Building our own Tsunami

 

We know the country is in trouble. Our tendency is to point to movements, campaigns and organizations for our present circumstances. And yet, sadly, we must look at human nature, our lives in the 21st century, to realize how we’ve arrived at this moment. Most of us could not have imagined the advancement of accusations of racism, the teaching of socialism, the totalitarian lockdowns and the corruption of culture. On reflection, however, I think I can see how we arrived here.

As human beings, we are mostly averse to change; others have said that it’s not the change that disturbs us, but the potential outcomes. But first, we must acknowledge that change is even occurring. And for the last several years, we either didn’t notice the changes, discounted their importance or simply tried to ignore them. We saw the impending changes as happening outside our own lives, happening to others, and we chose not to pay attention to them. Or we flicked them away like annoying flies, disturbing our peace of mind or the predictable course of our lives. We didn’t realize that those flies that we were trying to ignore were actually tsunamis-in-waiting.

When a tsunami occurs, we don’t realize what is happening unless we know the nature of tsunamis. Somewhere, probably far from us, the earth has shifted under the ocean:

To those on the shore, the first sign of something amiss can be the retreat of the sea, which is followed by the arrival of large waves.

‘The sea was driven back, and its waters flowed away to such an extent that the deep seabed was laid bare and many kinds of sea creatures could be seen,’ wrote Roman historian Ammianus Marcellus, awed at a tsunami that struck the then-thriving port of Alexandria in 365 AD.

‘Huge masses of water flowed back when least expected, and now overwhelmed and killed many thousands of people…. Some great ships were hurled by the fury of the waves onto the rooftops, and others were thrown up to two miles (three kilometers) from the shore.’

Why do I use the example of the tsunami to represent the state of America?

We didn’t know how to recognize that such overwhelming changes were coming.

The signs were there: society was becoming more secular as people abandoned their churches; schools were teaching a hatred for America and a love of socialism; an old trope of a racist America was revived, and social media gave people permission to ostracize one another at will.

These shifts didn’t begin to happen yesterday. But we were all caught up in our own lives. After all, the churches still existed; the schools were still being built; the teachers were teaching; universities were still being funded; we were living in greater freedom and a less racist society than ever before.

Suddenly, though, everything began drastically to change. All the vestiges of society still existed: the churches, ancient and new, still stood, but few people attended; schools were still teaching, but parents had no idea what hatred their children were learning, and social media became a cesspool for cancel culture. No one realized that, like a tsunami, everything was “pulling away” from the cultural norms and the morals and ethics of America. We watched it with a kind of fascination wondering, at a distance, what it meant, yet being uneasy as we watched life in retreat.

And now the tsunami may be approaching, and we don’t know what to do.

* * * * *

The initial step for escaping a tsunami is to get to high ground. In our times, we have to get to a place where we can escape the toxic environment and come together, to places that are safe and will keep us from drowning in the morass.

Then similar organizations must realize that they are not alone, that others want to preserve the foundations of what they have: churches, small businesses, parents, and educators that have not been lost to the swamp; and in each group, there must be resilient people who have the courage and persistence to defy the pressures and condemnations of the Left. They must be powerful leaders who realize that there is too much to lose if we don’t step up. They must lead people to speak up against ugliness and totalitarian motives and remind them that our children and our country are at stake. They must recruit others of a similar mindset, who are willing to take risks and speak out. And we must follow their examples and bring in others to help us do this work.

These actions will not have an impact overnight. Circumstances may get uglier before they start to improve. Every chance we have to celebrate pushing back, courageous actions and accomplishments for the good, the true, and the beautiful should be shared among groups, since there are a few organizations in the media who will promote our efforts and our successes. Although each of the groups will identify their own resources and strategies, they must liaison with each other. We have to create a powerful coalition within our society. With enough collaboration, we will create a groundswell of forces.

We will form our own tsunami and extinguish those forces that want to destroy us.

We will take back our country, one step at a time.

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  1. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Percival (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    KCVolunteer (View Comment):

    The Dems have proposed a new city state, Washington DC, and also Puerto Rico. They can have them, if we also create New York City, Detroit, Chicago, Seattle, Portland OR, and LA. Any others?

    They can have their 4 new senators, and I’ll take the strong probability of 12 new Republican Senators. Not only that, because of the ability of those cities to generally dominate their state politics, the conservatives in those states would likely end up out from under the thumbs and corruption of the left.

    I’m not following, KC. Why are you assuming that the other city states would likely be Republican?

