I think libertarians (and normies of all political persuasions) need to admit to themselves that they have lost the culture wars, and that trying to refight battles over freedom of association, color-blind government and institutions, individualism not tribalism/collectivism, even the priority of objective reality over subjective “truth” is worse than pointless, it is counterproductive. We can wax nostalgic all we want for a Constitution enforced as written, etc., etc., but that’s all it is – nostalgia.
Face it: The crypto-Marxist Left’s long march through the institutions is over. They won. The commanding cultural heights belong to them – government, academia, media. The evolution of Marxism from economic class warfare to identity politics has been a smashing success, to the point where the long march has moved on from the cultural heights to the economic heights. Key infrastructure businesses are now implementing their agenda – banking, the big data and platform quasi-monopolies, ISPs, and misc. other businesses are purging dissenters not only from the public square, but from the marketplace as well. They are shooting the survivors, and there’s not a damn thing we can do about it, because they have the backing (enthusiastic support?) of the administrative state and judiciary.
We aren’t going back. The cultural DNA that formed the foundation of American civil society is being eradicated from the societal gene pool. The long march has given the Left a massive indoctrination and enforcement regime. Their hold on the cultural heights is heavily fortified and self-reinforcing. You can say “oh, its just a small, noisy minority”, but look at the trends: central cultural and government institutions are now under their control, we now have unprecedented support for socialism in this country, agency after agency and business after business are now pushing the Leftist agenda, a major political party is pushing the Leftist agenda, hard, in its Presidential nomination process, and its now non-Leftists, not Leftists, who are reluctant to go public with their beliefs.
There is no marginal, gradual, incremental reform that can be brought about through rational discourse that will end Leftism. They ruthlessly police entry into their institutions, so they can’t be subverted from within or even, increasingly, communicated with. Leftist institutions will have to collapse of their own weight and inherent flaws. There is no upside, no good reason to engage with the Left and their useful idiots.
Worse, engaging with the Left only reinforces their tribalist/collectivist mindset. By engaging with them, you confirm to them that there are still dissenters, so that, in their minds, they have enemies, there is an “other” that needs opposing. This is a key component of their group and individual identities. They define themselves by who they oppose; their identity is largely negative, not positive. Engaging with Leftists leads only to escalation and reinforcement of their beliefs.
Naturally, a form of the NAP applies here. If attacked by the Left, by all means defend yourself, if the attack merits a response. If not attacked by the Left, just ignore them. Disengage.
We aren’t going to retake the commanding cultural heights until these Leftist institutions collapse on their own. Unfortunately the damage they will inflict on society when this happens cannot be avoided. I think you can see the early symptoms of this collapse, at least in academia and the media, but these are old, powerful, wealthy institutions that will persist for a long time. There’s a lot of ruin in a nation, as they say, and I fear we may just see how much ruin there is in the wealthiest, most powerful nation to ever exist.
I think non-Leftists have three tasks before them:
(1) Figure out how we lost, and how the Left won. We won’t get anywhere fighting with strategy and tactics that are proven losers.
(2) Prepare for the damage the inevitable collapse the Leftist institutions will bring. They won’t go down easy, and because the Left is inherently negative and oppositional, they will lash out. Figure out how to avoid/mitigate the damage. Disengagement, where possible, seems like a no brainer. Scrubbing your social media (if you don’t just leave), minimizing your participation in the data cattle industry, avoiding anything to do with academia all seem like good defensive measures.
Of course, the administrative state is much harder to disengage from. But make no mistake, the odds are that in most of our lifetimes, the current US government will suffer a catastrophic failure and will be, what’s the phrase? Oh, yeah, “fundamentally transformed”.
The cultural glue that held the United States together is being systematically removed, and no replacement is on offer. Why do you think there is a relentless push for a fragmented, tribalistic, “diverse”, “multicultural” country? Because the Total State will fill the vacuum left by the absence of a shared culture. The fundamental transformation may initially be “Everything for the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State.” But I believe their Total State is doomed, that the United States is ungovernable without a significant degree of consent from its citizens.
(3) Start developing what will replace the collapsed institutions. What stands a chance of replacing the collapsed institutions that will be more resistant to the Left’s tribalist/collectivist virus? What kind of fundamentally transformed society do you want to live in? Because you will live in one, like it or not.
As the title says, this is a pessimistic assessment, which comes easily to me. If anyone wants to put up an optimistic assessment, I would love to have my mind changed.
I respect the pessimistic tone: face facts is the correct approach to anything.
A couple of notions that don’t move the needle, but, anyway:
* Hard-working progressives (my mom) get quiet when they run out of other people’s money; the case that you will bankrupt yourselves can still be made to the ones with cash.
* The old glue wasn’t that great and isn’t desirable. Most folks agreed on racisim and homophobia once; strong majorities can still fall in the face of reason.
IMO, the old glue probably prevented North America from becoming a second Europe, with petty microstates fighting over territory and resources.
Sure, it was imperfect, and there have been improvements as it degraded, but I much prefer it to the balkanized despotism of which we’re staring down the barrel.
second Europe, with petty microstates fighting over territory and resources. – also better food, wine whiskey, art, clothing, architecture and sports
oh and hotter women. and bigger cocks.
Other things are debatable but America has many more black guys.
>>bigger cocks
STEVE SMITH SWING THE AVERAGE UP
You take great pride in the last one don’t ya?
SHYA!
Sports? They don’t even play football or baseball in Europe.
Well said, RC. And pretty much where I stand, do the point where I’ve disengaged.
But that disengagement is part of the problem, and the reason for their (Pyrrhic?) victory? We are _afraid_ to engage lest the weapons at their disposal are pointed at us.
I’m hoping there will be a shift in winds after the failure of one institution. I think that institution will be health care. It’s eventually going to end up completely controlled by the government. And when they fuck it up I can only hope it gets people to change their mind. However, I fear that the result could just end up with a demand for more government control.
I think higher education is on its way down. It will take a long time because it has the support of government and big treasury of endowments, but people have now seen that the expensive, big name schools are a scam. As of right now, though, they are still being used as a gatekeeper to government and big business, though.
See NHS.
The NHS didn’t win because of its skill at jauggernauting, it won because the opposition were Brits. See, everything else they’ve rolled over for the past century.
Libertopia island?
“Figure out how we lost, and how the Left won. ”
I remember years ago “political correctness” was seen as a joke. George Carlin made fun of it (for example, “Late Night with David Letterperson”). Now it’s to a point where the words “she” and “he” are verboten. I don’t know how we got here. But as you said, this was a long game and the left won.
I disagree. Live in normal suburban America and I know of no one who is politically correct.
I’ve met them everywhere I go. More specifically, there’s always one and a bunch of lemmings that nod along. The lemmings tend to be tossed around by the fads and agenda of MSM and Hollywood.
Good point. I live in the suburbs too, and I don’t encounter it in my every day life, except in the media and in politics. Which highlights that very real divide between coastal elites and the rest of us in flyover country.
