’t have to deal with: a 24/7 barrage of readily available, visual media from around the country. If we stick with my quadrupling factor, social media images surely account for at least two points of it.
Just writing this has helped me temper my negativity.
America the Resilient
While many comparisons are being made between our current civil unrest and the 1960s, it would do everyone well to remember that we made it past that because the people in charge didn’t cave to the lunatics. If the response to lawlessness continues to be capitulation — oh, what the hell, surrender — to the lawless then stick a fork in us, we’re done.
I have enough faith in the system that I truly believe that once enough wealthy liberal private property is destroyed the “bend a knee” crowd will discover a newfound affinity for police protection. There’s also the fact that “wait for the police to arrive” is the centerpiece of their argument for gun control. They’ve temporarily forgotten that while being high on the fumes of Marxism.
While I admit that I haven’t been pleased with the way many Republican governors — including my own — have handled our recent crises, I will say that I don’t think most of them want to throw the keys over to the rioting commies just yet. If we can keep a few adults in power throughout America we can probably cling strongly enough to our guns, religion, and Constitution to keep the works afloat.
It all begins with never, ever bending a knee for the rabid rage mob that is fueled by insatiable blood lust. Should the Republic survive, the leaders who did so during this turmoil will not be fondly remembered.
America and its people are tough. With enough vigilance, we should be able to avoid civil war and balkanization, while surviving the unmitigated horror that is Nancy Pelosi when she removes her mask.
America is still in a very precarious position at the moment, however. There is always the potential for a free society to get this messy. The trick is in making sure it’s still free when the mess is cleaned up.
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PJ Media Senior Columnist and Associate Editor Stephen Kruiser is the author of “Don’t Let the Hippies Shower” and “Straight Outta Feelings: Political Zen in the Age of Outrage,” both of which address serious subjects in a humorous way. Monday through Friday he edits PJ Media’s “Morning Briefing.” His columns appear twice a week.
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