    Aha! Thanks, Percival. I didn’t know they were “surrounded”!

    • #31
  2. Jesse Brown Coolidge
    Jesse Brown
    @JesseBrown

    This comment thread brings to mind Atlas Shrugged where John Galt convinces and recruits all the producers to quietly disappear to an invisible enclave in the mountains of Colorado. Well that’s no longer an option. S. M. Anderson’s “A Bright Shore” while fantastical, seems the only remedy – a parallel Earth, identical in all respects except it’s totally unpopulated. A billionaire industrialist creates a star gate and recruits a couple million people to cross over and start over – all while the US descends into a Stalinist communist state. I know, I know but it’s an entertaining fantasy. 

    Eventually, we’ll have to fight back and there will be blood in the streets. If (when) it happens I just hope we’re not trading one form of tyranny for another. 

    • #32
  3. KCVolunteer Lincoln
    KCVolunteer
    @KCVolunteer

    Susan QuinnPost author

    KCVolunteer (View Comment):

    The Dems have proposed a new city state, Washington DC, and also Puerto Rico. They can have them, if we also create New York City, Detroit, Chicago, Seattle, Portland OR, and LA. Any others?

    They can have their 4 new senators, and I’ll take the strong probability of 12 new Republican Senators. Not only that, because of the ability of those cities to generally dominate their state politics, the conservatives in those states would likely end up out from under the thumbs and corruption of the left.

    I’m not following, KC. Why are you assuming that the other city states would likely be Republican?

    Not the city states, those states already have 2 Dem senators and the cities would re-elect them. The Red parts of the states left behind would then elect Republicans.

    • #33
  4. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    The tsunami metaphor is very apt. I do fear a shift where my values will be swept away. The whole BLM scared the crap out of me, especially tearing down statues of long held revered Americans. I can see that tsunami happening. 

    By the way, I’ve been waiting for a moment to say this. I remember recently that someone here roughly said he believed the US was still a center-right country. I don’t believe that to be true.  At best it’s an equally divided country but there is evidence that we might actually a center-left country. We have just been fortunate that most that lean left have not voted. Now with mail in voting and month long open polls, more left leaning people will be voting. And have. When a state like Georgia is split evenly, ther is something going on in the country. You can say I’ve been waiting for that tsunami to sweep me away. 

    • #34
  5. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Jesse Brown (View Comment):
    I know, I know but it’s an entertaining fantasy. 

    It’s very intriguing, Jesse. In these times, its’ an outlet for the situation that exists, and as long as we don’t try to stay in the fantasy, we’ll be fine. Thanks.

    • #35
  6. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Manny (View Comment):

    The tsunami metaphor is very apt. I do fear a shift where my values will be swept away. The whole BLM scared the crap out of me, especially tearing down statues of long held revered Americans. I can see that tsunami happening.

    By the way, I’ve been waiting for a moment to say this. I remember recently that someone here roughly said he believed the US was still a center-right country. I don’t believe that to be true. At best it’s an equally divided country but there is evidence that we might actually a center-left country. We have just been fortunate that most that lean left have not voted. Now with mail in voting and month long open polls, more left leaning people will be voting. And have. When a state like Georgia is split evenly, ther is something going on in the country. You can say I’ve been waiting for that tsunami to sweep me away.

    Don’t give up yet, Manny. The more we shine a light on what we think is going on, the better chance we have of getting to “high ground.” We have a lot of smart and creative people on our side who aren’t giving up yet. Let’s hang in there!

    • #36
  7. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):

    The tsunami metaphor is very apt. I do fear a shift where my values will be swept away. The whole BLM scared the crap out of me, especially tearing down statues of long held revered Americans. I can see that tsunami happening.

    By the way, I’ve been waiting for a moment to say this. I remember recently that someone here roughly said he believed the US was still a center-right country. I don’t believe that to be true. At best it’s an equally divided country but there is evidence that we might actually a center-left country. We have just been fortunate that most that lean left have not voted. Now with mail in voting and month long open polls, more left leaning people will be voting. And have. When a state like Georgia is split evenly, ther is something going on in the country. You can say I’ve been waiting for that tsunami to sweep me away.

    Don’t give up yet, Manny. The more we shine a light on what we think is going on, the better chance we have of getting to “high ground.” We have a lot of smart and creative people on our side who aren’t giving up yet. Let’s hang in there!

    Absolutely. I will never give up. ;)

    • #37
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