Recommended by Ricochet Members Created with Sketch. The (Political) Times They Are A-Changin’

JennaStocker
By JennaStocker
JennaStocker Member
Left a DC research job to be a Marine Corps Officer. Now I’m back home where four rescue dogs have the run of the house. Wife of a USCG veteran. Baseball enthusiast & still believes in the virtue of First Principles.
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13 COMMENTS
 

As decision day approaches, I waver between a Trump victory and resounding defeat so often I feel like a squirrel in the middle of the road who can’t decide whether to turn back or cross the street as the car barrels toward him. Maybe it’s because I live in deep purple Minnesota. Still, I linger on a totally unscientific, wholly visceral feeling that President Trump will win re-election, and that it is a top-ticket vote untethered from down-ballot chances. But whether Trump wins or loses, this election is the moment of great culminating intensity building for the last decade, leading to the biggest political and cultural realignment since the 1960s.

The 2020 election slogan is “The Most Important of Our Lifetime”. But why? I think it’s less about a literal Life-and-Death scenario, and more about how we live our lives and what remnants of liberty we keep intact to pass on to future generations. In that sense it’s certainly and unequivocally about life.

The left used to be thought of as the anti-censorship wing of American politics. But as we see the college-aged radicals mature and enter the professional world, they bring with them a language code so restrictive and rule-laden as to make Tipper Gore’s Senate hearing battle with Twisted Sister’s Dee Snyder look quaint. We moved from album labels to black list in a generation. Thought Crime is not far behind. Social media censorship is the thief that snuck in the window while our attention was focused on government restriction pounding down the front door. Facebook and Twitter’s selective speech code took a stronger and more dangerous hold partly because we held on to the idea it was part of a free market ecosystem when really it was building the foundations of a monopoly. As more conservative speech is targeted, and as it becomes clear what side Silicon Valley and the Tech Companies align with, the average American is waking up to who are the real defenders of unrestricted expression, association, and freedom of the press. The latest lockdown of the New York Post Twitter account for doing its job is a new low. But it won’t stop there. The targets will be aimed at larger swaths of people and groups until the firing squad ends in a circular execution.

In an odd way, the pandemic has crystalized the shift in culture and politics, I think most importantly, and it will be as much on the ballot this year as any single issue. The lockdowns were a betrayal of our goodwill and good faith commitment to survival – if it meant pausing life for a few weeks. But like that neighbor who still has your chainsaw after borrowing it ‘just for the weekend’ two years ago, the trust is broken. Blue-collar workers and those in the hospitality industry were hit hardest. Unemployment rates for those industries have yet to rebound. Essential workers thanklessly accepted months of long hours and demanding conditions to keep America running on a skeleton crew. Meanwhile, the white-collar workers and corporations didn’t feel the devastation, and mostly still don’t. Teachers Unions have been exposed for the politically motivated cowards they are by refusing to go back to work. Despite scientific evidence of having little threat to public health and safety, they’ve forced the shutdown of public schools nationwide. The profession that was supposed to be defenders of our children’s education and well-being pushed them under the bus without hesitation. The psychological and emotional effects this is having on our youngest generations will be felt for decades.

Even now we see what’s happening in Europe. The repeat lockdowns in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, and Britain continue even though Trump’s supposedly toxic policies – being blamed for spikes in cases here – are an ocean away. Europeans are tearfully pleading for their lives, and for their children’s futures. Protesters are being forcibly dragged out of government buildings. There is no escape. There is only the prospect of a shadow existence of a people imprisoned by politicians who have more faith in perpetuating unknown threats than the resilience of their citizens.

It is a similar pattern of government failure that resonates in cities across the United States – not because of the pandemic, but because of rising violence and lawlessness. In Minneapolis, an incompetent and corrupt local government was allowed to fester for decades until it finally administered its own destruction. Minorities and an underclass trapped in a cycle of violence and hopelessness are beginning to understand the progressive, woke, ruling class values power over opportunity. Citizens on the north side are even suing the government for failing to keep them safe. The progressive left harnessed ignorance to keep people from using their voices. But it’s difficult to ignore what people are seeing and living in their everyday lives. It’s fear, not opportunity. The hollow promises spoon-fed for generations never materialized. Life has gotten worse, not better.

The time to make amends has expired, and not just for those trapped in urban decay. People are ready to move on from the old political wisdom and formulas, and Donald Trump is leading the way. He didn’t prove to be the modern Prometheus his critics claimed he’d be: a monster out to terrorize the land, make enemies of our allies, and be an uncontrollable beast shredding our nation’s institutions. The real Victor Frankenstein is embodied in the liberal progressive radicals, and the establishment political elites from both parties, who thought they could control the cultural monster that spread chaos and uprooted the populism of traditional American values that helped unify our country.