Yeah I’m going to dispute this one bigly. Just because some Netflix comedy has some pc stuff in it doesn’t mean dick. We haven’t lost at all and Trump is president for a reason.
Trump is also showing Rs that they don’t have to capitulate to people that already hate them. Look at how Lindsey & Mitch have grown a pair.
See also Brett Kavanaugh.
I’m still on the fence for Kav, but the “I still like beer” is good example of not doing the abject apology that is far too common when called before the inquisition.
I’m not. Kavanaugh looks to me like a Roberts clone, with the worst features of Thomas and Scalia added in.
Gorsuch has been an absolute gem. We could use another like him, but I’m not optimistic.
Yes, need another or two of Gorsuch.
That is where SP comes in.
For those who missed it last thread: It’s because judges actually talk like what you typed that Donald J. Trump should nominate SP to fill the next SCOTUS vacancy. “Just stick to the Constitution as written and leave me alone. Especially in the morning.” Imagine this at oral arguments: ‘The statute at issue in this case was signed by the President and before that passed by Congress. 1A says ‘Congress shall pass no law.’ Are you suggesting that these precedents you have cited supersede the Constitution?’ Or, if she was HIS nominee, would it be OK if she said something ending in “slaver?”
Human Resources. They run HR and are thrilled to play career executioners to anyone guilty of wrong-think.
A white lady at work filed a complaint against a black lady for harassment. The ruling came down Monday. The white lady was told that she is too sensitive and will be terminated if she doesn’t leave the black lady alone.
As someone also being harassed by the black lady but smart enough to just deal with it, I feel like a pussy in all of this but I generally like my job and want to keep it for now.
That white lady is lucky she doesn’t get kicked in the face, hard.
If I was her that is when I would start spending work time sending out resumes and applications
Anyone else smell a retaliation claim?
“White lady” = “Retaliation claim denied”
As someone also being harassed by the black lady but smart enough to just deal with it, I feel like a pussy in all of this but I generally like my job and want to keep it for now.
It was a tough decision for me to report to my boss when my coworker “jokingly” complained to the chief diversity officer of the company that I was “manspreading”. Retaliation is a real thing, and I’m really not interested in defending myself against a fake accusation of something more serious than sitting too wide. However, since it was directed at me, I felt it necessary to get it on record that she has lied about me to HR. I also felt it necessary to send out a handful of resumes.
Hang in there, baby, but, like, with a noose.
Triggered!
*reaches for bottle*
/starts searching for property in Belize…
Pass.
Damn. Welp. Back to the drawing board.
the government has solved that problem
Gun Ownership In Belize: For North American nationals, especially those from the U.S. accustomed to the right to bear arms, Belize can be very sobering – or incarcerating. Gun ownership is very restrictive; not impossible, but very difficult to navigate.
It’s like that everywhere else. I would bet that Massachusetts–no one’s idea of a gun-friendly state–is way more permissive of gun ownership than any country in the world that one might contemplate moving to.
Czech Republic?
I know. There’s also Estonia. But I would like to learn more how it works there in real life, not just a table entry in Wikipedia.
Isn’t Estonia a bit hostile to those of the bear persuasion?
I’m traveling to Tallinn next month. We’ll see.
Costa Rica
I agree completely with your unfortunate assessment. The culture war is over for now, we lost. Maybe it’s just late-stage crumbling empire stuff that’s inevitable. The result is going to go from pretty bad to horrific.
What holds a nation together? Commonality.
Before the U.S. it was common race (we got past that with a lot of effort – now being undone by race-hucksters), common (or at least very similar) religious beliefs, common morals, common interests, common cultural beliefs, and general agreement on governing principles (i.e. limited representative republicanism). Cultural Marxism and identity politics have destroyed all of those things. There’s literally nothing left to hold things together other than material wealth. When the next big economic crisis comes along, things are going to fly apart.
I fear Balkanization is in our future – and not the nice peaceful go-your-own-way kind.
I spend a lot of time worried that the US is following Venezuela down the wrong path and that my grand-kids are totally screwed.
But then I think of 300-million to 600-million guns in the US, and I realize another civil war is more likely.
A year or two back I wrote this on the topic of a civil war; I still think it applies:
There’s been affair amount of talk lately about the modern American political climate. I have to agree with the seeming consensus that American politics has become increasingly divisive. Groups of activists are taking to the streets, and the protests are increasingly violent.
From 1861 to 1865, this nation fought a war between the States. Are we heading in that direction again? We may be, but it won’t be like the 1861-1865 war; not even a little bit. Why?
Here’s the catch; any 21st century American civil war won’t resemble the 1861-1865 war at all. And not just for technological reasons.
The 1861-1865 war wasn’t really a civil war. It did not involve two factions fighting for control of one nation, as did the two Roman civil wars of the late Republic, or the English civil war. Our war was a war of secession, where one part of the nation tried to break away and form a new country. The Confederacy did not succeed in creating that new nation, and it’s probably for the best they did not. There would likely have never been an overwhelming American superpower if the U.S. had broken up in the 1860s.
Our war between the states was also a war with clear geographic boundaries, North against South (mostly, the West was a little confused) and mostly fought by established armies in the martial traditions of the time. The tensions of that conflict are still felt today.
Any second conflict will be a true civil war. There will be few geographic boundaries, other than urban v. rural. This will be a conflict that doesn’t involve the military so much as gangs of irregulars; imagine Charlottesville if both sides had come armed and willing to open fire.
And second civil war will be fought amongst us. It won’t be fought on open battlefields; it will be fought in our city streets, in the suburbs, on the roads and byways of our nation.
Imagine pitched battles on the streets of our major cities, what is left of established authority against rioting mobs. Imagine those mobs engaging in raids into the suburbs when the cities run short of food and water. Imagine a complete breakdown of emergency services in those cities as first responders encounter armed gangs willing to kill them for their vehicles, equipment, and medicines. Imagine hordes of refugees fleeing the cities, into the countryside, under the misapprehension that somehow there is plenty of food to be had in the countryside, but having no skills whatsoever to find or grow said food. Imagine rural residents facing rampant theft and trespassing responding by forming their own armed militias to repel the invaders, and thus escalate the conflict into the countryside.
The situation will likely escalate, atrocity breeding atrocity. Just read some of the rhetoric on Twitter and Facebook – two essentially content-free forums catering in large part to the lowest common denominator – and imagine the fevered rhetoric therein translated to action.
There are only two ways any government could respond to this crisis:
1) Impose martial law and restore order by force. Such force would have to be overwhelming, brutal and merciless. Bear in mind that this option is likely to fail, as a significant portion of our military would likely refuse to exercise brutality on their fellow citizens.
2) Respond weakly and fecklessly, as when Jefferson Davis pleaded with an angry, starving mob in Richmond in 1864, finally turning out his pockets to toss a few coins into the crown. Such a response would be worse than doing nothing at all.
