Slick move Erick. On your recent impeachment sham article that you wanted us to sit and watch. You didn’t and wouldn’t allow comments. “No Witnesses” Wow when you don’t want anyone to tell you that you got it wrong maybe you shouldn’t try to be CNN and wait.
For me, the most significant piece of evidence in the impeachment trial is Trump's tweet in which he said, "These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from patriots . . . ." It means he knew what was likely to happen, if only he assembled a mob.
Until January 6th, I could understand voting for Trump. Until each and every reviewing judge – including those appointed by Trump – found nothing wrong with last year’s election and Trump’s very own Attorney General joined in that opinion, I could even understand concerns about the legitimacy of the result. What changed for me on January 6th did not occur with the storming of the Capitol. It happened after the building was retaken, when most Congressional Republicans – knowing full well that Trump had just resorted to mob violence in an attempt to hold on to power – effectively signed off on it by going right ahead with their challenges to the electoral vote count, just as if nothing had happened.
In an earlier post, I offered the reminder that Hitler first came to power through democratic means, and that even after he tried to seize power by force, he and his Nazis were not “cancelled” by German society. Rather, they were allowed to continue his pursuit of political power until he got it, whereupon democracy was no more. At the conclusion of that post, I asked whether this might suggest that the democratic process, standing alone, is an insufficient safeguard against tyranny. No one undertook an answer.
Before saying what I really have to say, I will give my conservative friends one more pass: I can even understand it if one does not believe that a private citizen can be impeached. What I cannot understand, however, and can no longer accept is anyone who still believes that Donald Trump should ever again be President. Given his continued support among Republicans, I can only conclude that democracy is not a process to which a lot of Republicans are necessarily committed. That such a man came within just 43,000 votes of remaining in power confirms my concern that democracy, standing alone, may indeed be an insufficient safeguard against tyranny. Call it “cancel culture” or whatever you want, but for those who would condone Trump’s brazen attempt to hold onto power irrespective of our democratic process and traditions, their shaming and social ostracization could actually be necessary if democracy is to be preserved. (It feels bad to say that, but then I remember that they will promptly “cancel” the political career of any Republican who dares to vote his conscience in convicting Donald Trump on impeachment.)
I delayed posting this because I wanted to calm down and be sure that this is what I want to say. I am. The implicit social compact lying at the core of the Constitution is that I respect your views, you respect mine and we settle our differences at the ballot box. If you still support Donald Trump after what you saw on January 6th, however, I must question your commitment to our democratic process to such an extent that I don’t just want your job, reputation, and good standing in the community. I’d take your house if I could, and your citizenship as well because if you are not willing to abide by the results of the last election (that being the way we have done things in America for more than 230 years; the only other exception having occurred in 1860), you are no longer a party to the social compact on which my respect for your views is premised.
You’re right, Erick. Bad things are coming. They generally do when people who would do away with democracy come close enough to think they just might get away with it one day. I look forward to the day when I can once again stand with you for the free exchange of ideas and opinions without fear of social consequences, but these are not ordinary times. So if anyone on the right is going to react with violence to the revulsion for Trumpism that is now so broadly felt in decent society, I say let them.
Or reflecting on how things ended up in both 1865 and 1945, perhaps I should say . . . let them try it.
Erick, how dare you! In the 28th paragraph, you dared to use the phrase “work like hell”. Didn’t you just hear the Democrats just say that using that phrase is tantamount to inciting insurrection? (End sarcasm)
Seriously, your essay is spot on. I am retired military, and a strong Constitutional conservative; as such, I reject the notion that the only way to “save” America from either the left or
the right is through violent actions. However, I see many of those who share my background abandoning that belief, and expecting to have to fight. I know friends on the left doing the same.
On the battlefield, if the center does not hold, the battle is lost. In American politics today, if the center does not hold, the Republic is lost. Sadly, and I hope not intentionally, the radical left seems determined to cause the political center - and those moderately on either side of it, where most Americans reside - to collapse.
We indeed face dark times ahead; all I can and will do is trust in the Lord in the hope that He will give us someone who can pull us back from the brink.
