I appreciate your writing and efforts to try and make sense of all that has happened. It’s been rough being a Trump supporter. It’s been nice being called a racist, an asshole and stupid by family members in a public forum of which I fought back finally and that has caused more tension. I voted for him(twice) because I thought he would be the person to finally buck the system. What I didn’t realize was how dirty the system was and still is. I hope I’m not still being naive but I feel like the whole process opened more eyes and maybe we are more ready to unify and find that person that really can change some things. I just wonder what tricks they have up their sleeve. Already used racism(George Floyd) and COvID both of which knocked us all flat on our heals temporarily anyhow. Let’s hope this time around nothing will cause us to pause and let them gain anymore control. I agree definitely that the powers that be are relying on corporations to do their bidding. Most want to save face and not be cancelled so they go all in. My husband fought flying the LGBT...flag out front of his hospital. He wanted only the American flag. He won temporality but new leadership gained some confidence and squashed it. So he said he’s going to find the smallest flag possible and put it in the window. Also will be more open to other groups that want to fly their flags. It’s so great having politics in everything...
"...maybe we are more ready to unify and find that person that really can change some things."
I get feeling that way, but we can't wait for just that one person to do it. To use a phrase frequently attributed to, and largely perceived to be the property of what I would call, honest liberals (perhaps better recognized as, classic liberals), "Be the change you want to see." I prefer the concept of changing one's own world, first, that one might change the world on a larger scale.
We need to vote for the people who can act on our behalf because they are in a position to do so, and then we need to be about doing what we can do effect that change.
Maybe that's running for an open seat on the school board, maybe it's volunteering to be a poll watcher/worker, election judge, or other opportunity to hold election officials accountable. Maybe it's volunteering to work on a candidate's campaign - ANYTHING other than just voting - as crucial as that is.
Just emptied the nest which is where all my energy went to. Plus we were a military family so getting into politics was not a good option. Those are some good things to think about. I’m not sure if I have the courage yet to put myself out there yet but trying to gain more confidence.
Sasha, as someone who admittedly has spent most of their life firmly on the Left, your ability to fairly and accurately describe Trump and his followers is remarkable, particularly when so many others have lost all perspective. Speaks to your largeness of mind, and to your courage.
I grew up on Mad in the 60s and NatLamp in the 70s. I've always loved humor, wit and satire, the edgier the better.
Animal House, Porky's, Caddy Shack created new genres of comedy. SNL pushed the boundaries even further.
The Onion was a brilliant publication, and their original 9/11 issue was one of the funniest ever written. But alas, they went the way of SNL. How did an entire generation of artists turn away from humor?
It all stopped this millennia. PC slowed it down, and Woke killed it.
Actually, I just posted on them the other day. They were the first to coin the term ;short fingered vulgarian'; for Trump. They' beat on him in every issue. I subscribed to them as well, and still occasionally send their Twinkie Research article to friends.
Jon, as Bob Hope used to say, thanks for the memories...my favorite article was when they infiltrated the Bohemian Grove club.
"Short fingered vulgarian"--yes, all of us were Trump-bashers back then (and by "all of us," I mean me)...who could imagine that he would turn out to be (one of) the only politicians to give a shit about the American working class.
I let my old collection of SPY and Playboy go, but I've got nearly all of the National Lampoons up to 1980. Actually, after Lorne Michael stole nearly all of the talent for SNL, it declined rapidly. It's still mind boggling how many amazing talents worked there.
"The idea is that, in order to take the heat off of themselves they began pivoting toward the identity-focused politics of the Left. Now, all they have to do is virtue signal and that gives them unlimited power."
This wasn't accidental. This is the legacy of Barack Obama and the modern political left. They taught corporations well. Identity and virtue signaling are the very best way to escape accountability. I saw this morning that KJP was going on ad nauseum about how diverse this administration is. I thought, running through a list of current crises here and abroad, that people might come to conclude that is the problem and maybe we should just go back to letting straight white cis men run things (not really what I think but I understand how someone would arrive at that conclusion).
How about returning to a standard of selecting the one who is best equipped (who may or may not necessarily be the most qualified) to fill the position? There were undoubtedly no shortage of folks qualified to be the US Ambassador to the UN, but Reagan tapped Jean Kirkpatrick (who was a Democrat when she was nominated and confirmed, and didn't change her affiliation until Reagan was out of office).
