!968 vs. today
As Kathy Shaidle writes in her discussion of the life of Valerie Solanas, the woman who wrote an anti-male manifesto and then came very close to murdering Andy Warhol in that annus horribilis 1968:
Yesterday’s mental illness is today’s social policy.
Yes, yes, and yes.
Solanas was recently featured in a New York Times article that said:
On June 3, 1968, Valerie Solanas walked into Andy Warhol’s studio, the Factory, with a gun and a plan to enact vengeance. What happened next came to define her life and legacy: She fired at Warhol, nearly killing him. The incident reduced her to a tabloid headline, but also drew attention to her writing, which is still read in some women’s and gender studies courses today.
I was in college at the time, and I remember my own reaction to the story of Solanas and Warhol, as well as much of the turmoil of the late-60s. I was having my own personal turmoil, which involved trying to decide what I should do with the rest of my life (temporarily resolved in my case by going to law school, which was really no resolution at all) but in particular included dealing with the fact that my boyfriend was in combat in Vietnam during the year 1968-1969. For me the personal and the political intersected, as it often does, and other events of that year were also so dramatic and so disturbing that Solanas was only a distant footnote that didn’t have much meaning to me except that I thought what happened was a fringe event at the hands of an insane person.
I’ve been thinking about the late-60s more and more often these days, for obvious reasons. As Shaidle writes, “2020 more and more resembles 1968 but with worse music.” That’s a true line and a funny one. But the parallel is also serious, and although I agree with it up to a point, here’s why I depart from it: the difference between then and now is the successful 50-year Gramscian march in-between, ironically (or inevitably?) accomplished by many people from that same fringe of terrorists turned educators and cultural “leaders” who have instructed generations of young people to follow their ideologies and have spread and mainstreamed them.
Back then, the crazies and revolutionaries and assassins and the like were on the outside, and the vast vast majority of people and institutions in the country did not support them. Yes, the antiwar protests were large, but when the draft died and Nixon initiated troop withdrawals and Vietnamization, the protests died down too.
Indeed, 1968 and 2020 resemble each other except for the music. But it’s like the difference between a pennywhistle and a Wagnerian opera.
The Gramscian march is indeed the main difference, as the ideological plague has infected areas no-one could have imagined fifty years ago (many of the churches, almost all of sports, the Pentagon, the FBI, most of corporate America), while our entire system of education is being infected by the lies of the 1619 Project (courtesy of The Grey Harridan), our municipalities are becoming more and more totalitarian (see Chris Rufo’s piece in City Journal on Seattle’s “anti-whiteness” seminars), and our so-called system of justice is relentlessly politicized, with Soros-funded DAs (not just in SF and Philadelphia) completely subverting our entire legal tradition.
They are the System, that they claim to hate, now. In 1968 I was 9 years old and I told myself I will never be like them. Politically I was Right Wing at 9 years old
Never bring this up again!
I buried all that embarrassing stuff when my daughter was born.
We can only hope that the majority of the country becomes woke to the “woke” due to the egregious excesses. Seattle, Portland, New York City, Baltimore, Scranton, Philadelphia, etc should look at the product of the Gramscian March and change course. Trump, judged by his actions, is one of the best 5 presidents of this United States. I will vote for him, and I will hold my nose and vote for every Republican in the hope that they will at last understand and support his greatness.
If the democrats, the party of SLAVERY, win control of the House or Senate of the Presidency our country is doomed. We will have cancel culture, use of the DOJ, FBI, IRS and other federal agencies to hunt down all guilty of “wrong think”, and China will be the new hegemon.
Even the democrats will ultimately not appreciate what they have wrought. But it will be too late by then.
I first encountered Valerie Solanas in “Sisterhood is Powerful,” Robin Morgan’s seminal (pun partly intended) anthology of feminist writings. SIP provided quite a different view of the world — like a science-fiction novel only real.
My college roommate was taking a course in feminism taught by Morgan herself. The peculiar thing about the class was the male students were not allowed to speak, which was supposed to be a lesson in fair turnabout plus providing women a safe space to speak. If you complained about the policy, you proved you were a misogynist.
