Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
There’s a Reason Democrats Have Become So Ruthless
Much has been made of the recent Time magazine article which explained how a well-funded cabal of powerful people managed to get Joe Biden (think about that – Joe Biden!) elected president over a popular incumbent who won more votes for re-election than he did in his initial election. Lest you think I’m using provocative language to describe this well-funded cabal of powerful people, allow me to quote directly from the article on this well-funded cabal of powerful people who managed to get Joe Biden elected:
“a well-funded cabal of powerful people, ranging across industries and ideologies, working together behind the scenes to influence perceptions, change rules and laws, steer media coverage and control the flow of information”
The article, written by Democrats in a leftist magazine, is terrifying. It openly discusses how Democrats won the last election, and it’s terrifying. Time Magazine is very open about their enthusiastic support of this well-funded cabal of powerful people, and how pleased Time is with the outcome of the 2020 election. They even titled their article, “The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election.” But such fraud creative election strategies are only part of the plan for the modern Democratic Party.
Free speech and independent thought are encouraged. As long as you agree with whatever modern leftists say today. If they change their minds tomorrow, you should too. Conservative speech and thought have moved from being ignored to being actively eradicated. From cancel culture, to social media censorship, to conservative speakers being shouted down on college campuses, and so on, non-leftist thoughts are no longer permitted. Today, if you say something that leftists disagree with, you will not be ignored, you will be attacked. And everyone knows it.
The 1619 Project, and all related efforts to convert schools into indoctrination centers, is extremely important. Many young people today will graduate from college at the age of 22 having never encountered an out-of-the-closet conservative. Leftism isn’t a political ideology to them – it’s just normal. They can scarcely imagine an alternative. And they won’t imagine it, because whatever it is is evil, as far as they know. And they’re not evil. So there you go.
I could go on and you probably could too. But I’d rather not. It’s depressing.
If the Democrats knew they had the support of the American people, they would not do all these things. Even if Democrats were interested in earning the support of the American people, they would not do all these things.
Why would you meddle with elections, silence your opposition, and train children not to think about opposing ideas, if you knew your ideas were good? If you believe in the righteousness of your ideas, you encourage debate and elections – you don’t suppress them.
This is what bothers me the most about the current political environment. The left’s efforts to gain absolute, unchallengeable power in American society are terrifying, and they know it. So rather than conceal their true intentions, they’ve decided to become sufficiently ruthless to simply take power and keep it.
They’ve moving away from Bill Clinton and toward Joseph Stalin, as leftists always do. Every time. So predictable it’s almost boring.
I didn’t like Bill Clinton at the time. But now, I kind of miss him.
Modern leftists do not miss Bill Clinton. They’ve moved past him. Way past him. Progressives call this progress.
I call it terrifying.
Predictable. Almost boring. But terrifying.
Published in General
And anyone who was complicit in handing these people power bears the responsibility for the coming horror.
Just last evening, during Happy Hour, my wife and I were discussing this very subject. We came to the exact same conclusion, Doc. If the left were so sure they were correct in their ideas, they wouldn’t be so belligerently opposed to discussing opposing ideas. They wouldn’t be so frightened of being wrong. Ahhh, isn’t Happy Hour a great thing!
This week my anger over the cabal article is more directed at the Republicans who not only supported Biden by denigrating Donald Trump on a personal level but also failed to mount an effective countercampaign. Trump’s many achievements were easy to describe to the public.
Instead, the Republicans in the best positions to mount that countercampaign were too busy going after Trump personally to get their act together for the good of the country.
The ironic thing about this to me is that over the last few weeks, they have been telling us to just accept the rather questionable results reported on the 2020 election. “You lost. Get over it.”
I would say the same to them: “You had an opportunity in 2016 and again in 2020 to find a candidate that you would have preferred to support. You failed to do that. Why didn’t you just accept those losses and instead try to use Trump’s win to advance Republican ideals? You lost. Get over it.”
But … mean tweets!
