I love my country. But I have a problem with the current occupants. Americans are fat, fatuous, failing and flailing.
Let’s look at some evidence. A serious people:
*Would not imagine for even a second that the way to reduce crime is to defund the police.
*Would not seriously contend that the way to reduce inflation – a natural effect of too much money in circulation chasing too few goods – is to increase even further the amount of money in circulation.
*Would not allow biological and even anatomical men to beat women in women’s athletics simply because those men say they feel womanly at the moment.
*Would be supplying its own energy needs rather than sending money to the butcher of Kyiv, as if burning Russian oil does not emit greenhouse gas but burning American oil does.
*Would not have a citizenry of which 42% are clinically obese.
*Would not put masks on children who are at practically zero risk of COVID while allowing adults with an order of magnitude higher risk to be unmasked, 70,000 strong, in the Superbowl.
*Would not see one major political party voting in favor of legislation that would allow abortion up to the instant of birth, an outcome at odds with the entire civilized world.
*Would not let careless 16-year-olds drive automobiles.
*Would not let naïve 18-year-olds take out loans that they’ll spend the rest of their youth and a good part of their middle age repaying, for bogus college degrees that serve mainly to enrich already-rich colleges.
*Would blame criminal gun use on the criminals, not the guns.
*Would not politicize scientific debate about viruses or climate change.
*Would not let decisions about medical risks to unmasked children to be made by teachers’ unions, whose idea of medical expertise is “doctor” Jill (whom a bogus and ignorant political commentator followed by millions, named Whoopi, hilariously but seriously promoted for the position of Surgeon General).
*Would not spend billions on monster pickup trucks.
*Would favor immigration by the best and brightest of the world who respectfully and legally come, rather than favoring the poorest and worst who come illegally.
*Would not contend that the top 1% of earners who pay 40% of income taxes are failing to “pay their fair share.”
*Would not elect to the presidency a man who is clinically demented and criminally corrupt.
*Would not elect to the presidency a man who thinks a clever debate rejoinder is to intimate that his opponent has a small penis (don’t ask how he knows or why that’s on his mind).
*Would not consider for the presidency a family crime gang that has perfected obstruction of justice by lying under oath in a sexual harassment case, by destroying 30,000 emails after they were subpoenaed by Congress, and by framing up a political opponent in an elaborate story complete with the lie that he paid Russian prostitutes to pee on him. (Did Hillary herself think up that one, or was it Bill?)
*Would value honesty.
*Would value hard work.
*Would not instinctively ask about any issue before addressing it, “What does the opposing tribe say?”
*Would build more nuclear energy facilities, which have a safety record better than oil, gas or coal plants.
*Would give merit-based opportunities to those with the most merit, not those with the “right” skin color.
*Would fix phones so that they don’t operate, or at least the letter keys don’t operate, inside a moving vehicle.
*Would demand that public schools teach children how to read, how to write and how to do simple arithmetic.
*Would not conclude that some races are good and some are bad based on acts committed by a small fraction of the great, great, great, great grandparents of people now belonging (sort of) to those races.
*Would not hurl vile epithets at people for simply expressing an opposing viewpoint.
*Would not think the way to stop vagrancy is to give free stuff to the vagrants.
*Would not systemically endorse racial discrimination against Asians – or Jews – on the grounds that they’re too good for the rest of us to compete with on a level playing field.
Ah, you say, but other cultures and countries are even worse.
I’m not as sure of that as I used to be. Sure, America is still better than your average banana republic (oops, I heard that bananas are racist now). America is even better than, say, Italy and India. But I’m not so sure anymore that America is better than, say, Germany or Japan. Maybe, but it’s no longer a slam dunk (oops, is “slam dunk” racist too now?)
Here’s a bit of homework. Compare and contrast today’s Americans with today’s Ukrainians.
That murderous, miscalculating madman, Vladimir Putin, has a good measure of hate and contempt for the West, along with fear of it. I hope he dies at the end of a rope swinging from a streetlamp in Moscow with his genitals stuffed into his mouth.