In either case, the United States as we knew it ends at that point.
Our [Civil] war was a war of secession, where one part of the nation tried to break away and form a new country.
This. In the US, the competing parties are completely intertwined with each other (big city, suburban, rural), kind of like a cancer that has spread. Not so easy to make a clean cut into separate nations (like the Civil War was easy, and of course the break ultimately never happened). It will be even uglier, assuming one side even puts up a struggle.
Which is why I don’t see a civil war happening. i see a huge fight when the proggies try to disarm people so they can more efficiently shepherd the non-believers to the new education camps…
Anything that can’t go on forever, won’t. And the ceaseless, agonizing fragmentation of the left can’t go on forever. Eventually they’ll self-destruct and any leftover good will toward PC-style pluralism won’t be enough to sustain their movement. Policy by howler monkey ragetard thuggishness isn’t sustainable.
*pops another handful of Xanax*
Here’s an optimistic take you change your mind – World is going to end in 12 years. We’re fine!
Thanks, after the gloom-and-doom above this makes me feel better!
I have to run and don’t have time to say much, but
1) I think libertarians (and normies of all political persuasions) need to admit to themselves that they have lost the culture wars
Correct
2) You are looking at time linearly instead of cyclically. The dominant ideology will be ascendant for a while, over play its hand, and be cast aside just as slowly, then suddenly as they came to power.
3) I can’t change culture at large, but I can plant a lot of seeds. I’ve had talks with my cub scouts about the Tuskegee experiments and airmen. I’ve shown my son enough of how politics work on the ground that if you ask him “what does politics bring out in people” he says “the worst in people” and he can explain why.
I don’t expect I’ll be around to see what grows up with their generation, but I’ll rest happy knowing that I my ideas were planted and nourished against the time they can be used.
I agree with you. Listening to my Spawn and their friends gives me some measure of hope.
It’s our job to prepare and arm the next generation of shitlords. For as long as there is a single shitlord, there is hope!
The Last Shitlord
Played by Tom Cruise.
“I do not apologize for my meme”
-The rallying call of the future
Memelon labe
That would make the ast Shitlord Sargon, Zach Gafandhowever you spell his name is probably a better fit as Sargon
(1) Figure out how we lost, and how the Left won. We won’t get anywhere fighting with strategy and tactics that are proven losers.
I’m reminded of my back deck. I like the feeling of nature, and love the natural look. Part of that means letting trees grow where they sprout. I see this as similar to culture and the NAP. The problem arises when those trees turn into 60′ oaks that overhang the house. Setting aside the potential for catastrophe (tree landing on the house/societal collapse), the daily issue is the amount of cruft that falls on and around the house. It’s impossible to have an outdoor space without oak tree leaves/pollen/dirt/twigs collecting on it. Even with shields on the gutters, they get mucked up with the stuff. It’s impossible to keep the floors inside clean. Sometimes leaves get tracked all the way to the back of the house.
Likewise, the NAP without some sort of cultural boundaries, leads to progressive cruft cluttering and clogging every aspect of life. Progressivism isn’t an ideological movement, it’s an overwhelming force of nature. Sure, the economic engine is still chugging along. My house is still livable despite the constant coating of ick. But neither are capable of being at their best short of a massive rebuild/deep clean.
I agree with this pessimism, but in a lot of respects it’s difficult to put all the blame on progressives. Liberals have discredited liberalism. Just one example, which I think is a pretty stark example, is freedom of association. When a small independent baker was being sued there were an awful lot of hemming and hawing from Republicans during the 2016 primary (a minority of them openly supported the baker’s position, while most of them tried to straddle the fence on the question) and we don’t need to revisit what the supposedly “free market” party’s presidential candidate’s position on the question was. And yet, the people who straddled that question before are now the first to openly and unequivocally exclaim “freedom of association” when questionably “private” institutions like banks and colleges decide to discriminate. So much so that some attack others for even criticizing the practices of these institutions.
It’s not lost on people that the position on freedom of association only works one way.
That’s just one example how the liberal is extremely hypocritical when applying his own principles. This isn’t lost on people and we really shouldn’t be surprised when these people turn to someone like Trump or other nationalists in Europe. And I don’t fault these people.
Also, you should have ended this with a call for agorism. That’s one of the few options left to us.
Which reminds me of another double standard. When people defend section 230 for social media companies and how publishers should not be held responsible for posts on their sites, it’s weird how this is only applies to Facebook, but wasn’t good enough to defend Ross from Silk Road. I know that a lot of libertarians have talked about the injustice of what happened to him, but where are the supposed conservative people who suddenly care about freedom of association?
Long story short, blaming external forces is not really fair when supposed free market people clearly have no principles
Rabbit wool seems a silly thing to build a religion around.
I’ll disagree slightly – or offer an alternative explanation that might fit with RC’s analysis: the “liberals” and conservatives who suddenly couldn’t find their balls over Freedom of Association did so because of the Left’s unceasing campaign using the cudgel of the exclusion of blacks during the 60’s from restaurants, bars, etc. White Guilt may be the greatest weapon the Left ever discovered. Given whence even most Conservative politicians come, they feel it acutely and hence why the political class can’t find their gonads on the issue. This also explains (imo) why the ” Basket of Deplorables” elected Trump. While he Left screamed (and continues to) that anyone who opposes them is a “RACIST!!1!!1!!! Rethuglickan!!!” Trump told them to stuff it up their collective asses.
You can “white guilt” middle and upper-middle class whites, but broke white people live in the same conditions as broke black people and they know they’re not the cause of any of it. They’re struggling to make ends meet just like their black neighbors, so the white guilt mantra just doesn’t work on them the same way it does in trendier, bohemian enclaves.
I’ll bet you could predict how a district/county will vote based upon the numbers of Whole Foods and Starbucks in the particular enclave.
I agree with the class aspect which plays a very very very big role in who is a parishioner in the Faith of Wokeness. But, the poor white sees the liberals and conservatives conceding ground because of their obligation to their class and they respond in kind. And that’s how you get nationalism.
If the liberal had conservative had been consistent in principle than people wouldn’t be abandoning Liberalism. My larger point is that the liberal keeps searching for some outside force that has discredited them (immigration, changes in the economy, and the dumbest of all- muh….Russia!) when, in fact, they should look inward and realize that they have failed and discredited themselves. The poors aren’t as dumb as the upper classes imagine that they are. They saw Gay Jay, they saw John Kasich, they saw Jeb Bush and they knew “these people are going to throw me under a bus for cocktail parties. I might as well vote for the guy who is already hated by the cool kids, because he owes no allegiance to them”.
And I don’t fault these voters for making a rational choice. I fault the liberal for discrediting ideas like free trade, freedom of association, religious liberty, gun rights, etc.
