Posted on 10/19/2021 3:03:46 AM PDT by Kaslin
You need to understand that in a society where religion has gone out of fashion, the elite has to canonize secular saints as examples for the people it proposes to rule. The elite needs a quasi-religious justification to feel superior, and if it is not divine right that grants them that dispensation, it must be their own inherent superiority. This is why is so vital for them to feel smart – and why you see nonsense like signs reading “We believe in science” on the lawns of suburban wine women who contend that Kaden has become Katy through the power of wanting to be a girl. But our current elite, especially the Boomer establishment, was much less smart than it thought, and it has a track record of failure that requires an accounting. Therefore, when an aging Boomer within the upper reaches of the elite passes on, it is worthwhile to examine his life closely.
Colin Powell is a prime example of that passing generation of the elite and the current crisis of leadership in our country. Many who knew him respected him greatly, and attempts to turn him into a comical failure are as meritless as those who seek to make him an icon. He was a mixed bag, as most of us are – though Washington seems to have more sacks of unmitigated Schiff than anywhere else.
The general died of COVID after, as all the elite-simping people writing the news reports assured us, he had been vaccinated multiple times. They had to get that in – they had to reassure the faithful that the general was no heretic despite his sad end. His passing was noted exactly as one would expect for a mandarin of the elite. The mainstream hailed him; the rebel media pointed out his faults. Predictably, his obituaries put great store in the fact that he was “the first black” whatever, reducing his achievements – and he did have achievements – to a mere accident of birth. Moreover, the repeated reassurances that he had been “fully vaccinated” only served to highlight the lie we were sold that the vaccine was perfect protection.
Powell represents the mixture of good and bad that makes our boomer establishment’s failure so troubling. He performed adequately – decades ago, in Vietnam, and in the Gulf War where soldiers in it (like me) found him a firm and reassuring leader. The guy was brave in battle. He got wounded and he was a competent general. But so was Robert Mueller, except the general part. Lots of the Boomer elite surfed achievements from the sixties all the way in.
Back then, the elite at least had an entry turnstile that was more than just getting some worthless degree from some allegedly prestigious college. Powell stepped on a punji stick, which strikes me as a pretty good qualification for future leadership. Hell, all I got in my deployments was a sunburn and appendicitis.
But let’s be very clear about Powell’s total failure once he became one of the Washington wise men. He accepted the false WMD narrative and put his prestige behind it. Now, to be fair, I believed it too – I worked in that field during Gulf War 1.0 and understood the capabilities Saddam had then. But it turned out to be baloney a decade later, sparking the disaster that was Gulf War 2.0. From his public actions afterwards, Powell seemed outraged not so much by the war itself than the fact that being caught falsely pushing the meme damaged his credibility.
Powell became a reliably Democrat-voting Republican, the kind CNN would wheel out every election cycle to explain how actual Republicans are terrible. He was beloved in Washington as one of the wisemen because of this; it certainly helped wash off some of the stink of being caught up in the mustard gas fraud. Grimly, at the end, his passing exemplified the worst of the people he thought were the best and enjoyed being one of, with focus on his race and his taking of the vaxx sacrament and a soft-pedaling of his flaws.
Like many luminaries of the Boomer establishment, Powell provided a certain gravity and dignity to an elite rapidly filling up with young, woke, unaccomplished hacks. Though he was firmly on the side of the woke pronoun people by the end, he was not one of them. He picked up a rifle; they picked a gender. Powell was a serious man who found himself allied with unserious people.
But what did Colin Powell have to say to the rest of America? Sorry about the maimings and all the KIAs? He never gave any sense that he understood the forces that pushed Trump into the White House, and why would he? He was a four-star general, then the Secretary of State. These are potentates, and their encounters with the plebs are both rare and uncomfortable. He never had to make a payroll, never worried about the next mortgage payment. He entered West Point and never left the warm embrace of the establishment, whether as a soldier and diplomat in the government or in the quasi-governmental world that followed. So, it was no shock that the rise of Trump was a shock to him.
Powell gave no indication that he had any sense of the betrayals normal Americans felt, of the security stripped from them both economically and culturally by the policies of people like him. After all, the target of their populist anger was the insular ruling caste that he was a huge part of. Instead, it was easier for him to ascribe the rejection of people like him to their knuckle dragging ignorance or, more darkly, their racism.
But the American people did not reject Colin Powell and his ilk because the American people are bad, but because the elite is so bad at being elite. In DC, they will mourn Powell as a secular saint. In the rest of America, people will shrug.
At least he tried. He was a patriot, even if that fact was overshadowed by his membership in the Boomer establishment. And the generation of the establishment that follows his has already proven to be even worse.
Colin Powell, RIP.
Another good one by Kurt.
Actually, this is one of the most reasonable obits I’ve read about Powell. Good job.
I hadn’t thought of the “Boomer elites,” although I would like to point out that he actually wasn’t a Boomer, but like so many of our elite now, came from the generation just before. He was 84; the oldest Boomer can only be 75, since the start date is 1946, the start of the post-war baby boom.
But people of his generation became the elites for the Boomers, since they were just enough older to be their leaders. Many of the “don’t trust anyone over 30” crowd were actually pushing 30 or even over 30 themselves. They were about 10-15 years older than the Boomers themselves. Look at our current gerontological leadership (Pelosi, Feinstein, Biden and a host of others) and you will see that they are actually not Boomers.