Solanas’s contribution to “Sisterhood Is Powerful” was the “SCUM Manifesto” (1967) which stood for “Society for Cutting Up Men” which advocated what it said plus extinction for all men not in support of Solanas’s program. It was a work of profound bigotry, somewhat lessened by the impression Solanas was more than a bit crazy.
http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/shivers/rants/scum.html
Still, the “heh-heh, Solanas isn’t all wrong” reaction from feminists disturbed me then, and disturbs me more now because feminists have had 50 years, to grow up and admit, “no, that’s not what we are really about.”
Solanas had a regular column for years in the Times… I brought her up loads of times long ago… to no avail… it was like a feather trying to move the immovable object of philosophical myth… my time would have been better spent playing tiddly winks or some important practice.
“2020 more and more resembles 1968 but with worse music.”
worse attitude, very poor simulacrum
no loving drug culture (the left hates everyone including themselves)
comedy now is dead, not very alive like then
Tommy Chong in jail
Willy Nelson destitute
We ran out of Kennedys
Crayola is not the same
Movies stink too – old scripts with gamin replacing men
Barbie laid to rest
Women and Girls were much happier (and prettier then)
Have more now, and dont appreciate it (had less then and did appreciate it more)
Communism is great (looks great until you are stuck wearing the hair suit)
etc.
huxley:
What you describe happening to the men in Morgan’s course is very much like the double-bind I discussed in relation to the “White Fragility” anti-racism movement. Same m.o., all these years later.
feminists have had 50 years, to grow up and admit, “no, that’s not what we are really about.”
Yeah, like people who rely on neotony so much would?
They got what they deserve, and more a-commin
The Decline of Female Happiness – Karen Straughan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdMkrmBsVp0
Hear Them Roar: Meet the Honey Badgers, the Women Behind the Men’s Rights Movement
They’re tired of men being unfairly targeted because of their gender. So they’re fighting back.
https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/news/a15964/honey-badgers-mens-rights-movement/
enjoy!
Men not marrying? How deep does “the problem” go?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlvMAS_20K4
Although I believe the exclamation point in the headline is a typo (it feel out of the URL), I also think it fits the topic very well.
“anus horribilis 1968”
Very telling Freudian slip.
I remember those days, too. The difference is that the radicals in 1968 were rebelling against “the establishment.” Now they are the establishment.
What you describe happening to the men in Morgan’s course is very much like the double-bind I discussed in relation to the “White Fragility” anti-racism movement. Same m.o., all these years later.
neo: True. I’m not seeing much different today from what I saw with the New Left in the 70s/80s except the activists are dumber and, as Kate notes, the radicals are now the establishment.
I didn’t see that coming.
I see the “Gramscian march” come up from time to time. I know what it’s referencing; I just wonder how serious conservatives who use that phrase are. Are we accepting that radical leftists deliberately infiltrated government agencies, news media, education, entertainment, religion, the environmental movement, the women’s movement, etc., with the conscious goal of turning Western nations towards socialism and ultimately communism?
I’m just saying, if we by and large accept that this is a real phenomenon, if we really believe that there has been a “long march through the institutions,” if we really believe that “Cultural Marxism” isn’t a fringe, antisemitic conspiracy theory… then this really is the most important political issue we face right now. Why aren’t we talking about this more often, and more explicitly? There were some documentaries being shared several years ago, I remember seeing them in 2012, but they seemed to be quickly forgotten – why? Trevor Loudon still talks about the Communist influence on our everyday politics; why isn’t his extensive research being cited more often in mainstream conservative publications? Why are we occasionally tossing “Gramscian march through the institutions” into political posts instead of working every day to explain it, expose it, and counter it? Or are a lot of people doing that and I just need to frequent more sites? (Or have I been duped into believing in some vast left-wing conspiracy? This is a situation where I’d be happy to be wrong.)
Edward, on ” We will have cancel culture, use of the DOJ, FBI, IRS and other federal agencies to hunt down all guilty of “wrong think”, and China will be the new hegemon.”
That, right there, should be the core of Trump’s campaign message.
shadow:
I’ve certainly talked about it a lot on this blog. I have long thought it to be the major issue of our time. And Andrew Breitbart certainly empathized it. Also, every post I wrote about Allan Bloom (and there are a lot of them) was basically about these same issues.
Marisa:
I’ve half a mind to leave that typo in, it’s so great!