The smartest Republicans are in honest professions. The most power hungry, greedy Democrats are in politics.
If there was a vaccination or cure for communism, it would have died long ago. The same problem has existed throughout history. The only difference is now we label these power hungry, corrupt leaders or their methods of control: communism, Marxism, Leninism, Fascism, Naziism, Maoism, etc.
Evil leaders spread their poison by exploiting any number of the “seven deadly sins.”
Communism has spread too deeply into our society to roll it back. It has marched through every institution like Sherman through the South. Even the military is now succumbing.
I believe Kurt Schlicter’s books are more predictive than fiction.
See my post ‘You Play With My World Like it’s Your Little Toy’, in which I said:
In 1931, a book titled The Conscription of a People was published by Katherine, Duchess of Atholl. It was “a blistering, well-documented indictment of the savage collectivization of life in the Soviet Union.”
The title of the book provides a perfect description of the worldview of the Resetters. The entire population is to be drafted into an army, assigned to whatever battles and tasks their rulers..far beyond their ability to influence..think most fitting.
You believe your ideas are generally correct. So why aren’t they winning?
Truth is not evident by popularity, nor lies by obscurity. Being certain in your beliefs or proposed remedies has no bearing on whether or not you are willing to tolerate disagreement. Certainty in truth has no bearing on the measure of your hope that most people, or the people with power, will be persuaded to embrace that truth. It is the nature of our beliefs, and not certainty, that encourages us to persuade rather than force; to respect free will.
They are ruthless because of their beliefs. Their worldview is one of ends-justify-means morality, tribal loyalty, blind obedience, guilt without mercy, and due vengeance.
They are ruthless now because they are now able, not because they suddenly want to be. The left has no limiting principles. Their behavior is limited only by power. This was evident decades ago.
Now they have more power than ever before. They dominate nearly every government agency (including the military and lawless security agencies), nearly every major corporation, most news media and both wire services, every Internet platform and telecommunications company, every national bank and lender, nearly all of public education, most art and entertainment, and on and on. Politicians and bureaucrats flagrantly violate laws and then return to the highest offices of power. Many Americans don’t even trust elections anymore.
Meanwhile, few traditional Americans will risk jobs, contracts, grades, or even public scorn to voice their opinions. Few refuse to sign mandatory lies about “diversity” or to attend corporate propaganda meetings. The public lies are ever bolder, and so does “the silent majority” become bolder in its cowardice.
The pandemic response annihilated expectations of American life. No end is in sight. Now Democrats have two false but powerful narratives — insurrection and climate change — with which to claim emergency powers and need of extraordinary actions. Many Americans are unemployed. Many are afraid of disease. Many are afraid of violence. Now is their chance to push hard.
Still today, most Republican voters willfully think Democrats have reached the end of their ambitions or power; that American life will continue basically as before. It won’t. Conservatives waited too long.
The evils will become increasingly explicit; like rampaging mobs that prosecutors ignore and politicians bail out while persecuting local police; like show trials of former politicians; like militarized capitol streets; like racial and political preferences made corporate policy.
I’m a Christian. There is always hope. It must be hope for conversion of my enemies as well as for protection of the righteous and for the triumph of truth. But I expect that whatever is ahead will be very different from the relative peace, prosperity, and lawfulness of America in the past century. The ruthless have little reason to fear the righteous today. When truth and morals fail to inhibit men, fear is the last barrier to evil.
< devil’s advocate mode = on >
Democrats might argue that the lesson of Bill Clinton is that moving towards the center didn’t win him the respect of Republicans so why should they bother?
In other words, when Republicans scold Democrats for painting gentlemen like Bob Dole, Mitt Romney, and John McCain like nazis, they’re ignoring the log in their own eye when it comes to how Bill Clinton was characterized.
< devil’s advocate mode = off >
On the other hand, one can also say that’s just politics. At the end of the day, it’s not the size of the gap between you and your opponent that matters. What matters is finding the gap in your opponent’s armor and exploiting it, no matter how small it might be.
