Can America Rise Above the Tide of History?

Townhall 

I have reproduced the following quote from historian Sir Alexander Fraser Tytler in the late 18th century many times in my Townhall and other articles over the years. But it is so good, and so perceptive, and so needed, and I constantly have new readers (I hope), that I simply must quote it again and make some relevant comments on current America.

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”

So said a great historian over 200 years ago. Where, gentle reader, do you think America is today in this sequential progression?

Folks, I hate to be a pessimist; I really do. It seems like all I do is write about how horrible things are in the country, how deep into a stinking, putrid, decadent toilet bowl the Democrats are dragging us as rapidly as they can, how Republicans seem to be utterly clueless of what is going on, and/or too gutless to do anything about it. I’d love to write that the country is firmly united together, is soaring to new heights of spiritual, moral, and economic strength, that self-control, righteousness, integrity, honesty, truth, and brotherly love are the dominant characteristics of our people, how virtuous liberty and godly patriotism are something that all Americans cherish and are willing to fight and die for.

I’d love to write about these latter things. But I’m not a liar; at least I try not to be.

I’m a historian, and thus, as realistic as I can possibly be, based on the teachings and trends of the past. And it is plain to me that America has indeed gone through most of the progression that Sir Tytler described. We became a great nation — not perfect, no nation ever is, and Tytler didn’t write about perfection; he wrote about the rise and fall of democracies and nations. Not every people in history — in fact, very, very few actually — have progressed through the sequence Tytler noted. How many readers have ever heard of the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, the Perizzites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Jebusites? Well, if you are a deep student of the Bible, you might recognize them. They are all mentioned in Genesis 15:19-21, but they certainly aren’t household names among most people.

No, most tribes never came close to the progression Tytler described. But America did. From bondage — a colony of England. But then those colonists developed a deep spiritual faith in God, and that led them to a thirst for liberty. Their faith in God produced a great courage, and they fought tyranny and won the liberty they prized. And that virtuous liberty led to the greatest economic power the world has ever seen, an “abundance” unmatched in human history. And yea, we still enjoy that abundance, and should be thankful for it.

But history has a way of biting people on the butt when they fall asleep. Abundance has its price, unless a people are supremely diligent. And Americans have not been. Americans have largely forgotten — and many have come to hate — the spiritual faith the country was built upon. We have followed the road of ancient Israel. God to Moses: “When I have brought them to the land flowing with milk and honey…and they have eaten and filled themselves and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods and serve them; and they will provoke Me…[and] many evils and troubles [shall] come upon them” (Deuteronomy 31:20-21).

That sounds almost exactly like Tytler’s “progression”; or perhaps, Tytler’s progression sounds like God’s. “From abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back into bondage.” America hasn’t gone through Tytler’s (or God’s) full sequence yet, but what right-thinking individual can deny we are a long way down the road — and not on the uphill path.

Sadly, it's been the way of mankind from the beginning; that’s why Tytler — the historian — wrote what he did. It’s why I currently have trouble finding things optimistic to write about. I’m trying to warn us, not lie and paint a rosy picture of a glorious utopia. And, yes, while there are still many, many great Americans who love the country, who do truly want to “Make America Great Again”…folks, the only way we can “Make America Great Again” is to return to what made us great in the first place — spiritual faith, great courage, a love of virtuous liberty, a faith and appreciation to the God who gave us, too, “a land flowing with milk and honey.” There…will…BE…no greatness, if we don’t, as a nation, restore that which produces greatness. But when half of America has been taught to hate the country and the God Who blessed them supremely — and that pile of hypocritical haters has been among the paramount possessors and enjoyers of the very blessings they curse, failing to acknowledge it because they are nothing but a brood of vipers — well, pardon me when I have trouble being optimistic. Selfishness…apathy… dependence…bondage.

Americans are humans, too, and apparently aren't the kind of people who can defy history and rise above the tide. Sad, but nobody else has ever done it, either.

America will turn it around when all Americans open their eyes and hearts again. There is no other way.