Americans still seek the Joie de Vivre we effectively appropriated from the French in our unrelenting pursuit of new and better opportunities. The left fears it. They do everything they can to suppress it in pursuit of power. Soon there will be a frantic race to understand the new American political and cultural realignment. On one side is an oppressive, guilt-laden group of conformists who will signal their moral superiority and pretentious virtue by levels of self-hatred, shame, and the destruction of conservative prudence and traditionalism including patriotism. The other is tired of standing guard at the center of the culture wars, feeling voiceless in a world where politics is something done to them, and having no seat at the table. Forced out are the old rule-makers who make meaningless platitudes about academic theories and policies. They created a self-serving, professional grift that sold out their fellow Americans to fight endless wars and oversaw the decay of the middle class from coast to coast, and they complain about character.

If the polls are wrong (I suspect they are), the credibility of the career political class and know-it-all analysts will implode like the old Sands Casino in Las Vegas, and the emotional resonance will be even more momentous. But political lessons are slow to absorb, and changing behavior in response is even slower. The increasingly personal attachment to movements and political outcomes makes it easier to place blame on outside influences and point fingers, just as we saw happen in 2016. Hillary and her devotees never went through in introspective postmortem; instead we had over three years of conspiracy theories and Russian ghost stories. So whether President Trump leaves office in three months or four years (I hope the latter), there will be no ignoring the newfound voices of the forgotten and overlooked. They are converging on issues that a man who bucked the conventional political wisdom shined a different light on, and was despised for it. It reflects a type of rebellion that shakes the insolent from their status-quo perch but falls short of burn-it-all destruction. We want to preserve the greatness of America before it burns; the other side keeps starting fires, convinced the country needs to be completely destroyed to save it.

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  1. I Walton Member
    I Walton

    Let’s keep the basic always in front of our minds. A win is just the beginning and we probably only have 4 years. Half of all Americans massive income goes to bureaucrats from top to bottom. Politicians also play an important role, big business and organized interests pay them to influence the bureaucrats and offer retirement jobs to senior bureaucrats when necessary. It would be much more complicated if businesses had to compete with each other for sales and market perch because politicians wouldn’t know which to help, moreover if all competition was in the market place rather than Washington, they wouldn’t have so much power to extract money and future positions. We used to be different on purpose but Wilson et al thought we’d be much better off with disinterested experts. Turns out none were disinterested so expertise which doesn’t really exist as imagined by Wilsonian’s, dissolved as well. It won’t be easy to fix as we have to change pretty much everything we do in Washington and state capitals. 

    • #1
    • November 2, 2020, at 6:13 AM PST
      • ⋅
    • 6 likes
  2. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter

    JennaStocker: I feel like a squirrel in the middle of the road who can’t decide whether to turn back or cross the street as the car barrels toward him.

    There have been times I have felt like that. When I do, my default is to cross the street. You are just as likely to get hit turning back as continuing. I would rather go down trying rather than go down retreating. 

    Or in best Kipling terms:

    If your officer’s dead and the sergeants look white,
    Remember it’s ruin to run from a fight:
    So take open order, lie down, and sit tight,
    And wait for supports like a soldier.

    If we take open order, sit tight and wait for supports we will win this thing. 

    • #2
    • November 2, 2020, at 6:19 AM PST
      • ⋅
    • 3 likes
  3. JennaStocker Member
    JennaStocker
    Post author

    I Walton (View Comment):

    Let’s keep the basic always in front of our minds. A win is just the beginning and we probably only have 4 years. Half of all Americans massive income goes to bureaucrats from top to bottom. Politicians also play an important role, big business and organized interests pay them to influence the bureaucrats and offer retirement jobs to senior bureaucrats when necessary. It would be much more complicated if businesses had to compete with each other for sales and market perch because politicians wouldn’t know which to help, moreover if all competition was in the market place rather than Washington, they wouldn’t have so much power to extract money and future positions. We used to be different on purpose but Wilson et al thought we’d be much better off with disinterested experts. Turns out none were disinterested so expertise which doesn’t really exist as imagined by Wilsonian’s, dissolved as well. It won’t be easy to fix as we have to change pretty much everything we do in Washington and state capitals.

    Whenever I hear of more shenanigans (to put it nicely) going on in government institutions like the FBI, State, IRS, etc, the more I’m convinced that the government is much, much too big, and that there are nefarious people working against America’s interests than we ever dreamed.

    • #3
    • November 2, 2020, at 6:59 AM PST
      • ⋅
    • 5 likes
  4. JennaStocker Member
    JennaStocker
    Post author

    Seawriter (View Comment):
    If we take open order, sit tight and wait for supports we will win this thing. 

    Wise advice. Thank you for this, from a very harried squirrel.

    • #4
    • November 2, 2020, at 7:00 AM PST
      • ⋅
    • 2 likes
  5. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter

    JennaStocker (View Comment):

    Seawriter (View Comment):
    If we take open order, sit tight and wait for supports we will win this thing.

