“Did we give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? No!” – Animal House
On this blog recently someone commented, “When I was a kid, people used to say that ‘It’s a free country,’ but they don’t say that anymore.” I tried it out the other day. The response? “It hasn’t been a free country in a while.” I turned him into the FBI for that kind of hate think.
Again, this is a repost from back in 2020, partially because I’m going to add it on the Civil War 2.0 Weather Report page, and partially because it seemed a good fit as we keep sliding down.
I was driving around and one of the videos that was in my suggested list was about “America’s Cold Civil War.” This isn’t a review of the video, but it brought up some interesting points. The one I want to make clear to every single person that loves freedom in the United States is: if you’ve ever seen a movie about that rag-tag elements of a group fighting a foe that has nearly utterly defeated them, it’s us. We are the Wolverines.
I get to be Charlie Sheen, mainly because he’s still alive. I think.
I don’t mean to say that to create a feeling of defeat – far from it. But the first step in dealing with a situation is understanding reality. And reality is very simple today. At a minimum, the Left has coopted the following elements of culture in the United States – they have been, over time, “converged” into Leftism:
- The K-12 educational system.
- Colleges and Universities.
- Most Protestant religious organizations.
- Most Catholic organizations.
- The psychological establishment.
- The American Medical Association.
- All mainstream news media.
- All mainstream entertainment media.
- Most departments of the Federal government, absent the armed services.
- The general officer corps of the armed services.
- The courts.
- Silicon Valley tech companies.
- Many (but not all) Fortune® 500™ companies.
This isn’t an accident, it’s entirely by plan. And not only by plan, it’s by a plan that was entirely shared. From Verified Communist Traitor® Herbert Marcuse, in his book Counterrevolution and Revolt (bold added):
To extend the base of the student movement, Rudi Dutschke has proposed the strategy of the long march through the institutions: working against the established institutions while working within them, but not simply by ‘boring from within’, rather by ‘doing the job’, learning (how to program and read computers, how to teach at all levels of education, how to use the mass media, how to organize production, how to recognize and eschew planned obsolescence, how to design, et cetera), and at the same time preserving one’s own consciousness in working with others.
I could prove all of the above Institutions have been converged through the Long March Through the Institutions and will probably discuss a few of these in the future, because I could do a post on each one. Heck, maybe it would be a great book, but only if I could figure out how to pair hot chicks and communist propaganda.
East German girl swimmers bench pressing 300 pounds in 1976 is completely normal.
But if you doubt me, you have Google® (itself converged) and you can easily verify list above even through the Leftist-bias that’s now on that search engine. I’ll leave you with one more question: why else would Fortune© 500® corporations sign a manifesto saying profits were less important than social goals if Leftists weren’t in control? Because there were extra doughnuts in the breakroom and they were feeling generous?
In almost any context, these organizations reflect the values of the Left, not of the Right. I specifically don’t use the label conservative here – the conservative movement has utterly failed in the United States (to quote absolutely everyone) to conserve anything. We live a country where adults telling four year old boys that being a girl is okie-dokie (and vice-versa) aren’t thrown directly in prison for a decade or more (after a trial, of course) for child abuse. The goals of the above organizations would be cause for mass revolt if they had been publicized in 1990, but now, despite no vote, no public acceptance, each point of the Left has been accepted as the new normal.
And telling a boy that he’s a girl? Oh, wait, that’s brave. Sorry.
Despite all of that, this is not a post about giving up. Screw that. Each day makes me more independent, not less, more wanting to tell the truth.
And if you’re reading this, no one is done here. Freedom is always the underdog. I really wish we’d just stop waiting until 2:00 in the fourth quarter to start playing.
I remember seeing a film in Social Studies in High School about the Korean War. In the black and white film, almost all of Korea had been lost. The film ended right at what is known as the Pusan Perimeter, right where the North Korean Army was about to kick freedom off of the Korean peninsula, forever. It was tough watching that film.
But then we learned what happened next: MacArthur led the naval invasion of Inchon and turned the tide of battle, leading a combined United Nations® force that cut off the North Koreans. This turned the course of the war, and in the process helped to create the free country of South Korea that is a world leader in technology, bad music videos, and wealth creation today.
Spoiler alert: we tied.
Our Pusan Perimeter is now. I had a great boss once upon a time, he would continually remind me, “John, start with the end in mind,” which is #2 of Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. As I look at the state of the Right back in 2016, we were at the Pusan Perimeter. As we as a nation blindly stumble toward Civil War II, I can’t predict the outcome, but I can see the full range of outcomes.
