I have heard it said that it's easier to have a baby than to raise the dead. As an analogy for our current situation, this aphorism is only weakly relevant--the difficulties of creating a third part are enormous. Yet, I do not believe we can use the methods of the left to achieve our goals, slowly and bit by bit. Building anything requires intense effort over a short period, whereas decay happens, slowly and inexorably by itself. Wherever freedom is renewed, it seems to come suddenly, led by both strong leadership and wide (but by no means universal) public support. What we really need is a superb presidential candidate--articulate, savvy, committed; and rich. Remember Ross Perot (I cite him for his viability, not because he represents sound govt)? We almost had a third party then. He was rich enough to be considered viable, and struck a welcome chord of honesty. All it takes is one election. That said, absent such a flag-bearer, the best we can do is fight within the RP, at the candidate selection/primary level.
Posted by Biglar at July 11, 2013 12:08 PMI have been writing what has turned into a very, very long post that I just cannot screw up the courage to publish yet. Here is a short excerpt. Read it and weep. I have not embedded links because that would take about forever.
Is it any wonder, then, that I say that the great experiment of America, "the only country founded on an idea" (Edmund Burke), is coming to an end?[M]any indicators suggest that exhaustion and decrepitude are nigh. The great experiment in republican governance, individual liberty, free market economics, industrial potency and energetic entrepreneurship was doomed by the inexorable forces of human corruption, naked greed, endemic stupidity and the onset of relaxed indifference to the kinetics of continued prosperity, the desideratum of internal unity and the harsh demands of survival in an unforgiving world. Its early decline may be understood as a function of its precipitous success and, in this sense, the current woes afflicting the nation may be considered as entirely predictable and strictly unavoidable. Debt, dependency, unproductivity, preoccupation with untenable theories and fads, internecine conflict, racial politics, affirmative (or infirmative) action, the multicultural salad bowl, intellectual debasement of the general public, a decadent clerisy, incompetent and sybaritic leaders and a climate in which, to cite Victor Davis Hanson, “profits create suspicion; failures earn subsidies.”These developments are not accidental. The status quo of this day is deliberately contrived. The operating philosophy of progressivism for the last century has been very simple. As columnist David Harsanyi explained it, the American people have too much freedom with which they make too many stupid choices. And therefore, we must be ruled, not merely governed, an open (but now irreversible) betrayal of the political philosophy that founded the nation. This nation was founded on the idea that the fundamental purpose of its government is not actually to govern. Its purpose is to secure the liberty of the people. Therefore, Americans were to be citizens of a nation, not subjects of a sovereign. The people themselves were to be sovereign.Today, the State is absolutely sovereign. The Political Class does not and cannot trust them. The result is utterly predictable but detectable only in hindsight, when, of course, it is too late: "1984 is here and it's not pretty," observes screenwriter Roger Simon, except that the State is far more infiltrative of our lives than poor Winston Smith ever suffered or, for that matter, than George Orwell ever wildly imagined. "And here’s the big problem: it’s hard to see how it’s going to get better."
It's not going to get better. Here is why: the majority of Americans do not want it to get better, mainly because they do not understand what "better" means.
The American electorate is "liberal and statist"
If all these issues, serious as they are, could be understood as an aberrant administration for which the solution and correction simply may come at the next election, then I would not be writing this post. But, as I indicated above on one of Obamacare's real objectives and in the explanations about how the administration uses the power of the state to silence its political opponents, Americans have already enjoyed the last truly free election they will ever see. Ever. And this is upsetting to only a minority of us.
By no means look to the moribund Republican party for Constitutional liberty. I knew before the end of G.W. Bush's first term that it was dealing death to American liberty as equally as the Democrats. As I said then, both parties are big-government activists with the same foundational political philosophy:
"America is a problem to be fixed, and Americans are a people to be managed."
The electorate voted for the fast track to subjectship rather than citizenship. The election was a decisive defeat for the Republican party, putting the party into permanent sunset.
The Republican Party cannot stay true to its historical principles and win again. For most of the last eight decades, the American Left has taken over, successively, American political theory, opinion leaders, university academia, the media, mainline churches, public education and finally the entire Democrat party. The Left has suffered only rare and temporary setbacks in their Great March. Now it is ensconced and it is permanent.