Podcast thread for August 9

 

hey the weekend's finally over.

How Little has Changed Between 'Political Correctness' and 'Woke'

American Thinker 

“Politically correct.” I was introduced to that fatuous phrase about 35 years ago while watching an episode of the television series Thirtysomething. The following day, I mentioned it in a casual conversation with a colleague. Confessing that I had never before heard the expression, I told her I found an astounding clumsiness in its construction. “(The character) said it without a hint of irony,” I complained. “Isn’t ‘politically (long pause) correct,’ a contradiction in terms?”

“Not at all,” she educated me. “We used it all the time at Occidental,” explaining everything I needed to know. “Some things simply cannot be said,” she continued, “or even thought.”

We were both in our early 30s, and it had been years since either of us had sat in a college classroom. It dawned on me that my colleague had carried the burden of that knowledge for both of us for over a decade. I was impressed. As her lesson continued, I learned that speech that is hurtful or “denies what we know to be true” must be suppressed. I don’t recall whether she tried to enlighten me about what type of things constitute “what we know to be true.” If she did, it didn’t take.

Over the next two decades, it was nearly impossible to avoid the term. On balance, and honoring core principles of our sometimes-impolite founding, “politically correct” (or its diminutive, “PC”) found its more proper home in the camp of those using it as a pejorative. The ridicule, the market decided, was warranted. It has now been many moons since the phrase has been employed to shame the allegedly “incorrect” and remains an arrow in the quiver of the sane.

A Pose by any Other Name

So why this history lesson? To illustrate how little has changed. Instead of the Titanic’s deck chairs, we have busied ourselves with a change in the vulgate. If “politically correct” was clumsy, “woke” is positively spastic.

My introduction to the term occurred when escaped the large, wobbly, and always moving mouth of Congresswoman Maxine Waters in one of her infamous street-preaching press conferences. Like everything that comes from Mad Max, it hurt my ears, but “woke” seemed a particularly aggressive expression. The way she used it defied standards of English -- which, of course, is the point behind the point -- and exhibited both arrogance and a clear animosity toward those outside her congregation, whom she knew would balk at its calculated crudeness. Typical boomer, though. I was late to the party: it was 2017 by the time Auntie Maxine assaulted my senses. Apparently, BLM had been throwing “woke” around for several years, certainly by the time that Michael (“Never Said ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot’”) Brown was killed in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014. Some try to tie it to a common encouragement of vigilance, i.e., “stay woke,” between blacks during Jim Crow, but given its modern use, that ancestry seems questionable.

The gulf is wide between vigilance and vanity. The former doesn’t fret over pronouns or the feelings of boys who only want to beat the girls. Its concern is in not getting beaten. Vigilance doesn’t busy itself with counting the number of black women cast in a European costume drama or Asian men in a revival of Fiddler on the Roof. Vanity does. Vigilance doesn’t demand an alternative “national anthem” be performed before sporting events. That’s vanity, too.

Arguably, woke’s heyday came during the BLM riots of 2020, euphemistically known as the George Floyd protests; yet, within a year or so, assorted expositors were already raising the question: “Do Democrats have a ‘woke’ problem?”

Whatever its origin, “woke” has experienced the same, inevitable fate as its aforementioned brother in the vernacular. “Wokeism” and “PC” are more than mere siblings, though: in fact, they are twins, lab-grown to be sure, but of the same batch of egg substitute. Neither aged well, though. Actuarially speaking, I’d suggest their premiums have spiked. By my calculations, “woke” has reached its late-middle age, which means most people ignore it. (Trust me.) Meanwhile, PC is, at best, in its anecdotage. Now used more often by the accused than by the accuser, their shared vapidity has been fully exposed. Like death to a follower of Christ, they have lost their sting.

When rallying cries so readily turn into derisive mocking, we have to ask what gave them birth in the first place.

