“The American dream is shrinking because some of our leaders want it to shrink. Decline, in other words, has become a policy objective. And if this decline continues at the current pace, America as we know it will cease to exist. In effect, we will have committed national suicide” – Dinesh D’Souza
America is in crisis. We see and hear about it every day on the news, our social media feeds and from our friends. High gas prices. Record inflation. Rolling blackouts. Surging violent and property crime. Racial unrest. War in Ukraine. Supply chain disruptions. Homelessness. Shortages. Rising threats from antagonistic nations. Political intimidation and outright violence. Leftist riots in major cities. Soft on crime district attorneys. Mass shootings. Declining stock markets. Loss of confidence in elections and public institutions. And…a worsening divide over what America means and the role of government in our lives.
Why is this happening and is there hope for the future? We’ll look at the reasons and talk about how we can reclaim our country and its future.
It’s All Intentional
While some bad things, adverse consequences and disasters can be attributed simply to the evil that exists in human beings or natural causes, many of the bad results we are currently seeing in America are by design. As I wrote about in my essay The Pillars of Modern Life, we are at the pinnacle of human existence on this planet, and the three things that make this prosperity possible are free-market capitalism, limited government and fossil fuels. The Left, for reasons I can’t understand, hates all three and wants to tear them down, imposing some sort of undefined dystopian society.
Driven by their deeply held, quasi-religious belief that mankind is causing the Earth’s climate to change (first cooling, then warming, then “changing”), the Left has declared war on one of the pillars of modern life: fossil fuels. The reason gas prices are surging is simple: elected Democrats and their bureaucratic minions are doing everything they can to put American oil and gas companies out of business.
The Democrats and their radical progressive base want to “keep it in the ground”. They don’t want drilling on federal lands or off our coasts. They don’t want people to drive gasoline powered cars even though electric cars are environmentally unfriendly and not as practical or reliable themselves, not to mention too expensive. They want us to use public transportation or walk or ride bicycles.
Then, when their foreign policy failures create the conditions for a European land war and supply chains are further disrupted, they ask hostile foreign countries (Venezuela and Iran) to boost oil production and attack American oil companies for not boosting production.
As a recent commentary in the Wall Street Journal points out, “President Biden has urged oil and natural-gas companies to ramp up production, and you’d think, given the current high prices, that it would be in their interest to do so. But the industry has been slow to respond, with some justification. Companies expect that as the current turmoil subsides, the Biden administration will shift back to hostile rhetoric, anti-energy legislative proposals, and oppositional regulatory policies”. It’s been my observation, however, that the administration’s hostility has been evident from Day One and has not let up at all.
In fact, the article continues, last year 20 House Democrats introduces the so-called “Fossil Free Finance Act”, “…which would require the Federal Reserve Bank to take steps to stop investing in fossil-fuel production. The bill’s goal was “no financing of new or expanded fossil fuel projects after 2022”. Oil and gas companies do more business with banks than simply taking out loans. Banks also provide checking accounts and other money services including derivative transactions. A government mandate to stop doing business with oil and gas companies would cripple the industry and throw us into a new Dark Age.
One of the disadvantages of living in a Third World country is unreliable and expensive energy, especially electricity. Thanks to Democrats’ energy policy, some parts of America are going to be experiencing electricity shortages and rolling blackouts this summer. Another article in the Wall Street Journal points out that “The risk of electricity shortages is rising throughout the U.S. as traditional power plants are being retired more quickly than they can be replaced by renewable energy and battery storage.”
Because prices are going higher, oil and gas companies are earning higher profits. Displaying their usual lack of understanding of even the most basic laws of economics, Democrats led by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) are clamoring for energy companies to be hit with new taxes to punish them for providing a product that people want and literally cannot live without.
The only reason Democrats are even thinking about trying to lower gas prices is so that they don’t pay at the polls in November. But make no mistake: the progressives’ war on fossil fuel energy is real, it is intense, and it is fueled by an uncompromising belief system that is completely disconnected from the reality of life on earth. And…it will continue until people stand up against them and say: “Enough!”
Because our economy – like it or not – is based on fossil fuels, restricting supply causes prices to go up. It’s that simple. Petroleum is not used just for fuels. It is a feedstock for virtually everything we use in our modern world from fertilizers to plastics to, yes, baby formula. This list points out over 100 products made from petroleum. When the cost of oil goes up for extended periods of time, the cost of everything else will go up too.
The vision of a “fossil-free” future is a childish, unrealistic fantasy. Before our modern society, people were able to live without the wide scale use of fossil fuels, but their way of life was nothing we should aspire to and we cannot, nor should we want to go back.
It isn’t only the rising cost of petroleum that is causing the record high inflation that we are experiencing now. Because of all the COVID spending since 2020 and the “American Rescue Plan”, the money supply is growing at a 13% annual rate, which is the fastest growth since the 1970s (which were an economic disaster). The war in Ukraine (started by a despot encouraged by American weakness) is another contributing factor. Disruptions in the employment market caused by the pandemic and government incentives are also to blame for runaway inflation.
When it comes to the crime surge, there is a level of intention to be seen as well. Across the country, soft-on-crime Democrat district attorneys – many of them funded by billionaire George Soros – have presided over massive increases in crime and homelessness in their cities. These DAs and their progressive allies in state legislatures are looking to abolish cash bail, reduce sentences and defund police departments. With a progressive DA in office, if you’re a “security guard” who murders a peaceful conservative demonstrator at a rally you’re good to go. But God help you if you’re a legal law-abiding gun owner – they’re coming after you!
If defunding the police may not be politically feasible, they look to hamstring police departments by adding new restrictions and regulations. We see it in Colorado and in other blue states. One sign of hope: voters in San Francisco recently recalled District Attorney Chesa Boudin by a significant margin. Voters in Democrat-run San Francisco and Los Angeles are saying loud and clear: “We’ve had enough”.