Al Haig was eminently qualified to be Sec'y of State, but his tenure was awful. Meanwhile, George Schultz was no less qualified (though differently than Haig), and he was one of the few Secretaries of State that did not embarrass the administration by publicly feuding with the Pentagon.
Diversity and representation ought to be by-products of pursuing excellence – it works in scientific endeavours and ought to be a model in all others.
I once was employed by a non-profit that represented makers of integrated circuit boards, and one of its R&D initiatives was a contest open to anyone (not only members), and some of the most notable innovations came from young men (mostly) and a few women, from all over the globe – because the objective had nothing to do with gender, nationality, or anything else – just the best and most practical solutions. THAT was real diversity – in thought, in approach.
Haig , Kirkpatrick, Shultz and Moynihan were Reagan’s best picks. Unfortunately, he didn’t listen to their exceptional advice, preferring the shitheels, James Baker, Buchanan, Falwell , Weinberger and Fauci.
There's one thing I would add to your mix of who's pulling the strings: the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP wants to neutralize the US as an enemy and has been willing to invest decades of slow, quiet effort in coopting our "leader" class and undermining our coherence as a society. Between the amount of US debt China holds and its strategic financial "aid" to Western politicians and institutions, we are practically owned by the CCP. I think that's one reason why extreme pro-trans policies (biological men in women's shelters and prisons? seriously?) keep being pushed despite the tiny number of true trans people and the majority opposition to such policies.
Granted, Big Pharma is also a culprit, seeking a captive audience for sexual-phenotype-changing drugs. And I also think Glenn Greenwald makes a good point that when same-sex marriage became a constitutional right, the professional LGB-rights advocates needed to find a new cause on which to fund-raise.
'the professional LGB-rights advocates needed to find a new cause on which to fund-raise.'
Which is why misogyny and racism will also never go away. There are too many careers that rely on keeping the cause alive, even when the origin of the cause was addressed.
I'm guessing that Pfizer will never let COVID go away either, and our MIC will keeps us in conflicts for at least the rest of my life.
Class war doesn't work here, as Alinsky and the Bolsheviks found out. But race does. It was hard at first, as the Klan dominated the Democratic party from the late 1860's to the late 1950's. But the Klan does not exist any more, but antifa and BLM do and they're anarchist and communist, respectively. What people call "woke" is nothing more than Maxist polemics but updated to Maoist speech and arguments. Mao's campaign to eliminate the "Four Olds" during the Cultural Revolution is the same as what the left is doing here now, with the destruction of all institutions, ideas, traditions, laws, the Constitutions, federal and state, the Bill of Rights, stare desisis, and the rest of 2000 plus years of Western thought, culture, and jurisprudence. Our left is just as humorless as the Maoists, just not as violent.
If the police weren't taking their side and protecting them, they never could have done all that stuff.
They think they're antiestablishment while mayors, governors and police have got their backs. And they think they're ending corporatism and capitalism while that billionaire predatory lender George Soros pays for them to ride private buses and stay in posh hotels everywhere.
All they need is to get some corporate logos embroidered on their hoodies and ski masks to bring in more "anti-capitalist" streams of income. Bwahaha.
The left struck out trying to use class as a lever to get their utopia so they are giving identity politics a go.
If you believe privilege and oppression are the main determinants of your lot in life, then success and failure is nothing but an accident of birth. It isn't your fault you are poor. And any wealth you have was due to your privilege, connections or generational wealth. So, if wealth and success are determined by nothing more than pure randomness, then why not redistribute it all?
You don't need to nationalize the corporate sector. Just co-opt it and guide it with ESG. Same result.
And that all the modern left's philosophy boils down to. The old collectivist rotgut in a shiny new bottle. Instead of cabernet or merlot, you get a blend of socialism and fascism. Unfortunately, we have an army of useful idiots who are oblivious and just think their philosophy is about being nice.
Exactly right, Brent. “Equity” means “equal outcomes” as in we all get the exact same wealth. It is Woke word for Communism; divide the riches equally regardless of contribution toward earning them. Universities have already implemented it by eliminating SAT and doing acceptance and grades based on it. Ty Democratic Communist Party.
I don't think that the democrats are communists. They don't really advocate for nationalizing the private sector. Even dipshits like Robert Reich accept the idea that economic central planning doesn't work. They will use the private sector as a tool to advance their ideology.
