As I write this, I noticed another columnist, Patrice Lewis, just posted a piece on not allowing the election of Donald Trump to slow down your prepping. While this ticks me off (because that's the subject of this week's column, plus she's a much better writer than I am), I do have to disagree with her on one thing she wrote: "Trump's election has done nothing but purchased us a bit more time."
That's a pretty common refrain in the self-sufficiency set. I'm hearing it all over the place. On the surface it makes sense. After all, imagine what might be going on right now if Hillary had assumed the presidency?
But I'm sorry to say I don't believe the ascendancy of The Donald will do much to slow the historically cyclic wave we're riding. In point of fact, I expect it to speed up.
Want a simple example? If Hillary had won, would ordinary citizens – orthodontists, tax preparers, auto mechanics, whatever – have marched in the streets, busting windows and setting fires? Of course not. Yet Trump hadn't even finished saying "… so help me God" before masked anarchists were reducing Starbucks windows to silicon confetti.
There's a curse, purportedly Chinese, as follows: "May you live in interesting times." The idea is that "uninteresting times" are usually periods of relative peace and prosperity when no one is actively considering killing you. I happen to love uninteresting times, probably because they're such a rare and pleasurable break in the terror that defines most peoples' lifespans on Earth.
Usually, it's during these "interesting times" that the game of thrones is in full play. For example, today Donald Trump and a very small cadre of small-government types are up against a powerful and ruthless shadow government. Trump has a large and loyal following, and he has a speed and agility that his opponents lack. He also is adept at not playing the game their way.
The coercionists who oppose him are hidebound and unwieldy. But they are also immensely wealthy, widespread and implacable. Additionally, they're terrified – terrified that the last 100 years of steady advances to their power and dominance might be in danger. And when you threaten the authority of a tyrannical cabal, people die.
A long time ago, while listening to the Glenn Beck show (before he went entirely off the rails), I was introduced to something called the Overton Window. For those who don't know what it is, here's a simple explanation from Wikipedia: "The Overton Window, also known as the window of discourse, is the range of ideas the public will accept [at any given point in history]. … According to [Joseph] Overton's description, his window includes a range of policies considered politically acceptable in the current climate of public opinion, which a politician can recommend without being considered too extreme to gain or keep public office."
The concept can be displayed on a bar, with the current publicly acceptable position located somewhere between the endpoints of more freedom and less freedom.
Personally, the way the Overton Window described real-world conditions doesn't make it all that useful, since the very definition of freedom is pretty subjective. A liberal will think unlimited abortions or the free choice of bathroom usage to be very freeing. A conservative, on the other hand, could point out that the child in the womb won't feel very liberated by that first option; and with regards to trans-bathroom policies, that same conservative might logically suggest "... if you drag your hairy rear into my daughter's locker room, you're going to be free of a few teeth."
Glenn Beck used the Overton Window to explain where America was on the line between tyranny and anarchy, and he vaguely suggested ways to move the window back to a constitutional-republic standard. But my question has always been, "At what point on the line does the government under discussion no longer allow the window to be moved?"
I believe we're already at that point. Yes, Trump has made some incredible strides in shoving the window in the right direction. But the entrenched elite simply cannot allow that window to move in any way that might upset their apple cart. In fact, they're scrambling frantically to consolidate power for a push back because their primary tool, the mainstream media, is crumbling. And when lying, guile, blackmail, bribery and character assassination lose their efficacy, breaking the system becomes more appealing.
Now here's another way to look at the end game desired by both sides:
As you can see above, we have two completely different world-views in operation here in the U.S. They are in total opposition. There is absolutely no way to reconcile them. As the 2016 election shows, the two sides are in parity with regards to population, if not in territory.
Both sides crave power. The leftist craves power over others; the constitutionalist craves power over himself.
This paradox, like all paradoxes, is unstable and cannot hold. The notion of a constitutional republic maintained by equal shared leadership of Jeffersonian liberals and Marxists is crazy ... and unsustainable.
We're seeing the beginning of the end now. And please don't say it's just a repeat of the 1960s. The '60s didn't have a recently retired president urging people to riot in the streets and teaching them how to do it. It didn't have violent protests organized and funded by elite billionaires. It didn't have abortion as a fundamental human right. It didn't espouse gender fluidity, open borders, federal water rights on your bathtub or Hillary Clinton.
So which side will you be on? Well, if you're like most people (80 percent or so), that decision will be made for you. Historically, it's by which side will either feed you or shoot you.
Don't slack off on preparing. Speed up. Most news sources and experts will acknowledge the growing divide, but none can provide an answer on how to reach an accord to the irreconcilable – other than surrender. (Guess which side has to reach across the aisle?) And none of them will state the truth: interesting times are here. And the "gyre" is widening.
Oh, as an aside, I've recently joined GAB, an altogether more freewheeling place than Twitter. Come by and see me. If you're already signed up at GAB, I'd appreciate it if you'd follow me. If you're not signed up at GAB, consider it. I think Twitter will soon be going the way of Myspace.
Come on over and hang with the cool kids.
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