Tuesday, May 23, 2023

How Much Gas Does America Have Left in Her Tank?

Op-Ed: How Much Gas Does America Have Left in Her Tank?

posted by Duke at RedState 

America, I think your gas gauge is broken and I’m worried about how much fuel you have left in your tank. Even though I’m pondering this question with all due respect to Tesla I never want you to go all-electric.

Screw that.

When you are a consumer of news, whether it be political, financial, sports, or on occasion the pop culture stuff that leaks into our daily streams about the creepy royal family in Britain, you may have to ponder: Is this country finally at a tipping point, or has it already tipped over and we are just sitting listening to the band on the Titanic thinking it is a wonderful cruise?

After my piece yesterday titled The Country Is on Fire and Robert Gates Wants Us to Get Along With the Arsonists, I’m beginning to think the latter is the case — and we’re on the unsinkable ship that sunk. As I observed regarding our current state of affairs in that article: How can any country survive the onslaught of stupid when we can’t even agree on basic definitions of words and the science of biology?

This question — or actually the theme — of whether or not this country is finished was discussed on last Wednesday night’s Red State VIP gold show with the co-host of that show Scott Hounsell and myself. (If you are NOT a VIP Gold Subscriber check it out HERE and use code SAVEAMERICA to get 40% off). The discussion I have to admit was pretty grim.

We covered, among other things, the absolute debacle of our own government lying to us about the bat flu (New NIH Letter Again Confirms That Fauci Lied, Funding Went To Wuhan Lab; Cancels Funding of Grant), which so far has been swept under the rug.

Additionally, we discussed the fact that J. Edgars Hoovers’ old employer is currently engaged in some heavy-handed tactics that would make the old leaders of the Soviet Union blush (FBI Employees Allege Retaliation After They Revealed the ‘Political Rot’).

Plus, we no longer (effectively) have a southern border anymore (Afghan National on Terror List Nabbed at Border). The elected officials pretty much threw up their hands on this long ago.

I won’t even go into the debt ceiling talks or the actual debt because I think the point is made with the subjects above. This country is in a heap of trouble and the best comeback I have seen from our side is we don’t drink Bud Light anymore which was always crap anyway.

America was founded on the radical idea of rugged individualism. The simple notion that people who are not born into wealth or influence would be able to, through hard work and their own ingenuity, make a better life for themselves than what previous generations had been able to achieve.

What we have devolved into is a country that has embraced nihilism and collectivism and the ugly byproduct of that is that we no longer can agree on the definitions of words that have held fast for over a thousand years. How does a society function without that bedrock to stand on?

I know that this all sounds like I’m being a bit of a Debbie Downer and I probably am. Yet I find it hard to believe that the country of my youth led by the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, is now in this condition.

In Reagan’s letter announcing his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, he closed with a line that has always stuck with me and encapsulated his overall outlook for America. He wrote…

I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.

President Reagan had an unbridled optimism for this country and it is one of the many reasons why he is considered one of our nation’s greatest leaders. I’m currently having trouble seeing any bright dawns ahead for us now like the Gipper did and it makes me sad that the greatest republic the world has ever known may have finally run out of gas.

I pray to God that I am wrong.