The only conclusion that these voters could draw about liberalism, based upon how shallow its practitioners’ principles are is either (1) liberalism is a fraud and means nothing other than a clever way to disguise elite rule or (2) liberalism inevitably leads to tyranny
One of the most popular writers in Europe and a best seller in the US for foreign language is Michel Houellebecq. His ideas are very much anti-liberal, but they are based on the notion that liberalism itself is a lie. He’s been predicting since the late 90’s that the elites would discredit their own values through their actions and the consequences of their policies.
I think there is a lot of truth to that
Marxism is not a two class system by accident, but by design…
It is just a corrupt pile of shit masquerading as reason, comprised of nothing more than appeals to the basest of emotions of the least human amongst us, that provides a select cadre with the means to overthrow those currently in power and put themselves in that role. The masses inevitably then must be brought to heel as they realize they were sold a big stinking lie.
Most of them only have one principle: controlling you. They never, ever waver on that point.
I don’t think we’ve lost shit. America is not really PC and everyone rolls their eyes at the stupidity of it all still.
That’s why they are importing more cooperative people by the millions.
If that’s the plan they are going the wrong way. They should be importing French, Germans and English. The PC left is dominated by the leftists of elite whites not your common Latin American
Yes.
Try to explain transgender abortions to a Catholic Mexican.
“WTF- this gringo is crazy”
“Don’t look over there – here’s your free shit. Keep voting the way you did in the old country and the free shit keeps coming.”
Then why do Republicans still receive almost half of Hispanic votes?
Because it’s a vague meaningless term?
Yup. Especially since after the second generation Hispanics start identifying as white. Your target is misplaced. I would rather be ruled by recent immigrant arrivals than any random sampling of people in Manhattan, whose residents probably trace their ancestry back to the Mayflower
I get the pessimistic viewpoint. Though I think the Left will tear themselves apart before being able to reach their “Utopian Paradise.”
This gives me hope: https://www.hni.com/concealed-carry-resources-for-employers/concealed-carry-animated-map
Look at Cuba. Overgeneralizing, but the most entrepreneurial, most meritorious, most productive members of their society, when they can, flee Cuba for the United States. They are not doing it just for themselves. Their absence hastens Cuba to the point where there will be a revolution. Florida government establishes a governor’s advisory committee to preplan what to do in case of a democratic revolt in Cuba, death of Fidel Castro, etc. Fall of USSR cuts off Cuba’s sugar daddy. No revolution. Fidel dies. No revolution. But the Cubans are ready to send people and aid down to Cuba to assist with the transition once the revolution comes.
Libertarians can use the same strategy for a hypothetical United States of Socialist Republics. Who is Juan Galt?
This was indeed, quite the downer.
*passes the bottle to Mexi*
*takes swig*
Face it: The crypto-Marxist Left’s long march through the institutions is over.
You know, I used to think statements like that were hyberbole. Now…
Same. Now I’m depressed.
A firewall against urban leftists is desired; otherwise the Electoral College will enslave the moderate, high-value suburbs.
The constitutional answer is the Senate. The Senate should trip up an over-bearing President and a runaway House.
The problem with the Senate is the two-party game; the only way to stave off Marxists is to ally with authoritarian socons. The promise of power turns many Republicans into apologists for whatever foreign adventure, tariff, or other nonsense comes down the path; the debate devolves into arm-wrestling over the right way to bomb Syria.
Most Americans think that bakers shouldn’t be have to create gay wedding cakes and that transgender athletes competing with girls is absurd. Approval of gun laws have never been less positive. Approval of intervention overseas has never been lower. Thanks to us, most know that women aren’t really underpaid compared to men. American wealth and living standards have never been higher.
You fucking pussies. We’re not lost yet. We’re fighting the good fight and without us this place would’ve gone to shit 100 years ago.
I’m with the pickle, Buck up, little campers. There are still more good in America’s future than bad.
The problem is that the people pushing for this idiocy have the ability to destroy anyone that opposes them’s ability to earn a living. In the past they had to send you off to a camp to die. Now they just destroy your means to live.
Fortunately, as I am reminded daily here, US is not a democracy, so wishes of the filthy mob are not relevant.
This is too optimistic. Nothing is going to stop the left. The political right always ends up caving and then adopting and defending the policies of the left. Things are going to continue getting worse for the rest of your life, my life and my son’s life. Control and suppression will increase and most Americans will cheer it on. The end.
meh. the church was equally powerful once and got reformed. this does not mean, off course, much. the past does not necessarily inform the future. But it is possible to reform things. the woke left is simply, by all accounts, a new cult.
The cultural glue that held the United States together is being systematically removed, and no replacement is on offer.
What was, for generations, considered to be the American Dream is now thought by many, even if it is merely n extremely noisy minority, is now being characterized as enslavement, or worse.
Of course, the preferred alternative is enslavement, just with a different group holding the whip.
We’ve seen what their alternative is: welfarism and the projects. Trading food stamps for pot to assuage that sense of worthlessness. Homelessness, shitting on sidewalks, used syringes all over. Yoked to the discretion of bureaucrats. Your kids chewed up and spit out by the teachers union. A health card now, healthcare… someday. But don’t worry, the chocolate rations are up.
This isn’t the first time. The Fate of Empires. They last about 10 generations and (using the 11 examples in the essay) go through similar phases:
The Age of Pioneers (outburst)
The Age of Conquests
The Age of Commerce
The Age of Affluence
The Age of Intellect
The Age of Decadence. (e) Decadence is marked by: Defensiveness Pessimism Materialism Frivolity An influx of foreigners The Welfare State A weakening of religion. (f) Decadence is due to: Too long a period of wealth and power Selfishness Love of money The loss of a sense of duty.
Exactly this.
Economic collapse is what will consume the USA.
At that point, all bets are off. No government has existed in perpetuity and there is no reason to believe America is an exception to that rule.
On the bright side, Europe will serve as a warning to America’s future as they are well ahead of us on that path.
Excellent, there’s so much horrible history in there, I know how to give John Titor a stroke if I need to!
Perhaps because it’s a nice day and I just got done taking my dogs through a walk in the woods, I’m a little more optimistic.
America, since the beginning, has always been a conflict between the Roundheads and the Cavaliers. Give them different names each decade, and it remains the same. From people being whipped in town square for having the wrong religion, to bans on drugs and booze, or pornography, or bad music and writing, it’s a cycle. Good people, with the best of intentions try to make society better. Instead they create a tyranny. In the meantime the bad actors and malcontents fight back. The later has a secret weapon. Humor. Eventually Groucho will always make a fool of Margret Dumont, and the anarchists get a bit of breathing room for another generation.
Sure, I agree with all your points. It really does seem hopeless….but society can change fast, and sometimes it changes for the better.
I saw children being marched from one building to another in single file lines. No laughing, no playing. These are children who are prisoners.
She went to a standard public elementary school?
That was Liawatha, btw.
