As America Transforms into Venezuela or Zimbabwe, Who will be Our IKE or Neo?

I was in 6^th grade in 1976 during America’s Bicentennial.  I played Abraham Lincoln in the school’s celebration, my family parked next to the Pentagon to watch the fireworks above DC and our class visited the newly opened Air and Space Museum.  And of course TV commercials were chock full of patriotic themes from morning until stations signed off with the national anthem.  It was a good time to be an American. 

Looking back I lived in a cocoon of security that comes with knowing that the world was as it was supposed to be, as if God had our backs.  It seemed as if the America I knew was almost predestined, as if it was inevitable that our nation would grow from a scrappy upstart in 1776 to the leader of the world in 1976. America was Manifest Destiny writ large. 

It wasn’t until years later that I would discover that was an illusion.  Although 9/11 had given me a glimpse of the wrinkle in the matrix, it wasn’t until I saw Tom Selleck playing IKE in Countdown to D-Day in 2004 that I fully recognized and appreciated that things didn’t have to turn out the way they did. Embarrassingly, it wasn’t until watching that movie that I discovered Eisenhower had written a letter in case D-Day failed.  That fact was like a brick thrown through the plate glass window of my illusions.  I’d always known, like one accepts gravity without being told, that the US victory in WWII was preordained, but if the guy in charge of D-Day wasn’t certain of victory then certainty didn’t exist.   

You would think that awakening would shake my confidence in America, but it didn’t.  Just the opposite.  Suddenly America’s success was not the result of robots acting in a play written by God, but rather, the result of the actions of millions of normal Americans doing things, trying things, building things, failing and picking themselves up by their bootstraps and returning to the fight… Sure, there were other factors, such as advances of the 2,000 years of western civilization that preceded 1776, bad decisions on the part of other nations and of course good luck and the grace of God, but at the end of the day, in a worldwide competitive marketplace of ideas and ideologies America had prospered because of the efforts of her citizens.  

That puts American history in a completely different light.  Looking at it through that lens, it seems to me that we faced five crucial points where had things gone just a little differently the history of the world would have changed.  While there are literally countless little things that might have changed the course of history, these five stand out to me.

The first was the fight for independence.  In 1776 the British Empire was the largest and most powerful empire the world had ever seen.  The sun literally never set on an empire that included Australia, India, a quarter of Africa, half of North America and the British Isles themselves.  Had things gone slightly differently, America as we know it might never have existed.  Had the British ruled over the colonies with a tighter fist in the early 18^th century, had Washington lost the Battle of Trenton or had a financially strapped King Louis XVI decided not to support the Americans against the British, the history of the world would likely have been dramatically different.  

The second was the writing of the Constitution and the launch of the Republic.  Had the 3/5^th compromise never been made it’s likely the southern states would have formed their own country and North America would have grown into a fractured continent like Europe with all its attendant inefficiency, shifting alliances and wars.  Had anti-Federalists not pushed for a Bill of Rights, American freedom and prosperity would likely never taken root. Had Washington, Adams or Jefferson had tyrannical tendencies they could have smothered the new Republic in its bassinet.  Had America not emerged as a Republic from the chaos of the late 18^th century the world would likely have been dramatically different.

The third point was the Civil War. Had Grant’s genius not brought victory at Vicksburg, the British not resisted calls to support the South or Sherman not taken Atlanta, the South may have been victorious or at least been able to negotiate a settlement rather than surrender.  In either case the history of America and that of the world would likely have been dramatically different.

The fourth point was WWII. Like me, many Americans take for granted that the US was going to win the war. That of course is not true at all.  Countless events could have changed the outcome.  Had American cryptographers not deciphered Japanese code revealing plans for an attack on Midway, had the British not persevered during the Battle of Britain, eventually giving the Allies a base from which to launch D-Day, or had Hitler not invaded Russia or micromanaged his generals, the world would likely look dramatically different than it does today.

Which brings us to the fifth critical point in American history.  Unlike the first four, this is not in the history books, but rather is being written today. There are essentially two directions the United States can go forward from 2022.  One is a course correction that puts the nation back on the path that created the greatest prosperity in human history.  The other seeks to destroy the very things that created the greatest prosperity in human history.

Most Americans assume that things will just work out. That marriage can be changed from a man and a woman to something else and we’ll all just get along.  That society can discriminate against white Americans in the name of diversity or equity and they’ll happily acquiesce.  That millions of uneducated, unskilled people from third world countries can invade our country and there will be no negative impact on society.  That trillions of dollars can be diverted to the fiction of prosperity powered by “green” energy and electricity will remain plentiful and gasoline will remain available.  That the media and education establishments can perpetually disparage America and her heroes and somehow patriots will continue to risk their lives to protect her. That criminals can be allowed to commit crimes with impunity and citizens will go on as if nothing had changed. And finally, the government can stifle free speech and rig elections and no one will do anything about it.  Most Americans will say that those things are just politics and everything will work out. It always has before…

But that’s simply not true.  Things never just work themselves out, particularly on the big things.  People pull together and work hard to make things work out.  But when a population is turned against itself, when a nation’s government sees half its population as the enemy, when children are taught their country is evil and is putting the future of humanity in danger, not only will things not work out, but that nation will eventually collapse.  Balkanization is literally the only outcome, and the side with the government on its team will likely crush their opponents. Then, after patting themselves on the backs, the victors will themselves become balkanized and the process will begin again. That never ending cycle results in prosperous nations becoming Venezuela or Zimbabwe, with a tiny cabal of elites controlling a vast population of serfs toiling away in search of scraps. 