The Path to Ruin
On the eve of the Civil War in the 1850s the great divide in America was over the question of human slavery. One region, governed by the Democratic Party, fought to maintain this abhorrent practice. The rest of the country, led by courageous abolitionists and the newly formed Republican Party (which was founded to prevent the spread of slavery) was working tirelessly to not only stop the spread but to eliminate slavery from our nation.
The great divide today is over the question of what America means and the role of government in our lives. Our “conservative” movement seeks to “conserve” the values of the American founding. Coupled with our “libertarian” views, we seek a return to constitutionally limited government at every level and maximize the freedom and opportunity available to every person and maximize human flourishing.
The ”progressive” Left seeks to have government involved in every aspect of our lives. They don’t believe in limits on government, they abhor success in a capitalistic world and they want the coercive power of government to force their views and their values on the rest of us.
Sidebar: the “progressives”, which they call themselves, believe themselves to be working for human progress. They are not. Nor are they “liberals” in the classical sense of the word. What they truly are: adult children (and actual children) who seek to “regress” our society to a time when the few rule over the many, and where all suffer together in equal misery.
I have concluded that the Left is more politically active than we are for one simple reason: they truly do believe that they know what’s best for society and that they have not only the right but the duty to force it on the rest of us by the force of government. They are MOTIVATED to boss us around. Our side just wants to live and let live – and to be left alone.
Every aspect of their cultural domination is designed for one thing: to gain and maintain political power. They divide us along racial and ethnic lines. They divide us by gender, and as if that weren’t enough, they seek to destroy the very science of human biology by blurring the distinction between male and female. They pit the “rich” against the “poor”, and never mind that most of the “rich” big businesses of today are run by billionaires who use the power of government to protect themselves from competition and promote the leftist agenda.
They use the power of media to tell their side of the story and suppress the other side. Remember all the leftist riots over the summer of 2020? When was the last time antifa violence was reported as headline news? But the January 6 Capitol riot is headline news all day every day because it promotes their lies about a right-wing “insurrection”.
Foreign Threats
While the first European land war in 80 years rages, I recently sat in a seminar on national security. One speaker talked about the foreign policy failures of the Biden administration, and another talked about the growing threats to our country from countries like China, North Korea and Iran.
I remember sitting there and thinking despondently of these threats and the fact that America needs strong leadership in these troubling times. I became even more despondent when I realized that the ruling Democratic Party is more worried about climate change and making sure men can compete in women’s sports. The people in charge are unserious and will ultimately lead us to disaster if they are not replaced.
What Can We Do?
Times are troubled, but fortunately we do have one way to turn the ship of state around. That way is the coming November election.
At this point in our nation’s life, the ONLY viable choice is to vote for Republican candidates up and down the ballot for state and national offices, and to vote all Democrats out of power.
Hopefully, a lifelong Democrat who proudly voted for Clinton or Obama must surely realize by now that today’s Democratic Party has gone from left to insane. Democrat policies are demonstrably, provably wrong on virtually every issue, from energy policy to economic policy to foreign policy to education, criminal justice and cultural issues. Put another way, Democrat policies are completely disconnected from reality, human nature, and the laws of economics.
The Republican candidate may not be 100% in agreement with you on every issue. And in Colorado, nobody fights among themselves better (or worse) than Republicans. The key is: Republicans at least, as a party, understand the founding principles of this country and can be held accountable. Democrats, even so-called “moderates”, cannot. As Peggy Noonan wrote recently in her weekly column: “A final characteristic of progressive politicians is they tend to be high-IQ stupid people. They…can’t understand the implications of policy.” Pretty strong stuff from Ronald Reagan’s former speechwriter.
You have some good candidates in Colorado. I encourage everyone to vote for candidates in the primary who will have a good chance of being elected in the general. Remember, it’s one thing to win straw polls and party caucuses, and quite another to win a general election where unaffiliated voters make up the largest voting bloc. You should vote for someone who may not be your perfect candidate, because I guarantee they will be better than the candidate with a (D) next to their name.
Happy Birthday, America!
The 246th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence is coming up in a couple of weeks. As an optimist by nature, I wanted to write a hopeful, celebratory essay this month. Unfortunately, as Joni Mitchell sang “You don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone”, we are in danger of losing our country, the best and brightest nation ever to exist on planet Earth. The promise of America is in danger of being lost under an avalanche of progressive failures.
It is incumbent upon each and every one of us to remember and reinforce the promise of America, the principles of the American Founding, and the pillars of modern life. Stand up for your modern life and vote like your life depends on it. Because it does.
Responses
Dear Mr. Turnquist, You are “right on”. Thank you for putting your name our there with strong words- today an act of courage. We have been bullied to choose our words carefully or be silent. We have been asleep at the wheel for decades- at least I have been. Our children have been indoctrinated as well. In some neighborhoods having to flag out is almost an act of courage. Although my husband wears a flag shirt and to our surprise has never gotten a bad word only praise. There is hope. If this election does not turn things around, we could be faced with a situation that resembles a true civil war. We get strength from one another. My husband is in gas and oil and we have lived the decline and dismantling of the oil industry. In a few cases we watched some companies go “woke” trying to appease the establishment. He continues to work hard in his field interpreting seismic. I am extremely proud of him. He had difficulty getting rental insurance for his office because of his line of work. Insurance companies don’t cover oil businesses. I would love to meet you. Thank you again. Ramey Johnson
Thank you for your comment. I agree, displaying one’s patriotism can be an act of courage in some places. Where I live in Oklahoma, it’s the norm. Tell your husband to hang in there – I too work in the oil and gas industry and I know the headwinds we face. Keep up the good fight!