Rebel Scum maybe you would like to share with the rest of the class what you are doing there
I remember the psycho who ran the after school program where I worked who implemented “silent snack”—no talking whatsoever, can’t get up from your table to throw away trash, can’t talk while lining up or on your way to homework hour.
The kindergarteners and first graders went from being angels my first year to absolute demon spawn the second. Amazingly, five-year-olds don’t do well under those conditions.
Pessimism depends on what you are looking at. Yes we won’t go back to the Federlists vs anti-federalists. But I think I tend to agree with Michael Malice, the appearance of the New Right is doing a lot to show how bankrupt the Left is. Yes they are in power, and yes they control the major institutions. But I see that as a weakness. They are the Man. They are the oppressors. And it is becoming clear to those outside the bubble that they are tyrannical. So there is a lot to be pessimistic about our current state, but I’m optimistic about the future.
Figure out how we lost, and how the Left won. – yes but the result of that may be you need to become them to win which defeats the point.
sadly most people have little desire for true liberty or to think for themselves. then again i don’t think the victory is that great at grass roots. it seems so cause many people don’t pay attention or think that much. when they do they don’t agree with woke. despite not being libertarian, people tend to be mostly centrists. not socialists either.
I guess the question is “Are you a Komarovsky or a Zhivago?”.
I’ll just move this over from the links-
Wayfair is just the example du jour, but I have a (silly) question:
Has it not occurred to these Red Guard wannabes that political loyalty oaths are potentially not a tactic exclusive to Team Social Justice?
I suppose they assume the courts will always be there to put their thumb on the scales of justice.
Something tells me the pendulum will swing.
That’s me trying to be optimistic.
Will the pendulum swing before it’s too late? That’s the $64,000 question.
the new right had sort of the right idea memes baby
At some point what can’t keep going on doesn’t. It crashes. The debt will bring on many changes, some violent. What Trashy called the balkanization will continue, the flyover states will persist minus the urban enclaves. The conflicts will grow and grow.
It is the nature of man to be unable to live in harmony. These are the times I’m glad I’m old. RC is spot on with the diagnosis, now we need to find the cure. It’ll have to be smaller political units
“At some point what can’t keep going on doesn’t. It crashes. ”
Why do you think our elite have worked so hard to gain control of all the leavers of power (especially those that allow you to exert force), to make sure they remain unaccountable, or more importantly, made so many dependent on them for basic survival, huh? That’s cause they are setting themselves up to stay on top when the house of cards collapses.
There are still more good in America’s future than bad.
That’s true, just as long as you keep your head down and try not to make yourself a target. Snipers are watching.
not as long as people do not reply to the actual comment
What Trashy called the balkanization will continue, the flyover states will persist minus the urban enclaves. The conflicts will grow and grow.
Without clean break lines, we’re doomed. The left coast (that is, along a line ~100 miles from the beach, let’s say) might break themselves off with a political consensus, if they so wished, but despite all the claims of California’s economic might, without the other 49 states they cannot survive, much less thrive.
Oh come on Brooksie! They are the WORLD’S FIFTH LARGEST ECONOMY®!
I’m a wiz with breaklines.
My solution: Have more babies and raise them to your standards not the culture du joir.
Don’t underestimate the apathy of the American people. It’s gotten us through rough patches before.
Meh.
apathy?! they won’t be happy until every league has the designated hitter . . . end of the country, I tells ya
Not sure I should care about the average American
Americans have shown since the very founding that they have a nearly infinite capacity to ignore problems and critical issues.
not as long as people do not reply to the actual comment
Evasive maneuvers, my Romanian compatriot.
I’d prefer not to be seen
The long march has given the Left a massive indoctrination and enforcement regime.
Which is why they can point to government for a “solution” to every problem and receive thunderous applause. That is how liberty dies.
Y’all need some Michael Malice irreverent optimism in your life.
You’ve lost the schools? Then let it be known that schools are indoctrination factories. And nothing less then de-funding them is acceptable. You’ve lost the media? Then let it be known that your average reporter is no different then your average tobacco executive.
Refuse to play by the rules as defined for you. That’s really what’s made Trump successful. There’s a lot about him that others can learn from
Poor Spawn 2. She keeps asking me about ‘excellent’ schools and my response is the same: “I’m not interested in giving money to a commie factory. Keep looking.”
Yeah, I figure I’m going to have to lay down the law on that too some day. There are alternatives, but they are few and far between.
I was still paying my student loans when my kids were teenagers (the consequences of starting a family well before starting school). I told them they were on their own.
My daughter got a associates degree on her own nickel. My son never bothered to go to school.
Both are happily-married, middle-aged parents living in nice homes in nice neighborhoods.
So fuck the “college is crucial” movement.
Trump’s real talent is persistence.
That’s what I’m getting at above.Sure leftism is dominant, but it’s very dominance is it’s weaknesd because you can show that it’s all’s forced facade. Schools are worthless, corporate media is worthless. And that is what the new right is doing
Every chapter of Michael Malice’s book “The New Right” is a red pill. He’s like the Johnny Appleseed of red pills.
For instance, shit like this from the LP is unacceptable: https://twitter.com/LPNational/status/1143887973425012737
“Silence is consent. If you choose not to vote, then you are by default supporting the status quo.”
No. You are playing by the status quo’s rules. This is a nonsensical position. People need to openly reject the bullshit rules that we are expected to hold dear.
Derision, disgust, and complete antipathy toward these institutions is the only correct response.
If you vote for the lesser of two evils, you are voting for evil.
I still go to the polling place every election, but almost all the races on my ballot are blank. I’ll vote for someone, but never against someone. (Hillary sorely tested my resolve on this).
I cast write-in votes.
This is all because Jeri Ryan wouldn’t go to a sex club.
Her husband wanted to go to a sex club, she didn’t, she divorced him, Obama used his underhanded bullshit to unseal their divorce records, he won, then he became President which emboldened the Hard Left, then Trump won, which drove the Hard Left around the bend.
She should have just taken several for the team.
Ummm, in that reality HRC beats McCain in 2008. Her bold stand might have saved the world.
I’m finding it difficult to believe Hillary ever beats anyone in a presidential election. She is an awful, awful politician.
What? Name one thing – ONE THING – that she has ever said or done that wasn’t the greatest thing ever.
Chelsea
That was Webb’s fault not hers.
She didn’t abort the parasite like a good feminist should.
Did she say Chelsea or did she do Chelsea?
Related – Webb Hubbell
As long as the left refuses to print stories such as this, they will remain vulnerable:
https://dailycaller.com/2019/06/25/miss-hooters-finalist-arrested-boyfriend/
It’s tricky for a woman that hot to be on the wrong side of the hot/crazy matrix, but she managed it.
I’m just wondering the Miss Hooters Pageant isn’t a PPV event.
Still would. This thing between my legs is my arch-nemesis, but also my prime motivator. *sigh*
Poor Spawn 2. She keeps asking me about ‘excellent’ schools and my response is the same: “I’m not interested in giving money to a commie factory. Keep looking.”
