Over the last ten years I have tried to wrap my arms around a phenomena which I can only describe as collective insanity.
The election of Barack Obama opened a new phase of American politics when he declared that he intended to “Fundamentally Transform America”. Without asking “Into what?”, this slogan was touted as a new beginning for our country, where racism, sexism and nationalism would end. He declared that there were no Hyphenated Americans, but only Americans. Sounded good, but the first thing that Eric Holder, his first Attorney General did, was tell us that where race relations were concerned, we were basically a nation of cowards.
It soon became ALL about race. According to many in the Obama administration, most whites were evil, racist, xenophobic people. The police were enemies of minorities, not their protectors. New groups like Black Lives Matter sprung up to join others like the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Urban League and the New Black Panthers in fomenting protests and violence. Riots occurred and neighborhoods burned.
The white population who didn’t consider themselves to be evil or racist began to push back, but any attempt to do so was labeled as…..You guessed it….RACIST!
We watched our nation be invaded by hordes of illegal aliens from south of our border, but weren’t permitted to complain about it without being labeled as….RACIST, of course, and xenophobes as well.
The country reacted to this situation by electing Donald Trump, a man who promised to “Make America Great Again”. According to the Democrats, that’s a horrible, racist, xenophobic message, and a betrayal to “American Values.” How can they possibly believe that, and why are the Republicans allowing them to get away with the subterfuge?
Many prominent Democrats, including former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, as well as current Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, gave speeches before the Senate denouncing the illegal alien invasion and demanding increased border security, including a physical barrier. You can view these speeches on YouTube. They called for 50 BILLION dollars to be spent on securing the border in 2013, but now are aghast that Trump wants just over 5 billion. What has happened?
Simple. The Democratic base has veered radically to the left. Individuals like Congresswoman elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Senator Bernie Sanders have become the standard bearers of a significant portion of that party, and cannot be ignored. The Republican leadership, already way too close to their swamp buddies across the aisle, don’t want to make serious waves. If they did, they would force a “Nuclear Option” vote in the Senate to pass the current House legislation before the Democrats take over that body on January 3rd. By their inaction, they are turning off a significant part of their base, and will probably lose the support of blue collar democrats in 2020.
I again would point out that the parallels to 1861 are all too obvious. There are many Americans out there who feel that they are being totally disenfranchised by BOTH parties, and so being displaced in their own country by those who are either here illegally or are only taking from the system, and not contributing to it. That devil’s brew of discontent is poisonous, and will spread like wildfire if the proper spark ignites it. That spark could well be a blanket amnesty for ALL illegals, which then turn out to number 50 million, rather than the oft touted 10 to 12 million.
In the words of a popular television series, “Winter Is Coming”.