But I’ll fix it.
Several have expressed it very well.
The 1968 fringe is now the mainstream; at least in influential and powerful elements of society. Those with the biggest megaphones. Are they as dominant as they seem?
Once, conventional wisdom said that there was a large, unnoticed majority out there that was silently biding its time–for something; maybe the election.
Now there is nagging doubt. The situation seems to be spiraling out of control, with very little push back. Are the ordinary constitutional conservatives; the people who revere the principles we used to take for granted still there? How many? How committed?
“The 1968 fringe is now the mainstream; at least in influential and powerful elements of society.”
In particular, in a major political party, and in Deep State bureaucracies.
In ’68, each party was far more divided than they are now.
Before she shot Andy Warhol, I was familiar with her SCUM Manifesto, as it had been written about and excerpted in the Realist, the weekly little newspaper, edited by Paul Krassner — a big name at the time — a paper that I subscribed to and got in the mail as a sophomore in high school. This was where I got most of my news, though I was well aware it was not always trustworthy. Sometimes it ran phony news items just for laughs.
In any case, nobody has yet mentioned here that Valerie Solanas shooting Warhol (shown in a pretty good film aptly called I SHOT ANDY WARHOL) was vastly overshadowed when the very next day Sirhan Sirhan assassinated Bobby Kennedy in the Ambassador Hotel after Bobby won the California Primary.
That was the assassination which changed the world for me. It radicalized a lot of people who’d been looking forward with great hope to a presidential election which now seemed like a joke.
Oldflyer: “Once, conventional wisdom said that there was a large, unnoticed majority out there that was silently biding its time–for something; maybe the election.
Now there is nagging doubt. The situation seems to be spiraling out of control, with very little push back.”
Have you been in a gun store recently? They have no inventory, the ammo shelves are nearly bare, and you have to get on a list to be notified of the next shipment of guns and ammo. People are arming themselves, just as they were in 1968. I knew an Oakland police detective in 1967. He said all the people in the Oakland hills were buying guns and ammo in anticipation of the possible anarchy they saw coming. Well, a lot of average folks who never owned guns are seeing the same thing today. ANTIFA and BLM are the greatest gun salesmen since Obama and Holder.
The left has many media outlets and many state/local politicians in their corners. People are seeing it. They are getting ready for anarchy and the day when the police can’t or won’t answer their 911 calls. And they plan to defend their property if it comes to that. These are law abiding citizens who won’t take to the streets, won’t openly become targets for the left, but will vote for law and order candidates. And this is happening here in deep blue Washington state. Visit a gun store or range if you want to see what’s happening under the surface. My guess is that the same thing is happening in California.
There’s probably less worry about anarchy in red states, but, even there, gun sales are brisk. IMO, the left has overplayed its hand. People are forewarned about their intentions. Trump has had that affect on the left. They hate him so much, they can’t stop themselves. Much as they hated Nixon. History doesn’t repeat exactly, but it sure does have major similarities.
@Marisa:
I’m not the greatest zeitgeistmeister of them all, but I feel obliged to propose 2008 as a better (Manchurian) candidate for an Anus Horribilis.
For the Sixties, see Larkin. 70s, well Watergate gives us the cryptic clue. Eighties were prime of my youth so it’s all a blank. I won’t go on. Probably a good thing!
“They are getting ready…. And they plan….”
Note, though, that the Democrat “upHolders of the Law” are also “getting ready”—actually they already are:
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/victoria-taft/2020/07/11/white-st-louis-couple-who-pointed-guns-at-mob-of-blm-protesters-have-gun-taken-police-raid-n631402
These days I hesitate slightly to mention that I’m as dedicated a feminist as I ever was in my youth–and I seem nearly to have been born one. My brand of feminism isn’t about victimization, however, or about threatening random men with violence to sate the crazy voices in my head. I’ve just been determined ever since I can remember to be a whole person and not, as ArtfldgrUselessNothing suggests, someone who depends on neotany to trick people into coddling and supporting me. I don’t remember women and girls in the 60s being happier than they are today as a general rule. There were women caught in sick cultures then, and seemingly unable to extricate themselves. The same is true now, though the predominant sick culture traps are different. The same goes for men. We’re all capable of doing better, and we all should be treating each other as individuals, not types whom we require to stay safely in a rut. Which is not to say that any man or woman is entitled to opt out of duty and decency just out of a determination to do his or her own thing. You are what you are, regardless of the cubbyhole someone else tries to put you in, and you work hard with that to do the right thing as an individual, a partner, or a citizen.