Conservatives continue to insist that America is basically a center-right nation. This is nothing but whistling in the graveyard. If it was ever true, it is no longer. If 2012's election shows anything, it shows that America is a leftwing nation: "Americans are predominantly, if not overwhelmingly, 'liberal and statist.' "And this is by design, of course. ...
The problem is not that Republicans and Democrats are not different. They are. The problem is that they are different in ways that mean that neither party enhances personal freedom of individual Americans, and instead concentrates power and wealth in their own hands. ...
This is what a century or so of progressivism has wrought - almost everyone in the country, at every income level, is dependent on the government to a significant (or more) degree, run by the Political Class, who ensures enough patronage is spread over a wide enough swath of the electorate to retain its power and position.
This is the status quo and it is not going to be reversed because the only people who still truly understand the Founders' principles of limited government, personal liberty, delegated powers and true checks and balances among the three branches of government are the Greatest Generation. They are all in their late 80s or older and are dying at an ever-increasing rate. It's an open question whether their children, the Boomers, have all three of
* the historical knowledge and understanding
* intellectual tools and
* collective willto reverse the strengthening Leftism of the country. And it's a guarantee that anyone younger than the Boomers simply do not have even two of the three. Don't believe me? Then go here and see how readily ordinary supporters of this administration agree that the Bill of Rights should be repealed.
You can't win if you don't fight. For a long time we have justified our views to ourselves and think by doing so our view will infuse people in the DC bubble. That is our problem. The pols are in a bubble, with air cover, and we've effectively stopped piercing the bubble. The Left and Lobbyists move inside the bubble and reward pols for listening and following their requests/orders. If we aren't inside the bubble and delivering as much or more trouble to the pols for ignoring us, we can't even influence the pols.
Prison Rules dictate you don't tolerate blatant disrespect. You act and you act harshly. Make the wayward pol's punishment a lesson to the others.
Mayberry Rules dictate you kindly express your disappointment and tell them you hope they will do better in the future.
We are merely one group in the political fight. The other groups got the memo and they play by Prison Rules and get results, i.e. unions, race hustlers, etc. The Left has published books on how to wage guerrilla political warfare. They used the tactics to get control of more and more. It would work for us if we would just use it. But too often we fight like RINOs negotiate. We know what we would like and we know what the Left wants. Our opening demand is half-way toward the left, to be reasonable and hoping for as little conflict as possible. Each time our opponents refuse we go half-way toward their position, until we lose or what we win is so insignificant as to have been a waste of time.
The fundamental flaw in our side, voters and politicians, is we expect people to do the right thing with little supervision and we prefer less conflict to our liberty. We are afflicted with the virus of Hope & Change, we hope they do the right thing and we wish things would change.
political conflict is now normal, stop hoping conflict can be avoided and get into the fight. Nobody owes us putting our interest ahead of all others. The pols only weigh what penalty and reward they get from the various groups. If you really think it's hopeless, at least fight for the practice and the satisfaction of delivering punishment.
Posted by Scott M at July 11, 2013 4:33 PMScott M, I'm with you. It seems that too many have looked at our situation and found it hopeless. We cannot change anything when we give up. You're correct that we are not piercing the bubble in D.C. Why? Because not enough people get on the computer or phone and contact their representatives. The cynical will say, that they don't hear those messages. Believe me, when the volume is large enough, they begin to notice. How many people have written an e-mail or called in the last week, month, or year? How many have attended local party caucuses? How many have gone to a city council meeting? Our city council always has a period for citizens to stand up and hold forth on issues of the day. How many people are aware that their city council spends almost 60% of their time dealing with trying to get grant money from the state or federal governments or dealing with mandates from the state or feds?
How many even know who their state representatives are? When have they contacted them? That is what self government is about. Citizens telling our representatives what we think. We have to remember and keep reminding them that they work for us.
Anyone who isn't involved in trying to change things at the local level has no ground to stand on when things aren't going their way. We have to change things from the bottom up and we have to make our voices heard in D.C.
Donald Sensing, I respect you and find you to be a true patriot. It troubles my heart that you are making the case for why it's over. Yes, things don't look good now. To give you a football analogy: We're pinned against the goal line and the clock is running. The only way to win the game is to drive 98 yards. Hard? Yes! Impossible? Only if we don't try and give it our best shot.