We’ll go from best case to worst case for people who love freedom. Although there are variations, I think I’ve captured all of the big picture end games below.
I named operation Aesop after the Raconteur Report’s Aesop. You can read him here (LINK).
Operation Aesop: Total victory.
What it is: The Right wins. Traditional society is restored. Mothers and fathers in committed relationships are again honored. A Constitutional republic of limited government replaces the democracy of unlimited power. The United States is unified. Think of it as a return to the 1950’s, but with color TV and microwaves.
What it takes: Oh, not much more than the bloodiest war in the history of the country. The only way this results in victory is as Von Clausewitz wrote about in On War: [Accomplishing . . . ] “three broad objectives, which between them cover everything: destroying the enemy’s armed forces; occupying his country; and breaking his will to continue the struggle.”
That’s what happened in the first Civil War. That’s what happened to the Germans and Japanese in World War II. The concept of continuing was even more horrific than the concept of trying to continue to fight. It’s total capitulation. This is actual war until the enemy is not capable of continuing. Not talking heads on a television show. Not voting. Not discussion. Not a “mission accomplished” after five weeks moving across Iraq where the “will to continue the struggle” is still clearly intact.
Outcomes: Some freedoms we see now would be curtailed. Political discourse would be constrained. But teenagers would be pretty polite, again. And you wouldn’t really have to worry about the border.
I’m related to Patrick Henry, or so my aunt told me. I like to imagine Patrick getting a bit tipsy and writing mean letters to Madison about how short Madison was and how Dolly might want to give up on the chew.
Operation Founding Fathers: 50 Independent States.
What it is: A return to base principles. Originally, the United States was conceived as just that, independent free States. The majority of decisions to be made were to be made at the state, and not the Federal level. Each state was to be free to make decisions. Texas could be Texas. California could be Venezuela. Vermont could be stoned. The free decisions of free States was allowed. The free movement of free peoples was likewise allowed. This is returning to that state.
What it takes: Leftist thought is built around the universal adoption of their principles. Individuals in society cannot be left to make decisions, so this is a hateful outcome to the Left. I recall discussing politics with a Leftist when I was younger. The Leftist thought I was on the Right. That, at least they could deal with. When I identified as a Libertarian®? The look of disgust was clear – the Left hated Libertarians™ more than they hated the Right. The Right was merely amused and not threatened by Libertarians©. Maybe it was the Star Wars® shirts and poorly trimmed beards?
That taught me one thing: the thing the Left hates the most is . . . freedom. Liberty. In many ways the Left would rather lose a shooting war and be subjugated to the views of the Right than to be allowed to turn Seattle into the Siberia of the PacNorthwest.
The only way this can take place outside of warfare is a Second Constitutional Convention. I think that alone would lead to a shooting war from the Left and a complete revolt from all of the Leftist institutions shown above. But we can dream that the Second Constitutional Convention would turn out well. If we did it, oh, in the next year. The clock is ticking on this being a viable outcome. It’s probably time to do it now. As in, well, now. Conservatives (not the Right) seem to feel that everything is going to come out fine, so until the wolf is at the door, I don’t think they’ll move an inch.
The problem is that Conservatives (again, not the Right) seem to think that the Left likes the Constitution. Since the Left gained the institutions I’ve listed above, the Left doesn’t care about the Constitution – the Left cares about power. Pure, unadulterated, 18 year old with a 12 pack of Coors Light™ behind the wheel of a 1969 Camero® power.
Outcomes: In many ways this is the best outcome, but in my opinion the most unlikely. This is the only outcome where we can still have the full freedom of political discourse and the full Bill of Rights. I’d love to turn over freedom to choose to a California that can choke itself to death on Leftist feelgoodism while a Rightist Arizona can deny admission to every illegal and return them via a trebuchet if they want to.
I was expecting more girls in bikinis from Bruckheimer, but this is a good start.
Operation Fort Sumter: Going our separate ways.
What it is: Secession. Splitting up. It’s not you, it’s me Oregon. The problem is that unlike in 1860, the dividing lines aren’t so clear. Then there was a line which, if everyone agreed, would have been fine for a split. The North could be the North, the South could be the South. Oops. Now it would be a county by county fight.