Apropos of Holder and the march. I think if we want to get a real feel for where the modern Democrat Party mindset and values core has been for many, many, years, all one need do is look at the commutations and pardons which Democrat presidents have issued to actual, violent, terrorists, who have made explicit war on the American people. They pardon those who would have killed you, and who still remain unrepentant. Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton … this shrugging at murder and terrorism, in the name of progressive sensibility and so-called mercy, is not some anomaly.
Ask your own Democrat “friends” if they think that that is in principle a problem: i.e., pardoning someone who had say, incidentally murdered you – the one posing the question to your “friend”- for political reasons. I think that the answer you get , if you can manage to get a direct one, will surprise you. If they become annoyed enough to answer frankly.
Buried shallowly within many of the most ‘sensitive”, peace loving, equality cherishing, life affirming progressives I have known, is a simmering and even homicidal rage against those they perceive as their enemies; namely that Neanderthal class of uninclusive, insufficiently social, and overly self interested traditionalists.
Once the mild mannered progressives fully wind themselves up, and that social-injustice-rage mainspring breaks lose, they are ready to start shipping mom and dad, and even you, off in the cattle cars.
I think it is part of the defining personality and character of many people we call “,progressives”; part of the mix of righteousness and resentment which set what they consider to be any moral limits which must be respected as they labor to reshape human material and establish that social justice heaven on earth, in a universe having no intrinsic meaning or moral structure of its own The moral limits then, obviously being, none.
We’ve seen it in operation in Revolutionary France, in 1930s Spain, in Nazi Germany, in the Soviet Union, in Communist China and in Cambodia, no name just a few examples.
We Americans just cannot feature our own relatives and friends having such submerged predilections which are just waiting to be unleashed. Well, think again.
It has happened here before, albeit on a somewhat more modest scale. Missouri, Kansas. It or something analogous could easily reoccur. Attitudes condition the possibilities.
Think of this. Think of who John Brown really was. Think of what he did, of his homicidal behavior before he set off for the Harper’s Ferry arsenal. Recall that soldiers sang an anthem to him and his deeds as a Soldier in the Army of the Lord. Do you think that people were not aware of his work with the broadsword prior?
Hell, recall Beecher’s Bibles for that matter: progressive religion rolling up its sleeves and getting down to work. .
Suppose now, that some progressive militants, launched an attack on the Republican convention killing dozens. Among the socially conventional protestations of disapproval, how many of your friends do you imagine would be secretly (if barely so) thinking that, ” they got what was coming to them”, or that, ” they brought this on themselves” …?
A murderous heart has been with the progressive kind always, in my considered opinion. Perhaps it is in all men’s. But conservatives generally know it, are wary of it, and have made dealing with it part of their creeds.
The prophets of progress, on the other hand …
Barry M., I think Gardner will have a tough time proving her case. There is video to show that the protest was anything but peaceful. The progs are excusing all kinds of law breaking by the protestors. A peaceful protest does not interfere with the rights of other citizens and doesn’t threaten assault, arson, or murder. It’s time for the DOJ and red state officials to be openly stating what constitutes a peaceful protest, then enforcing those rules. Blocking freeways is not “peaceful protest.” Invading private property is not “peaceful protest.” The couple in Atlanta did nothing wrong, unless there is a law against open carry in Georgia. IMO, Gardner has a steep hill to climb to convict them of anything.
Even in deep blue Washington state we have a castle doctrine and legal open carry. Washington’s Castle Doctrine: “The use of deadly force is justified when defending one’s self, or others against immediate harm. This extends to property as long as the danger is imminent.” This would extend to protestors coming on your property and threatening arson, murder, or theft. Cameras on your property are invaluable in providing evidence of an invader’s hostile intent. Protestors should be made aware of this doctrine. It might make them think twice before they break the law. Home owners I know are not going to stand by passively and hope the police will save them.
When I saw “!968” I wondered if it had something to do with “Jeb!”