Disproportionality has already led to continued violence in my city of Portland, Oregon. The federal courthouse is attacked over and over again, people hurt, police hurt, federal officers hurt, bypassers hurt and at least one killed and no one breathed a word about charging any of the protesters or their supporters with incitement of insurrection or insurrection itself. The county D.A. has even said no one will be charged who did not actually commit violence. Apparently he doesn't believe in such a thing as incitement.
What to do? Hope that things get so bad in Portland that the voters will come to think things need to be changed? Hasn't happened yet even though downtown is boarded up and no one goes there who doesn't have to.
What it does lead to is widespread disrespect for elected officials and laws both by those who are protesters and allowed to break laws as well as those who see the disconnect in equal application of the law. It will have a shattering effect on civil society as people come to believe that they only have to obey laws they like since others are allowed to do that.
Back in the 80's when weak "conservatives" allowed homosexuals to call themselves "gay" instead of homosexuals. That's when the takeover started. Erick just called them "gay" instead of what they are, homosexuals. Prove me wrong!
I have often disagreed with Erick, but this is the first time he has written something that has absolutely angered me. I have learned that it is better not to react when one is angry, and to respond only after one can do so in a loving and respectful manner. Moreover, Erick reveals so very much of himself in these posts that to an almost unparalleled degree, his audience gets to know him pretty well. As a longtime member of that audience, I think this post was written by a genuinely good man.
As I mull over the post, and perhaps more importantly my reaction to it (why did it make me so angry?), I would pose this question the subject matter of which would normally be off-limits in polite discussion, but for Ms. Carano having already "opened the door."
A lot of people might not know that Adolph Hitler first came to power through democratic means, but he did. Given the ultimate result when German society allowed the Nazis to continue peddling their hate without consequence - even to the point of allowing their leader to again contend for the leadership of the country after he had already led an insurgent attempt to simply take power (in the so-called Beer Hall Putsch) - would it be unfair to say that the democratic process, standing alone, may not be a sufficient safeguard against tyranny?
I have a wide leather belt for you to put around the animal skin clothing you’ll need to wear. The problem is you’re a picky eater like me. The locust & honey thing will be a non-starter I’m guessing....!
Not a blog that is comfortable to read but I believe you are correct.
David French pointed this out so well in his excellent " Divided We Fall " book last fall. The "de-mobification" of the United States will require actual adults (with respect for the institutions and traditions that make us different than China) refusing to allow mob rule in our institutions, educational structures and media outlets. The lessons of history are clear. The fruit of the American Revolution is profoundly different that the French Revolution. Eschewing the American will similarly lead to the modern equivalent of guillotines in the streets with the chaos resulting in the inevitable dictator. God help us.
It's a bit of a conundrum...do I push back against the left and risk being cancelled/fired or do I simply stay below the radar and live my life? Being nice and reasonable will let all this woke BS continue, but push back and who knows what will happen to you/your job/your biz.
Personally I do a hybrid version of push back, kind of an attempt to simply keep folks off balance and slightly confused.
You're absolutely right. So is Kathy (although I too have issues with ever using a Holocaust comparison.) I'm watching it happen now, in our small community. Feels like witch trials. Politicians about whom online "papers" print speculation and slander. People who've quit their jobs to get away from social media.
I worry about rent-a-mobs. People who have protested, found power, and are looking for other ways to use it. Or those who have the finances to use the mobs.
My question for anyone reading is: how do we stop it?
Kathy nailed the crux of the problem....." I would be delighted to let the left live as they wish, doing what they wish. But the problem is that they are not content to do the same to conservatives. They have no interest in living in harmony with people who do not believe as they do, they want the full control, the full power, the full compliance and they are going to do anything they have to in order to get it. " We KNEW what was coming with the power hungry Democrats, big tech, big business, media, Hollywood in charge.....our fear drove us to cling to any bit of hope for an overturned election. Too bad there were so many Americans who were not interested in informing themselves about the coming storm.
Amen and thank you. The only difference that I have is that I believe the left knows exactly what they are doing. That they want complete control of everything and they don't care how the get it. I pray for this country. It's not the one I grew up in.
Slick move Erick. On your recent impeachment sham article that you wanted us to sit and watch. You didn’t and wouldn’t allow comments. “No Witnesses” Wow when you don’t want anyone to tell you that you got it wrong maybe you shouldn’t try to be CNN and wait.