The Benign and the Malignant       

Who doesn’t like to be identified with what’s good? Etched onto the human heart is a desire to serve the cause of righteousness. It is axiomatic that where God (as the source of that righteousness) is removed from the equation, the resulting void will be filled with something else. The alternative values that substitute for divine righteousness might be pleasing in some way, even objectively ethical at times, born of honorable notions, but they are never pure. They are invariably hollow or vain.

When modified by “self,” righteousness loses its value and invites retort. Because of their performative nature, PC and woke decrees and demands have for years prompted the much-deserved accusation of virtue signaling, which recognizes a conspicuous insincerity on the part of the self-righteous. In The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Jesus exposed how such utter lack of humility plays out: the self-exalting will be humbled. That is largely what we are seeing now, although some bad actors never accept a bad review. Hypocrites will continue to conspicuously announce their commitment to some favored faction, but receive their reward in full in the announcing.

Upon close inspection, unfortunately, the faux righteousness takes on a much darker aspect than mere grandiosity, and the twins’ parentage becomes clearer. It doesn’t matter which formulation is at play (PC or wokeness), something sinister is always present, with the devil, in the details: a demand to silence all opposition, which is the point behind the other point.

And that is ultimately the reason why they keep losing. We are both fortunate and blessed. Our Founders didn’t merely give us the most thoughtful political document in the history of the world, the Constitution of the United States of America (only “the perfect law of liberty” has ever exceeded it in its lavish desire to set and keep us free). They gave us a foundation for a culture that won’t be told to “shut up.” Americans like their gas cheap and their speech free, and aren’t about to accept technical explanations or moral posturing to get in the way of either.

Postscript: A Surprising Confession

After years of enduring endless political battles, especially over language and semantics, I have come to a shocking conclusion. By acknowledging from where our rights emanate, our Founders were not merely humble, wise, and insightful. They threaded the unthreadable needle, achieving the sublime paradox: they were politically correct.

🎭 𝐖𝟑𝐏 𝓓𝓐𝓘𝓛𝓨 𝓗𝓾𝓶𝓸𝓻, 𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓬, 𝓐𝓻𝓽, 𝓞𝓟𝓔𝓝 𝓣𝓗𝓡𝓔𝓐𝓓

 

Welcome to 

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Vice President JD Vance Extensive Interview

Vice President JD Vance appears on Fox News for a wide-ranging discussion on current events.  Vice President Vance outlines the Iran conflict, the current progress of the Fraud Taskforce and the personal insults from Michigan Senate candidate El-Sayed. WATCH:

JD Vance Returns Fire After Abdul El-Sayed Sneers About VP's 'Brown' Children

RedState 

The more you see and hear from Abdul El-Sayed, the socialist-aligned radical who just won the Democrat Party's Senate primary in Michigan, the more it seems like he's better suited to be a bomb-throwing keyboard warrior or a podcast bro who excels at raging into a microphone. 

It certainly seems like he's auditioning for one of these roles instead of the sober, serious job of being a United States senator. Then again, no one has accused the Democrat Party of being sober or serious in a very long time. 

El-Sayed had Vice President JD Vance in his sights during a recent interview with MS NOW. In it, El-Sayed rattled off a series of insults against Vance, saying he hadn't "made any sense" since "Hillbilly Elegy," and accusing the vice president of sucking up to "power."

“Is that Peter Thiel’s boy with that Ohio charisma he’s got?” El-Sayed sneered. “That guy. I think we’ve had enough of him. The last thing that he said that made any sense was ‘Hillbilly Elegy’, after he said that Donald Trump had no business being president of anything. That was the last time he made sense, and then he decided to suck up to power.”

It actually sounds like El-Sayed is trying out for the role of Hasan Pike imitator, doesn't it? He's AOC if AOC were somehow more insufferable, less likable, and convinced every cheap insult spit out of her mouth was a devastating intellectual blow.

The vice president shot back at El-Sayed during a Saturday interview on Fox News, calling El-Sayed "crazy" and revealing the candidate had nastily gone after the Vance children.

"I think the guy is crazy and would be a terrible senator for the people of Michigan."