I think the democrat's version of utopia is selective race and gender quotas for "underrepesented" groups. They will impose gender quotas for corporate boards of directors, but they aren't going to demand that half of all sanitation workers be women. they will be happy to let the men do the jobs women don't want. They will continue to subsidize the hell out of the DEI racket and oversupply the market with useless demographic bean counters and professional proselytizers. And unfortunately these folks are what we call in economics a deadweight loss - they are a cost with no benefit.
The left wants a cradle-to-grave welfare state with even more progressive taxes than we have now, and they want to be able to impose their will via unaccountable NGOs and the administrative state. They want to use ESG muscle to force corporations to push their ideology.
They want previously "privileged class" to enter a sort of cultural dhimmitude where they are told to shut up and just take it. It will be interesting to see if white women get caught up in this. They run the democrat party, so probably not but you never know. The left has a way of eating its own.
Here is where they haven't thought this through. The productive are checking out. That has always been the Achilles Heel of Marxism. Since people can work anywhere, the productive (mainly single guys) will move overseas where the cost of living is cheaper and the women are nicer. Why not do your remote job in Thailand, Montenegro or Portugal? What is so great about the US anymore?
Guys with families will keep the productive engine going for a while, but families are on the decline, and single men don't need much to get by. They aren't going to work 60 hours a week to keep up with the Joneses. Most of them couldn't get married even if they wanted to. So they will leave or subsist on porn, video games and SSDI.
The upshot is that supply chain issues will get worse, and skilled labor will become even more scarce. A society of DEI clergy may be able to hector you about your privilege, but they can't fix your car. This means shortages and inflation. It gets worse when you consider the fact that white dudes pay the vast majority of taxes in this country.
Can they prevent this from happening? It is possible that they could force the banking system to prohibit overseas transfer of funds. This is where the co-opting comes in. That said, the government is always late to the party, so by the time that happens the die will be cast.
So to me, the democrats want the welfare state of a socialist state and the tight government / corporate relationship of fascism. It is a hybrid of socialism and fascism but I think the democrats are mainly fascists.
Really well thought out and written. I think your conclusions are accurate and much more insightful than most. I’ve got a US and EU passport for just the reasons you noted. Kinda tired of paying 35% tax rate and being vilified as privileged at the same time by those that don’t pay any net taxes and for a lifetime hard work.
Let's say you wanted to read a physical copy of Mein Kampf because you were doing research on the origins of Nazism or some other such reasonable purpose. What would you do with the book? You probably wouldn't want to put it on your bookshelf because you wouldn't want people to think you were a Nazi. So you would probably try to hide it somewhere so that visitors wouldn't see it. But if somebody found it and knew you were hiding it, it would be much worse because then they would really think you were a closet Nazi.
You would then have to try to explain yourself. I can imagine this happening to Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm
Consider that the answer to what is going on with the left is based on the existence of evil and that Satan exists. The human condition makes us all vulnerable to evil especially when Satan convinces some of us that evil does not exist. If we can be convinced that evil does not exist, is when we become most vulnerable to embrace it as an illusion of some ideology that becomes our idol.
Explore a relationship with God and he will give you the wisdom you seek.
Corporations attach themselves to the source of power. In the U.S. the people with the real power are leftist politicians. And the category "leftists politicians" includes the Republicans.
The UniParty are our rulers. They are the ones handing out the $trillions in Cantillon money. The corporations have figured this out.
How about we all start making woke jokes. Many blonde jokes could be repurposed for this. Example, three woke guys walked into a building., you would think that one of them would have noticed. Jokes might slowly move the culture towards normalcy.
Those who are clingers. . . to reality and fact (which still exist) will always be smarter than the pliable, pathetic woke. We respect reality and adapt to it; they deny it and instead impose a childishly-wishful phantasmagoria of ten impossible things before lunch. If reality is so painful as to cause one that reaction, the problem is not external circumstances, it is the the internal stew, over-boiled and carbonizing to the cast iron pot wall. Therapy might provide insight on turning down the heat.
I’m very impressed by Vivek Ramaswamy’s straightforward , energetic and informed messaging. He is a beacon of the American Dream, achievement, modernity and unapologetic realism. Direct, hard hitting pragmatic ideas and what needs to be done for America to not only survive, but return.
His youth, cultural awareness and knowledge of the WEF Great Reset is a major plus. His fearlessness in naming the enemy and taking it on headfirst is a godsend.
