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We are not without cautionary tales which would appear to apply to the current situation. The Biblical accounts of Baal and Dagon, and the demise which befell those who turned to these “alternative” religions, coupled with the works of Ayn Rand, and most particularly “Atlas Shrugged”, spell out the consequences of deliberately turning back from paying attention to hard-won traditions and what was formerly acknowledged as common good sense, for new and experimental social standards.

Among the more prevalent of postings, the words “layoff” and “rationing” are becoming quite prominent. The nation is at a point of contraction and retrenchment, that is going to make the near collapse of the economy in 1938, under the New Deal, seem like a mere overcast dawn. Because we have so much further to fall, the arrest at the end of that fall is going to provide a wake-up call for even the most intransigent and doctrinaire devotees of state-run command economies.

Of course, the wake-up for them might be just as they are being strung up on a lamp post, when it may be a little late to beg forgiveness, as witness Benito Mussolini or Nicolae Ceausescu. But something about the blood of tyrants watering the tree of liberty....

You see, we have not lost, we are only at the wrong point in the swing of the pendulum. The trick is to give it a restart going in the right direction.

It may be time to think outside the box. Rather that to try to keep the integrity of the current geographical boundaries of what is known in the atlases and world maps as the “United States of America”, trim back and slough off those parts that have chosen to describe themselves as “blue” America, and carve out a near-contiguous republic of what could be called “red” America. Largely, this would follow state lines, but in some instances, it would extend across the current state lines into whole counties within those states that would also embrace the “red” America concept. While the “red” part of the map is almost solid, the “blue” part of the map is badly fragmented, and in some instances, is not of sufficent size or resources to be self-supporting, but apparently up to now, this has not been a consideration, as they could successfully leech off their more productive neighbors. But if the lines of distribution are cut off, it would be surprising how fast an attitude adjustment would take place. Just see what is happening in Staten Island, where Mother Nature and the bureaucratic New York City government has effectively stymied any kind of meaningful recovery, the supposed presence of FEMA notwithstanding.

In fact, the whole northeast portion of the country is getting a fetch upside the head, as the combined forces of Superstorm Sandy and the current nor’easter sent a one-two punch to the region. Most of the current woes were made much, much worse by belated decisions, and for following a doctrinaire agenda, in which only union labor could be allowed to come in and perform clean-up duties, and only the “approved” charities were allowed to provide assistance.

But it sure made “the Won” look good just before the election, to these people.