On the precipice of American Sobriety

1 October, 2007

Yes, I am about to actually make a (potentially unfounded) speculation. (Gasp!) Far be it for I to be someone to make too much of the recent press references to Ayn Rand. (Watch me as I rub my hands together.) After all, anyone could figure that the major press (as the collective that they truly are!) would in their infinite Leftism find that they would feel guilty if they didn't at least pay such a literary nemesis some lip service for fear of being "derelict of duty". Oh irony, sometimes I can not but help love you! (In case someone is slow on the uptake, Ayn Rand equals sales.) What the Hell am I _really_ on about? Well, leaving aside that no fundamental cultural change is likely to happen in the next decade, and it will take at least part of another decade for all of those students who have been getting ARI's book donations to get to that age where they really get serious about politics (due to having established careers, houses, families, etc.), I think we have good evidence that the intellectual vacuum will get filled in the near future! (No, no one could even begin to know specifically when...)

This is, of course, no small matter. If we are to have a political revolution (which apparently many sentient people are longing for), then that can _only_ come after an intellectual revolution has gone into full swing. You don't get a Mussolini or Hitler without a Marx going to work beforehand, for example. Likewise, you will never get another American revolution without a substantial American minority becoming well-aquainted with Ayn Rand's work. (Yes, please do refer to Dr. Peikoff's _Ominous Parallels_...) What I am getting at is the realization that there truly is "no alternative" circa 2020 or thereabouts. Okay, America is not lead by a papacy now, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see what is yielded by the aftermath of Presidents Reagan and George Bush, Jr. It's not hard NOW ..after so much has transpired legally! Also, (big surprise) the Dems. are following suit in advocating religion...., and there shouldn't be a doubt why that is. Please. The consequences of this path-switch are to come eventually (barring the very interference which Objectivists hope to provide.)

Consider this: Objectivists are already lamenting the Democratic absorption of religious ethics. Well, aside from witnessing what is likely the inevitable, is there anything to fear in the short-term by having the Democrats in power? NO! It will very predictably play out... (as awful as that certainly is), and the result will be the same. There are two fears; each correspond to each party's use of religion, and we already know plenty about the respective future outcomes.

Let's say the Democrats get and retain the White House for 3 successive terms. (Yes, that would actually be the sound of Hillary having an orgasm..., but never you mind....) What precisely will they do that could be significantly worse than what we would likely get otherwise? More restrictions due to future Patriot Acts? Table that concern! Haha, more spending... yes, as if anyone on the face of the Earth can actually come remotely close to quantifying the spending of the American government. What else is there to say except that the flood gates have been open for decades? Who are we kidding here...? You couldn't possibly rocket into space that much money as we have wasted.... You couldn't begin to burn it... If you are number-crunching, then you are wasting your time. We are FAR beyond that as a nation. (One of the several reasons why Libertarians are fools is that these sorts of issues first depend on principles of basic philosophy not of economics, but that's a tangent...) As I've said before, the Democrats are following the Republicans' lead. I have to emphasize this further. As Objectivists have said in recent years, the Left doesn't have new ideas (and that's leaving aside that hardly any of their recent ideas are good regardless of sources.) The Left has and will continue to merely mimic the Conservatives. Yes, it sounds implausible and harsh, but the Left is that myopic actually. The Left couldn't find a new idea if it was held in front of their respective faces. Oh no? Go back and read my earlier blog postings... ...or merely recount the news of the past two decades. Oh ye, of too much faith...lose that drunken altruistic stupor! ...and I hear the calling that the Democrats will wreak havoc via medical legislation. No doubt that they would. ..and still it was this administration under President Bush, Jr. that implemented new provisions for prescription drug issues, yet my words fall on deaf ears I suppose. Meanwhile, the "comatose" believe that there are substantial differences between the two major parties... in ideology?!?!? Madness! I could go on for ages... Let's move forward...

What of the Republicans? Suppose that they have total control of the federal government for the next decade. Would that be different than that of Democratic control? Yes and no. Initially there isn't going to be much of a difference worth noting. The problem is that Republicans have the very things that the Democrats used to have. Republicans have a comprehensive agenda, they have fortitude, they have a well-worn morality to fall back on, and they have more (such as filled coffers.) Looking down the road, it is very unlikely that the Democrats will put up much of a fight. It's simply not in the cards. The Democrats blew their chance. For freedom-loving people, the situation is much more dire. We actually give more than a damn about our own respective futures, and we can visualize those future directions. Does it scare you to know that there is a political party that relies on the idea that the greatest rewards can only come in the "afterlife"? This should terrify you. It's the 21st century folks; it's not supposed to be the Dark Ages. There's more to be said, and still I have to keep moving...

Do you realize what this all begins to add up to? The Republicans have a situation where all they have to do is merely "show up", and they are automatically going to look like American saviors. After all, the citizenry has _no other viable political alternative_ to rely on. Absolutely nothing else. As I have said before, both parties are anathema to American freedom. Still, when you are presented with a problem, you are morally obligated to cut it down at its source i.e. its root lest you welcome your own demise. The root is the politicization of altruism. It's been this way for most of a century, but what is different now is that that theory is finally being manifested into ultimate practice. We _are_ seeing the beginnings of theocracy in America. ...and if this process is not averted, there will be no turning back for generations to come.

Fortunately, America just might get the white knights it has been pining for. Make no mistake that no philosophy will or can be a panacea for those who are weak of will. Still, if we can dare presume that Americans can hold onto enough resolve for a few more decades, then maybe they can also summon enough intelligence to recognize that it is time for a real paradigm shift. At best and at the necessary least, the following must transpire: 1) Americans must discover philosophy i.e. they must realize that Objectivism just so happens and necessarily must be their solution for establishing the mode of life that they spend so much time dreaming of. (Did they actually think that freedom doesn't require work? ...that it's a metaphysical given? ...that the Founding Fathers were just merely in the right place at the right time?!? MADNESS!) 2) Americans must _finally_ act like grown adults and follow-through i.e. they must take responsibility for their own ideas. They must claim freedom in theory and be willing to execute the provisions to better ensure the protection thereof in practice. To put it in yet another way, they must recognize the right ideas, they must recognize _that they then have_ the right ideas, and THEN they must forcibly (and legally) employ those ideas in social terms. 3) They must still further educate every person they can possibly reach about the dangers of Statism with EXACTLY the same demeanor that Jews educate their children about the perils of Nazism. That is, freedom must be promulgated as the life-or-death issue which it is.

Nothing less than total commitment is required. This is the final consequence of "Give me Liberty or give me Death." as well as "The price of Liberty is eternal vigilance." If Americans don't want to be free, then be assured, they won't be free. In other words, if you don't want to do the work to keep yourself alive, then someone else will gladly take over that responsibility ...at the cost of your life.

It's your choice. I've certainly long since made mine....