Tag: A House Divided

Ancient European History – Part 4

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At the end of the last installment of this essay I said:

“And the stalemate between the Left and Right is maddening to anyone who wants this country fixed.  We seem to be at a dead end.  What’s the answer?”

I think the answer is we’re not one nation.  We’re at least two (and maybe several more than two) nations trapped in the same constitutional system that requires unanimity.  The people who are the majority in the blue states and the people who are the majority in the red states want diametrically opposite things.  It’s not just that they disagree on the details of how things should be run.  They want different realities on the ground.

Right now, people in Minnesota, Illinois, New York and California are actively conspiring to battle ICE agents to prevent them from fulfilling their lawful duty to deport illegal immigrants.  And while Biden was in the White House, he used his office to allow illegal immigrants to enter the United States in the millions.  These two examples underscore that the two major political positions in this country have no middle ground and cannot find a way forward that will satisfy both sides.

And this is just one of a large number of issues that are irreconcilable differences between the Left and Right.  Social, economic and moral differences exist and will not go away.  What seems clear to me is that some change is needed to allow the different groups to exist separately and peacefully on the same continent.

And actually, that doesn’t seem to be a difficult situation to create.  Look at the present situation between Canada and the United States.  If you met people living on either side of the US/Canada border (say between Ontario and New York State) you probably couldn’t tell them apart if they were mixed in a room.  They’re essentially the same culturally and even ethnically.  They belong to two separate countries.  But they can cross back and forth over the border and the companies that do business around there can buy and sell their services on both sides of this border.

The same kind of arrangement would be possible between two or more successor states existing where the United States is now.  The only thing that would change would be the status of citizens in each of these new states.  Citizens of the blue states wouldn’t be citizens of the red states and vice versa.  So, no one would be moving from California to Texas anymore without the equivalent of a green card.  Now theoretically the blue states would have this open border mentality and would allow anyone in the world including red state citizens to just settle in their country willy-nilly like they do now.  But I predict that once the split is made the blue states will change their immigration policy at least with respect to the red states for spite.  Which is fine.  But I would guess that once they aren’t spiting the red states through their open border policies anymore, they’ll probably re-evaluate how happy they are with this status quo.

But immigration is only one aspect of what would drive a separation between the red and the blue areas of this country.  We can talk about social issues and whether this would cause a separation into two nations or possibly more in the next installment.

2024 – Us and Them

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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.

Binary America

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America is two almost opposite nations occupying the same geographic space.  Red America is a nation that mostly believes in the civic nationalism that was the official narrative of the United States up until the end of World War II.

Blue America is Woke America.  It rejects, almost compulsively, everything that defines Red America.  This goes so far as to reject normal human biology and common-sense rules of societal survival such as that career criminals must be prevented from continuously harming other citizens.

And in addition to this polar opposite contrast between these two outlooks on life, the two nations are extremely closely balanced in numbers.  So much so that neither nation has been able to dominate over the checks and balances of the American constitutional system and impose its will permanently on the other.

This situation has led to extreme animosity against the opposing citizens by each group.  It is beginning to border on what some have called a cold civil war.  It’s not clear whether a resolution of this struggle for control of the country will happen in the foreseeable future.  If it does, it may involve an actual civil war so bloody and destructive as not to be contemplated.

The idea of the country splitting in two parts by one side declaring its independence seems like a recipe for the nightmare civil war scenario that so many people imagine.  I have been thinking of a different plan to mediate the problem.  Let’s call it a patchwork solution.

Each state has to decide which of the two nations it belongs to.  Once the states have formed these two groups each group will sit down and work out the laws that would pertain to the Blue Nation or the Red Nation.  The two groups would also sit down and work out what functions both nations agree that they could share under an umbrella of cooperation.  Maybe the post office, maybe the military (maybe not), maybe highways and airports, maybe the monetary system (maybe not).

Then the two nations would work to allow citizens to migrate between the two areas for an extended period of time in order to accommodate the separation.  And both nations would bend over backwards to minimize the financial impact to the immigrants.  I could see real estate transactions being facilitated by the states so that no one would be stranded or made destitute.  After the period of immigration, the two countries would be governed by the new laws that each nation had chosen.

And everyone would get what they say they want.  Blue America would be a social justice wonderland.  There would be no police.  There would be no gasoline, heating oil or nuclear power.  So mostly people would be like they were before the introduction of electricity and the automobile.  Everyone would have their own pronouns and white people would be hounded to their graves for being white.

Red America would be … America.  Which, if you think about it, would be basically Heaven.

