Climate Change and the Larger Cultural Picture: Round II

 

  

Several weeks ago I wrote an email to a number of individuals in my personal and professional networks titled:  “Climate Change and the Larger Cultural Picture.” In that correspondence I indicated that—in my judgement—events are taking place across the world that must be understood by rank and file Americans as well as other rank and file citizens in other countries. This understanding is necessary to act intelligently and effectively to stop and reverse trends toward cultural disruption and violence that are increasing in intensity and may be coming very near to the level  of explosive widespread violence.

   As I indicated, I believe this is the leading edge of a world wide effort by a number of groups seeking to de-stabilize the current world cultural order in order to take control and institute various ideologies that have one thing in common: subjugating the rights and happiness of individuals to some other authority either secular or religious.

   I do not consider this to be a classical conspiracy, but rather a number of groups cooperating and in some cases coordinating their efforts in a consensus-like fashion. An example of this is the Progressive left in government and the media in the U.S. actively trying to suppress or down play known incidents of Islamists (a.k.a. jihadists) within and outside the U.S. in the name of “Islamophobia.” The Islamists wish to subjugate the individual to Allah, and the Progressive left wish to subjugate the individual to “society” or by other designations that are synonymous with that including: General welfare, common good, greater good, public interest, etc. (For an in-depth discussion on the issue of the “public interest and its effect on American culture please see: Solving America’s Greatest Conflict: The Public Interest vs. Private Rights” 

The Meat of the Matter

   I would now like to address the following two questions:

1.   Why has the cultural status quo become so dangerous?
2.   Given the dangerous state of the status quo, where do we go from here?

Answer to  #1: Why has the status quo become so dangerous

In a nutshell:

Two clashing worldviews are being put into practice and the conflict is threatening to go out of control. . . worldwide.

***

Note #1: In this essay, I will be using the terms “Islamists” and “jihadists” interchangeably.

Note #2: At this point I will define how I am using the terms “Conservative” and “Progressive liberal” in this essay. When I use conservative, liberal, or Progressive liberal without any qualifiers I will be referring to individuals with those viewpoints who are in political power or are actively seeking it. For the typical liberal or conservative “on the street” I will use a qualifier such as “on the street” or “grassroots”, etc.

I am making this distinction because I firmly believe there is a significant difference between liberals and conservatives “on the street” and liberals and conservatives in power or seeking power. Namely, those in or seeking power are “psychologically invested” in the status quo to a point they are extremely unlikely to believe any information or argument that contradicts their chosen beliefs. Furthermore, many are willing to go to extraordinary lengths including blatant lying and serious lawbreaking to uphold their worldview and the institutions they are involved with that are based on that worldview.

I also believe rank and file members across the political spectrum are—at least in general—open to arguments and discussion that may run counter to their prevailing beliefs. These are not  the people I will be taking aim at in the following essay when I am being critical of Progressive liberals or conservatives.

***

On the Left. . .  

   

The Progressive liberals in power are getting desperate. The two-year investigation by Robert Mueller based on the claim that Trump colluded with the Russians in the election of 2016 was a complete farce and resulted in  thoroughly discrediting the mainstream media and the Democratic party in the U.S. On the heels of that is an impeachment inquiry that within days of being initiated has already backfired … badly on the Democratic party.

   The democrats in power and their allies in the media, Big Tech (e.g., Google, Facebook, Paypal, Youtube, etc.), and public education institutions have virtually all had their corrupt business and/or organizational practices “outed” by organizations such as Project Veritas and Judicial Watch.

  Progressive liberals and those sympathetic to their viewpoint have attempted to use  large corporate businesses to effectively choke off funding of effective activists (e.g., those attempting to warn the public about the dangers of Islam and radical Islamists). One example of this was the attempt by Paypal and other large credit concerns to arbitrarily shutdown access–without warning–to effective pro-freedom activists such as Robert Spencer (Jihad Watch) and Pamela Geller (pamelageller.com)

   These grassroots efforts are effectively thwarting the Progressive liberals attempts to cutoff access to perspectives different from their own by the general public. They do NOT want the American public thinking for themselves. They crave control because they believe they know best about what we need, and don’t need.  

