Mike Gemmell is the founder and president of Restore Our American Republic (ROAR). Prior to founding ROAR, he was a geologist specializing in groundwater resource development, a technical writer, and a freelance writer addressing environmental and other cultural issues. For more information on his professional background please see: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmgemmell.
Although I wrote this message several months ago, I think it still has relevance concerning what I will refer to as a “pre post-election cultural review.” I am using this term because although the November 2016 election is still several weeks away, I find myself seriously longing for it to be over, and I suspect many other Americans feel likewise.
No matter who is elected as president, or the results of the many state and local elections, it has become quite clear that America is seriously ailing on a number of fronts. In a nutshell, I believe that the solutions to what ails us will only come from an increased participation from America’s Grassroots. The message below elaborates on why I believe that to be so, and includes some suggestions concerning what we as individuals acting alone— or in cooperation with others— can do about this state of affairs. – Mike Gemmell, October 25, 2016.
A Pre Post-Election Cultural Review
Yesterday the world witnessed yet another bloody terrorist attack, this time in Nice, France with at least 84 people killed. (This message was originally written in July 2015 – Mike Gemmell) President Obama condemned it as a horrific terrorist attack, but even though the driver is known to have been screaming “Allahu akbar” not one word from our Commander-in-Chief about Islamic jihadists as the cause. Not that our Republican leaders have much to crow about either after their stellar performances on how not to fill the void in leadership left by Obama’s various destructive activities. (There have been a few elected representatives that have stepped up, but they have been the exception rather than the rule.) Thankfully, there is reason for hope, so please bear with me while I try and briefly lay out the rest of what, I think, the problem is. . .
As bad as the destruction that radical Islam is causing to our world, it is far from the only serious threat to the security, stability, and prosperity of the U.S., and the rest of the world. Other serious threats include, for example, the race hustlers and the Dallas massacre of five people. Our president claimed he would heal racial divisiveness in the U.S., but instead has relentlessly fanned the flames of hysteria to the point that racial divisiveness is worse now in the U.S than it has been in decades. (See the following article and his connection to the Dallas massacre: (http://www.wnd.com/2016/07/obamas-myth-of-racist-war-linked-to-murdered-cops/#!).
However, the militarization of police forces across the country is not the answer. I have seen an urban assault vehicle rolling along the streets of where I live and the sight of it was absolutely terrifying. It was nothing short of an urban tank. And Grand Junction, Colorado is not exactly New York City or any other highly urban area you might care to name. Are we turning into a police state? – is a very legitimate question to be asking. There are problems with the police, and there are also problems with race hustlers who are actively trying to promote an all-out race war in the U.S. destabilizing and demoralizing the police and the general citizenry. However, turning the U.S. into a police state to allegedly solve its internal problems is not an acceptable course of action.
And no, I am not trying to gloss over problems in our police departments across the country. There have been police who have abused their authority to the point of killing innocents. (I have personally witnessed serious abuses of authority by police officers, and race had nothing to do with the incidents I witnessed. When race is involved, the possibilities of violence escalate exponentially.) But federalizing the issue considering the politicized nature of the Justice department is not the answer either (For further details of this problem see http://www.wnd.com/2016/07/police-shootings-no-justice-at-justice/#!).
And the problems, unfortunately, do not end there. We have attorney generals trying to prosecute individuals and companies for attempting to voice dissent concerning “climate change.” That is the first amendment, people, and if it goes, what is left of our liberty goes with it. Unfortunately, there’s more. Agenda 21 (now 2030) and the attempts to foist regional unelected government on the U.S., as well as desperate Central Bankers around the world scurrying around like rats threatening negative interest rates as they try to escape a sinking financial ship that they created. There’s more, but you get the idea. Our world is in deep trouble.
But as I said, there is hope. What I believe is happening is that destructive ideas that have been festering in our culture for many decades, and in fact well over 100 years, have reached an absolute dead end. These ideas are antithetical to human life, and the rights of the individual. Various people and organizations trying to push these narratives are continuing to do so even when it is horrifyingly obvious that the emperor has no clothes.