“Many who knew him respected him greatly”
When he was made Chairman of the JCS it was discussed around my Government Contractor office whether he was qualified or just an affirmative action selection.
A retired Colonel in the office served with him and had nothing but respect for Powell.
So we concluded yes he was qualified, however him being black was a reason for his selection.
Except Powell wasn’t a Boomer.
Powell looked down his nose at Rush Limbaugh and his audience. That pretty much says who Powell was. I miss Rush. Powell? Not so much.
And Mueller of course wasn’t a Boomer either.
Would be nice to have had at least one example to try to make a point.
See #3.
I remember, for months, Colin Powell would give secret speeches where he went political (no recordings allowed, no discussions after, etc.). And then FINALLY, the Great Unveiling, where he announced that he was a Republican.
Then, for the rest of his life, he NEVER said anything bad about Democrats, but always had nasty words for the GOP, or at least those in the GOP who tried to represent the base, saying things like “The Republican Party is a bit rough around the edges”, “they really need to lighten up on the divisive social issues”, etc., yet he still was NEVER BOTHERED by the pure hatred being spewed by the Democrats.
But, alas, the Republicans FINALLY nominate a ‘respectable’ candidate for the White House (at least in his world), named John McCain - the PERFECT candidate, with tremendous experience and hatred twoards the GOP base that rivaled Powell. So who does Powell endorse that year (2008): Obama, a person barely removed from the streets of Chicago with virtually no political or leadership experience - by far the least qualified person ever to step foot in the White House.
While many think it was simply Tribalism, and maybe it was, but perhaps, when coupled with his hatred of the GOP base and his NEVER-criticizing of Democrats (along with dropping out of sight when Democrats do stupid things, or get caught in corruption), perhaps he went to the Democrats and asked whether he could do more damage to the Republicans from the inside (claiming to be a Republican) than from the outside (being honest, and admitting he’s a Democrat). And the Democrats told him he’d be more helpful to their cause if he claimed to be a Republican.
Speculation on my part, but even most Republicans, even the worst RINOs, seem to have a tolerance limit with the Democrats, but not Colin Powell, ever. There simply was NOTHING that the Democrats could do that bothered him.
Kurt is being too kind. I do think that, when all is said and done, Powell was a Bad Guy.
First, Powell was not a Boomer. Baby boomers - born after WW II (1945) to 1963. Powell was born in 1937. He was not a boomer.
Second, Powell never went to much less graduated from West Point. That is a simple fact the author should have known or at least researched.
Third, the media initially did not come out and say he was vaccinated. Also, there is no mention in the article of his other ailments. He did not die of COVID.
I read Powell's autobiography years ago, while also reading Schwarzkopf's autobiography. I was not impressed with either man. Compared to the great military leaders the United States has produced - Eisenhower, Power, Marshall, Bradley, Pershing, Nimitz, Halsey, etc., Powell and Schwarzkopf - in my opinion - were ticket punchers. I considered Powell to be in the McClellan category.
No mention on how Powell knew who leaked that CIA woman’s name to the press but would not say so during a cabinet meeting. He knew because it was his own man that did it.
Let’s be blunt. Powell was an affirmative action hire, promoted by President Reagan beyond his station. He rode on his race to achieve his positions.
If this useless fraud hadn’t been trotted out by the media every four years to sanctimoniously tell the world that he was a “lifelong Republican” voting for a Democratic nominee once again, I would have thought he passed away years ago.
The same can be said of McCain. Good comment from you.
Not everone can afford to send their kids to private school. Are you willing to pay for those that can't, or are you just talking?
1. Who ever said private schools are the only alternative to public schools?
2. Did you ever ask yourself if you -- or Americans in general -- can afford PUBLIC schools?
3. If you rely on the state for the education of your children, then you are basically a slave to that state and have no place on a website called Free Republic.
4. The term "education" in Item #3 is a misnomer -- because public schools aren't there to educate anyone. Public schools were, in fact, designed NOT to educate children, but to mold them into tools of the state and its corporate partners. You can read the writings of John Dewey -- the "grandfather of American public schools" -- to verify this. He saw public schools as nothing more than a mechanism for training an industrial work force to support U.S. industries.
Powell was the epitome of the affirmative action Jackson
And then when he voted for Barack Obama imagine a man of the military voting for the communist Obama he showed us that he was a racist rather than a patriotic American
Good riddance. These bastards can’t die fast enough
Rush was part of the conservative talk radio elite. His job was to push things that the so called right would accept. Nafta, free trade, China, outsourcing, etc. He was very good at this job.
Yeah that’s my take too. If he was a mole sent into the GOP or just a plain traitor the result was the same. On the whole besides being a bad guy he was a bland forgettable one too.
Public schools started out as essentally subsidized private schools, parents got together and created a local school, which was subsidized by the government.
They were fine as long as they were local and controlled by the local school boards.
Three things destroyed that. They were planned, coordinated attacks on local control.
First was the rise of the national teachers unions, which never should have been allowed to exist. They existed by Supreme Court activism
Second was the rise in federal funding, which resulted in defacto control over critical issues, and the centralization of schools.
Third was the busing and race based affirmative action. Direct assaults on local control which were unconstitutional attacks on parental rights. More Supreme Court activism.
Desegregation is completely different from affirmative action.
Affirmative action is direct racism, as we have seen.
There are numerous ways to learn without attending a school.
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