DNW —
Suppose now, that some progressive militants, launched an attack on the Republican convention killing dozens.
I think our best realistic case is that the hardcore left commits some kind of atrocity — although hopefully with no or minimal loss of life — that induces enough revulsion in everybody else that they get cast out of the political discourse and we can go back to arguing about welfare benefits and capital gains taxes.
If it happens before the election, then I believe we get a Trump landslide. If Trump loses and it happens after the election, then I would hope that the Democrats have a national Sister Souljah moment, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Actually, the best case would be people get sick of the Red Guards and our Woketural Revolution fades into “what the hell were we thinking?” memory. But I doubt that will happen.
J.J. —
The process is the punishment. Those wealthy middle-age white folks won’t be so cocksure of themselves once we make them sell their house and move into the poor neighborhoods, hur hur hur.
/sarcasm, if it wasn’t clear.
I’m worried about post-election riots, too, although happily I live far from Downtown/Cap Hill Seattle. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to arm up, though, since my liberal ex-wife — for all her protestations that she grew up around guns and doesn’t want to take them away from people — would probably freak out if I bought one, since I would be “endangering” my 11-year-old daughter or some such nonsense.
I do plan on putting substantial metal screens in front of my street-facing windows, installing security cameras, making sure my roof is thoroughly wetted down, buying a bigger fire extinguisher, making sure my front chainlink gates are chained shut, and keeping a crowbar handy.
“The process…”
Precisely.
The message—loud and clear—is: You are NOT allowed to defend yourself from the “peaceful protesters” (who for some benign reason, no doubt, shout intimidating and aggressive slogans as they try to break into your home).
Who exactly will be encouraged by this message?
And who is it intended to discourage? (As well as endanger physically, not to mention scar emotionally and damage psychologically.)
The good prosecutor (a Democrat by any chance?) is essentially saying: “It’s open season on You Know Who. Go for it! (We have your back!)”
Where will the evil Left press their advantage and the threat of violence become real, next? Jacksonville, for the Trump convention is first.
More likely worse, before, during, and after November 3rd. I’m betting the swing states.
But which ones are actually vulnerable “on the bubble” states? That’s where the enemy within will put their money and bodies, and this is where I will go to fight them down.
Ayn Rand’s once timely book “The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution,” gets a re-read by cultural economist Tyler Cowan.
He amplifies several points already made here, but misses the Big One that the establishment opposed the New Left then; today, the Ruling Class funded their spread, embraces and spills for them against the people.
A few pull quotes:
Let the last long line sink in. The child born of the old evil Marxists, the classic Cold War enemies of freedom, had greater imagination, and offered heftier potential rewards than the neo-Marxist, PoMo, Multi-cult race-mongering shrews do.
In short, the shelf life of this reanimated corpse is short, kept going by generous enemy legacy funding, not by popular demand or inspiration sold to vast numbers of eager youth. The air of this fire can be snuffed out.
The arrow of history does not bend Obama’s way, or else his designated Shrew would have batted her way into the White House in 2016.
See Tyler:
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/07/rereading-ayn-rand-on-the-new-left.html
Bryan,
It’s strictly your call but …
What good is a crowbar going to do you if three or four guys armed with crowbars of their own, are breaking down your doors?
Not that if militants decide to go ballistic, they won’t have AR 15’s and various other similar arms themselves.
If you want a good look at the arsenal some have accumulated, take a glance at the protest video at Stone Mountain, Georgia. Watch the original, i.e., ,not just the news clips.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CCPPAVHlfMK/?igshid=m4qzn7p5ax0y
You’re driving their cars, and living in their houses … so they say.
But anyway, it’s your call. I think that I mentioned that my brother’s wife, a university employee, and one known to sneer at “gun culture” and Republicans, asked him in a quasi-panicked tone of voice as the Covid 19 lock-down began, if he thought he could get a gun.
Yeah, that was the time to run out and panic-buy one of whatever left over crap is available. Upon his telling me this, I resisted the impulse to ask him if he told her to go f8ck herself and drop dead; as she is after, all my sister-in-law … technically, or whatever.
He already had 3 Mil Surp sportarized rifles I have given him for hunting, which he never does, plus my Dad’s war trophies, plus other stuff he had gone out and gotten on his own … the little bugger. One was for his daughter going to med school in a sketchy area, to carry. Apparently none of this had registered with his ideologically vigilant wife.