@VP JD Vance unloads on Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, accusing him of resorting to personal attacks instead of explaining how he'd improve life for voters.

"He's also gone after my kids. He's just kind of an odd guy," Vance says, before contrasting El-Sayed's economic approach with President Trump's agenda.

Vance argues the path to prosperity is "rebuilding the middle class" and America's industrial base, while crediting Trump's policies with helping Michigan's auto industry.

Here's what Abdul El-Sayed said about the Vance children during a podcast interview back in April.

Dr. Abdul Sayed, a Senate candidate tied for the lead in the Michigan Democratic primary, asked Vice President JD Vance how he reconciles having "brown kids who he thinks are less American than everyone else."

"That’s wild—to look at your own kids and be like, you don’t actually belong as much in this country that I brought you into," Sayed said. "It must break you every time you hug your own kids. I’m so sorry."

"The thing about JD Vance—he has the charisma of a doorknob," Sayed said. "Literally the aura of a toad. You’re not winning an election, my friend. I’m so sorry."

"He’s got brown kids. At some point, he’s going to have to have a really awkward conversation with his kids, like—you made your career hating people who are different."

What an absolutely loathsome thing to say about young children. Who does that? JD Vance can take the political slings and arrows, but leave the babies out of it, you cretin.

Hopefully, Michigan voters pay close attention to this rage-baiter's podcast schtick. Sneering at JD Vance and dragging his children into the political fray might earn applause from the permanently online Left, but it’s a strange way to convince normal voters that you’re a serious person capable of doing a serious job.

This kind of hate can only mean one thing: the far-Left is very afraid of a possible JD Vance presidency.

The GOP Has a Nasty Little Surprise Planned for Democrats (and the DSA) This September

RedState 

Owing to how important the 2026 midterms are to the success of President Trump's second term agenda, the Republican National Committee (RNC) made the unusual step this year of throwing a midterm convention. 

We're used to the nominating conventions that are held every four years by the two parties. The summer before a presidential election, they trot out their candidates and their political celebrities, and they make speeches. There are big balloon drops, too, but it's typically pretty mundane stuff.

The exception, of course, being when master showman Donald Trump is the star of the show. He always brings the razzle dazzle. And it seems like the GOP establishment thought the 2026 elections could use some razzle dazzle, thus the midterm convention.

In exclusive reporting on Friday, Axios revealed that the GOP will be laser focused on one thing: the destruction wrought by socialism. Per Axios, Republicans will be making "a sweeping, made-for-prime-time case that Democrats have become captive to their activist left."

Calling the convention a "socialism telethon," the outlet revealed that "Republicans will make progressive politicians and activists recurring characters throughout the Sept. 9-10 convention at the American Airlines Center in Dallas."

And they've got plenty of material to work with, apparently, after "GOP operatives spent months compiling footage of Democratic figures — including left-wing commentator Hasan Piker and Texas U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico — that they'll use throughout the convention to paint Democrats as outside the mainstream."

"Our video trove is endless," a person involved in the planning commented.

Sounds like it's time to get the popcorn popping.

Axios: GOP operatives spent months compiling footage of Democratic figures — including left-wing commentator Hasan Piker and Texas U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico — that they'll use throughout the Republican convention to paint Democrats as outside the mainstream.

Organizers will particularly focus on Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, who backs Medicare for All and criticizes Israel.

Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrat nominee for Senate in Michigan, will get particular attention for supporting things like Medicare for All, abolishing ICE, and nuking the filibuster. 

Also front and center will be HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. highlighting the MAHA movement and Vice President JD Vance talking about the anti-fraud task force he chairs. Vance is expected to speak the night of Sept. 9, with Trump taking center stage on Sept. 10 (although it's believed Trump will be in the convention hall both nights).

Call it Socialism-Palooza. Call it a September Surprise. Call it the gift that keeps on giving. Whatever you call it, Republicans appear determined to make Democrats spend two straight nights watching their own words and policies being projected onto giant screens for the entire country to see.