But in the meantime, I have to admit that he has a point about the West and especially America. We’re no longer a serious people or a serious culture. For that, we and the world are the poorer and the likes of Vladimir Putin are the richer.
So, is America beyond saving? Maybe. But we have to try. Meet me at the pass, armed with Truth, Justice and Beauty.
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Well said.
n.B. about cell phones in moving vehicles: cars have passengers, too,
Tough shit; they can stop or go without.
What’s wrong with monster trucks?
Since you asked, IMHO they’re ugly (though I recognize that’s a subjective matter), they waste fossil fuel at a time when a foreign madman is able to invade a neighboring country only because he controls a main spigot of the stuff, and they are often (more often than most cars) driven hyper-aggressively to menace other drivers.
Before you take this personally, please know that I realize not all big pickups and not all pickup drivers fall into my generalized description. But too many do. I assume you do not.
I beg to differ, it’s your opinion agreed, but in my opinion flawed. Fuel consumption? What about the SUV Limos, private jets, etc. Those MEN and WOMEN (most of them) that drive those trucks, work hard to pay for the fuel, they use them to hunt, for work and take their kids to school. There are many other groups that may deserve calling out, but that AIN’T one of them. OH, full disclosure, I do not own and have never owned a “monster” truck………..
I pay for my own fuel. It is not wasted. Mind your business, %*@#^!
You do have a way of proving my point. Road rage, anyone?
I think Tesla’s are a monumental waste of money, and since much electricity comes from fossil fuels, they’re more expensive to operate and no cleaner. You cover the question of the “foreign madman” in another point… we should be 100% energy independent for sure, but if I want to spend money on a monster truck that I pay for and fuel with money I’ve earned, that is my business. Personally, I think beer should be outlawed because it is a complete waste of energy, produces CO2, turns people into idiots and harms society. By the way, I don’t own a monster truck and really don’t feel that way about beer, but you get the point… one man’s “waste” is another man’s pleasure. Who are you, or anyone, to determine that. Other than that, a very good, valid article.
Monster Trucks have become something of an entertainment sport, much like NASCAR, the Indy 500, the NHRA (drag race association), MotorCross, the Baja 500, Demolition Derbies, etc.
Legendary Monster Trucks like Bigfoot, Snakebite, Gravedigger, Monster Squad and others have been long time favorites of fans who go to these rather entertaining shows and competitions. Monster Trucks have become high-tech, high-end engineering marvels. Their drivers are actually called pilots and the skill to handle these machines actually requires lots of training, experience, and quick reflexes.
Many years ago I took my wife and kids to a Monster Truck rally in San Diego … on Valentine’s Day, no less. It was fun and we had pit passes to see the trucks and meet the “pilots” up close and in person. Much of the mechanics and technology in these Monster Trucks could rival the technology found in many state-of-the-art military vehicles and defense systems.
Anyways … my wife was somewhat chagrined that we all spent Valentine’s Day at the San Diego Monster Truck rally with Bigfoot and Gravedigger. The kids loved it though. The smell of beer, Cracker Jacks, and nachos mixed with the scent of high octane gasoline and carbon monoxide with AC/DC bumper music blaring on the stadium loudspeakers creates an interesting and dynamic spectator environment. I did take everyone out to an upscale Mexican restaurant afterwards … but I earned somewhat of a notoriety at my work when everyone found out how I spent Valentine’s Day with my wife and kids. Heh.
The Monster Trucks have a bona fide organization/racing league and they travel worldwide doing their Monster Truck Jams.
Check out:
https://www.monstertruckracingleague.com/
https://www.monsterjam.com/en-US
I put these trucks in the same same category as the NASCAR and other car race leagues and organizations.
So … if liking Monster Trucks (it’s an acquired taste and perhaps a guilty pleasure) puts me in the category of being an unserious American, well then I am guilty as charged. As Americans we cannot all spend our weekends sipping champagne at the country club polo matches. Different strokes for different folks.
BTW … the fans at a Monster Truck Jam are same kind of patriotic Americans you will find at any NASCAR event. It’s safe to say that you probably will not find very many folks from the Ivy League faculty lounges at these truck jams.
