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What’s the Point?
We live in a country where fraud and lies are expected by nearly everyone. Where our values and beliefs are repeatedly trampled so that there is nearly nothing left of them. Where our children will be estranged from us because the authorities’ agenda uses propaganda to alienate them from us. Where loyalty to one’s party is superior to protecting the laws and beliefs of our country. Where the Constitution and Bill of Rights are discredited as archaic and useless. Where the federal government and its bureaucrats reign supreme. Where dissent is labelled as dangerous and allegiance to the state is celebrated. Where crime on the streets is considered to be the new norm and the criminals roam freely. Where our personal fortunes can be seized by the government if they deem it so. Where we can be banned from the streets and imprisoned in our homes for the greater good.
This realization must be akin to being mugged.
Or maybe I’m being melodramatic.
I feel abandoned and numb. What now?
Published in General
I understand how you feel. I have been wandering aimlessly around the house all morning. Went to bed at 10 last night once the trend was established.
The thought in my my mind is mostly: What now?
I don’t wish this attitude on anyone, Hugh, yet I’m comforted to know that I’m not alone. Writing provides an outlet, but barely. Thanks for your candor.
I have been shoveling snow all morning. it keeps me away from the computer.
Maybe a break from all media would be a good prescription right now.
The feeling of pervasive, insurmountable corruption is a feature, not a bug. You’re supposed to resign yourself to the feeling that you can’t win against the system, so there’s no point in doing anything but comply. That’s how it works in authoritarian, totalitarian countries. Cuba, North Korea, Sudan, China, Turkey, Venezuela, Russia, Iran – this is how the worst of the worst remain in power.
I know that’s true, Elephant. And ultimately I’m determined to work myself out of this abyss. But I can’t quite get there yet. Sometimes we just need time to mourn.
I’m reminded of the scene in “Meatballs” where Bill Murray gives his ‘It just doesn’t matter’ speech to the campers.
I have a few questions.
What values and beliefs do you think are being trampled, Susan?
Do you think that allegiance to the state is a bad thing? Didn’t we used to agree that it was a good thing to pledge allegiance to our Republic?
Maybe we need to stream Bill Murray . . .
I think they are trying to trample ceaselessly the Bill of Rights. How about free speech? How about the trampling of religions. How about the right to protect ourselves.
I think allegiance to the state is a great thing. But allegiance to a PARTY in place of commitment to the state and what it used to stand for is deadly.
Hope Jerry doesn’t mid if I join in.
There is a difference between what you’re speaking of Jerry, and the current demand of allegiance. I interpret the current demand as “Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State.”
I’m sure you recognize the quote.
Feel free to join in at any time, Dawg. Well said.
In a way I blame Trump. I pretty much wrote the country off during Obama. Just from what I have seen I know all the elections are corrupt and that the various governments are basically extensions of the Democrats. I thought after Obama that HRC was a given followed by whatever brain dead Democrat they wanted to place there. Trump slipped by. It was an accident and that is what made the Democrats so mad. They knew it was theirs. It gave me hope and hope is a dangerous thing. They pretty much hamstrung Trump and know have fixed their systems so that dream is over. So now I get to look forward to a future without energy or food I can afford or even a retirement.
It’s baffling how the Dems don’t seem to care about any of these. Fear can destroy any rational thinking, John.
Same here.
I’ve been there for years, especially after 2020 revealed just how far gone the country has become; all I can offer you is the reality that things can always get even worse, that we face an enemy that hates us and seeks to destroy everything we love, and we have no choice but to become a warrior ethos culture that expects constant assaults, refuses to give in, and somehow finds happiness while under constant threat and demonization.
We have examples to learn from (as well as pitfalls and excesses to watch out for) from groups ranging from the Israelis to the Scots-Irish settlers.
Well said, lowtech. I’ll hold on to that idea of finding happiness in spite of these threats. Certainly the Israelis have found it. Although, they are under internal assault by the Left in their country, too. We’ll see if Netanyahu can revive that warrior spirit. Thanks.
If you don’t put your hopes in any political party or politicians you will find yourself much less disappointed in the long run. :)
Life is good. Most people are good. Focus on where you live and who you know. We don’t live in an oppressive system, a monarchy, or dictatorship. Getting worked up over what happens in states you don’t live is futile and results in needless anxiety and depression. Our system allows people to make decisions we don’t agree with and we can make decisions they don’t agree with. It’s a feature not a bug.