So where are our political leaders and elected representative that are supposed to recognize destructive ideas/actions and protect us from such things? The sad truth is, the vast majority of our elected representatives of both parties are either corrupt, pitifully inept, or both. This state of affairs has created a giant void that grassroots organizations are desperately trying to fill. This is where Restore Our American Republic ( ROAR) and existing grassroots organizations around the U.S. come into play.
Having studied our cultural problems for over three decades, I can assure you that there are some very courageous and dedicated cultural warriors out there who have been toiling for a long time to get the truth out about various issues, and they are finally starting to be noticed by large sections of our populace. I am speaking of people such as Tom DeWeese of the American Policy Center, John Anthony of the Sustainable Freedom Lab, Jay Lehr and Joe Bast of the Heartland Institute, Star Parker of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education, and Brigitte Gabriel of ACT for America. And more recently, James O’Keefe of Project Veritas and Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch. And don’t think I’ve forgotten those tireless Veteran groups seeking better treatment of our men and women in the Armed Forces such as the Americans Veteran Center and Special Operations Speaks. Into this swirling mix of cultural soup ROAR is now preparing to jump.
For those of you who are interested, I have included some information and perspective below that addresses what I believe to be the broader philosophical/historical background at work here. In particular, I would like to recommend an outstanding essay by my colleague, Alexandra York, “Lying as a way of life: Corruption and Collectivism Come of Age in America,” as an excellent way of getting a handle on what is happening in our world, why it is happening, and what we as individuals can do about it. It is packed with insights and practical ideas concerning what can be done to change our world for the better.
Mike Gemmell            July 15, 2016
Some Additional Philosophical/Historical Perspective Concerning our Troubled World
After 30 years of studying the phenomenon of what, why, and how our world is cannibalizing itself, my take on it is this: In its broadest sense, what we have been witnessing for well over 150 years is a backlash against the change in thinking that ushered in the Enlightenment era of the 18th century and along with it the Industrial Revolution and the American Revolution. The powers at be, both religious and secular, did not like their world being turned upside down and their previously-guaranteed social status and income – threatened. They managed to plant long-term philosophical time bombs by people like Kant, Rousseau, Hegel, and then later by the Frankfurt School—a group of Communist intellectuals from Europe—brought to the U.S. in the early part of the 20th century by the Father of Progressive Education, John Dewey, via Columbia University.
The men of the Frankfurt School mentored Saul Alinsky who then mentored Obama and Hillary. (The connection between Alinsky and Obama/Hillary Clinton has been well documented. For details see: http://www.wnd.com/2016/06/the-solution-to-os-transformation/, http://www.wnd.com/2016/07/hillary-clinton-saul-alinsky-ben-carson-and-lucifer/, and http://www.wnd.com/2015/07/the-obama-clinton-cloward-piven-baton/.) It is too late, unfortunately, to prevent the vast majority of those philosophical time bombs from going off since only in recent decades have the errors, contradictions, omissions, etc. of the Founding Fathers and their mentors such as John Locke been fully recognized. If their errors had been recognized sooner, our individualist foundation could have been shored up and the current cultural meltdown almost certainly prevented. But, thankfully, there are commentators on our cultural scene who understand the nature of our cultural dilemma down to its deepest roots.
One of those cultural commentators is Alexandra York, someone I am fortunate to be able to call a colleague and friend. She has been working on the subject of cultural reform for many years through her foundation American Renaissance for the 21st Century (ART), and toward that end she has recently published a magnificent tool for understanding what is happening to our culture, and perhaps more importantly what can be done about it. That tool is “Lying as a way of life: Corruption and Collectivism Come of Age in America, 2016, a monograph available for $.0.99 at Amazon Books: http://www.amazon.com/LYING-WAY-LIFE-Corruption-Collectivism-ebook/dp/B01F27QF0O/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1462284487&sr=1-1&keywords=lying+AS+A+WAY+OF+LIFE] In my opinion, a person could read dozens of books and not have the insights that Alexandra York has rendered in this single essay of 58 pages. And please note, her monograph has been written for the general reader who does not have any formal training in philosophy or the humanities. I highly recommend it.