17 Sep War Is Declared and Battle Come Down
I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this. I had hoped that there was some possible way to avoid it. I had hoped that, somehow, some way, we the people could have found a way to restore a more perfect Union, re-establish Justice, re-insure domestic Tranquility, provide once more for the common defence, promote again the general Welfare, and re-secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.
But it’s hard to see how any of that is going to happen – at least for the foreseeable future, at least under current conditions.
Long-time readers – and/or readers of The Dictatorship of Woke Capital – may know that one of my greatest concerns about life in these United States is the politicization of everything and the consequent national descent into Total (Civil) War among factions in the Total State. This isn’t to say that actual, physical warfare between Americans is imminent or is even a real threat. It is almost certainly not. Rather, the threat is that Americans would become so aggressively subsumed by politics and the “values” that separate groups from one another in the political context that they would treat those with whom they disagree as “enemies” rather than merely people who vote differently than they do.
The consequences of the Total State and the Total War it brings are, frankly, unbearable. We know this – cognitively and emotionally. And yet….
The only conclusion a reasonable person might reach in the wake of the events of the last week or so is that one “side” in our bifurcated nation has already declared war – and it’s the side that should, under normal circumstances, know better. War has been declared by those who are educated, powerful, wealthy, and comfortable. It has been declared, in short, by the Ruling Class – the media, the intelligentsia, ensconced political interests, the Administrative (if not the “Deep”) State, and prevailing business interests.
Over the last week, we have seen the media (and the entertainment business interests that literally own much of the media) do their utmost to ensure the “proper” results of and the proper reaction to the only debate in which the two current presidential candidates will participate. We have seen the media and others mock the struggles and problems of the rural and exurban country class specifically because it allowed them to attack the perceived values of the candidate they loathe. We have seen an ongoing and largely unprecedented effort to control speech and expression specifically to restrict the dissemination of certain politically unpalatable ideas, as well as the enduring attempt to dismiss those ideas as mere “misinformation.” We have a second attempt on the life of one of the two major presidential candidates – the one whom the political, academic, media, and bureaucratic establishments consider a “cancer upon the nation” and an existential threat to all that they hold valuable. And, of course, in the wake of that second assassination attempt, we have seen all of the above determine that he was asking for it anyway and that he is to blame for his own misfortunes, even as they continue to demand that “he be stopped” and “prevented, by any means necessary, from returning to power.”
In short, we’ve seen the removal of the proverbial masks and a metaphorical declaration of war. This is no longer about mere “politics.” Politics has become everything, and, consequently, everything is (supposedly) at stake.
To be clear, this isn’t to say that the proper response to this declaration of war is for the other “side” to do the same, to fight the “war” by the same rules (or lack thereof), in the same manner. Indeed, doing so would only exacerbate the situation and elevate the consequences of the war. While a martial response that might seem sensible and even realistic and necessary under the circumstances, it will, in the long run, only serve to destroy any chance of national restoration. We know how such a war ends. We’ve seen it before:
Democratic sovereignty necessarily elevates one faction over another. This, in turn, eliminates substantive equality, exacerbates disorder, and calls into question the legitimacy of the sovereign. The only way to remedy all of this… and thus to restore order, is to trade sovereign democracy for a sovereign dictator.
The irony, of course, is that while the Ruling Class spends its days blaming the victim and calling the leader of the opposition a threat to democracy, it is they who are insisting that Americans be put in jail for supporting him, they who have made it clear that they want Total War, and hey who are pushing the conditions that lead to “a sovereign dictator.”
As I noted last week (in a reprint of something I noted five years ago), the only possible way to save what is left of our republic is to “think small,” to demand a return to government that is closer, physically and politically, to the people.
Just over a year ago, The Associated Press published a long piece about the nation’s political bifurcation and how it’s causing people to bifurcate physically:
Americans are segregating by their politics at a rapid clip, helping fuel the greatest divide between the states in modern history.
One party controls the entire legislature in all but two states. In 28 states, the party in control has a supermajority in at least one legislative chamber — which means the majority party has so many lawmakers that they can override a governor’s veto. Not that that would be necessary in most cases, as only 10 states have governors of different parties than the one that controls the legislature.
The split has sent states careening to the political left or right, adopting diametrically opposed laws on some of the hottest issues of the day. In Idaho, abortion is illegal once a heartbeat can be detected in a fetus — as early as five or six weeks — and a new law passed this year makes it a crime to help a minor travel out of state to obtain one. In Colorado, state law prevents any restrictions on abortion. In Idaho, a new law prevents minors from accessing gender-affirming care, while Colorado allows youths to come from other states to access the procedures.
The story goes on for some time, lamenting this turn of events and wondering if it can possibly be good for the country. This is silly, to put it gently. This is, more or less, what the Founders intended – and for good reason. The problem is that the Ruling Class has no intention of giving up the centralized power and authority it has accumulated over the last century-plus. If they would, then the war could be averted, and Americans could determine for themselves how much politics and values should matter in their day-to-day lives.
What this means, in turn, is that for Total War to be avoided, the Ruling Class must be defeated electorally, and then the victors must be judicious, even as they dismantle the nation’s centralizing apparatuses.
Short of that, the war escalates and the republic collapses completely – as the late, great Angelo Codevilla foretold, almost exactly eight years ago:
We have stepped over the threshold of a revolution. It is difficult to imagine how we might step back, and it is futile to speculate where it will end. Our ruling class’s malfeasance, combined with insults, brought it about. Donald Trump did not cause it and is by no means its ultimate manifestation. Regardless of who wins in 2016, this revolution’s sentiments will grow in volume and intensity and are sure to empower politicians, likely making Americans nostalgic for Donald Trump’s moderation.