   And it gets worse for the Progressive liberal establishment. Organizations such as Turning Point USA and the Atlas Society are going right into the belly of the beast on college campuses to tell students that there are positive, life-affirming alternatives to the class, race, and gender warfare that the Progressive liberal establishment has been none-too-shy in fomenting all across the U.S.

   President Trump is getting stronger every week and that fact is driving Progressive liberals literally out of their minds. Their  continual shrieking on every front is unending and unprecedented, which further compounds their credibility problem with a huge swath of the American public. As a small example, as I was writing this essay I came across an article discussing a New York Times reporter openly calling for an end to free speech (“The New York Times Declares War on Free Speech, ”Allum Bakhari, 10/6/2019)  

  When the most well-known newspaper in the U.S. openly calls for the end of free speech it is not only an attack on the most fundamental right of the American people, it is also an attack on himself and everyone in the media, because without freedom of speech, there is no freedom of the press. That attitude is sheer madness, and the sad fact was, I did not have to search high and low to find the article. I could easily find a dozen or more similar pieces of Progressive liberal madness every week, a madness  that at times crosses over into outright nihilism. And the American people in increasing numbers are realizing it.

   In short, the Progressive liberal establishment is losing (badly) in the battle of ideas and any façade of civility is fast disappearing. Violence has already started, e.g., Antifa on college campuses and their attempts to suppress Conservative speakers are reminiscent of Nazi brown shirts of the 1930s. And unfortunately, this trend will likely grow considerably worse.

And on the Right. . . 

   

And on the right, Conservatives have little to crow about. Many are part of the cronyism that is rampant at all levels of government in the U.S. In addition, in the realm of ideas, they have very little to offer that doesn’t appeal to authority and tradition. They are by and large confused and ineffective—at best. Since the election of Donald Trump they have, to date, badly botched an historic opportunity to turn the American public away from the destructive ideas of Progressive liberalism.

   There are exceptions, of course, at all levels in government, but they are in the minority and will need help from grassroots organizations around the country in countering the destructive actions of the Progressive liberal establishment. Many private organizations are actively working to restore the principles and institutions the U.S was founded upon. Those organizations are working with the honest and effective individuals currently in government, but in the meantime, enormous damage has been done to American culture, leaving a void in ideas and leadership that must be filled for America to regain its former greatness.

In addition, President Trump is not some sort of Conservative messiah any more than Ronald Reagan was. Reagan had serious flaws and so does Trump. His trade war has been executed in a way that has hurt many import businesses in the U.S. He has done virtually nothing about the giant elephant in the room, i.e., the federal deficit, which is a ticking time bomb. Also, although his defense and foreign policy initiatives are much better than his immediate predecessor, Barrack Obama, they can be reckless and at times ill-advised. For example his firing of John Bolton who has correctly identified the threat of Iran to the U.S. and our allies. It is time for Conservatives, both those in power as well as the rank-and-file to support him for the positive changes he advocates, but at the same time realize his political philosophy has flaws in it that need to be challenged if Making America Great Again (MAGA) is truly his goal.

Answer to  #2: Given the dangerous state of the status quo, where do we go from here?

   Restore Our American Republic (ROAR) does not accept the idea that the United States of America is in a state of irreversible decline. I have personally been engaged in fighting the war of ideas for over 30 years, and would not have done so if I did not think that one day that war could be won.

   Below I would like to introduce readers to ROAR’s upcoming product release scheduled for April 2020 that, I believe, will go a long way toward defusing our culture’s current explosive state of affairs and be an important contribution toward restoring the republic in America. First, some important background information. . .