That said, the GOP will do everything in its waning, but destructive power to block him at every angle. Anyone and anything that represents newness and change is unacceptable. They are almost as bad as the rabid left because an obsolete platform and homogeny is more important than winning . Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory is their brand and dammit, they’re sticking to it, even if it means the end of our constitutional republic and humanity as we know it. I sometimes wonder whether it is they who are transhuman. Aside from the duplicitous , complicit, corrupt UniParty Establishment, who are purposely sabotaging those who challenge the orthodoxy, they support the rigid, fundamentalists who ward off anybody who might consider crossing party lines , create a diverse, attractive “ We The People” umbrella and dilute their “ Gold Standard” of homogeny and yearning for the good old days of The Donna Reed Show, Wait Til Your Father Gets Home,Mayberry RFD and Dragnet. Even Bewitched is too racy and downright blasphemous!
So the choice is between Biden and the CommunoFascist Cult of Death and the McConnell cult of the Dead Men ( barely) Walking.
Trump is damaged and unhinged. A puerile, vindictive narcissist. I supported him but can no longer stand the sight of him. I’d love a more independent ticket. A DeSantis/ Gabbard, Ramaswamy/Gabbard, or any combination of forward thinking , youthful diverse modern American pragmatism. I don’t give a damn about race, religion,bedroom preference- just pro-American constitutional, baggage free competence.
I appreciate your writing and efforts to try and make sense of all that has happened. It’s been rough being a Trump supporter. It’s been nice being called a racist, an asshole and stupid by family members in a public forum of which I fought back finally and that has caused more tension. I voted for him(twice) because I thought he would be the person to finally buck the system. What I didn’t realize was how dirty the system was and still is. I hope I’m not still being naive but I feel like the whole process opened more eyes and maybe we are more ready to unify and find that person that really can change some things. I just wonder what tricks they have up their sleeve. Already used racism(George Floyd) and COvID both of which knocked us all flat on our heals temporarily anyhow. Let’s hope this time around nothing will cause us to pause and let them gain anymore control. I agree definitely that the powers that be are relying on corporations to do their bidding. Most want to save face and not be cancelled so they go all in. My husband fought flying the LGBT...flag out front of his hospital. He wanted only the American flag. He won temporality but new leadership gained some confidence and squashed it. So he said he’s going to find the smallest flag possible and put it in the window. Also will be more open to other groups that want to fly their flags. It’s so great having politics in everything...
Stay strong, Jen. Continue to think for yourself. It's the only way to live.
"...maybe we are more ready to unify and find that person that really can change some things."
I get feeling that way, but we can't wait for just that one person to do it. To use a phrase frequently attributed to, and largely perceived to be the property of what I would call, honest liberals (perhaps better recognized as, classic liberals), "Be the change you want to see." I prefer the concept of changing one's own world, first, that one might change the world on a larger scale.
We need to vote for the people who can act on our behalf because they are in a position to do so, and then we need to be about doing what we can do effect that change.
Maybe that's running for an open seat on the school board, maybe it's volunteering to be a poll watcher/worker, election judge, or other opportunity to hold election officials accountable. Maybe it's volunteering to work on a candidate's campaign - ANYTHING other than just voting - as crucial as that is.
Just emptied the nest which is where all my energy went to. Plus we were a military family so getting into politics was not a good option. Those are some good things to think about. I’m not sure if I have the courage yet to put myself out there yet but trying to gain more confidence.
I have no doubt that once you figure it out, you'll be exceptional!
They’re teeing up bird flu in humans as the next big crisis.
Calling someone a "Nazi" is a great way to shut down dialogue.
I always laugh when people call libertarians fascists. as if hitler was some limited government / free market sort of dude.
Sasha, as someone who admittedly has spent most of their life firmly on the Left, your ability to fairly and accurately describe Trump and his followers is remarkable, particularly when so many others have lost all perspective. Speaks to your largeness of mind, and to your courage.
I grew up on Mad in the 60s and NatLamp in the 70s. I've always loved humor, wit and satire, the edgier the better.
Animal House, Porky's, Caddy Shack created new genres of comedy. SNL pushed the boundaries even further.
The Onion was a brilliant publication, and their original 9/11 issue was one of the funniest ever written. But alas, they went the way of SNL. How did an entire generation of artists turn away from humor?
It all stopped this millennia. PC slowed it down, and Woke killed it.
Love your list of great satire mags--but you forgot the short lived but unforgettable Spy Magazine.