Posted by Jimmy J. at July 11, 2013 7:44 PMAs I sit here reading all this, I can only come up with one solution: Government is too big to save. Republicans are a party pretty much finished. They've been marginalizing their own for decades, and every cycle we hear the same, tired tropes: Voting for the lesser of two evils. Work for change within the party. If you go independent you won't be able to vote in the primaries.
Well, bunk. I'm through. If it isn't the pit of despair on one side, it would be the pendulum of poor political choices as a bill come due.
It would be enough to make me despair, but instead, I have hope.
Shuffling off the Republican Mortal Coil has its benefits: We no longer have to keep giving blood transfusions to the corpse, and while there are sparks of life in the party, I see it only as aiding and abetting one party rule. Let the Demonatrix Party have it good and hard. The real action starts when we figure out which teeny tiny straw is going to break the camel's back. Hard to say, but I prefer the worst case scenario to the search for strong enough sticks to hold up the bloated and dead rino.
In the aftermath of the IRS-TEA party suppression, Fast & Furious contempt, Benghazi lies, NSA big-brothering, and the scandalpalooza of tyrants doing their thing, it's well past the point of being a Mayberry/Queensberry Rules vs prison rules civil battlespace - it has become necessary for HiFi citizens to become proficient with The Moscow Rules and General Matiss' rules*.
To paraphrase Claire Wolf: We are at that awkward stage where it's too late to work within the system but too early to start shooting the bastards.
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* "I come in peace. I didn’t bring artillery. But I’m pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you fuck with me, I’ll kill you all."
"PowerPoint makes us stupid."
Posted by monkeyfan at July 12, 2013 6:01 AMJimmy J, thank you for your encouraging words. I used to think that. But I have reluctantly come to conclude that we do not have 98 yards to go and the clock is not running.
We just got tackled in our own end zone and will give the ball back to the other side. They control the clock and the refs are on their payroll.
We might still think we are on the field, but the game is over.
I did, however, explain how we might have a meaningful overtime here.
Posted by Donald Sensing at July 12, 2013 9:28 AMWell, after all is said and done, I just want to thank the fine thinkers here for the privilege of reading the most cogent, poignant and thoughtful chronicling of our demise. Especially you, Gerard. You have not only shared your many thoughts, but you have offered us a forum to share ours with you. So there is freedom in that. The freedom to say what you think when everyone else is too frightened to, is a great freedom, indeed. I hope we make the best use of it when the knife is up against the throat.
Donald Sensing, thanks for the your thoughts, both here and at your site. You may be right that we've been tackled in the end zone and the clock has run out. However, until the referees tell me that I can no longer petition my representatives and the state has seized my assets and home, I'm going to continue to act like the game isn't over. Stupid? Probably. Unfortunately, I have Scots/Irish blood and don't know when to quit.
It sounds like a strange thing for a fascist sympathizer like Pound to say, but there is truth in it: A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him.
Posted by Browncoat at July 12, 2013 12:48 PM"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him."
You mean like this?
http://youtu.be/uDNDcBkyOOM
Jimmy J: "I have Scots/Irish blood and don't know when to quit."
Posted by Donald Sensing at July 12, 2013 1:10 PMNo, because they aren't afraid to get off the escalator, just too stupid and dependent to do so.
Posted by Browncoat at July 12, 2013 1:38 PMThird party is meaningless too. We're not going to fix this republic through ANY party, third or otherwise. The cancerous cells aren't life-threatening, its all that's left of the host. We can rebuild, in time, but not repair.
Posted by Christopher Taylor at July 12, 2013 2:30 PM"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him."
Just wanted to see that again.
Posted by Joan of Argghh at July 12, 2013 7:27 PMMr. Taylor is correct. Politics are not going to solve our problem. The only solution that will work is Solution 1936.
Posted by Shibes Meadow at July 12, 2013 7:38 PMIf you're going to blog, live up to your own earlier standards and do it better.
Posted by: Daphne at July 10, 2013 6:01 PM
That's what I've been telling him for some time. He is such a gifted writer (as are you) and yet wastes his time catering to bigots and riffraff.
Still missing you Daphne.