And that may be the smartest part of the entire thing. The GOP doesn't need to invent a caricature of today's Democrat Party when candidates like El-Sayed and activists like Hasan Piker are perfectly capable of making the case themselves. All Republicans have to do is hit "play."

David Hogg Tells Moderate Democrats to Kick Rocks After Radical Abdul El-Sayed Wins Nomination

Townhall 

David Hogg, the gun control activist who rose to prominence in the wake of the Parkland school shooting, told CNN’s Kaitlin Collins that he believes that moderates have no place in the Democrat Party.

“I would say to the moderates in our party, you need to figure out how to actually offer something new to voters that isn’t just the same message that you gave them in 2024,” Hogg told Collins. “Increasingly, the reason why the establishment of our party is being defeated over and over and over again is because they don’t have the right values that are aligned with, not just the Democratic base, but the American people.”

“The American people are sick and tired of listening to Democrats tell them all of the reasons why they can’t solve their problems,” Hogg added. “If you can’t solve our problems, you shouldn’t be running for office. We need people who actually sound, at a minimum, and genuinely believe what they are saying.”

Hogg’s comments came after Collins raised concerns that some Democrats hold over the rise of U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, an individual with close ties to Islamic terror organizations and who claimed that America deserved 9/11. El-Sayed is just the latest radical to receive a Democrat nomination this cycle. Numerous candidates aligned with New York’s race-communist Mayor Zohran Mamdani surged in the polls, indicating a shocking growth of Democratic Socialism within the Democrat Party. 

Hogg himself was a central figure in the Democrat Party’s establishment he is now bashing, as he served as the vice chair of the Democrat National Committee for a portion of 2025, taking the post following Kamala Harris’s loss to President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. Harris ran anything but a moderate campaign, who promised to federally legalize abortion, institute an “assault weapons” ban, and pushed for Medicare for All.

Hogg isn’t the only one telling moderate Democrats that they’re no longer welcome. Online socialist celebrity Hasan Piker likewise called for a “Marxist-Leninist” punishment for those who are skeptical over El-Sayed’s candidacy.

The Democrat Party’s turn toward radical candidates who spell trouble for their hopes of flipping numerous U.S. Senate seats in the November midterms.

Sunday Scripture

 

Key Themes

• Divine Authority: This verse emphasizes God's roles as judge, lawgiver, and king, highlighting His ultimate authority over moral and spiritual matters.
• Salvation: The promise of salvation is central, indicating that God is the one who delivers His people.

Contextual Significance

• Judgment and Law: The mention of God as judge and lawgiver reflects the belief that He establishes moral laws and judges humanity based on those laws.
• Kingship: By referring to God as king, the verse underscores His sovereignty and power, assuring believers of His protective and guiding presence.

This verse serves as a reminder of the comprehensive role God plays in the lives of His followers, providing justice, guidance, and salvation.

♦️𝐖³𝐏 𝐃𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝

 

W³P Daily News Open Thread. 

posted by DarkGoldenMan

Welcome to the W³P Daily News Open Thread. 

Post whatever you got in the comments section below.

This feature will post every day at 6:30am Mountain time. 

 

Secretary Bessent Outlines Reality of Capital Markets Making the Strait of Hormuz Irrelevant

Conservative Treehouse 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gets it.  When asked about the Strait of Hormuz, Bessent notes that yes, things will likely never return to the way they were before; however, there is a distinction that must be applied.

Even if Iran completely acquiesced to all of the most stringent terms and conditions requested by President Trump, they will never again recapture the position they held with the Strait of Hormuz as a chokepoint.

Capital markets respond to risk in the medium and long term; risks are always mitigated.  With the Strait now identified as a strategic risk, the emphasis will be on forever neutralizing that risk and avoiding the issue in the future.  As a consequence, Iran’s strongest point of leverage is disappearing now and will continue to disappear.  WATCH (prompted):

As further explained by James Thorne on X: “By repeatedly signaling its willingness to disrupt the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran hasn’t strengthened its hand, it has accelerated the market’s exit. Capital does not tolerate chokepoints; it routes around them.