Send her to welding school and get her a library card.
I read that as wedding school and thought you are such a traditionalist. Supporting all those co-eds getting their MRS degree.
The only positive thing is Trump is filing the federal judiciary with Federalist Society judges. There is a chance this will have a long lasting effect on the direction of government.
You do have a group of liberal judges vowing to twist and ignore what the Supreme Court has said.
Gieco Caveman is a really, really shitty dad.
Christ, that is more depressing than this article. You win, Debbie Downer
I figure the kid would have been a huge asshole like his parents, so no big loss. And I laughed at the pic.
The loss of any life is devastating. But, I agree that the guy looks like a caveman who got way too into Phish
I just see Nick Cage in his worst role ever.
JHTFC
Put me down in the glass half full column.
Things are the best they’ve ever been and I’m betting that they will get better. Won’t be perfect, there will probably be bumps along the road.
One of the things that is currently missing is a frontier. A place people who are pissed off with the status quo can fuck off to when the statists get on their nerves. Seasteading? Space? Some matrix like virtual reality?
I’m sure it’s been discussed but some of us work Rufus. Narrative going to hell.
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/450597-drudge-instant-poll-shows-tulsi-gabbard-winning-first-democratic-debate-in
The conservative Drudge Report’s instant poll shows Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) as the biggest winner of the first night of the Democratic presidential debates, with nearly 45 percent of the vote just after 8 a.m. Thursday morning.
That’s only because they want to bang her.
at least she can always fall back on the Dalai Lama gig
Well, of course – who doesn’t want to?
I work Rufus every chance I get.
Heyoooooooooo!
Same instant polls that Bernie and Ron Paul won?
Live in normal suburban America and I know of no one who is politically correct.
They probably don’t buy in xhe and xher. But, ultimately, the people pushing it know they don’t have to. They understand that people will reject the progtalitarianism in areas where they are knowledgeable, where they can see that it is insanity. But, they also know that they’ll engage in the same sort of Gell-Mann amnesia that allows the media to mangle their coverage of pretty much everything and still maintain the narrative. They’ll buy into the BS on everything else. And mostly keep quiet on what they do know is wrong because they don’t want to be on the receiving end of the mob.
I’ve seen it. I talk to my girlfriend, a reasonably intelligent girl who considers herself a moderate Democrat, but voted for Gary Johnson last time around. But, one time she was commenting to me about how accomplished Michelle Obama was. I simply responded “In what way?”. Not only couldn’t she give me an answer, she was visibly upset that I even asked the question. Or I’ve rolled my eyes at the over-the-top media blitz over Gay Pride Month. Her reaction was as if that made me a homophobe. I comment in response to the television news. She gets upset, even though she’s agreed it’s biased.
And, again, we’re not talking about an utter idiot here. She’s a reasonably well-educated, intelligent woman. Hell, she worked in PR previously. I can only imagine there’s a lot more gullible out there.
Those pushing progtalitarianism know they can control the narrative. They know that they don’t have to convince everyone of everything. Just enough people of enough stuff so that they can make those who know better shut up.
There is a lot to unpack just from this. Leftist-dominated cities and urban areas offer a laboratory/window of the future and I think the (long-term) future looks a lot like Detroit. Detroit is absolutely drowning in regulations, laws and an oppressive administrative class. However, they have so few resources, good luck enforcing any of those rules. The collapse under its own weight looks a lot like de facto, default anarchy. I remember reading an article about a local giving “blight porn” tours for profit from tourists who would routinely swig vodka as he drove around because there simply weren’t any cops around to enforce laws against DWI. Arson is absolutely rampant and the fire department is hopelessly undermanned and underfunded to deal with it. They’ve taken the approach to let the fires burn themselves out as long as there isn’t an obvious threat to bystanders. On the plus side, citizens band together to provide basic services (filling potholes, maintaining parks, etc.)
Clearly, there is so much legacy wealth in the US it’s going to take a long, long time for things to reach that point, probably long after all of us are dead. It’s also going to be UGLY leading up to such a state; during the collapse itself life is going to be intolerable for quite some time.
I definitely agree with you that the solution is disengagement; without a common enemy, Leftists start attacking each other, hastening the collapse. If you don’t have land in a desolate, isolated place, I’d recommend buying some now to have a safe haven to leave to your descendants. It’s a gamble that maybe, just maybe, the whole enterprise will collapse under its own weight before the tanks make it all the way out from cities, suburbs and exurbs into the hinterland.
No one cares about my opinion, but I’ll give it anyway. This is kind of a weird situation – I don’t think the culture war is lost on the ground so much as it has been institutions. Wokeness is largely a top-down thing now, foisted upon skeptical/apathetic multitudes by a hideous conglomeration of actvist leftists who have seized control of key institutions (media, universities, corporations). A fair slice of the masses don’t actually buy into this horseshit, but most people don’t want to rock the boat. They’ll put up with a lot simply to avoid confrontation.
I don’t know where this goes from here. Since the left loves their Hitler analogies, I’ll make one of my own: the Third Reich began their attempts to remove Jews from German life not by elimination – that came much later. They began by excluding them from the economic and social structures of the nation. Jews were forbidden from membership in civic organizations, clubs, schools, and unions. Bit by bit, their ability to conduct business was taken away. Gentiles businesses began to refuse to deal with them. Their shops faced constant boycotts.
And now, we have something similar happening. Major corporations are increasingly casting their lot with the woke left. Social organizations like that knitting site are establishing policies that push the non-woke out. Anyone who does not ascribe to the entire woke order is a garbage person, unworthy of being allowed to participate in decent society. So what now? Well, one thing I do know is that people who would have previously laughed off conspiracist accusations that the bulk of supposedly elite society is actively colluding against them now feels that it’s no longer a laughing matter. They are starting to feel boxed-in and persecuted, and somewhat hopeless as it seems that there is no refuge from the remorseless march of the woke left.
Under those circumstances, people can turn desperate. Desperate people do crazy things. The scribblers, TV talking heads, college professors and administrators, and corporate board types who are pushing this stuff seem either to not care or not realize just how many people they are excluding, and don’t realize just how intensely they are hated for it. When there is no respite from the woke, to whom and what do these people turn? I suspect none of us are going to like the answers to that question.
Wokeness is a faith and it must be derided as such
Absolutely.
Anyway, to use Glenn Reynolds’ line of thinking, it’s Gleichschaltung: a coordinated system on many fronts that enforces ideological adherence in all facets of life – economic, social, educational. If you want to participant in American life, you will get born-again woke, or at least be smart enough to keep your mouth shut about it. If you don’t, forces far more powerful than you will set about destroying you and your reputation, isolating you and marking you as an American untouchable.