On the third hand, it wasn’t just Republicans who made fun of Bill Clinton. The progressive media-industrial complex also painted him as a lecherous douchebag. e.g. The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live, etc.
As I recall, in an episode of the great (animated) show The Critic, there was a newspaper headline something like “Lecherous Hillbilly Elected.”
First of all Aaron, brilliant comment. Thanks for taking the time to put that together.
But I disagree with part of it:
You probably have a point here.
But in my view, the powers that be that control the Democrat party (reverently referred to by Time Magazine as a well-funded cabal of powerful people) I think have decided to just take what they want. They’ve become frustrated with the deplorables not understanding what is good for them. They just think it would be easier for everyone concerned if they just take over. Using whatever means necessary. Debate is a waste of time, because leftists often lose debates. Elections are unpredictable, because deplorables vote. So let’s stop debate and control elections. Problem fixed.
It’s certainly true that the overwhelming leftism of our educational system, media, entertainment industry, etc has given modern leftists more leverage than they had in decades past. So perhaps modern leftists are more ruthless simply because, well, why not?
But I really think it was a conscious decision. They could work within the American system of debates and elections. But they decided to bypass that.
Perhaps we’re both right. But I really think this change of course was intentional. “The American political system is getting in our way. So let’s bypass the American political system.” This was a conscious decision.
I think.
The difference between your position and Aaron’s is merely a question of timing. I think the decision to bypass the American political system was made at the very beginning of the progressive movement–early 20th century. Wilson’s executive overreach and FDR’s court bullying were examples of their rejection of any pretense of fair competition for power. The long march through our institutions didn’t start in 2016.
The progressive movement’s core beliefs are inherently opposed to the personal, individual freedoms our constitution and political system were set up to protect. Progressives are acting brazenly today because they can. Censorship is working for them.
What is “political science” anyway that it should be a college degree? Is it a science? It’s not scientific. It’s not a “profession” as such. Does it have a discrete body of knowledge of it’s own, like engineering or even like law or medicine? It could as easily be a specialization of “history” which includes the political past. What does it ready a student for? It’s not economics, or urban planning. It’s not moral philosophy. Is it a form of psychology? What is it?
The only two politicians I know of who have degrees in “political science” and nothing more are Debbie Wassermann Schultz and Anthony Wiener.
There are layers to history. American history overlaps with European history and world history. In many ways, the changes we see our natural extensions of the secular Enlightenment that also birthed the French Revolution, philosophies doubting the reality of reality, and much else. Likewise, modern progressivism is both a continuation of old movements and a surge of fresh falsehoods.
To some extent, sure, decisions have been made recently. But their methods have changes because their powers have changed. Wilson and FDR pushed as much as they could get away with. So did LBJ. But now what’s to stop Democrats from defying the Constitution and due process more openly? Their voters believe there are bigger fish to fry, like imminent climate catastrophes and violent racist extremists under ever couch pillow.
Corporations are acting on their own. Unless Republican governors and state legislatures can curtail that activism, much will be accomplished by intimidating employees and reducing consumer choices before laws even enter the picture. How soon can conservatives get a competing Internet up and running?
By the way, I wrote this because I want to be realistic without driving anybody to despair. The current circumstances are really bumming me out. But we should be “happy warriors”, as Steyn puts it.
Mother Theresa was a happy soldier of Christ. She didn’t undo the Indian caste system or secure generations of untouchables. But she helped who she could, how she could, and that was enough. She worked with misery, but kept smiling.
And never-Trumpers ignored Trump’s actions and cited “mean Tweets” as a reason (along with his personality) to vote him out of office. Shame on them . . .
This is where you get the left wrong. The left has a zealots conviction that is unmoored from reality. As AOC put it.
The left has tied moral puritanism together with skepticism of objective reality. They can be absolutely certain of their beliefs without ever needing to justify them.