Saudi Arabia is expanding its East-West pipeline. The UAE has already built out Fujairah as a bypass. Iraq is revisiting overland export corridors. Every marginal dollar now flows toward redundancy, not reliance. What was once a geopolitical lever is being engineered into irrelevance. Bessent gets it: markets don’t absorb coercion; they arbitrage it away.

Energy markets are not static, and they are not sentimental. The shale revolution already diluted OPEC’s grip. LNG has globalized gas. Now infrastructure is doing the same to maritime risk. Once these pipelines are built, they don’t get unbuilt. Volume shifts become permanent. Pricing power follows.

Tehran’s miscalculation is classic: overplay a scarce asset, and the world invests to make it abundant. The more Iran rattles Hormuz, the faster it erodes the very leverage it seeks to exploit.

In the end, this is not deterrence. Its substitution and substitution, once funded, is irreversible. Iran is underwriting its own marginalization.“

A 40-year generational problem is being resolved forever!

Another Mysterious Drone with Ukraine Signature Hits Bulgaria

Conservative Treehouse 

I’ll leave the latest information on the German airport drone until after the outline of today’s events.

A drone exploded in Bulgaria near the Kardam border-crossing with Romania, coming within 1,000 meters of the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline’s compressor station. [See Map]

Bulgaria’s defense ministry said the drone carried a ‘significant’ quantity of explosives and was of a type “widely used by the Ukrainian military.”  However, Ukraine has denied [::cough::] “intentionally” [::cough::] striking Bulgaria with one of their drones.

Yahoo: Ukraine on Saturday denied targeting Bulgaria after a drone exploded close to the strategic Trans-Balkan gas pipeline linking Turkey to Ukraine near the Romanian border.

Bulgaria’s defence ministry said the drone was of a type “widely used by the Ukrainian military”, and the foreign minister summoned the Ukrainian ambassador for a meeting on Monday in response, her office told AFP.

Kyiv said it was “in close contact with the Bulgarian side to clarify the circumstances” of the incident, the latest case of a drone straying into NATO airspace as Ukraine fights off Russia’s invasion.

“We can say with certainty that the Ukrainian Armed Forces did not intentionally direct any assets toward Bulgaria,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhyi said, blaming Russia’s invasion for the incident.

While the explosion caused no casualties, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said the amount of explosives it was carrying was “significant”. (more)

Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine all border the Black Sea where Ukraine has been carrying out extensive drone operations targeting a host of commercial vessels that are not only Russian.

Turkey’s foreign minister on Saturday called for a “moratorium” on attacks by Russia and Ukraine in the body of water in an interview with Turkey’s state news agency Anadolu.  “To begin with, they targeted the ports and the military ships,” said Hakan Fidan. “Now, they are attacking all commercial shipping without distinction.”

Turkey had already on Tuesday denounced Black Sea drone attacks on two Turkish civilian vessels the previous day, in which some crew members were injured. (source)

Again, CTH will note something has shifted in the behavior of Ukraine since June 11th, when Zelenskyy visited London.  There just appears to be something more desperate in their activity.  The mysterious drone activity coming after the Ukraine intelligence parcel bombings in Monaco and Moscow are datapoints toward this activity.

The latest information on the drone at the Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany is very interesting.  “German authorities report the drone carried two SIM cards for redundant remote control a canned‑food container repurposed as an explosive charge custom wiring and mounts designed to bypass airport security systems.”

Now the Germans appear to be saying someone carried the drone into the airport in component parts, then assembled it beyond the security checkpoint.  Remember, this was in the cargo flight area, and there are five unused Antonov cargo planes in the vicinity. Two belong to Ukraine and 3 belong to Russia (grounded under sanctions). I highly doubt it was a Russian national working at the airport that also services NATO cargo.

Is a false flag attack against a NATO interest the next phase?

Suspicious ¹Eddie remains, well, increasingly suspicious.

[¹Suspicious Cat is on assignment, & busy monitoring Moldova]