That is America’s future if we remain on our current path. The question is, who will be our IKE or our Neo?

Why America is on the Brink of Civil War...

If you’d have asked me even six months ago what the chances of the United States being on the verge of a civil war I would have said probably under 1%. Today I think that number is much closer to 25% and maybe even higher.

Why is that? Simple. Democrats, media and academia…

I grew up on the Navy base on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It was a small base but there were a million things to do. Horseback riding, year round sports, a bowling alley, four pools that I can remember, game rooms, gyms, motocross, hiking, scuba diving, surfing, half a dozen outdoor movie theaters – it almost never rained! - karate tournaments and spectacular parades and midways for 4th of July. Cable TV hadn’t reached us and of course the Internet hadn’t been invented so we spent our time actually doing things… I loved virtually every minute of it, but despite being in something close to nirvana, there were people who hated it and were miserable.  We find what we're looking for.   

We often get out of life what we are expecting... are you a glass half full or a glass half empty person?  This question explains why America is at the brink of civil war.

We look around and see people burning down our cities, destroying public and private property, disrupting life for millions of Americans who are simply trying to go to work, eat their lunch or shop at a mall. We see people chanting “F the Police”, “No justice, No Peace” holding up “Black Lives Mater” signs and calling everyone and anyone who doesn’t agree with them racists. We see in New York, LA and countless other cities thugs shooting cops, beating civilians and feeling entitled to do so the whole time.

How did we get here? Very simple. We’ve had decades of the Democrat / Media / Academia Industrial Complex telling Americans that the country is racist. That Republicans don’t care about the poor. That Christians are homophobic. That whites have privilege. That America is rife with systematic racism. That cops hunt down and kill unarmed innocent black males with impunity. And of course that if you are a person of color you have no control over your life and the system will not allow you to succeed, regardless of the hard work you put in, the education you achieve or the virtuous life you lead.  In essence they have been proffering the notion that not only is the glass half empty... but that the other guy took your glass and poured half your water into his glass and then poisoned what's left in yours.  

It is upon this decade’s long backdrop of despicable lies that the same group, along with the Obama holdovers in DOJ, has spent the last four years telling us that Donald Trump is a racist bigot. That Donald Trump was bought and paid for by Russia. That Donald Trump is guilty of abuse of power with respect to Ukraine. That Donald Trump is a power hungry fascist who seeks to make himself king by stealing the election and disenfranchising minority voters.

Of course, none of those things are true. None of them. But that has not stopped the media, academia and the Democrats from shilling each of them, repeatedly. And the result is, you have young people – mostly young, but not all by any stretch – who today see exactly what they have been told to see, exactly what they expect to see. If you are told that you can’t succeed regardless of the life you lead, regardless of the hard work you do, then it’s not unexpected that you would want to tear down the system that has boxed you in.

The fact that all of the bile that the Democrats have been spewing for decades is not true is of no consequence. The fact that the media blatantly paints a picture that is demonstrably false 24 hours a day, seven days a week is of no consequence. The fact that leftist hack academics have rewritten American history through the perspective of their 21st century woke lenses, is of no consequence. The only thing that is of consequence is power… Democrat power. Nothing else matters. As such, if burning down cities is the cost of power, so be it. If putting targets on the backs of police is the cost of power, so be it. If undermining the basic elements of common courtesy, politeness and civic order are the cost of power, so be it. If destroying the life's work of shopkeepers and the jobs of workers trying to provide for their families are the cost of power, so be it.

What you are seeing in the streets is not protest, peaceful or otherwise. What America is experiencing is the beginning of a civil war, only one side has not yet awoken to the fact that it is involved in one. Civil wars don’t have to last long nor be bloody, but they can be, and this one might be. But it doesn’t have to be. Stopping it will take no only a firm response by police and the government, but more importantly in the long run, it means expunging from academia the anti-American fascists who have been rewriting American history as a march through hate and oppression and racism. It means discrediting and marginalizing the manipulative media cabal that proffers the “blame America first” or “America is racist” fictions as they seek to drive up temperatures. Finally it will take a party, whether it’s the GOP or some new entity, that finally stands up for the United States and embraces its history, both good and bad. They must be willing to recognize that America is indeed an imperfect place, as it has been since its founding, but that it gets better decade after decade and has done more to advance the condition of mankind than any nation in human history. They must know and be willing to say that the United States is the greatest nation in the history of human civilization and that there is more freedom here, more opportunities here and more prosperity here than anywhere on the planet. That with hard work one can make a better life for himself, for his family and his community.

Imagine what a country could do if those were the ideas that young people were being exposed to every day. Imagine if they expected to succeed… if they expected to be treated fairly… if they had gratitude for our freedoms and what others sacrificed to give it to them. Imagine they understood they are living in a time and place most people in history would have traded their souls for and millions of people risk their lives for every year.

Tell young people their lives aren't theirs, they can't succeed and racism is everywhere and they will believe it find it around every corner.  Tell them racism and other evils exist, but they live in the land of opportunity and their success is in their hands and they will succeed despite the roadblocks.   Couple that glass half full on steroids mindset with America’s bounty and the opportunities are infinite.