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Policies for a “What If” World
As I watch the very few policies and questionable actions by the Biden administration, I’m becoming convinced that they are
operating to create a “what if” world: what if we had the perfect world, and if we don’t have it now, what if we take steps that would take us in that direction? In other words, they are frighteningly unmoored from reality, and our country will suffer greatly if they are not stopped.
What do I mean by a “what if” world? Here is what they believe:
- What if we could have world peace? We only need to appease Iran so that, although they will likely develop nuclear weapons, they won’t use them because they will so appreciate being part of the world community.
- What if we were considered as an equal by the rest of the world? We’re not yet, but we only need to continue to defer to our allies and continue to fund and support their international goals.
- What if we just let China operate freely, which they will want to do anyway, and just follow our own path? We’ll deal with difficulties (like Taiwan and further incursions on Hong Kong and the South China Sea) when they arise. And we’ve tolerated human rights abuses from other countries for years, so as long as we keep protesting the Chinese treatment of the Uighurs, we’ll maintain our credibility in the human rights community.
- What if we just wait to see if Russia’s operatives hack us again before we do anything else? They just might decide attacking our cyber networks isn’t worth the effort.
- What if the Chinese refuse an additional investigation of the Wuhan lab? They probably will refuse, and we’ll just keep protesting and they’ll just keep refusing. Life is like that sometimes. Meanwhile, we’ll look like we’re trying to get results.
- What if we just continue letting illegal migrants cross the border for now? Those poor people are suffering so much in their home countries, and we are in a position to provide them comfort and a peaceful life. You know all those jobs people are saying need to be filled here? These new folks will fit the bill just fine.
- What if we refine the federal election system? The founders had no idea how chaotic elections would be with the states running them, and we think the federal government is in a better position to bring order and continuity to the process.
- What if we continue our campaign to encourage people to become whatever they wish? The movements on gender equity, for example, will guide us in the direction where, beginning with children, people can grow into whatever gender they wish. It’s the ultimate freedom.
- What if we finally bring justice to our country, which is riddled with racism? By bringing Critical Race Theory into every aspect of society, including business, education, and culture, we will enlighten our citizens on how to bring fairness and equity to every group of society. We will all benefit.
- What if we put appropriate limitations on religious organizations and their practitioners? The antiquated beliefs of these groups and their members are actually limiting the freedoms of all, by insisting that everyone follows rules and beliefs that no longer apply to society. By eliminating those restrictions, people will be free to live the life of their choosing, without having to comply with ancient requirements that no longer serve them or the rest of society in a constructive way.
* * *
When you believe that you live in a “what if” world, anything is possible. Yes, there may be inconveniences along the way. Yes, people may protest and temporarily rant against these policies which are only for the good of society. But we must continue to move forward to actualize our vision for a better world.
We will build back better.
We will persist in our efforts.
We will be victorious.
* * *
We share this place called the United States of America with these people. We tend to characterize them as monsters, but they are quite simply deluded. And they will not be talked down from the stands they have taken.
We must find a way to stop them and save the country from their destructive efforts.
That duty rests with all of us.
[Photo is by Umit Yildirim, unsplash.com]
Published in Culture
Suzan, I think you’ve hit on something concerning the mental habits of Progressives. Good post.
WHAT IF we assume that wind, solar, and energy storage will rapidly improve and become cheaper in a manner similar to what Moore’s Law describes for integrated circuits?…and we ignore the problems of mining and processing the materials required?
WHAT IF we assume that *everyone* wants ‘good union jobs’ and will be happy with the rigid job definitions often associated with those jobs?
WHAT IF we assume that children are better-raised on a mass-production basis, rather than the ‘artisan’ type of making that we Woke people prefer for all the products in our lives.
…and, most importantly:
WHAT IF we fit our beliefs and policies to those that will get us a spot at the Cool Kids’ Table?…(the cool kids being national journalists, Ivy League academics, and European elites)
The one “what if” that the Progressives never voice and may not ever think: What if we’re wrong.
I love your contribution, @davidfoster, but that is just the way we think they think. I tried to figure out what they might actually think through their own lens. It wasn’t easy!
Heaven forbid!! You are correct. They would have to be beaten into submission, and that won’t happen either, Rodin.
Great post.
Here are a few more bad habits in these people’s ways of thinking – specifically some more things they DON’T think about:
Why were traditional values and customs established originally?
What are the risks and costs of what we want to do?
How will we defend our imagined utopia against evil people who want to destroy or exploit it?
How will we deal with good people who simply want to live differently?
Great questions! And you are also correct–they would never be willing to ask these questions, because it would threaten their illusion for the future. But they are so important, that overlooking them dooms their goals.
Agree very much what the opposition thinks through their own lens(es), that is part of good competitive analysis.
Concerning my specific bullet points:
WHAT IF we assume that wind, solar, and energy storage will rapidly improve and become cheaper in a manner similar to what Moore’s Law describes for integrated circuits?…and we ignore the problems of mining and processing the materials required?