Posted by Frank at July 12, 2013 10:23 PM"That's what I've been telling him for some time. He is such a gifted writer (as are you) and yet wastes his time catering to bigots and riffraff."
If that is your standard for bigots and riffraff, you are a very special person. What I have noticed over time is that when very special people communicate exclusively with themselves, the final results are very often exceedingly bizarre. The only antidote to this is personal humility, the quality which very special people are so disinclined to embrace. Burke did not trust opinions, including his own, which were not first corrected by the man in the street.
Posted by james wilson at July 13, 2013 11:51 AMIf we so lack imagination, inspiration, and the courage to act on our patriotic principles, why not AT LEAST reverse-engineer the corruptly-commandeered system we've allowed?
The dastards now in control, got there after decades of slow-motion distortion of our school systems' curricula and media, while we, the sluggard liberty-loyalists went about our everyday lives, allowing others to do the work of individual rights/responsibilities civics.
Do we care enough to run in local government, school board, primary,... elections, and participate in town forums to press for reform to essential American constitutional statutes? Or, are we still so pathetically apathetic to allow(and thereby, promote by default)continuing deform to destruction?
Waiting for others to lead is allowing all to bleed.
Off your duff, or kiss it goodbye!
Posted by Famously Unknown at July 13, 2013 12:47 PMJimmy J., I concur!
The question always boils down to this:
Is liberty worth dyin'for? I sure can't think of a time it ain't!
I understand the frustration most conservatives feel, but we ain't the only generation to face daunting and hopeless seeming odds.
It's just not in me to throw in the towel and I bet, when it comes down to it, most of you guys will fight for your liberties too.
Might seem crazy to some folks but anyone who really has even an inkling of what liberty is and how precious it is will stand with us when the shit hits the fan.
Posted by USS Ben at July 14, 2013 11:20 PMGranted, some shit has already hit the fan(s) and yeah, things are looking grim but so what?
All the more reason to fight back without quarter!
The mistake is presuming an armed takeover you can fight with guns when we're actually facing an army of wormtongues whispering in a million ears.
Posted by Christopher Taylor at July 15, 2013 12:45 PMAll well and good Mr. Taylor, but remember, in the story Grima Wormtongue's dark spin was dispelled by a heavy dose of real light, and he was [mercifully] thrown out on his ass. Grima ended up stabbing his master Saruman to death after realizing he was played the fool.
Meanwhile...An awakened Theoden girded his forgotten sword, the Rohirrim found their courage again, and rode to war for the freedom of men.
Also remember that it was two wee little "Hobbits" (thanks McCain...) who were responsible for taking down Isengard - because they could see the forest for the trees.
Now imagine the good folk of Middle Earth -long abused and riddled with despair at their apparent fate- with rifles and chemistry and a will to Liberty in opposition to the will to power.
Sauron the all-powerful could spy, manipulate, and force everything until his foul tower of Babel and his [diverse] legions of perverted corrupt beasts were reduced to rubble at the hands of two [other] mere "Hobbits" and an ad hoc army of freemen.
The shining city on the hill was saved from enemies both foreign and domestic.
Great story that.
Posted by monkeyfan at July 15, 2013 4:03 PMJames Wilson, perhaps it was stated poorly, and certainly excludes people like Donald Sensing and you. A good example of what I mean is Ayn Rand. She spent years writing articles decrying the state of modern America, all to no productive purpose, instead of producing clever plays like Night of January 16th, or sequels to The Fountainhead. What a waste of talent.
We know the culture is rotten, the economy is decaying, and how it's being facilitated through a corrupt political process. Do we really have to see pictures of the oozing sore and read detailed descriptions every day from Vanderleun? Isn't Drudge enough? Again, what a waste of talent.
Posted by Frank at July 15, 2013 4:12 PMAnd who do you believe will waken America from the whisperings of Wormtongue? Gandalf? Rush Limbaugh? Passionate bloggers?
It will take an act of God, and those aren't usually pretty.
Posted by Christopher Taylor at July 15, 2013 6:38 PMNot who...What.
Reality.
Posted by monkeyfan at July 15, 2013 7:24 PMConcur, Mr Sensing. Thanks so much for your writing over the years.
To others who say 'don't go quietly into the night without that good fight'. Ya. Ok. Good luck with that.
Can't stop the signal...