For me, the most significant piece of evidence in the impeachment trial is Trump's tweet in which he said, "These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from patriots . . . ." It means he knew what was likely to happen, if only he assembled a mob.
Until January 6th, I could understand voting for Trump. Until each and every reviewing judge – including those appointed by Trump – found nothing wrong with last year’s election and Trump’s very own Attorney General joined in that opinion, I could even understand concerns about the legitimacy of the result. What changed for me on January 6th did not occur with the storming of the Capitol. It happened after the building was retaken, when most Congressional Republicans – knowing full well that Trump had just resorted to mob violence in an attempt to hold on to power – effectively signed off on it by going right ahead with their challenges to the electoral vote count, just as if nothing had happened.
In an earlier post, I offered the reminder that Hitler first came to power through democratic means, and that even after he tried to seize power by force, he and his Nazis were not “cancelled” by German society. Rather, they were allowed to continue his pursuit of political power until he got it, whereupon democracy was no more. At the conclusion of that post, I asked whether this might suggest that the democratic process, standing alone, is an insufficient safeguard against tyranny. No one undertook an answer.
Before saying what I really have to say, I will give my conservative friends one more pass: I can even understand it if one does not believe that a private citizen can be impeached. What I cannot understand, however, and can no longer accept is anyone who still believes that Donald Trump should ever again be President. Given his continued support among Republicans, I can only conclude that democracy is not a process to which a lot of Republicans are necessarily committed. That such a man came within just 43,000 votes of remaining in power confirms my concern that democracy, standing alone, may indeed be an insufficient safeguard against tyranny. Call it “cancel culture” or whatever you want, but for those who would condone Trump’s brazen attempt to hold onto power irrespective of our democratic process and traditions, their shaming and social ostracization could actually be necessary if democracy is to be preserved. (It feels bad to say that, but then I remember that they will promptly “cancel” the political career of any Republican who dares to vote his conscience in convicting Donald Trump on impeachment.)
I delayed posting this because I wanted to calm down and be sure that this is what I want to say. I am. The implicit social compact lying at the core of the Constitution is that I respect your views, you respect mine and we settle our differences at the ballot box. If you still support Donald Trump after what you saw on January 6th, however, I must question your commitment to our democratic process to such an extent that I don’t just want your job, reputation, and good standing in the community. I’d take your house if I could, and your citizenship as well because if you are not willing to abide by the results of the last election (that being the way we have done things in America for more than 230 years; the only other exception having occurred in 1860), you are no longer a party to the social compact on which my respect for your views is premised.
You’re right, Erick. Bad things are coming. They generally do when people who would do away with democracy come close enough to think they just might get away with it one day. I look forward to the day when I can once again stand with you for the free exchange of ideas and opinions without fear of social consequences, but these are not ordinary times. So if anyone on the right is going to react with violence to the revulsion for Trumpism that is now so broadly felt in decent society, I say let them.
Or reflecting on how things ended up in both 1865 and 1945, perhaps I should say . . . let them try it.
Erick, how dare you! In the 28th paragraph, you dared to use the phrase “work like hell”. Didn’t you just hear the Democrats just say that using that phrase is tantamount to inciting insurrection? (End sarcasm)
Seriously, your essay is spot on. I am retired military, and a strong Constitutional conservative; as such, I reject the notion that the only way to “save” America from either the left or
the right is through violent actions. However, I see many of those who share my background abandoning that belief, and expecting to have to fight. I know friends on the left doing the same.
On the battlefield, if the center does not hold, the battle is lost. In American politics today, if the center does not hold, the Republic is lost. Sadly, and I hope not intentionally, the radical left seems determined to cause the political center - and those moderately on either side of it, where most Americans reside - to collapse.
We indeed face dark times ahead; all I can and will do is trust in the Lord in the hope that He will give us someone who can pull us back from the brink.
Disproportionality has already led to continued violence in my city of Portland, Oregon. The federal courthouse is attacked over and over again, people hurt, police hurt, federal officers hurt, bypassers hurt and at least one killed and no one breathed a word about charging any of the protesters or their supporters with incitement of insurrection or insurrection itself. The county D.A. has even said no one will be charged who did not actually commit violence. Apparently he doesn't believe in such a thing as incitement.