In other words, Cheer Up. :)
Not everything is cheery all the time, C. Sometimes bad things happen. I’m an optimistic person, and I will find my way out of it, but I can’t help getting a bit annoyed with people who won’t let me be miserable now and then! ;-)
I don’t live in a cave. I feel a connection to every person who believes in this country. And a lot of people are being wounded by events of the last two years, and will continue to be. That deserves a bit of empathy, I think.
Edit: I do know you mean well.
We raised generations of children who don’t believe that America is a good thing, and a force for good in the world. Obama was the first president who didn’t love the country that elected him, or feel any pride in it. That essential love of country is what we must continue to fight for.
Unfortunately, it’s the same argument that was used to undermine government support of traditional family and religious values, back when we had a pretty strong consensus about those. We no longer have that consensus. I think that a major factor in this change was that the teaching of such values was removed from the schools, a move supported by libertarian-leaning conservatives for the sake of tolerance and limited government. The schools did not end up neutral, however. They taught the radical values of Wokeism, long before we saw the Woke youth emerging, I think.
By the way, I’m glad you joined in.
But I’m not sure that I love the country we have now. I’m not going to pledge allegiance to the rainbow flag.
I love the country that we used to have. I’d like to get it back.
This is actually directed at Jerry, Dawg. The part the Lefties skipped is that we are not beholden to the state; the state is beholden to us. We choose them. We elect them. And we can vote them out. So the word “allegiance” must also be tempered by who reports to whom.
I don’t think that there’s much government violation of freedom of speech. The problem seems to be coming from the media and tech companies. It’s hard to deal with this, as it would require government intervention against such private censorship, I think. This is a tough issue.
I think that gun rights are quite secure, with favorable SCOTUS opinions over the past decade or so.
Could you elaborate about the trampling of religions? My impression is that this occurs in relation to the anti-family, LGBT agenda, but I’m not sure whether this is what you mean.
I feel dismayed that half of my countrymen are either idiots, abortion fanatics, on the dole or brainwashed by the left and social media. It seems that about 2% of the voters don’t exist and are created and destroyed on election when their nonexistent votes are counted. I have little respect for PA in they they elected a brain damaged ogre instead of an accomplished doctor.
Why would they not. Nobody expects the man to serve. He will go as far as he has too until they can replace him.
Well, last night was disappointing – if I just think about the overall election results. In my own neck of the woods, however, Republicans won every office. This is why I moved to Texas. Elections matter, but it’s actually living among the people who vote this way that makes the most difference in my life.
I’m starting to think that 2012 was the end of the Republic. Reelecting an empty suit actively transforming the country showed an unserious electorate. Some have said 2016 was the involuntary reflex of a dead animal. You think it’s still alive but it’s just random electrical activity. Others compare it to a candle going out. You get a last, little flare up just before it completely goes out.
What argument are you referring to, Jerry? My point is that the “allegiance” now being demanded by the Left/State is the same as that demanded by Mussolini. That it is very different from the love of country and society that you refer to (at least that’s what I think you mean).
Can you please clarify? I don’t want us to talk past each other.
The govt’s trampling of religions was manifest when they limited or closed down churches for Covid, and persecuted those who wouldn’t follow instructions. They didn’t even want people to stay in their cars in parking lots.
Often anti-religion is coupled with those who are pro-abortion. Noticed all those people who were arrested for attacking pro-life clinics? Me neither.
And they refuse to condemn House reps. who make anti-semitic remarks. They give them a slap on the wrist.
I was referring to the argument implied by the Mussolini quote, which seems to be used by some people to object to any policy they don’t like, whether the policy is traditionalist or Wokeist. It wasn’t your argument, Susan. It was raised by MWD’s comment.
I don’t necessarily think that it was MWD’s argument, either. It’s just an argument that I see raised by libertarian-types.
I think that government should be doing more to promote traditional values, not just remain neutral. It’s basically the French-Ahmari debate, which I may be projecting into this discussion. I tend to react negatively to accusations of fascism, as I most often see them directed toward traditional conservatives like me.
On many issues, there seem to be three camps. Wokeists want to impose their morality through government. Traditionalists want to do the same. Libertarian-types want neutrality and small government. I think that this three-way divide has led to the victories of the Woke.