If you are worried, buy yourself an inexpensive Mossberg pump action shotgun. Maybe a model 500 with wood furniture so it looks nice and traditional and safe.
Get it with the shorter 18″ barrel in case you need something handy, and buy an extra, and longer 24″ barrel for “skeet” or “birds” or whatever so the gun is extra un-threatening. Or get the extra as a deer barrel fitted with open sights. You can have your pick of smooth bore or rifled. She won’t know or care about the difference.
You will not be deceiving her. You will be able to truthfully explain the purpose of everything. And then she won’t be begging you to you to the gun store as the town center is burning. An unloaded pump action shotgun in a locked cabinet is not something a child will “accidentally” pick up and begin to play with, and somehow shoot themselves in the head. Most kids would have trouble figuring out how to load it, and if loading it, probably would forget to press the right catch release in order to cycle a first round into the chamber.
Buy a box of # 8 shot bird shot and several more boxes of # 4 or buckshot; and one of foster slugs. With the fosters you will get decent bullet style accuracy and 100 yard performance without a rifled barrel if you need it for … deer.
Now you are all set for birds, when the guys at work finally invite you out. And no danger to a soul on earth.
DNW —
I’m going to sound my ex out about it — gingerly — in the next few weeks.
And my daughter is scared to use a paring knife; I don’t think it’s too likely that she would want to get into any gun safe I owned. 🙂
Also, I’m not really all that worried about a squad making a determined assault on my not-terribly-wealthy-looking house on November 4. Thrown rocks and at worst a molotov are more likely.
I’m not pooh-poohing your excellent advice. Eventually I’m going to do something very much along those lines. I just don’t think I’ll be able to get there in the near future, especially because my ex can basically hold my daughter hostage. There’s no way I want her to get the idea that she should go to court to “revise” our custody agreement.
In any revolution the constructors that believe they are the next leaders end up very much not so… in the changing of things they release people that make their perfidy, betrayal, evil and manipulative ways, puerile… Think of the current cast of characters and how long they would last in the courts of people like Stalin, Mao, etc… they are but historical placeholders who the new will not regard in any gratuitous way, quite the opposite given history, and its never been any other way (their children have even fared worse)
St. Louis Prosecutors Revisited (prepare NOT to be shocked!!!):
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/07/defeat-the-radical-st-louis-prosecutor-support-mary-pat-carl.php
(H/T Instapundit)
So it looks like “the new normal” is that people defending their homes will be accused of violent crimes against those who threaten them.
But we haven’t quite hit rock bottom yet, no not quite:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/europe-rape-victims-accused-racism
(Getting there, though.)
Yes, Bryan, DNW. A shotgun is the ideal home defense tool if you have no time to tool up and train. Or need for uninitiated or unskilled shooter to man-up and cover for you or another.
It’s suited to hit intruders at medium range without much skill. It may well not kill, but only wound. It’s seen around the world as a legitimate hunting weapon, not a drug dealers or policing weapon. Not strictly anti-personnel.
Obama put us into a deeply, racially divided country. He intended this: to destroy positive race relations and replace it with IdPol antagonisms. This set up the preconditions to reject any electionvlike Trump’s on behalf of the Deplorables, as calling forth a new “resistance” against thevpeaceful exchange of government.
Thus, our Civil War literally began in November, 2016. Trump cannot be allowed to represent the People, is their mission.
That’s why they fight. And they reject our Head of State’s legitimacy. This coming do-over is both, therefore, a re-run and the far Left’s opportunity to incite and wage a violent uprising against American Rule of Law, with control of the federal state as its prize.
Will Trump use the Insurrection Act when the time comes? Will the Guard and military respect his authority? Or not? Will local government block the federal imposition of military law? Will people support Trump. Or reject it? We won’t know until the time comes.
The far Left media wants a civil war. The far Left wants a civil war. And no “Democrats” have come out against a civil war. Far from it, they incite and reward it!
Therefore, prepare for real war. It’s stupid not to. Guns are already on a waiting list, and ammo on the shelf is in short supply. Get ready if you love your family. That is the lesson of the riots, because it can get worse. Their power lust demand that it get worse.