    Wise advice. Thank you for this, from a very harried squirrel.

    Been there. Old age hath yet his honour and his toil.

    • #5
    • November 2, 2020, at 7:02 AM PST
      • ⋅
    • 3 likes
  6. DonG (Biden is compromised) Coolidge
    DonG (Biden is compromised)

    JennaStocker: As decision day approaches, I waver between a Trump victory and resounding defeat

    You should embrace the possibility of a tie and months of litigation. There is just 24 more hours to be a prepper.

    • #6
    • November 2, 2020, at 7:10 AM PST
      • ⋅
    • 2 likes
  7. Tex929rr Coolidge
    Tex929rr

    JennaStocker:

    If the polls are wrong (I suspect they are), the credibility of the career political class and know-it-all analysts will implode like the old Sands Casino in Las Vegas, and the emotional resonance will be even more momentous. But political lessons are slow to absorb, and changing behavior in response is even slower. The increasingly personal attachment to movements and political outcomes makes it easier to place blame on outside influences and point fingers, just as we saw happen in 2016. Hillary and her devotees never went through in introspective postmortem; instead we had over three years of conspiracy theories and Russian ghost stories. So whether President Trump leaves office in three months or four years (I hope the latter), there will be no ignoring the newfound voices of the forgotten and overlooked. They are converging on issues that a man who bucked the conventional political wisdom shined a different light on, and was despised for it. It reflects a type of rebellion that shakes the insolent from their status-quo perch but falls short of burn-it-all destruction. We want to preserve the greatness of America before it burns; the other side keeps starting fires, convinced the country needs to be completely destroyed to save it.

    I believe that the career political class is already acting out of desperation. The legacy media has picked a side and they are terrified that they will be wrong. A Trump re-election victory will blow up the polling industry and absolutely destroy the RINO Never Trump wing of the Republic party.

    Imagine an emboldened president DJT.

     

    • #7
    • November 2, 2020, at 7:21 AM PST
      • ⋅
    • 3 likes
  8. DonG (Biden is compromised) Coolidge
    DonG (Biden is compromised)

    I Walton (View Comment):
    Half of all Americans massive income goes to bureaucrats from top to bottom. Politicians also play an important role, big business and organized interests pay them to influence the bureaucrats and offer retirement jobs to senior bureaucrats when necessary.

    It does feel like we are on the road to serfdom–a future with government, mega-corporations, and national guilds (teachers, doctors, realtors) running everything. That future does not have much innovation.

     

    • #8
    • November 2, 2020, at 7:34 AM PST
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    • 4 likes
  9. Henry Racette Contributor
    Henry Racette

    JennaStocker: We want to preserve the greatness of America before it burns; the other side keeps starting fires, convinced the country needs to be completely destroyed to save it.

    Terrific post, and a great conclusion. Well done.

    • #9
    • November 2, 2020, at 8:05 AM PST
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    • 4 likes
  10. JennaStocker Member
    JennaStocker
    Post author

    Tex929rr (View Comment):
    I believe that the career political class is already acting out of desperation.

    I hope you’re right. Maybe this hysteria is so prolific because it’s their last gasp.

    • #10
    • November 2, 2020, at 8:43 AM PST
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    • Like
  11. JennaStocker Member
    JennaStocker
    Post author

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    JennaStocker: We want to preserve the greatness of America before it burns; the other side keeps starting fires, convinced the country needs to be completely destroyed to save it.

    Terrific post, and a great conclusion. Well done.

    Thank you!

    • #11
    • November 2, 2020, at 8:44 AM PST
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    • Like
  12. JennaStocker Member
    JennaStocker
    Post author

    DonG (skeptic) (View Comment):

    JennaStocker: As decision day approaches, I waver between a Trump victory and resounding defeat

    You should embrace the possibility of a tie and months of litigation. There is just 24 more hours to be a prepper.

    Just when I was looking at a Trump win as a break in the dark clouds…

    • #12
    • November 2, 2020, at 8:45 AM PST
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    • Like
  13. Clifford A. Brown Contributor
    Clifford A. Brown

    Seawriter (View Comment):

    JennaStocker: I feel like a squirrel in the middle of the road who can’t decide whether to turn back or cross the street as the car barrels toward him.

    There have been times I have felt like that. When I do, my default is to cross the street. You are just as likely to get hit turning back as continuing. I would rather go down trying rather than go down retreating.

    Or in best Kipling terms:

    If your officer’s dead and the sergeants look white,
    Remember it’s ruin to run from a fight:
    So take open order, lie down, and sit tight,
    And wait for supports like a soldier.

    If we take open order, sit tight and wait for supports we will win this thing.

    Like this:

    • #13
    • November 2, 2020, at 9:33 PM PST
      • ⋅
    • 1 like