What it takes: Just like a psycho ex-girlfriend, if the Right tried to succeed in Texas, the Left wouldn’t accept it, and would demand tanks on the banks Red River by morning, which would be hilarious because tanks don’t float. Unless the secession were overwhelming in number of states, numbers of the armed forces, and nearly immediate, I see only a small path to a peaceful secession. For secession to stick, the Left and Right would have to feel that conquering the other side was more costly than trying to forge a peace.
Outcomes: If secession happened and was maintained, the United States would be irrevocably broken, unless it was re-stitched by a Caesar sequentially conquering the Balkanized United States. Maybe Caesar Pugsley Wilder the First?
Think they need a reason to send you to the Gulag? Sure they do! It’s Monday – that’s good enough.
Operation Gulag in The Dakotas:
What it is: This is the darkest timeline not only for our nation but for our world. And, amazingly, the only timeline (outside of a Second Constitutional Convention) that we can vote ourselves into. It is the Leftist takeover of everything. Although it is sold as a Denmark, in reality Denmark is capitalist with stronger social institutions because Denmark is, well, Danish and I think they put mayo on their fries. In the United States it will look much more like the U.S.S.R. – but not the basketcase 1988 U.S.S.R., but more like the 1932 “starve to death millions of citizens that Stalin doesn’t like” (In the World Murder Olympics, Communists Take Gold and Silver!) U.S.S.R.
What it takes: Nothing. We keep going as it is. In less than 20 years, we will be in complete tyranny. The erosion of rights we have seen won’t continue in a linear fashion. It will accelerate.
Outcomes: 1984.
Now we know the stakes.
Big Brother is our friend! And we’ve always been at war with Eastasia.
Mountains of skulls, rivers of blood, and oceans of tears is the best possible future. If we fight, we at least stand a chance. If we do nothing, we will lose and be exterminated.
What do you call it when only one side shows up for a war? Genocide.
It will make the result clear and final.
Ron Paul couldn’t even transmit his political worldview to his son.
All the people you’re talking to here are already libertarians; there is no conversion.
Sure, half the people in the country aren’t in the liberal death cult and prefer to afford to eat, but that doesn’t make them libertarians; that makes them Eisenhower voters. You know, the guy who spent his whole career increasing the size of government.
Eh… I am a recovering libertarian.
Libertarianism is as functionally foolish as socialism. Christianity can paper over that reality, but then, with the power of Christ, *communist* communities can survive. Most of us are not and will never be saints, though.
It’s fine when you’re green and idealistic, but eventually you have to grow up.
Again, I’d like to be left alone, but ultimately that can’t be a winning strategy anymore.
Disunity? What disunity? From Chicago, here’s your Two-Minute (and 17 seconds) Love for the day. Watch it all way thru, Comrade.
https://twitter.com/CPIUSA/status/1556011835844956161
Seems to be gone???
In the mean time, I propose that we all start spreading Woke Jokes, much like blonde jokes.
Good call, but I worry the jokes will be like the Woke – they won’t work.
John, a lot comes down to “Support Your Local Sheriff”. He can tell the FBI, CIA, ATF, et al. FU, you’re not welcome in my county. We had an Afro masquerading as a R until an old 2020 tweet thread was discovered where he supported both Defund PoPo & BLM.
As the Sheriff’s race is a non-partisan election the real R, a retired Marine, won handily.
That’s good news, but remember they take Fed money, too.
Schlichter’s Turnbull novels do a good job of showing one result. The leftist states, having no further check on their powers, turn rapidly to tyranny.
A quick note, “Camero” is not technically a registered trademark. LOL.
Troubling to think that this is where we are but I can’t disagree with anything you say. I’ve found it interesting over the past few weeks to listen to both the left and the establishment right talking about Civil War. Both will condemn anyone on the right that even hints at it, even if those hints are in a “we need to change to forestall the possibility”. The left will then talk about how we are in a civil war and how the right needs to be destroyed. I think they are keeping anyone on the right from getting too frisky by making sure we all know that they are watching, meanwhile they continue their push to destroy our foundational beliefs.
They’re scared, I think. And it’s another example of “we can say it, but you can’t”.
are you guys talking about a Camaro? As in ’69 Z28, 302c.i./302 h.p., cross ram w/2 4bbls? Muncie 4 gear rock crusher, 3.11s with posi in back?
Just curious. Chevy’s ads at the time said “Camaro means partner, buddy, friend”. In the days of 29 cent a gallon Chevron Custom Supreme, or Shell Flight Fuel, or…
I am sad about what this country has become, because I remember what it was
Right off the bat, you stated, “Originally, the United States was conceived as just that, independent free States.”