Go Monsters!
Glenn, I do not think you missed a single point of Leftist absurdity in the past decade. Great essay!
Jakki, seem to have missed the underlying point; Glenn is talking about us, about Americans, not just left-leaning Americans. As a group, Republicans are more obese than more than democrats, are more likely to own a full size pickup, are just as anxious to let irresponsible 16-year-olds drive and it was a Republican candidate that first brought penis into presidential debates. (Remember “little Marco”?) Of course, none of this obviates left-wing nonsense. Glenn wrote that WE are no longer a serious people or culture. I’m pretty sure that was a bipartisan observation. As pogo famously punned way back in 1970, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
“As a group, Republicans are more obese than more than democrats,”
What exactly is the evidence of this? Especially if you control for age and other demographic factors?
The question of which political party is fattest is interesting, and hard to get a fix on. Both are so fat that it’s like asking which whale is the largest. It’s clear on the one hand that “Red” states tend to haver higher obesity rates. On the other hand, that doesn’t tell you whether it’s the Dems or the Reps in those states that account for it.
The best data I can find is actually misleading. It says that Republicans are more obese after normalizing the data for ethnicity. What that’s saying, I think, is that Democrats are less obese if you subtract out the obesity of minority voters (which indisputably are more obese, at least among Hispanics and blacks who disproportionately vote Dem) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4692249/
In essence, the Dems throw under the bus their minority constituents when it’s time to compare the bad qualities of Dems vs the Republicans.
Another interesting factoid is that Democrats are more likely to blame genetics for their obesity than Republicans are. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2017/04/12/democrats-are-more-likely-than-republicans-or-independents-to-blame-genetics-for-obesity-including-their-own/
By the way, my reference to a presidential candidate who criticized the size of his opponent’s penis was indeed to Trump. Trump had some good policies and traits (and I voted for him twice). But maturity and civility were not among them
Added to which, although many of us do not subscribe to the insane ideas of the Left, too many of us continue to vote for the party that has gone all in on every single one of them.
Rubio was the one who made the innuendo about Penis length.
Need to spend more time with people that volunteered in the armed services or attend our military schools instead of trust fund babies in Aspen…it would renew your faith in America…
After reading this list, one could become suspicious that this is all planned to deliberately bring down America and her culture. As if, ha, ha, the communists had taken over our institutions and were waging war on the American people.
Two thumbs up for this one!
The best j’accuse since Michelle Malkin’s “Spitting on their graves”!
I would just add that serious leadership wouldn’t claim that Putin was emboldened by a January 6 “insurrection” that never happened.
“ *Would not elect to the presidency a man who is clinically demented and criminally corrupt.”
And with this guy backed up by a stupid, lazy, thoroughly disagreeable retired-sex-worker V.P.
It’s systemic clown world. I keep thinking America can’t get any crazier, but it keeps getting crazier.
Steve Sailer has a blog post about today’s dose of mega-crazy.
Washington Post: Black History Month Is Over, and I Can Finally Breathe.
https://www.unz.com/isteve/washington-post-black-history-month-is-over-and-i-can-finally-breathe/
Cole Arthur Riley is a writer, liturgist, speaker seeking a contemplative life marked by embodiment and emotion. She is the creator and writer of Black Liturgies, a project seeking to integrate concepts of dignity, lament, rage, justice, rest, and liberation with literature and spirituality.
She currently serves as spiritual teacher in residence with Cornell University’s Office of Spirituality & Meaning Making.
She’s retired?
Starting July 4th 2019 the ineffable intellect and power that chose the title God began sending warnings written in the ink of natural phenomenon as if to say “Don’t make me come down there”; major earthquakes that took few or no lives, the Canadian Omega Dome and the most spectacular volcanic eruption in history.
Reading the messages is not difficult and they are predictable if one learns how God thinks hence the provision of the Convergence Matrix as if a parable; a message written across the tablet of time fusing the probabilities mathematics of Blaise Pascal to history and Judaic scripture. Take a walk through history in 250 year steps starting in 70AD and the fall of the 2nd Temple and along the way you find individuals and events that define the final confrontation in no uncertain terms.
