“We’re all a bit burned out, but we need to stay engaged, stay positive, stay non-violent.”
That probably isn’t going to work this time. I’m not directly advocating, but part of being conservative is to see reality as it is.
Non-violence doesn’t work very well when the other side has firepower and the determination to use it to quell opposition. And reconciliation becomes impossible when two sides have drifted so far apart as to have become ideological enemies, each of whom sees the other’s core philosophies as poison to their own natures.
Some years ago, while talking with a friend, he made a comment I still remember.
I made mention of the Amish’s ability to live outside the system if need be. He replied that they are only able to live like that because we permit them to.
His payoff line:
“How do you think the Amish would have fared against the Nazis?
This is a big ship, but it’s sinkin’ all the same. And close to half of the souls on board seem to want it to go in EXACTLY the direction it’s going — down.
We have two choices that I can see:
1. Hang onto our part of the ship and go down with ‘em, or...
2. Break off the stern, and let the bow sink along with the corrupt crew up on the bridge.
At some point _in the past_, it might have been possible to patch the leaks and save the entire ship. But not now — too much “water in the bow” to have hope of ever “righting” it again.
I know full well what I’m implying. So be it.
But I’m old, and a realist, and that’s what I see.
I'd have to agree that there will be some American cities that will burn, but it won't be our side that does it. I understand the need to protect yourself and your own, but protection is not preemption.