Maybe I’m fatalistic, but in my darker moments this is exactly what I believe. I used to have some faith that enough Americans would stand up against this sort of thing to prevent it from becoming reality, but by now I realize that too many people are content to simply float with the current.
I’m more in agreement with you than not. The only thing that makes me hopeful is really the concept that we should just refuse to grant these powers that legitimacy.
There will be many martyrs, but refusing to concede and accept the narrative is the only way to resist the Evangelical Left
forces far more powerful than you will set about destroying you and your reputation, isolating you and marking you as an American untouchable.
It’s possible they’ll succeed in doing that, as I note above. That said, I don’t think the progtalitarians have given enough thought to where things go if their experiment goes wrong. As you suggest, there’s a lot more people at risk of being on the receiving end of the progtalitarian mob than are part of it. And if the progtalitarians are adamant about throwing out the norms of civil society, of crossing the Rubicon, libertarians will be the least of their worries when and if things turn. I’ve noted before, the Nazis didn’t rise to power because good people didn’t stand up to them. They rose to power because, for a lot of Germans at the time, they were the good guys standing up to the communists.
I’m with you there. That’s what I’m suggesting – this will eventually lead to a backlash, one that more than likely will get bloody. As some people have said, the purpose of the criminal justice system isn’t to protect citizens from crooks, it’s to protect crooks from mob justice. If people feel like civil society and the legal system is purposefully turned against them, then they will resort to mob action.
And who is the big loser when something like that happens? Anyone who values liberty. Bad, bad shit follows civil insurrections no matter which side wins.
I don’t think it’ll happen, at least not for a looooooong time. People are far too complacent to engage in any kind of coordinated conflict; they just keep letting the pot get hotter and hotter, hoping it won’t boil.
If there were isolated incidents breaking out, that just gives the Total State a pretext to crack down hard.
Well, not tomorrow, no. Within 5 years? Maybe. 10 years? I’d bet on probably.
I’m thinking 100 years.
Yes, in a way what we are experiencing is another great awakening. It’s just not the Christians this time.
“When there is no respite from the woke, to whom and what do these people turn?”
Don’t underestimate the meme in the MAGA personality cult that progessives are progressing towards Christian hetero white males being re-educated/genocided/whatever. For now, they are looking to #OrangeManBad. If the Electoral College is required to rubber stamp the national popular vote, the power of elected officials shrink not in a libertarian way but because the unelected people have the power, or whatever, there are historical examples of what happens when Common Knowledge includes The System du jour is a sham.
LTTP. Good article. Typical RC – gloomy and probably right.
progtalitarianism
I like it.
Wow, and I thought I was a pessimist. I stand corrected.
Forgive me. I am still perusing the morning links because I work and sh*t.
Will do (If the cheapest push mower at the box store is a Honda)
I recommend this. It’s what I have. I didn’t even winterize it last year and it started on the second pull the first time I used it this year. It’s definitely not the cheapest but it is worth it. Fires right up and cuts through everything.
It’s all about the Honda engine. The hell with Briggs and Stratton. I have a Troy-Bilt with a Honda engine right off the shelf from Lowes. Cost $350 I think, starts first pull every time, haven’t had a single problem with it in three years.
11-in rear wheels provide more maneuverability on any terrain
does no one know anything any more?
That’s pretty much what I ended up with except troy-built from HD, It was 70 Strohs more than the one I went to buy but saw the Honda engine and heeded Tundras advice.
The scribblers, TV talking heads, college professors and administrators, and corporate board types who are pushing this stuff seem either to not care or not realize just how many people they are excluding, and don’t realize just how intensely they are hated for it.
The high priests of academia are safe, for now, simply because they have an extremely deep pool of applicants. Small schools are going to be the early casualties (Cough Evergreen Cough). I can’t wait to see how Oberolin’s application numbers go. I’d be interested to know if there has been a drop off in legacy applicants at my alma mater, as far as that goes. Smart rich people don’t like throwing their money away on making their kids dumber.
The effects on business may manifest themselves more quickly and visibly. The bottom line is there for everyone to see. Is your management destroying the value of your business enterprise? I see opportunity for the Carl Icahns of the world.
“The bottom line is there for everyone to see. Is your management destroying the value of your business enterprise?”
The problem comes from government intervention and handouts destroying the competitive nature of the market. Take that along with group boycotts (see: Big Tech, ISPs, Banks, etc. working together) make any competition practically impossible.
Sure, people can throw away their smart phones, quit using Goolag, Amazon, FB, etc. but we all know that’s not going to happen on nearly large enough of a scale for it to make a difference. Even if they do, the aforementioned firms would probably still make enough from other parts of the world to keep poisoning the dialogue here.
I think things are going to get worse before they get better… if they get better. Sometimes I wonder if America’s golden age has passed, and we are now at the height of the slow downward spiral.
Short of one those few unique history-changing individuals showing up, there’s really nothing any individual can do to prop up an empire. My approach has been to carve out one of my own bastions of freedoms, at least as free as I can make it. If the pessimism is in error, then I still get to enjoy all the benefits of such. If shit goes south, we’ll be set to weather the storm. The rise of telecommuting has made this set-up simple.
Virginia is spiraling downwards. Richmond has come up with a list of gun grabbing wet dream laws that would make CA and NYC seem like libertopia. I’ll note that control of the House of Delegates came down to a coin flip and a single vote would have made the difference between Progtopia forced down our VA throats and us still hanging on by our fingernails to some semblance of normalcy.
On the other hand, I like to think I’m well insulated from most of that out here in the boonies (minus the gun laws). Political correctness is alien concept and I can’t think it will ever make much headway here. The stars and bars proudly flying on many of the surrounding homes attest to that.
Don’t forget – redistricting that the Dems love is coming this fall. Yay!
do you really think anything will come from Northam’s gun control special session?
It will be close. The republican senate majority leader has climbed onboard. That’s not a surprise though, he’s always been a gun grabber.
The House of Delegates may stop it. If so, that’s only because one delegate won a coin flip. One more “found” ballot and that seat would have gone blue and votes would have been had for strong gun control in both parts of the Assembly.
If it doesn’t pass now, they’ll just try again and again and again until the desired result is achieved. I’m not optimistic they won’t get the votes at some point. The ever growing Fed workers in NOVA has all but assured VA going deep blue over time.
it would be a real act of betrayal to our ancestors for Virginia to pile on gun control. funny, i can picture that point falling on completely deaf ears. our history has been redefined by the perpetually aggrieved victimhood industry.
HIstrionics, lies, contortions, etc. No matter what, Richmond, Hampton and NoVa are not going to get to decide that Article 1, Section 13 is not abundantly clear. And they are not going to go to bf Va to confiscate Bubba’s AR (nor will they do the same in the suburbs to get mi- I mean I don’t have one…). VA has a history of defiance and I am sure there are plenty of law enforcement bodies in the state that would refuse enforcement of said leftist wish-list.