Without the political legitimacy that comes from shared values of contending parties, there cannot be the basis for peaceful exchange of federal power because there is no basis for compromise and mutual trust. That’s now dead.
Recall Washington’s inaugural Presidential speech example, repeated often over 40 times: we are all Whigs, we are all Federalists. Which has come down to us recently as “We are all Republicans. We are all Democrats.“ That is, we exchange leadership of state control. That control is temporary and short.
That beauty and fundamental peace has been destroyed by Marxist indoctrination and the radical racialization of “injustice,” represented by the police in the fate of George Floyd. The riots are the trial run testing the limits of state power which answers: can it be overthrown? Yeah. Sure looks like it!
All of that lay in the balance with the outcome of the next election. The pitched skirmishes and guerrilla war commences then.
On Marxist BLMs optimism for seizing power, this study by friends on the right confirms it from…2016 interviews with their leaders.
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/black-lives-matters-a-thing-of-the-left-anchored-on-a-cop-hate-strategy/
This is related by National Review’s VP, Jack Fowler only a few weeks ago:
Get it, friends? This is the weak-kneed, weasily, Trump-hating, voice of the National Review stating that “an avowedly Leftist movement intent on the destruction of America as a nation of those principles established by our Constitution” is driving the public political narrative today.
When people hate you and what you believe and what you stand for, and when the Ruling Class throws down for them, you’d best believe they are deadly serious threats — not merely opportunists.
That is an excellent and important post.
Short version (as it seems to me):
“No Justice! No Peace!!!
“And ‘Justice’ means what WE define it to mean.
“And WE define ‘Justice’ to mean your destruction.
“Unless you wish to protect yourselves by joining US.
“(In which case, WE will welcome your assistance…but you’ll merely be delaying your inevitable fate….)”
Valerie Solanas shooting Warhol (shown in a pretty good film aptly called I SHOT ANDY WARHOL) was vastly overshadowed when the very next day Sirhan Sirhan assassinated Bobby Kennedy in the Ambassador Hotel after Bobby won the California Primary.
miklos000rosza: On November 22, 1963 Aldous Huxley died of cancer, while tripping on LSD. (It was sort of Huxley’s idea of the last rites.) That same day JFK was shot, so Huxley’s passing went unnoticed.
I take your point on the personal/political impact of RFK’s shooting. JFK’s death was pure shocking tragedy — the national consciousness reeled. With RFK I had the sense we had lost a crucial guy who could unite the country in a way no other candidate could in 1968.
Looking back, I’m not so sure. RFK was a complicated person. He had been a hatchet man for Joseph McCarthy, then transformed into an anti-war candidate. I am sure RFK would have beaten Nixon in 1968. But who RFK would have been as POTUS is a great “What if?” question in US history.
I am sure RFK would have beaten Nixon in 1968.
Contemporaneous polling had Kennedy as the preferred candidate of perhaps 30% of Democratic voters, no better than Humphrey. Eugene McCarthy won more votes in Democratic primaries. Humphrey won 70% of the ballots cast at the convention. Humphrey ran a very effective fall campaign but came up short.
I had a dear friend who was detailed by his employers to work on Robert Kennedy’s 1964 Senate campaign. He meets Kennedy in a hotel room in Auburn, NY and gets a look at the social dynamic of the Kennedy staff. He was disgusted. He was pounding the pavement for Eugene McCarthy four years later. Sargent Shriver was the only decent man in the family.
Art Deco: Not buying it.
Art Deco: Not buying it.
Not buying what?
Art Deco: Your comment. As you once responded to one of mine.
Paragraph 1 had three discrete factual statements and an evaluative statement. You can dispute the evaluative statement. I think when a candidate makes up a 15% point deficit in the polls after a public relations disaster like the Chicago convention, he’s done a satisfactory job. Maybe it was just serendipity.
Paragraph 2 you’re free to discard at your leisure. I don’t find it implausible that someone might be repelled by Robert Kennedy barking orders at his staff. YMMV.
No Justice, no Peace. Humanity needs to be purged. As per the Divine Order/Plan.
Lots of people here thinking like Ymar was in 2007. A bit late, perhaps, to the party. By the time people wake up to this war, it will already be over.