Came here to say exactly this!
Actually, I just posted on them the other day. They were the first to coin the term ;short fingered vulgarian'; for Trump. They' beat on him in every issue. I subscribed to them as well, and still occasionally send their Twinkie Research article to friends.
Jon, as Bob Hope used to say, thanks for the memories...my favorite article was when they infiltrated the Bohemian Grove club.
"Short fingered vulgarian"--yes, all of us were Trump-bashers back then (and by "all of us," I mean me)...who could imagine that he would turn out to be (one of) the only politicians to give a shit about the American working class.
There really wasn't anything like it before, or after.
1965-2000 was the golden age of comedy. We need another Lenny Bruce, or Carlin/Pryor to bring it back.
Kept my copies of Spy Magazine for years until they eventually fell victim to a move...too bad...
The other article that comes to mind is their takedown of Teddy Kennedy. Comedy gold.
I let my old collection of SPY and Playboy go, but I've got nearly all of the National Lampoons up to 1980. Actually, after Lorne Michael stole nearly all of the talent for SNL, it declined rapidly. It's still mind boggling how many amazing talents worked there.
"The idea is that, in order to take the heat off of themselves they began pivoting toward the identity-focused politics of the Left. Now, all they have to do is virtue signal and that gives them unlimited power."
This wasn't accidental. This is the legacy of Barack Obama and the modern political left. They taught corporations well. Identity and virtue signaling are the very best way to escape accountability. I saw this morning that KJP was going on ad nauseum about how diverse this administration is. I thought, running through a list of current crises here and abroad, that people might come to conclude that is the problem and maybe we should just go back to letting straight white cis men run things (not really what I think but I understand how someone would arrive at that conclusion).
How about returning to a standard of selecting the one who is best equipped (who may or may not necessarily be the most qualified) to fill the position? There were undoubtedly no shortage of folks qualified to be the US Ambassador to the UN, but Reagan tapped Jean Kirkpatrick (who was a Democrat when she was nominated and confirmed, and didn't change her affiliation until Reagan was out of office).
Al Haig was eminently qualified to be Sec'y of State, but his tenure was awful. Meanwhile, George Schultz was no less qualified (though differently than Haig), and he was one of the few Secretaries of State that did not embarrass the administration by publicly feuding with the Pentagon.
Diversity and representation ought to be by-products of pursuing excellence – it works in scientific endeavours and ought to be a model in all others.
I once was employed by a non-profit that represented makers of integrated circuit boards, and one of its R&D initiatives was a contest open to anyone (not only members), and some of the most notable innovations came from young men (mostly) and a few women, from all over the globe – because the objective had nothing to do with gender, nationality, or anything else – just the best and most practical solutions. THAT was real diversity – in thought, in approach.
Haig , Kirkpatrick, Shultz and Moynihan were Reagan’s best picks. Unfortunately, he didn’t listen to their exceptional advice, preferring the shitheels, James Baker, Buchanan, Falwell , Weinberger and Fauci.
There's one thing I would add to your mix of who's pulling the strings: the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP wants to neutralize the US as an enemy and has been willing to invest decades of slow, quiet effort in coopting our "leader" class and undermining our coherence as a society. Between the amount of US debt China holds and its strategic financial "aid" to Western politicians and institutions, we are practically owned by the CCP. I think that's one reason why extreme pro-trans policies (biological men in women's shelters and prisons? seriously?) keep being pushed despite the tiny number of true trans people and the majority opposition to such policies.
Granted, Big Pharma is also a culprit, seeking a captive audience for sexual-phenotype-changing drugs. And I also think Glenn Greenwald makes a good point that when same-sex marriage became a constitutional right, the professional LGB-rights advocates needed to find a new cause on which to fund-raise.
'the professional LGB-rights advocates needed to find a new cause on which to fund-raise.'
Which is why misogyny and racism will also never go away. There are too many careers that rely on keeping the cause alive, even when the origin of the cause was addressed.
I'm guessing that Pfizer will never let COVID go away either, and our MIC will keeps us in conflicts for at least the rest of my life.
Good point. They need the problems to justify their existence.
It’s the Democratic Communist Party; fixed it for u.