I’ve been trying to figure out what could be said against this.  From the Blue America side, they would have to be tricked into this by convincing them that they would be far better off without all those terrible rednecks that they mock and hate so much.  This will be a monumental job.  Possibly if things continue to go sideways the way they have for the last two years, it may become an easier sell.

What makes it such a difficult sell is that deep down most of the Left knows that without normal people they could never afford the enormous dysfunction that their unrealistic model of human behavior creates.  And if actually forced to pick between the two Americas millions of Leftists would try to sneak into Red America.  This would require some sort of evaluation process to try and weed out the Leftists.

Maybe the rules of Red America would dissuade the Leftists from coming but somehow, I doubt it.  So, forcing everyone to conform to these basic rules would be a good way to discourage wolves in sheep’s clothing.

What would be important during the formation of Red America is to make the rules irrevocable so that if a particular state changes its mind about certain laws that state would have to leave the group and either go it alone or ask for reintegration with Blue America.  In fact, the law allowing secession is an important change from the current American Constitution.  Constraining states to follow laws they don’t believe in is what has gotten us into the situation we’re in now.

So, there’s my mad plan.  Sure, there are all kinds of objections to making this happen but it’s my vision of what might prevent a war.  What do you think?

 

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

 

A House Divided

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And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand – Mark 3:25

He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. – Mark 3:30

A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. – Abraham Lincoln

About a hundred and sixty years ago after another presidential election the United States of America broke in two.  The circumstances had many of the same symptoms from which we are suffering now.

  • The two parts of the country held each other in deep mutual disdain.
    • It would be hard to claim that the Left and the Right do not hate each other wholeheartedly.
  • The Progressive party saw its advantage in overwhelming its adversary through massive immigration.
    • Check.
  • The Progressive party saw its agenda as a moral crusade. They thought of their opponents as vile sinners who must be punished as severely as possible.
    • Check.
  • The Progressive party encouraged zealots to take matters into their own hands and commit crimes up to and including murder if it advanced the progress of the cause.
    • Check.

My point is that after witnessing all the BLM and COVID madness that has gone on and the scale of election fraud that was completely ignored by almost all levels of government at the federal, state and local level I no longer see a way that we are going to be able to reconcile our differences with the Left.  And that is not because I don’t think there are millions on the Right who want to let things blow over.  They do.  But the Left neither cares nor thinks they have to care what we think.  They intend to force us to live how they want us to live.  And that includes thoughts, words and deeds.  They will propagandize our children, monitor our communications, dictate our entertainment and regulate our religious and family lives.  Unless we break free.

You need look no further than Portland Oregon to see the template for how things will be done.  Thugs will terrorize our neighborhoods and the government will not intercede on our behalf.  They will select victims whose only crimes are being white or being normal or just being happy and they will make an example of you.  And after they’ve ruined your life you will be held up in the media as a warning so that those like you will grovel and hand over everything they have; their money, their homes, their jobs, their self-respect, their families and finally their lives.  But first what you’ll give up is your freedom; freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly and the right to bear arms.

And what is our sin?  We were stupid.  We believed that America guaranteed its citizens the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  As it turns out, those things are only yours for as long as you are willing to fight for them.  The Left has been learning from the Jacobins and their Marxist children for almost as long as the country has been here.  And now with the help of the globalist oligarchs they’ve concocted a gulag for us that Orwell himself couldn’t have imagined in his worst nightmares.  And of course, it has a smiley face slapped onto the front just so you know that there’s nothing personal, just the system doing what it’s supposed to, rooting out bad thoughts.  It’s being done for your own good.

So, that’s the story.  They’re not going to let us go.  They’ll continue the campaign until they win or we give them a bloody nose.  And that’s only going to happen when our side decides to stop playing nice.  Because two can play at this game.  One of these days I expect all red counties to show 4000% voting levels.  Or all the Google server farms in red areas will simultaneously have the sewer lines become pressurized and fry the cloud.  Or maybe NLM (Normal Lives Matter) will suddenly appear in Cambridge and burn Harvard University to the ground as a way to equalize higher education in America.  Who knows what will be the first step?

But the real first step is acknowledging that the system isn’t set up to do what it says it will do.  It’s a scam and we are the marks.  And the only time you might be hearing someone tell the truth is when they drop the flowery language and tell you what concrete thing, they can give you if you work with them.  Like if they say they’re going to ignore the federal requirements for entitlements, affirmative action, LGBTQ madness and illegal immigration.  Those are real things.  If they do those things then they’re for real.  Those will be people who have brains and guts.  Look for those people and then watch to see if they produce results.  They’re going to want things in return.  They are going to want to run things their way.  If they can produce results, pay them.  They will be worth the price.