Maybe two or three years ago, on another blog, I mentioned that my thought was that most of our current situation started going downhill when THESE United States became THE United States. I stand by my opinion now more than ever. I think that President Lincoln had a lot to do with that and I think his standing as one of our greatest Presidents is one of the most effective results of the progressives/leftists manipulations of current belief.
That was the time. Senators provided a backstop when appointed, but now they provide no check.
What is changing, and rapidly, is that while many of us knew things were going wrong, we were personally largely insulated from it because of where we lived and who we associated with. Now? You can’t escape the ramifications any more and it promises to get worse. There are something like 5 million new illegal aliens in the U.S. (at least) since Sniffy Joe took office and they will no doubt do the same for the U.S. that they did for their home countries. We are at a place where each man will have to make a choice, and being on the sidelines no longer is a viable option. A little foreshadowing there of a future post.
The illegal population is growing exponentially, and they do not have the same basic values. Trainwreck ahead.
Libertarians are 1 in 100 of population. This was only temporarily concentrated by emigration to North America in 16xx, then the libertarians’ children diluted the libertarians back to 1 in 100.
There never was a Constitutional republic of limited government, there was only the local slope of the plot line of the exponential growth of communism.
If you want to be free, you have to find a military defense that succeeds against a 1:100 ratio. “Government” isn’t that. Securing your commerce and money transactions with cryptography so they can’t be regulated or stolen might be that, but you will be fighting your commie friends and family members all the way.
It was bound to grow, as evil men want to grow government for control.
Well, whatever plans need to be largely completed BEFORE their minions realize they’re dropping dead from the science experiment.
After that literal scorched-earth tactics (think “King of the Ash Heap”) from power slipping away too quickly increase in odds parabolically until all who are enabling this have their bloodlines wiped out. Along with most other bloodlines, like in a Great Flood Event with fire.
Any which way it turns out, there will only be Purebloods left, and that includes those that got saline shots by chance or by crook.
The only thing I’d miss by being Gulaged in the Dakotas would be trees. How does Comrade make work when State Tree is Telephone Pole?
That would be interesting – I’ve heard the numbers are getting even worse . . . .
Things like Second Constitutional Convention always sound good in theory. But stop and think about who will participate in it, who will run it, and who will be in charge of it. The Deep State politicos will be embedded in this like ticks on a rabbit. It will get co-opted and turned against us, all the while the elites who took it over will preen about how they are doing what we wanted, and see, there’s no need to take up arms. In fact, let’s just eliminate that pesky old Second Amendment, if not the entire Bill of Rights. We proved we can do things through a nice peaceful convention, so you no longer need to fight us.
So, nah. It’s a bullshit idea that won’t produce the right results. Just the opposite, more than likely.
Yup, a Con-Con would probably end up in a mess. But it is a possibility.
What’s a civil war called when only one side is fighting? ‘Cause that’s what we’re in.
Yup. And look how offended they are when anyone even suggests an idea that’s non-Leftist.
The possible fallout of the Breakup of the US? Never gave it much thought.
See, and then California files divorce papers all of a sudden . . .
Time to stop analyzing, thinking, talking. It’s time to DO. Using Alinsky’s rules on the left doesn’t work. They have no morals, no ethics, no conscience. Trying to coexist with them is impossible. They are at war with us and will do literally anytime to win. They obey NO RULES, NO LAWS. Their ideology has already murdered over a hundred million people in the last century. They have no qualms about murdering BILLIONS in the quest for their goal.
There is quite simply only ONE action that will save us and this country. Find a Demonrat or a communist….the terms are synonymous…and KILL THEM. NOTHING ELSE will work. NOTHING!
Mighty fine piece, John.
Thank you from, Big Sky county…
Thank you! Keep safe up there.
It will be Full Aesop or Full Gulag. Nothing middling will suffice.
And I don’t like Marxism’s odds.
But Full victory will lead to having 1/2-1/3rd of the current population still standing when it’s over.
For people who hate traffic, that will be a feature, not a bug.
For the relatives of the other 1/2-2/3rds, not so much.
I do wonder what percentage of a first world population will be mentally stable after their intended victims prevent them from imposing their church’s rules. No more of the central planning of labor called “borders”. What was the track record for post-US-civil-war slave owners adapting?
I was hoping we’d avoid Full Aesop. But I think it’s becoming more likely year by year.