Class war doesn't work here, as Alinsky and the Bolsheviks found out. But race does. It was hard at first, as the Klan dominated the Democratic party from the late 1860's to the late 1950's. But the Klan does not exist any more, but antifa and BLM do and they're anarchist and communist, respectively. What people call "woke" is nothing more than Maxist polemics but updated to Maoist speech and arguments. Mao's campaign to eliminate the "Four Olds" during the Cultural Revolution is the same as what the left is doing here now, with the destruction of all institutions, ideas, traditions, laws, the Constitutions, federal and state, the Bill of Rights, stare desisis, and the rest of 2000 plus years of Western thought, culture, and jurisprudence. Our left is just as humorless as the Maoists, just not as violent.
Danny Huckabee
Not as violent yet... don’t forget the summer of 2020... federal buildings burned, private property destroyed... the brown shirts of the left?
If the police weren't taking their side and protecting them, they never could have done all that stuff.
They think they're antiestablishment while mayors, governors and police have got their backs. And they think they're ending corporatism and capitalism while that billionaire predatory lender George Soros pays for them to ride private buses and stay in posh hotels everywhere.
All they need is to get some corporate logos embroidered on their hoodies and ski masks to bring in more "anti-capitalist" streams of income. Bwahaha.
"...just not as violent."
I'm sure lack of physical fitness and cowardice play a big role.
The left struck out trying to use class as a lever to get their utopia so they are giving identity politics a go.
If you believe privilege and oppression are the main determinants of your lot in life, then success and failure is nothing but an accident of birth. It isn't your fault you are poor. And any wealth you have was due to your privilege, connections or generational wealth. So, if wealth and success are determined by nothing more than pure randomness, then why not redistribute it all?
You don't need to nationalize the corporate sector. Just co-opt it and guide it with ESG. Same result.
And that all the modern left's philosophy boils down to. The old collectivist rotgut in a shiny new bottle. Instead of cabernet or merlot, you get a blend of socialism and fascism. Unfortunately, we have an army of useful idiots who are oblivious and just think their philosophy is about being nice.
Exactly right, Brent. “Equity” means “equal outcomes” as in we all get the exact same wealth. It is Woke word for Communism; divide the riches equally regardless of contribution toward earning them. Universities have already implemented it by eliminating SAT and doing acceptance and grades based on it. Ty Democratic Communist Party.
I don't think that the democrats are communists. They don't really advocate for nationalizing the private sector. Even dipshits like Robert Reich accept the idea that economic central planning doesn't work. They will use the private sector as a tool to advance their ideology.
I think the democrat's version of utopia is selective race and gender quotas for "underrepesented" groups. They will impose gender quotas for corporate boards of directors, but they aren't going to demand that half of all sanitation workers be women. they will be happy to let the men do the jobs women don't want. They will continue to subsidize the hell out of the DEI racket and oversupply the market with useless demographic bean counters and professional proselytizers. And unfortunately these folks are what we call in economics a deadweight loss - they are a cost with no benefit.
The left wants a cradle-to-grave welfare state with even more progressive taxes than we have now, and they want to be able to impose their will via unaccountable NGOs and the administrative state. They want to use ESG muscle to force corporations to push their ideology.
They want previously "privileged class" to enter a sort of cultural dhimmitude where they are told to shut up and just take it. It will be interesting to see if white women get caught up in this. They run the democrat party, so probably not but you never know. The left has a way of eating its own.
Here is where they haven't thought this through. The productive are checking out. That has always been the Achilles Heel of Marxism. Since people can work anywhere, the productive (mainly single guys) will move overseas where the cost of living is cheaper and the women are nicer. Why not do your remote job in Thailand, Montenegro or Portugal? What is so great about the US anymore?
Guys with families will keep the productive engine going for a while, but families are on the decline, and single men don't need much to get by. They aren't going to work 60 hours a week to keep up with the Joneses. Most of them couldn't get married even if they wanted to. So they will leave or subsist on porn, video games and SSDI.
The upshot is that supply chain issues will get worse, and skilled labor will become even more scarce. A society of DEI clergy may be able to hector you about your privilege, but they can't fix your car. This means shortages and inflation. It gets worse when you consider the fact that white dudes pay the vast majority of taxes in this country.
Can they prevent this from happening? It is possible that they could force the banking system to prohibit overseas transfer of funds. This is where the co-opting comes in. That said, the government is always late to the party, so by the time that happens the die will be cast.
So to me, the democrats want the welfare state of a socialist state and the tight government / corporate relationship of fascism. It is a hybrid of socialism and fascism but I think the democrats are mainly fascists.