Agreed
Urban planning?
I thought the Time magazine article was a complete diversion. An attempt to convince us that powerful forces swayed the electorate towards Joe Biden. Maybe not totally in the spirit of our country, but perfectly legal.
The truth is they stole the election illegally and they know it. False ballots, rigged voting machines, and whatever else they concocted. They are thieves and honest citizens are the losers.
And yet still there are Republicans here, there, and everywhere who say, “Naw, it’s fine. We’ll focus on the midterms.”
Still waiting on that apology from the Never Trumpers on the bow still denying the evidence.
But what exactly is the problem? What is the goal, that the problem hinders?
I think Aaron hit it on the head.
Bill Clinton once explained himself with the surprisingly honest answer, “Because I could…”, that really shows him at his seediest (or most psychopathic). I believe we see more and more every year just how twisted and yet how privileged our leaders are. But now I would say, we see it in a good portion of the progressive Left as well.
“Because I Could” also represents mankind’s greatest flaw: that we all if all consequence is withdrawn, will do just about anything. And only social and spiritual conscience (and some will argue, the Holy Spirit acting preemptively) and, failing an effectual conscience, the fear of reprisal, tempers human behavior. Look at the antediluvian world. Look at the single Bounty survivor on Pitcairn Island. The examples are too numerous to list, but look at Anthony Wiener and Hunter Biden. Look at not just rioting and killing, but at cancelling. And every governor and health secretary that closes down society. This is all cold-blooded id- expression, “Because I can”.
It’s also called city planning among other names. It involves technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportation, communications, and distribution networks and their accessibility. It’s related to civil engineering.
I knew a guy who graduated with a degree in Urban Planning and it was essentially designing cities, or at least directing their growth.
Don’t kid yourself. This is the work of the Clinton machine. The only reason he didn’t do all of this is because he had to set the stage for it first. He is fully on board with this. Why do you think he spent that time in Moscow in 1969? People didn’t go to Moscow for a vacation.
The problem is there is no utopia on this Earth.
The left believes they can usher in their dream if utopia. The right will not agree to that because…reality.
Neither can persuade the other, and so eons of pendulums swinging from one extreme to the other.
Then evil people get in during arguments, and TAKE control.
Satan is the Great Deceiver. We can’t even agree on that after millenniums of observation.
Just so.
They did. The forces were a particular type of voting machine and printers spewing out midnight votes for Biden . . .
Maybe you’ll get it in the Reeducation Camp.
I met a staff sergeant in the reserves who majored in City Planning. He was a pleasant, but small man. He was also fairly short in height, but that’s just a coincidence.
As he described to me his degree, and his aspirations of getting a job as a city planner (he was asking for a letter of recommendation), I was amazed that anyone could think that this is a skill that could be taught, or should be taught as a course of study in college. I made me think of someone that might major in “Being President” or “Senator.” How could you trust someone to teach such a subject, or even pretend that they can?
I didnt’ write the letter of recommendation because when he asked me for it was the first time I even met him and he was transferring out that same day.
I suppose the goal involves postponing treeless, waterless dystopias, and ensuring that everyone has a view. The guy I knew, I guess it’s alright to say, became a USMC Captain, founded two furniture businesses, and last I heard now has an FFL and owns a, I suppose you’d call it, a rifle rehabilitating business.
We can wait for the next election to see if it’s stolen again. Prepare to move quickly to pull states and chunks of states we can still control out of the union and put them together with the constitution as written not as currently practiced. There are good reasons not to wait until it’s too late. They know which states they have to control and will control by legalizing illegals pouring in. We could take a long term approach but it’s not clear the Chinese and the giant corporations will allow that. It could be many decades at best. Is it possible to get rational ordinary democrats to actually pay attention and to pull together everywhere to preserve fair elections? Is it possible to pull people out of states controlled by Democrats and work to shape national politics from secure prosperous states? I don’t have a clue, but not dealing decisively with these totalitarians will give them what they want.