Euripides is credited with saying “Whom the god’s would destroy they first make mad” and in this instance the madness has become existential, requiring the only truth that will end the madness; empirical evidence the God of Sinai, Yeshua and 1776 not only exists but is fully engaged…close and getting closer every day.
You just couldn’t leave the monster pickup trucks alone, could you. You did so well on the rest of the list, though. I view the monster trucks much the same as guns. Blame the driver, not the vehicle for not parking at the far reaches of the parking lot so they don’t take up multiple spaces for the rest of us. That ought to be a requirement. At least that way the drivers will get at least a little exercise when they have to walk the parking lot to get to the entrance, and no fair letting your fat spouse and fat kids off at the entrance either. Make the entire family walk.
But, the rest of the list . . . spot on.
That monster truck bit really hit some nerves. Where I live most are driven by guys who don’t need them for anything but urban street driving and intimidation. Compensation for their deficiencies. No one looks askance at those who really need those big pickups. Just those who wear them… the intimidating tailgaters and roadway aggressors.
The monster trucks I like are the ones that parked in Ottawa for three weeks.
Just read the comments below your article posted at Lucianne.com. You really hit some nerves! Good for you!
I don’t think Asians or Jews face ANYTHING like the kind of undisguised venomous hatred that non-Jewish Whites encounter in today’s society. I think a sane culture would not despise the people who pay the bulk of taxes, are overwhelmingly law-abiding, form the backbone of the military, have founded the massive preponderance of successful industries and businesses. Indeed, the only analogy I can draw to the virulent racism that White Americans face is the experience of Jews in earlier European history. The constant drumbeat of hate against us will–and has–led to blood.
Anti-White Christian is the game, FOR SURE. Seen TV commercials lately? University admissions policies for the last 20 years? Government hiring? You’re spot on.
There’s a line in Season 3 of “Yellowstone” — “You’re the Indian now.”
Ain’t diversity great?! Multiculturalism was supposed to put an end to bigotry and hatred. Another leftist lie.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7
Come now. All evidence proves that that those of Marxist orientation hate the very idea of free peoples and nations … And wish to subvert them from within… And it’s happening right now… From ” citizens” both complicit and ignorant in the game.
https://giphy.com/gifs/TheDemocrats-dnc-democrats-dncgif-HDt2bY4F37M1PEvzhW
Our weak and spineless elites, both here in the US and throughout Western Europe, emboldened Putin. Most everyone had Putin pegged as a reptilian sociopath, but somehow missed that this cold-blooded Czar also recognized how unserious the West is. So with cobra-like speed and chess-like strategy he made his move and striked.
While America and much of the West fiddles around with virtue signaling and “wokeness,” autocrats and dictators like Putin interpret this as decadence and weakness, and so they parlay their advantages.
It’s hard to even disagree with their assessments when our own US Army puts out ‘woke’ recruitment ads emphasizing LGBTQ “wokeness” while Russia counters with its own Russian military recruitment ad emphasizing espirit de corps and a warrior ethos.
See: https://americandefensenews.com/2021/05/21/backlash-to-woke-army-recruitment-video-ad-so-severe-comments-blocked-by-army/
See: https://youtu.be/DQSmctFqZlI
The U.K.’s The Daily Mail recently reported, “Britain’s spies are being urged to consider their ‘white privilege’ and declare their pronouns as Europe descends into war.”
See: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10544593/MI5-MI6-officers-told-think-white-privilege-avoid-using-words-like-strong.html
This all reminds me of that famous Pogo cartoon from some 50 years ago.
Right now in real time I am listening to Greg Gutfeld express this very same sentiment on the FNC show The Five.
Another writer recently also aptly describes how Western incoherence and Russian opportunism have led Ukraine into disaster.
See: https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/02/24/how-our-weak-elites-emboldened-putin/
It is more than safe to say that the Russian Spetznatz and GRU, the ChiComs’ People’s Liberation Army, and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard are not spending their time learning the proper pronouns of 52 genders and sexual identities. They are learning and training to kill their enemies … presumably us … with speed and great lethality.
