Matches And Powder Kegs

     In this recent piece on “CW 2.0,” John Wilder reviews current conditions that could lead to the outbreak of a second Civil War. His observations give renewed force to questions that have plagued me for some time:

• Will the Right ever cease to prioritize the avoidance of conflict over the restoration of the Republic?
• If so, when?
• What might the trigger be?

     Wilder speaks of some recent events that could provide a “spark:”

     In research of Civil War over time, it appears that the conditions exist that start Civil Wars for some time before they turn into outright Civil War. Often, one group finally comes to the conclusion that they are out of power, will never be in power again, and are being treated unfairly, that feeling builds up. It’s waiting for a moment, a spark, that allows the emotional feeling to turn into action.

     He offers these possibilities first:

• “After another transexual shot up a church school senselessly killing several people (and disappearing from the news in record time), people had enough.”
• “Remember, the Shot Heard ‘Round the World was fired on redcoats that were out to . . . take guns.”

     He mentions other related developments as well, including the firing of Tucker Carlson and the recent murder conviction of Daniel Perry for defending himself against an AK-47-toting rioter.

     It’s adding up, Gentle Reader. At some point the total will trigger this graphic summation of the possibilities:

     We cannot know in advance what total will flip the switch, but present trends continuing, we’ll know soon enough.

     What’s been going on can be summed up quite briefly: The Left has been “probing with the bayonet,” just as Lenin advised. Despite multiple baldfaced denials of objective reality, their incursions have been overwhelmingly successful. As the laws of reality are self-enforcing – have you defied gravity recently? – the phenomenon demands explanation. Here’s one from an obscure work of philosophy:

     Rearden stood motionless, not turning to the crowd, barely hearing the applause. He stood looking at the judges. There was no triumph in his face, no elation, only the still intensity of contemplating a vision with a bitter wonder that was almost fear. He was seeing the enormity of the smallness of the enemy who was destroying the world. He felt as if, after a journey of years through a landscape of devastation, past the ruins of great factories, the wrecks of powerful engines, the bodies of invincible men, he had come upon the despoiler, expecting to find a giant—and had found a rat eager to scurry for cover at the first sound of a human step. If this is what has beaten us, he thought, the guilt is ours.

     I find this to be substantially correct.

     The Left’s campaign has striven to denormalize reality itself. But a society in which the majority denies reality, regardless of the specifics, cannot function. Rand’s fictional depiction of the accelerating deterioration of the United States – I very nearly typed “Untied States,” and wouldn’t that be a sorry conclusion? – implies a progression toward such a collapse. Her focus was economic, but a cultural collapse would have the same characteristics.

     Therefore we may take it as written that the American majority of today remains wedded to reality and cultural norms that respect it. But if this is so, we could defeat our destroyers. With due respect to the late Jim Morrison, we have the guns and the numbers.

     What stands in our way is our own reluctance to do battle.

     Fight / flight / surrender. This is the trichotomy that the living world enforces upon the organisms within it. When under attack, a living creature must adopt one of those three postures, for there are no others.

     Though it pains me to say so, the greater number of us in the Right have chosen surrender. The pain comes from the recognition that not only are we behaving like cowards, but we could easily prevail over our enemies.

     Our aversion to confrontation has us by the short’n’curlies. Until we overcome it, we can make no headway.

     Remember this incident?

     A complete monster today assaulted a woman with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene outside of the DC Gulag.
     The man stood behind a little woman and blew a whistle as loud as he could in her ears. He would not stop and would not leave. The prison staff refused to take action when they were notified of this criminal activity outside of their facility. Do you think they would have come out if it was Pelosi out there?
     This is criminal behavior. At one point he screamed at someone, “Touch, you die!”
     Is anyone else infuriated by this ghoul?

     No doubt someone was…so why did no one take action? Given that the presence of such…persons at appearances by conservative figures is practically guaranteed for the foreseeable future, why was no one prepared to deal with him?

     It’s pure cowardice: the reluctance to take a step, a completely justifiable and necessary step, in defense of our public norms.

     If it persists, there are only two possible outcomes:

• The Left wins, and subjugates us for the foreseeable future;
• The match reaches the powder keg, and all bets are off.

     William E. Simon, writing of the chaos and degeneration of the mid-Seventies, produced two books: A Time For Truth and, about a year later, A Time For Action. Our time is a time for both.

     Have a nice day.