Month: December 2023

Without question we are now living in a new period of American history. It’s palpable. Every action of the regime and its partners in the bureaucracy reinforces the idea that they no longer want to follow the rules of the game. If somehow “the people” no longer recognize the obvious rightness of their rule then extraordinary means are justified because by definition, the people must be under the influence of misinformation or disinformation or (heaven help us) malinformation. In which case any action is justified up to and including the rack, drawing and quartering and finally burning at the stake.
I can’t even completely define the full extent of the change but you can sense it in the way that people on both sides of the fence talk and also who they will and won’t talk to. Maybe the easiest change I can point to is the fact that the two sides are no longer trying to convince each other of anything. Mostly they now just talk to themselves but to some extent the two sides are still trying to convince those in the middle to choose sides. But that middle has shrunk quite a lot. The spread between the Left, Middle and Right used to be 30%, 40%, 30%. Now it’s more like 40%. 20%, 40%. It’s still an important 20% but it’s not the same exercise any more. Instead of trying to finesse someone with a better sales pitch, both sides are now shouting bitterly at those in the middle about their blindless to the stark reality around them.
And because the reality is currently very stark indeed, the Right is having the better of the argument. Even empty-headed white feminist suburbanites are looking past their hatred of Trump and voting their dwindling bank accounts. For these dwellers in the middle there’s no permanent place on the Right. They’re part of the Left’s coalition for as long as they benefit from affirmative action. Lately white women have been starting to lose their preferred status on the Left as various other constituencies like “BIPoC” and “LGBTQ” flavors of the month increase in status and numbers. Will they reliably shift to the Right? I guess only if sex based affirmative action were to end. But that’s a long way off.
But getting back to the original point the Left and the Right do not try to convince each other of anything. The Right used to try to work in good faith to find a middle ground with the Left. And since the Left never negotiated in good faith that just meant a steady retreat leftward by the Right.
But all that has happened in the last few years has convinced any conservatives who aren’t brain dead that compromise is an illusion. Resistance and conflict are the only way to interact with the Left. And so that is the way to distinguish between media outlets that were supposed to be conservative and those that actually are. The neo-cons are still out there and you can hear them “making the conservative case” for voting for Nikki Haley or Chris Christie. Even the formerly conservative Fox News is now squarely in the neo-con orbit. Of course, they hate Trump. I guess that’s the acid test. But for me the Haley thing is the tell. It shows what their job is. Fox News isn’t there to tout Joe Biden. It’s to fool the dumber conservatives into thinking Haley would be a better version of Donald Trump. All the tax cuts without the mean tweets. Sort of JEB! 2.0. That is how the Left is going after the 20% in the middle. Biden is poison, so they’re trying to sell Haley. The fools will think that Haley can compromise with the Left and we’ll all live happily ever after.
But the 40% on the Right is finally awake to reality. They know they live in occupied territory and they are adapting to the situation. What they no longer have to do anymore is make believe the Left is part of their country. They never were but now it’s crystal clear. And as dire as our situation is, it’s still better to be making decisions based on clarity than based on delusional thinking. Us and Them.