SPECIAL NOTE:
I have been holding on to this diary for a while as the situation has evolved over the last several weeks. However, given that Trump has now basically declared war on protesters by calling out the military, perhaps the salient moment is upon us. I really had expected it to start with the right wing gun nuts bringing their boogaloo, never expected it to come from Washington, but here we are. So without further ado...
We often think of the absurdity of the notion of violent wholesale insurrection as a given. One is often tempted to think of such an idea as existing only in the fevered imaginations of the most vile white supremacists and neo-nazis. The notion that only the most avid Fox News viewers, laughable Q-Anon conspiracy theorists, and boogaloo fanatics could ever seriously consider it, seems all too tempting to believe.
But there is a hidden undercurrent that must be acknowledged. One need look no further than the top of the page right here on DKos to see it. Despite the patently incompetent Covid virus response, despite children in cages, despite “very fine people”, despite an impeachement trial that overwhelmingly proved for all to see that Trump was guilty of subversion of our constution, despite his disastrous press conferences, despite so many other things, Trump still maintains the support of nearly half the country.
Let that sink in a moment. Generally in the ballpark of 45% of the voters of this country are actually ok with all of the above. We have to come to a point of national reckoning that is very distasteful to swallow. Nearly half the nation is at it’s core absolutely and irredeemably evil and unswayable. In what can’t be described as anything less than out and out Darwinism, they are actually willing to sacrifice anyone and everyone they see as weak, vulnerable, or aged in the name of their selfish personal liberty, even their own beloved family members. Even at the risk of dying themselves.
We as a nation must look in the mirror and see the Dorian Gray that stares back at us. This is what we are now. The rest of the world looks on in horror and recoils at what is obvious to everyone but us. An election will not redeem us. Even if the causes of common sense and reason are victorious in November, the better angels of our nature will not be what is remembered. Indeed it will be the viler demons of our nature that carry forward the legacy that Trump has left us. Now that they have been unleashed, they will not be content to slink back under the rocks from which they emerged these past eight years.
They know now that they are not a tiny minority. They have tasted of power and have become drunk with it. They will not easily relinquish their grasp on it. No act of legislation will keep them in their place. They know that thier ranks include actors at every level of government. Although Trump seems to have done his level best to alienate them, the military officers corps (not the enlisted ranks) and law enforcement in general tend to be more conservative in their private views than the general public, for every progressive or moderate general or admiral there could well be two or three (almost certainly at least one) sympathetic to the deplorables. The oaths they took to defend the constitution will easily ring hollow the moment they must choose between sworn duty and what they will certainly see as solidarity with their kindred spirits.
Governors can call upon National Guardsmen to put down insurrections, but generals can and some will refuse. We see it already as sheriffs across the land often refuse to take action when ordered to do so, directly defying the governors in their states without repercussion.
The “boogaloo” is coming and we must prepare for it. The monsters that are nearly half the country are not peaceful. They are armed and dangerous, and while a minority, their firepower both physical and political will easily overwhelm our slight majority if allowed to go unchallenged. While it is true that the vile and reprehensible faction who actually show up armed at demonstrations are a relativley small group, it would be a mistake to believe that there is not a sizable contingent rooting for them from home or from the relativel anonymity of their own personal space.
The challenge will be how to fight back. Reason, accountability, common sense are all off the table. These people have proven over and over again to be immune to all of this. They are wedded to their ideology and for too many it is unshakable. They have no interest in discourse and dialog. They wish to impose their will on the rest of us and are perfectly happy to do so by force. They are motivated not by logic but by hate. They are blind to all that does not conform to their belief system.
The simplest answer may well be to let them have what they want. But to do so on our terms. They will want complete sovereignty over those states where they are the majority. Perhaps we should let them have it. The blue states by and large are the ones keeping their red states afloat. We in the blue states contribute far more to the national treasury than we take from it, while the red states tend to consume far more than they put into it. Let them find out what that really means the hard way. Let them split off and form their own neo-confederacy or whatever they choose to call it. The blue states will then propsper even more as the drain of these poorly managed red states no longer hinders the ascendance of the blue states.
The United States has had it’s day in the sun. We are an empire who’s time has come and gone, as is eventually the case with every empire. Influence on such a vast scale always wanes in the end. We will soon be reaching that end after nearly 250 years. Sure we had a great run, but it’s over now. No empire lasts forever and it’s time we acknowledge that reality.
Reformulating the United States into two or more separate smaller nations will give us an opportunity to right some of the egregious wrongs of the past such as the original sin of slavery, the impacts of which still haunt us today more than a hundred years after its abolishment. And it will allow us to form a more appropriate and modernized governmental structure by doing away with the electoral college, the filibuster, and the tyranny of the minority often imposed by handing them outsized influence in the form of a Senate comprised of an equal number of Senators from every state regardless of population.
Kos himself, has hinted at this eventual outcome repeatedly. Perhaps it is time to take it seriously.