I believe that what happens will be determined very soon in November 2022. If Conservatives win enough to gain the majorities in the House and Senate and there appear a sufficient number of bombthrowers to overcome the natural inertia of the McConnells and McCarthys. I would not be surprised to see the RATs declare these elections tainted and refuse to seat any Conservative. Those who are puppeteering Biden’s corpse assisting in the matter using the various executive agencies to assist this process and BLM and ANTIFA thugs being unleashed on Conservative areas to convince people to back down and surrender.
I can see secession happening. The dividing lines aren’t clear – now, but they are forming. As everyone is tooling up for the Full Aesop or Full Gulag you are going to see migrations happing and areas forming. They already are to some extent.
The longer the current crisis simmers without ignition, the more likely things may gel up. That said, just a simple observation around the world, with a combination of malice and stupidity, TPTB created an unavoidable energy, food, and currency shitstorm that’s all but certain to ignite misery in the fall.
In some of the commentary about the fourth turning, here’s what one of the authors (I think) said:
1. This Fourth Turning could mark the end of man. It could be an omnicidal Armageddon, destroying everything, leaving nothing. If mankind ever extinguishes itself, this will probably happen when its dominant civilization triggers a Fourth Turning that ends horribly. For this Fourth Turning to put an end to all this would require an extremely unlikely blend of social disaster, human malevolence, technological perfection, and bad luck.
2. The Fourth Turning could mark the end of modernity. The Western saecular rhythm – which began in the mid-fifteenth century with the Renaissance – could come to an abrupt terminus. The seventh modern saeculum would be the last. This too could come from total war, terrible but not final. There could be a complete collapse of science, culture, politics, and society. Such a dire result would probably happen only when a dominant nation (like today’s America) lets a Fourth Turning ekpyrosis engulf the planet. But this outcome is well within the reach of foreseeable technology and malevolence.
3. The Fourth Turning could spare modernity but mark the end of our nation. It could close the book on the political constitution, popular culture, and moral standing that the word America has come to signify. The nation has endured for three saecula; Rome lasted twelve, the Soviet Union only one. Fourth Turnings are critical thresholds for national survival. Each of the last three American Crises produced moments of extreme danger: In the Revolution, the very birth of the republic hung by a thread in more than one battle. In the Civil War, the union barely survived a four-year slaughter that in its own time was regarded as the most lethal war in history. In World War II, the nation destroyed an enemy of democracy that for a time was winning; had the enemy won, America might have itself been destroyed. In all likelihood, the next Crisis will present the nation with a threat and a consequence on a similar scale.
4. Or the Fourth Turning could simply mark the end of the Millennial Saeculum. Mankind, modernity, and America would all persevere. Afterward, there would be a new mood, a new High, and a new saeculum. America would be reborn. But, reborn, it would not be the same.
#4 would be Ideal. I didn’t think #1 would be a thing, buy now I’m sure it’s up there in in the odds making. And it’s not just us, there are many other first world nations just as screwed up.
The migration is happening now – I’d think that there would be little chance that my son would move to a Leftist state . . .
Please explain how the states that go Full Gulag will stand around and tolerate the peace and freedom of their new neighbors.
Use the examples of Russia, China, North Korea, North Vietnam, Cuba, Nicaragua, etc. to explain any beliefs contrary to all recorded human history.
Show all work.
Much like Libertardianism, the Secession Hoax is quite simply an impossible fairytale, and about as stable as a nuclear reactor with the control rods all removed and shipped to the South Pole.
Thanks for playing, and we have some lovely parting gifts for you.
Existential War, like forest fires, burns until it is either extinguished forcibly, or consumes all available fuel. There is no state in which some of the forest fire burns endlessly, and some of the forest remains unburnt, green, and happy endlessly, side by side, and that remains true no matter to what given value one dials up the Irrational Magical Thinking variable.
The partitions of Germany, Korea, and Vietnam are great examples of how a military can keep enemy neighbors from hurting you. However, nothing says the defense must be compacted into a thin line called a “border”, with policy for crossing it controlled by a “government”. That’s just self-justifying claims by organized criminal parasites.
Ho Chi Minh would like a word with you about the classes you missed on world history. In the city named in his honor.
Syngman Rhee And Willy Brandt were wondering who you think your Sugar Daddy Savior is going to be.
And all of formerly West Germany would like to have a chat with you regarding their shiftless good-for-nothing former communist countrymen from the east, who are now more worthless than Southern Italians when it comes to getting any work done, after but a single generation of the rot of communism.
D-.
Rethink.