***

   When I entered the fray In the mid-80s, I joined what was for the most part a cultural guerilla war fought against the growing Green movement. The Greens had the upper hand on virtually every front. But America has a history of heroes rising to the occasion when they are needed. Back then the greatest heroes of the day, in my estimation, were Edith Efron (The Apocalyptics), Julian Simon (The Ultimate Resource), and Petr Beckmann (Access to Energy). Their efforts as well as the prodigious and heroic efforts of others threw a giant monkey wrench in the environmentalism machinery and exposed fundamental problems with its economics, science, and philosophy. Fighting along with them were Jay Lehr, Fred Singer, and the many “climate change skeptics” of that day. Many of those same skeptics are still alive and after decades of persistence, breaking through the massive wall of misinformation and disinformation that the climate alarmists have erected across the entire world.

   Although I greatly admired these heroic freedom fighters, about 15 years ago I realized we had to develop new methods to restore America’s cultural health. New methods were needed to break through the massive barriers keeping the American people in the dark about the declining state of our culture and the reasons for that decline. It became apparent to me that a top-down approach, alone, would not be effective. There was then–and now–too much corruption at the top of too many of America’s public institutions to enact fundamental changes via a top-down only approach.

   A new approach, a bottom-up grassroots approach to reform, was needed to supplement top-down reform efforts. For over 15 years I have studied grassroots movements in a wide variety of cultural/political areas and found them to be the single most powerful mechanism for positive  cultural change in our world. The home schooling movement is an excellent example of this with their 50 victories in 50 states to secure the legality of homeschooling against better funded and far more politically connected opponents.

Note:  For those of you who wish to study what is likely the most incredible grassroots movement in human history, I refer you to The White Rose, a ragtag bunch of students led by Sophie Scholl who took on the Nazis at the peak of their power in Germany during World War II and helped start the Resistance that was a major factor in the eventual defeat of Hitler in World War II. Two excellent references on this amazing movement are: A Noble Treason  by Richard Hanser, 1979, and We Will not Be Silenced: The White Rose Student Resistance Movement that Defied Adolf Hitler by Russell Freedman, 2016.

   Restore Our American Republic (ROAR) was founded for the express purpose of restoring the republic in America and its distinctive institution of individual rights. To do that, the time has come for this organization to aim straight into the teeth of the developing cultural hurricane rampaging across America and much of the world.

How do we do that? . . .

   Beginning in April 2020, ROAR will begin releasing a series of publications, podcasts, and video presentations for the express purpose of addressing fundamental issues needed to defuse the current cultural powder keg we are witnessing and make significant progress toward initiating the restoration of the American republic. Topics to be addressed will include:

•         The Practicality of Principles
•         Understanding the Media
•         What you don’t know about Capitalism
•         How and Why Benevolence and Goodwill Flourishes in a Free Capitalistic World
•         Going Green vs. Human Flourishing
•         The Future of America: the 21st Century and Beyond

   These products will be released between April and July 2020. In addition, by November 2020 we will be publishing a how-to publication on initiating, propagating, and sustaining grassroots movements titled: Grassroots Solutions: The Key to Restoring Our American Republic.

   And finally, we will be reaching out to like-minded individuals and organizations to help them spread their ideas and publications as well as asking them to be ROAR affiliates for the purpose of promoting ROAR’s ideas and publications.

   With these actions and the help of the American people and freedom lovers around the world we will begin reversing the cultural deterioration all around us and making significant progress toward restoring the republic in America as a means of bringing enlightenment to America and the rest of the world.

   As the time grows closer for our product release we will keep you informed on our progress. We hope you will join us and spread the word about what we believe will be an epic adventure.

Sincerely,

Mike Gemmell

Founder and President, Restore Our American Republic, LLC

P.S. For those wishing to gain additional insight into the worldviews discussed here in addition to the Enlightenment worldview that ROAR will be espousing in our upcoming product release, I urge you to read one of the most insightful essays I have ever come across on this subject matter: “The Party of Modernity, 2003, by David Kelley, Founder of the Atlas Society, formerly The Institute for Objectivist Studies.

 

 

TomS On October 7, 2019   /   News and Views   /   Leave a comment