With Biden’s Defense Department and Intelligence Community prioritizing global warming, wokeness, and the end of hurt feelings as our national priorities … indeed, we have met the enemy.
Would not put masks on children who are at practically zero risk of COVID. Full stop. The rest “allowing” adults to be unmasked, 70,000 strong, in the Super Bowl is an unnecessary addition. It’s called freedom. And common sense
I could have written that sentence better. I was not advocating masks at the Superbowl (where I think they were right to omit them) but simply pointing out the absurdity of omitting them there while requiring them for children in school.
Trump spoke out vehemently about most of these issues yet got no love from this website. He was taken for granted, because … because … he offended sensibilities? SMFH
That’s not at all true. I voted twice for Trump, endorsed him twice and campaigned for him twice — all while I was living in The Peoples Republic of Aspen and getting death threats for doing so. What I didn’t do was to buy into his unsupported and destructive claim that the election was stolen from him.
I’m a lawyer, I want to see evidence, and Trump never showed me evidence that there was enough fraud to be a steal. I don’t believe what I want to believe, I believe what the evidence shows.
https://peternavarro.com/the-navarro-report/
https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/03/23/democrats-operative-got-secret-internet-connection-at-wisconsin-election-center-emails-show/
https://wethepeopleconvention.org/articles/Voter-Fraud-Compilation-Page
You’re an attorney? So am I, and I’ve been saying what you said since Obama was elected – where’s the fury about: IRS Targeting; Solyndra; Pallets of Cash; Fast n’ Furious; Clinton Servers cover-up; “Trump Russia” Hoax; “Trump Ukraine” Hoax; Jan 6 False Flag (obvious); Jan 6 Defendants (recent suicide by one); Mueller’s Team of Orcs; Awan Brothers; Feinstein’s China Spy; Swalwell’s China Spy; Burisma; Bohai Harvest; Merrick Garland going after parents.
The Democrats’ 2-million orc army in the bureaucracy is what is destroying this country. CORRUPTION BY the UNIPARTY, especially Dems.
J:
I don’t dispute that there was fraud in the 2020 election. There clearly was. There always is, and there may have been more than usual in 2020.
But notably missing from your links (which are not exactly to unbiased and reliable sources, BTW) is any attempt to show that the extent of fraud in 2020 was enough to change the outcome. The first link, for example, to the Navarro Report purports to show that in Vol 3. But when you read it, the author refers to “potential” illegal votes and them deems them actual ones. It’s pretty sloppy rhetorical clickbait IMHO and would be thrown out of a court of law.
As for your examples of corruption in America, I largely agree with you. G
January 28, 2022. Tens of thousands of Pennsylvania votes were unconstitutional. “A Pennsylvania court ruled on Friday that the commonwealth’s 2019 voting law, which allowed anybody to apply for and receive a mail-in ballot to vote at least 50 days in advance, was “unconstitutional” because the legislature did not have permission to alter voting laws without amending the constitution, according to a five-judge panel.” https://www.dailywire.com/news/pennsylvania-court-rules-states-mail-in-voting-law-is-unconstitutional?itm_source=parsely-api
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As to the once greatness of America: President Biden on Tuesday said we once had the best roads and bridges in the world. I wonder if he has been to Japan, Germany or Switzerland to justify that statement?
Pingback: TUESDAY EDITION – THE SAMIZDAT HERALD.
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/ballot-bombshells-20-episodes-exposing-fraud-illegalities-and?fbclid=IwAR0dLjIr_E4sFxEziwjujyXyKdvVJfbqWntIahsGJJjERnLxBesjaH0g-rE
I often point out that, although there clearly was some fraud in the 2020 election (as there is in every election) there’s no evidence that there was ENOUGH to change the outcome. Oddly (at least to me as a lawyer) that point is rebutted by evidence (unproven BTW) that there was some fraud in the 2020 election. And so, goes this thinking, there MUST have been enough of it to change the outcome.
This is like saying in golf, “You disrupted my swing with your chatter — I would have made a hole in one!”