Ain’t Over Till It’s Over

by Ken Gorrell,
Weirs Times

The recently late but eternally great Yogi Berra famously said, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.” That’s a concise diagnosis for the problem ailing our constitutional Republic: We don’t learn from our past mistakes. What good is a sense of precognition if we don’t take a better path the second time around?

It’s been a year since the editors at the Weirs Times gave me a regular column. My introductory essay (“A State of Our Own Making”) included a lament that we continually reward politicians who consistently become part of the problem rather than being the “solution providers” of the campaign trail. I also stated my belief that our situation would not improve before the 2016 election. Halfway there, I see no evidence that we’re putting our collective “precognition” to good use.

I wrote in November 2014 that we deserve what we tolerate. From just a few minutes watching the news one can see that as an electorate we’ll tolerate quite a lot. A recent Quinnipiac poll shows that the current front-runner in the Democrat presidential primary scored a dismal 60% “No” on the question of being honest and trustworthy. The GOP front-runner was not far behind at 58%. Does anyone think this is going to end well?

We cede more and more power to people and institutions we don’t trust and that fail to live up to their promises. Remember the $2,500 per family health insurance savings with ObamaCare? How’s that “Reset” of relations going with Russia? Are we more or less racially divided today than we were in 2008? More or less respected on the world stage?

From the lofty principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, protected by a government of limited and enumerated powers, we’re becoming a people who hold no truths to be self-evident. Opaque political dogma and secretive, over-reaching “one world” deals are replacing the ideals of our Enlightenment founders and the exceptional political process they bequeathed to us.

But when elites think they’re more worthy than everyone else, representative democracy is a problem. Actually, I should write that as, “‘If you’re not bringing math skills to the problem, then representative democracy is a problem,’ said Bill Gates.” The quote comes from an interview he gave to The Atlantic magazine. The topic was “climate change,” and the author described Gate’s tone as “amused asperity.” It sounds to me like asinine condescension coming from a man sporting a bigger CO2 footprint than a small nation.

Climate change theology provides the perfect example of a collective globalism beating down Americanism exceptionalism. Gates and his anthropogenic global warming crowd have been consistently wrong in their dire predictions, yet they have the ear of government. So while Antarctic ice is increasing, polar bears aren’t drowning in droves, and American coastal cities don’t look like Venice, we plebeians are told we must accept the lower standards of living that will come from significantly-higher energy costs, higher taxes needed to fund the “global solution” to a problem nobody in authority has adequately or correctly diagnosed, all while giving up more of our hard-fought rights.

Enshrining basic rights was meant to unite us as a nation. Yet “rights talk” is being used as a tool to divide us. While one can sympathize with a confused teen boy who “identifies” as a girl yet retains all “her” boy parts, using the cudgel of Federal Title IX law to force a school district to give him unfettered use of the girls’ locker room is beyond ludicrous. When we allow “celebrating diversity” to morph into mandating perversity, we are headed for a fall.

That fall may come sooner than we think if we don’t learn the lesson Europe is providing us about cultural invasion masquerading as immigration. Their immigrant crisis is fueled by the hubris of the elites but the pain will be felt by average citizens. One opposition leader in Germany has said his nation’s immigration policy is to bring the country to the edge of anarchy and sliding toward civil war. Will our politicians heed polls showing clear majorities opposing admitting significant numbers of Syrian refugees?

Abandoning our self-evident truths will be the death of our nation, just as acknowledging them gave birth to it. The American experiment isn’t over yet, but we’re coming awfully close to the end. What began with the bang of hopeful, enlightened revolution will end with the whimper of millions wondering how it all went so wrong.

Ken can be reached at kengorrell@gmail.com.