Where are we headed?\u00a0 And by we, I mean the non-leftists in this country.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying \u201cconservatives\u201d because according to many people on the Right, there is no such thing as conservative.\u00a0 And I don\u2019t need to fight that war of words.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter what label we end up with.\u00a0 I can define myself by what I\u2019m not.\u00a0 I\u2019m not a progressive.\u00a0 I think the traditional definitions of things are sufficient to describe the world.\u00a0 I think the traditional institutions like marriage, family and nation are valid and sufficient for people to live their lives in a meaningful way.<\/p>\n
I also like the \u201crights\u201d that were spelled out in the United States Constitution two-hundred-some-odd-years ago.\u00a0 I like the idea of having freedom of speech, religion, self-defense, and to live my life as I choose as long as I don\u2019t try to tell you how to live.\u00a0 And to associate with people that agree with me on how to live.\u00a0 All that seems very desirable to me.\u00a0 And it seems quite believable that it can be maintained as it was in the early years of the republic.<\/p>\n
This month by some incalculable miracle Donald Trump won re-election.\u00a0 It\u2019s as improbable to me as that Space-X booster that was falling out of the sky and then in one graceful arc lands in the cradle like an egg that a cook places in an egg cup.\u00a0 It\u2019s inconceivable.\u00a0 But it happened and I guess there is an equally unlikely chance that Trump succeeds in doing all the things he\u2019s said he will do.\u00a0 Basically, he\u2019s sworn to fix the country and make it great again.\u00a0 And by great I think he means free and prosperous.<\/p>\n
Well, I guess after his Houdini act, I should give him the benefit of the doubt and let him try to fix America.\u00a0 If he does then the answer to my original question, \u201cWhere are we headed?\u201d is easy.\u00a0 We\u2019re going back to the heaven on Earth that was this country a hundred years ago.\u00a0 Now I\u2019m sure the folks on the far-right will remind me that we\u2019re not the same people we were back then, what with demographic change and women voting and all that jazz.\u00a0 And they\u2019re right.\u00a0 We are different.\u00a0 Whatever changes in culture and demographics have wrought won\u2019t be erased.\u00a0 Even the descendants of Old America have changed.\u00a0 Their ancestors were religious people.\u00a0 Their descendants are for the most part atheists or at least agnostics.\u00a0 So, we have to acknowledge that.<\/p>\n
My answer is that different people can play the same game and even though there will be differences in style and skill level if they play by the same rules, then basically it\u2019s still the same game.\u00a0 So, from my way of looking at things we\u2019re most likely to get back mostly the same kind of country if we make everyone play by the original rules.\u00a0 This I believe is known as civic nationalism.<\/p>\n
Well, that\u2019s a lot of ifs.\u00a0 Trump is battling the most powerful accumulation of power since the Romans conquered the Mediterranean after knocking off the Carthaginians.\u00a0 The Deep State and the vested interests that are their clients are the people Eisenhower called the military-industrial complex.\u00a0 He warned us about them sixty-five years ago and they\u2019ve only become more powerful over time.\u00a0 They now also operate the surveillance state that knows everything we write, say or maybe even think.\u00a0 They essentially control Silicon Valley because they are their paymasters.\u00a0 They are not going to just roll over and play dead.<\/p>\n
All this means there is a range of outcomes next year that runs the gamut from complete Trump failure to complete victory.\u00a0 Of course, the most likely outcome is something in the middle where neither side totally wins or totally loses.\u00a0 But Trump has earned the privilege of us watching and waiting to see what he can manage.\u00a0 I don\u2019t expect perfection.\u00a0 I do expect him to make my life better and mercilessly torture his enemies and make their lives a living hell.\u00a0 I think he owes that to himself and to me.<\/p>\n
I want him to restore all of our rights under the Constitution including freedom of association.\u00a0 And I want him to eliminate affirmative action from all aspects of American life.\u00a0 If he does all that, he will be a success in my book.<\/p>\n
I want to see a long line of FBI executives with cardboard boxes in their hands walking out of the J. Edgar Hoover Building with really sad faces.\u00a0 I want NPR defunded.\u00a0 I want the Education Department closed.\u00a0 I want men in dresses drummed out of the military in great bunches.\u00a0 I want everyone whose name is associated with Ukraine in the State Department unemployed.\u00a0 I want all the prosecutors at the Department of Justice who spent their last four years prosecuting J6 fired.\u00a0 I want the military budget for weapons systems halved and the VA fully funded.\u00a0 I want Fauci prosecuted and all his co-conspirators rounded up.\u00a0 I want a true analysis of the \u201csafety and efficacy of the COVID vaccines.\u00a0 I want Trump to declare martial law at the borders and refuse to let anyone in without a valid visa.\u00a0 And if the visa cases become backlogged the candidates will wait outside the country for their turn.\u00a0 And I want him to deport a million aliens a month.\u00a0 And I want him to make the wall solid and equipped with drones that catch people climbing it and throw them back onto the outside.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s the start of what I want.\u00a0 I guess this is my Christmas list, Santa Trump.\u00a0 Do the best you can.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Where are we headed?\u00a0 And by we, I mean the non-leftists in this country.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying \u201cconservatives\u201d because according to many people on the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[3344,4722,16],"class_list":["post-31370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-trump","tag-2024-elections","tag-4722","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\n