Try taking that AR that you ain’t got to the range or using it for anything other than a safe queen that’s waiting to catch you a charge if the cops have to come into your house for some reason though.
^Or what Stinky said
It’s not about confiscation. I’m with you 100% that there will never be outright confiscations in the rural areas of VA. Can’t say the same for places like Roanoke, C-Ville, etc, but the the point is to shift the Overton window.
I have no doubt my neighbors would stand together to forcefully oppose confiscation if law enforcement were foolish enough to consider it out here. They aren’t going to march on Richmond though when ARs stop being sold in gun stores or at shows. They won’t protest when a citizen is found with an AR during another “crime” and gets an additional felony charge tacked on.
No more ARs at ranges. I still remember my first visit to a range with my friend and his older brother and getting to shoot a Kalashnikov. By removing them from sight and culture, the grabbers will have won by the second generation without lifting a finger. They’re already laying groundwork for the next offensive by classifying semi-auto rifles without banned tacticool features as a “loophole” to get around things like magazine size bans.
I have no doubt my neighbors would stand together to forcefully oppose confiscation if law enforcement were foolish enough to consider it out here.
I had an incident where the cops were asking one neighbor about another neighbor. Neighbor 1 (hippy with light up peace sign on the roof and rainbow flag on the garage) told the cop that he loved neighbor 2 “except he scares me a bit with all of his assault rifles”.
Fuck neighbor 1. He’s an otherwise nice guy, but the drugs have burnt out some of his critical thinking facilities. What goes around comes around, and he does plenty of stuff the cops would be interested in learning about.
happy small business day from google
Unless you want to hold to your old antiquated beliefs, then, *points gun* bake the cake!
I’ll disagree in one respect that I think people often forget about: the split we’re watching (to me) is nothing more than the long-standing divide between urban metropolitan areas vs. rural areas. The fight for the ‘burbs is the fight for election results.
The missing aspect of all of this is that urban centers aren’t the pinnacle of civilization they think they are: to my mind, they’re the last stage before collapse. The ultimate decider is always, always, the essentials of survival. Wait until the people who can actually hunt, fish, and produce food decide they’re tired of being treated like serfs.
IOW, where is NYC’s steak going to come from? Because last I checked, there wasn’t a ton of cattle ranching happening on Staten Island. Same for LA. Same for SFO. These people have grown up so disconnected from the harsh realities of the world (and the economic realities of our food supply chain) that they think food just magically appears on Whole Foods’ shelves. It’s hard to make a triple foam latte when the people with the cows are done with being called racists.
Watch what happens when, in Ayn Rand’s words, the “producers” quit the whole fucking game. I still can hunt, fish and feed myself and my family, if necessary. We’ll be fine. All the Bohemians, however, are going to have a very, very difficult time “living off the land” in NYC, LA, etc.
But aren’t most farm operations owned by agribusinesses HQed in large cities and ran by some mixture of local tenants and migrant labour, and independent farms very much hanging on by subsidies and tariffs? So they’ll get it as they always had, unless you’re stumping for land redistribution from the huge estates to individual families, mass deportation of non-locals and maintenance/increase of tariffs on agricultural products, i.e. a Zapatista revolutionary program.
Large agribusiness may have its HQ in mega-urban enclave, but the dirt is still where it happens. The cattle and cows are still in Kansas and Oklahoma or wherever else they are. Does that complicate it? Sure. But when it starts to go south, it’s still rural working-class Americans making those animals into deli meats, and those people (a) own the guns, and (b) know how to feed themselves and their families. When it starts going bad, they’re not going to keep feeding their oppressors, unless it’s at gunpoint and that is NEVER going to happen. And I can point to a specific example of where police unions have openly defied a governor’s order to start collecting guns. (Also because with the gun laws being what they are, the cops are holding the weapons that need to be confiscated, too.) See Malloy in CT. It was covered openly, with the union telling Malloy to “fuck off” after Sandy Hook.
Ultimately what the left has is moral indignation. They’re a bunch of fucking scolds; nothing more. Notice how when people don’t cave and just tell them to stuff it, nothing really happens. See, e.g. Trump, Donald.
OT: And the beat goes on.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/ny-colorado-man-dies-in-the-dominican-republic-20190627-ojgw64vjwngtrddajnotivoxbi-story.html
Adkins’ older brother, Alpha…
Now _that’s_ a name.
Two middle names Alfred Frederick.
Alpha AF.
Incidentally, do we have any thoughts on whether there’s really something going on in the DR or is this just apophenia? I’m assuming the latter.
Most of the articles are behind a paywall, but you do a search, you will find a number of articles stating the number of deaths are typical. I am finding it interesting to see how this is playing out.
After the Rodney King riots the story was “39 people died in the riots” (forget the actual numbers but these are close enough). Seems some reporter asked the LA coroner how many people died in LA that weekend. Another reporter (without a degree from Columbia?) then asked “How many people die in LA on an average weekend?” Answer: “Dunno exsctly, about 35.”
-3,000 Puerto Rico
Some of the initially reported deaths seem suspicious. But now they’re all being lumped together, and if anybody dies for any reason it’s being reported.
The Summer of Shark was way cooler than this shit. Cultural decline is real.
Careful, it might be back soon.
This time it will be Summer of Shark Pack.
Bonus points: They can blame it on
global warmingclimate changethe climate crisis.Some stories made it sound like they were serving drunk tourists bad moonshine.
Yo, Glibs – tied up working (I know, right?), can’t participate as I had hoped to. Will read comments later, though.
“tied up working”
Keep at it! Millions on welfare are depending on you!
kinky!
So RC Dean is a masochist?
lolwut?
Related: Obama’s ICE director notes that the supposed cages were built at the direction of Jeh Johnson.
Wonder why that story doesn’t get much airtime.
It’s already decriminalized. It’s a misdemeanor, and the penalty is deportation, not jail time.
This is true. I bet you $100 Sally is one of the people who wants to “decriminalize” and at the same time isn’t interested in abolishing visa and passport checks at the airports.
Thanks for the pick me up.
I think part of the problem is that you have a very vocal minority on either side that care about their issues more than the mainstream. The mainstream doesn’t care strongly either way, but the path of least resistance is to just cave so they’ll shut up for once and the rest of the “normal” world can move on. And I think that’s been the MO for a long time. But now the left is more about taking names and punishing people who disagree and I think the more they overplay their had that way, the less likely they are to see gains at the ballot box.
the less likely they are to see gains at the ballot box
Since we are largely governed by unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats who have shown they are perfectly willing to ignore direct orders from the President (without consequence), I don’t that matters all that much any more. The administrative state is a ratchet – give them an Obama who expands their portfolio, and they gladly go along. Give them a Trump who wants to prune back a bit around the edges, and they #Resist and frustrate his agenda.
Point taken. That would also apply not only to the administrative state, but to media and “woke” businesses which will happily carry water for the left. Unfortunately, “get woke, go broke” is nothing more that wishful thinking.