The attempt to forge a life that has no reverence for history is an unsustainable…
Now, what does having been told that have anything to do to anything? I hear far too often the American-right go after secular progressives for one reason or another, but the same goes for the American-left going after Christian conservatives. The problem with both is that they wish to dominate the other but neither can justify a reason for doing so other than the common “because they’re just completely wrong.”
Nearly a year ago I published an article discussing a very simple question, what comes after Trump? During that time a GOP candidate had not yet been determined but it was at that point in time a fight between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Hillary was supposed to simply skip into the White House and Gary Johnson was going to bring about the second wave of classical liberalism.
As of now Republicans control the Executive branch, Senate, and the House of Representatives. It hasn’t been a full month after that infamous night of November 8th and sadly, the momentous cultural sweep many thought would occur almost the second Trump won hasn’t occurred. Conservatives still go after social justice warriors with rightful indignation and gusto, while progressives snicker at Trump appointing creationists to his cabinet. Everyone has simply gone back to what they know best, no one has done any real self-reflection, and strangely enough, the center holds.
In the article I referenced earlier, I mentioned “the one segment of the GOP to remain truly unscathed is the one that the media and they themselves want you to think is dead – the “Washington Cartel.” The same politicians such as Sens. John McCain and Mitch McConnell… are essentially unscathed throughout Trump’s war on the GOP establishment.” All the Cartel needed was to watch the dust settle and learn how to walk and talk in the new world to come. On November 23rd, notable conservative economist Stephen Moore shocked many when he called the new era of the GOP “the party of Trump.” Several days later after controversy ensued, Moore said the following:
But this is 2016, not 1986. The world is a different place. The concerns and priorities of the American people are different today than they were 30 years ago. The voters spoke with a thunder clap. Trump squashed his 16 GOP rivals — a field that was touted as the most talented field of wannabes in modern history — as if they were bugs crashing into his windshield. GOP voters opted for his new breed of economic populism. Republicans who were never-Trumpers and who insisted with absolute certainly that Trump could never win the primary let alone the general election can pretend that a political sonic boom didn’t happen.
Guess what? It did. A realignment occurred while all the highfalutin’ intellectuals and political consultants were napping.
The world is a different place but the fundamental issues we still debate, we as a nation still are divided over, are still ones we get wrong. Conservatives, not all but a powerful few, still fail to apply the proper limited government, free enterprise ensuring solutions they continually say they stand being. Progressives fail to be anti-war when a Democrat is president and only remember that concentrated Executive power is dangerous when a member of the opposing party is in power. Libertarians, as usual, are told to sit at the kid’s table.
Does Moore not see the trends of today’s populists mimicking Roosevelt’s progressive era? Probably but that was yesterday, and today is different, right?
Do the names Andrew Jackson and Richard Nixon ring a bell? They are yesterday, Trump is today, right?
Does anyone remember the failures to protect the Constitution when the Republicans had control of the government last time? Probably but that was yesterday, and today is different, right?
Fail, cripple, wash, rinse, repeat.
Nothing has changed, but don’t think I forgot about the Libertarian Party, they failed to get so much as one state candidate elected. Gary Johnson and Bill Weld did the Cartel’s job for them, they delegitimized themselves in ways no one could have ever imagined.
In a world of those that stand for individualism against the new populist wave consisting of those on the left and the right, everyone feels shell shocked, but while the names and faces change, everything else holds still. The saddest part of this 2016 election cycle is that America wanted change, and that’s what we’re getting. It’s a change no one is sure about, and no one can say if it’s for the better.
If Thomas Jefferson were brought to our time and sat next to this new breed of populist, neither would identify the other. The truest difference between the two individuals is that one learned from the lessons of history to try something drastically different, and the other just didn’t want the other side to win. The biggest task of individuals who want more freedom in their life is to never forget, change only occurs when you identify the problems and not only push for a course correction, but get it done. It can take days, it can take decades, but history only remembers change-makers, not people with simply good intentions.
The other day an old friend Logan Albright, perhaps the most libertarian individual I’ve ever met, wrote a piece at Conservative Review and concluded his argument with something worth repeating:
The president is not a dictator. Not yet, anyway. A Trump presidency will see some changes in the country, but not so much as to make it unrecognizable. We will not wake up the day after the inauguration to either a right-wing capitalist utopia or pre-enlighten land of death camps and intolerance. Trump will govern as other presidents have governed, fighting some good fights, exceeding his authority in some places, and generally accomplishing less than anyone hoped or feared. I don’t begrudge anyone their celebrations; I don’t begrudge anyone their mourning. But a little dose of reality never hurt anyone.
I will disagree with Logan on one thing though, I want reality to hurt, especially people that continually complain about nothing changing but do nothing about it. An inability to see the flaws of yesterday is what will ultimately cripple us tomorrow.
Fail, cripple, wash, rinse, repeat.
Go ahead and tell me, what really changed?