What to do? Hope that things get so bad in Portland that the voters will come to think things need to be changed? Hasn't happened yet even though downtown is boarded up and no one goes there who doesn't have to.
What it does lead to is widespread disrespect for elected officials and laws both by those who are protesters and allowed to break laws as well as those who see the disconnect in equal application of the law. It will have a shattering effect on civil society as people come to believe that they only have to obey laws they like since others are allowed to do that.
Back in the 80's when weak "conservatives" allowed homosexuals to call themselves "gay" instead of homosexuals. That's when the takeover started. Erick just called them "gay" instead of what they are, homosexuals. Prove me wrong!
Thank you. Thos made my day. Helped me understand a bit better.
I have often disagreed with Erick, but this is the first time he has written something that has absolutely angered me. I have learned that it is better not to react when one is angry, and to respond only after one can do so in a loving and respectful manner. Moreover, Erick reveals so very much of himself in these posts that to an almost unparalleled degree, his audience gets to know him pretty well. As a longtime member of that audience, I think this post was written by a genuinely good man.
As I mull over the post, and perhaps more importantly my reaction to it (why did it make me so angry?), I would pose this question the subject matter of which would normally be off-limits in polite discussion, but for Ms. Carano having already "opened the door."
A lot of people might not know that Adolph Hitler first came to power through democratic means, but he did. Given the ultimate result when German society allowed the Nazis to continue peddling their hate without consequence - even to the point of allowing their leader to again contend for the leadership of the country after he had already led an insurgent attempt to simply take power (in the so-called Beer Hall Putsch) - would it be unfair to say that the democratic process, standing alone, may not be a sufficient safeguard against tyranny?
I have a wide leather belt for you to put around the animal skin clothing you’ll need to wear. The problem is you’re a picky eater like me. The locust & honey thing will be a non-starter I’m guessing....!
Not a blog that is comfortable to read but I believe you are correct.
Sadly, totally correct.........
I work in Higher Ed. I see what's next pretty clearly, and it's not good. I'm just grateful Jesus wins.
Erick I agree with you 100% and I’m afraid that soon even you will be shutdown. Today’s intolerance from the media is frustrating and exhausting.
David French pointed this out so well in his excellent " Divided We Fall " book last fall. The "de-mobification" of the United States will require actual adults (with respect for the institutions and traditions that make us different than China) refusing to allow mob rule in our institutions, educational structures and media outlets. The lessons of history are clear. The fruit of the American Revolution is profoundly different that the French Revolution. Eschewing the American will similarly lead to the modern equivalent of guillotines in the streets with the chaos resulting in the inevitable dictator. God help us.
It's a bit of a conundrum...do I push back against the left and risk being cancelled/fired or do I simply stay below the radar and live my life? Being nice and reasonable will let all this woke BS continue, but push back and who knows what will happen to you/your job/your biz.
Personally I do a hybrid version of push back, kind of an attempt to simply keep folks off balance and slightly confused.
You raise a legitimate concerns Erick. How is the true church to operate “in the world but not of it” in an environment like this ?
You're absolutely right. So is Kathy (although I too have issues with ever using a Holocaust comparison.) I'm watching it happen now, in our small community. Feels like witch trials. Politicians about whom online "papers" print speculation and slander. People who've quit their jobs to get away from social media.
I worry about rent-a-mobs. People who have protested, found power, and are looking for other ways to use it. Or those who have the finances to use the mobs.
My question for anyone reading is: how do we stop it?
Kathy nailed the crux of the problem....." I would be delighted to let the left live as they wish, doing what they wish. But the problem is that they are not content to do the same to conservatives. They have no interest in living in harmony with people who do not believe as they do, they want the full control, the full power, the full compliance and they are going to do anything they have to in order to get it. " We KNEW what was coming with the power hungry Democrats, big tech, big business, media, Hollywood in charge.....our fear drove us to cling to any bit of hope for an overturned election. Too bad there were so many Americans who were not interested in informing themselves about the coming storm.
Amen and thank you. The only difference that I have is that I believe the left knows exactly what they are doing. That they want complete control of everything and they don't care how the get it. I pray for this country. It's not the one I grew up in.