Strict control of the private sector? Check
War mongers? Check
An "other" they despise? Check
Censorship and control of speech? Check
I mean it walks like a duck, talks like a duck..
Really well thought out and written. I think your conclusions are accurate and much more insightful than most. I’ve got a US and EU passport for just the reasons you noted. Kinda tired of paying 35% tax rate and being vilified as privileged at the same time by those that don’t pay any net taxes and for a lifetime hard work.
Let's say you wanted to read a physical copy of Mein Kampf because you were doing research on the origins of Nazism or some other such reasonable purpose. What would you do with the book? You probably wouldn't want to put it on your bookshelf because you wouldn't want people to think you were a Nazi. So you would probably try to hide it somewhere so that visitors wouldn't see it. But if somebody found it and knew you were hiding it, it would be much worse because then they would really think you were a closet Nazi.
You would then have to try to explain yourself. I can imagine this happening to Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm
And let's not forget this infamous case from 2008 at Indiana U.:
https://www.thefire.org/cases/indiana-university-purdue-university-indianapolis-student-employee-found-guilty-racial
FIRE has been fighting this fight for years.
If they can ban books, they can ban the Bible.
Consider that the answer to what is going on with the left is based on the existence of evil and that Satan exists. The human condition makes us all vulnerable to evil especially when Satan convinces some of us that evil does not exist. If we can be convinced that evil does not exist, is when we become most vulnerable to embrace it as an illusion of some ideology that becomes our idol.
Explore a relationship with God and he will give you the wisdom you seek.
Ted McCormac
Corporations attach themselves to the source of power. In the U.S. the people with the real power are leftist politicians. And the category "leftists politicians" includes the Republicans.
The UniParty are our rulers. They are the ones handing out the $trillions in Cantillon money. The corporations have figured this out.
How about we all start making woke jokes. Many blonde jokes could be repurposed for this. Example, three woke guys walked into a building., you would think that one of them would have noticed. Jokes might slowly move the culture towards normalcy.
"To the new Left, class isn’t an issue anymore"
It can't be, too many wealthy liberals on the Left.
As always, champagne socialist was a term from the 1960s
excellent. ty.
Those who are clingers. . . to reality and fact (which still exist) will always be smarter than the pliable, pathetic woke. We respect reality and adapt to it; they deny it and instead impose a childishly-wishful phantasmagoria of ten impossible things before lunch. If reality is so painful as to cause one that reaction, the problem is not external circumstances, it is the the internal stew, over-boiled and carbonizing to the cast iron pot wall. Therapy might provide insight on turning down the heat.
Brilliant writer. Thank you for your thoughtful work.
I’m very impressed by Vivek Ramaswamy’s straightforward , energetic and informed messaging. He is a beacon of the American Dream, achievement, modernity and unapologetic realism. Direct, hard hitting pragmatic ideas and what needs to be done for America to not only survive, but return.
His youth, cultural awareness and knowledge of the WEF Great Reset is a major plus. His fearlessness in naming the enemy and taking it on headfirst is a godsend.
That said, the GOP will do everything in its waning, but destructive power to block him at every angle. Anyone and anything that represents newness and change is unacceptable. They are almost as bad as the rabid left because an obsolete platform and homogeny is more important than winning . Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory is their brand and dammit, they’re sticking to it, even if it means the end of our constitutional republic and humanity as we know it. I sometimes wonder whether it is they who are transhuman. Aside from the duplicitous , complicit, corrupt UniParty Establishment, who are purposely sabotaging those who challenge the orthodoxy, they support the rigid, fundamentalists who ward off anybody who might consider crossing party lines , create a diverse, attractive “ We The People” umbrella and dilute their “ Gold Standard” of homogeny and yearning for the good old days of The Donna Reed Show, Wait Til Your Father Gets Home,Mayberry RFD and Dragnet. Even Bewitched is too racy and downright blasphemous!
So the choice is between Biden and the CommunoFascist Cult of Death and the McConnell cult of the Dead Men ( barely) Walking.
Trump is damaged and unhinged. A puerile, vindictive narcissist. I supported him but can no longer stand the sight of him. I’d love a more independent ticket. A DeSantis/ Gabbard, Ramaswamy/Gabbard, or any combination of forward thinking , youthful diverse modern American pragmatism. I don’t give a damn about race, religion,bedroom preference- just pro-American constitutional, baggage free competence.