Many of the Progs really do think that. I’ve seen very intelligent people argue that since there is so much scale in solar, specifically, and that new product generations follow one another much more rapidly than they can in nuclear (less safety-critical, for one thing), we will see continued great cost improvements. (Of course, the watts per square foot actually received from the sun doesn’t get any greater, and the costs of physical installation and wiring remain no matter how cheap the panels themselves were to become)
WHAT IF we assume that *everyone* wants ‘good union jobs’ and will be happy with the rigid job definitions often associated with those jobs?
Of course, many of the people who harp on ‘good union jobs’ don’t have any intention of a career devoted to such work…but I do think they tend to not understand that the desires for independence and autonomy can exist among people who aren’t journalists or politicians or professors.
….continuing:
WHAT IF we assume that children are better-raised on a mass-production basis, rather than the ‘artisan’ type of making that we Woke people prefer for all the products in our lives.
Of course, they would never actually use the term ‘mass-production’ for daycare, universal or high-priced…but do largely tend to assume that little is lost and much is gained when children are raised in a communal setting. “It takes a village”
WHAT IF we fit our beliefs and policies to those that will get us a spot at the Cool Kids’ Table?…(the cool kids being national journalists, Ivy League academics, and European elites)
Again, not the words that they would use, but a lot of people do tend to organize their lives around being a member of what C S Lewis called the Inner Circle, and while this drive isn’t absent on the Right, I think it is considerably stronger on today’s Left.
@susanquinn I think that is correct and truly terrifying. I am starting to wonder if we really can get along or if we need to try to find the most amicable grounds of separation. It doesn’t appear as if the fever is ever going to break for progressives. At what point do we just go our own way and let them descend fully into the depths of the depravity they seek.
Now you are scaring me, @raxxalan. You see the point I am making. We (both sides) are so far apart in our thinking, in our rationale, that I am really worried that there is no place to come together. Even when they are caught out with their mistakes, they don’t seem to care. Just the other day Biden whispered that business owners just needed to pay their people more and everything would be fine. The man has no clue, nor do his constituents.
If there was a strategy to go our own way and leave them behind, I’d seriously work with that. But meanwhile, we are out of power. What do we do in the meantime?
Your and my governors are pretty good on what must be done, i.e. state action to try to slow the juggernaut and mitigate some of its worst excesses. As individuals we need to continue to support and promote politicians and policies we favor. We need to not be intimidated or cowed by the mob, and I would say we need to provision ourselves against contingencies. I always thought buying bulk ammo or freeze dried food was extreme; however, I no longer believe that is the case. I am about to reacquire many of my weapons that I sent to my father’s for safe keeping and am looking into acquiring other means of maintaining a certain amount of self sufficiency. I hope I won’t need it. One consequence of what if thinking is a failure to see the consequences of your actions. Since our elites have adopted this strategy it is necessary for us to be prepared to at least weather the short term bad effects. Hopefully, sanity can be restored before we have to consider the longer term bad effects.
Ronald Reagan’s words have stood the test of time.
removed
The difficulties like Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the South China Sea have already arisen. They haven’t been dealt with.
From the Left’s perspective, what difficulties?
I don’t think even leftists are in favor of any of those.
But they don’t care enough to do anything about it. Where’s Biden in all of that?
Watching “Matlock” reruns.
It’s all Obama’s third term anyway.
Including the Cloward-Piven spending plans.
No one at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is truly *that* committed to the Biden figureheads, and their excitement about Harris has probably waned considerably as well.
But they carry out what they carry out because they yearn for the kind of approval and absolution (if they are caucasian) that can only be dispensed by the cultic high priest who rules — indirectly but unmistakably — from his walled manse in Kalorama.
The liberal progressives thought the same about us when Trump was in the WH, as in they need to go and we need to restore our country and let our allies know “America is back!”. Many of the perfect world issues you cited above were presented by the Obama administration. Many of those people are back in charge – “O” 2.0
We saw what happened then – none of it worked, and was in fact a disaster, leading to the unraveling of many of our common sense, Constitutional guidelines. Now we are seeing an acceleration of those disastrous policies. I can’t name one what worked well.
The Left is unable or unwilling to learn from their mistakes, as you point out, FSC. In fact, they double down on their efforts, with even more “creative” ways of justifying them. I can’t think of any that worked, either.
The Left doesn’t see them as mistakes and in fairness they may not be. The results of a particular policy aren’t the point. The only point is does the policy advance progressivism, and does the policy make you (the individual leftist) feel virtuous. What its actual results are and how much misery it causes is irrelevant.
Thanks for the reminder, @raxxalan (and I’m not being sarcastic). “Failure” is not in their lexicon.
Dear Susan,
The Biden Junta’s what-if world would leave the USA dangerously behind its two oceans and easy prey for a rapacious China and an almost equally rapacious Russia. The meat in a gigantic Subway sandwich.
Well said, @michaelgallagher. And I am not the least bit interested in becoming part of someone’s sandwich!