8th Grade Syndrome

Newt Gingrich was pontificating the other day, as is his wont, about the just completed midterms, giving the Republican party spin that it wasn’t all that bad, got control of the House, yadda yadda, but had to admit the much anticipated ‘red wave’ turned out to be nothing more than a slightly higher tide than usual. Seemed to surprise him and he concluded that maybe, just maybe, he needs to reevaluate his political thinking. 

‘Bout time.

It’s been rather clear to those of us not blinded by party and politics that a goodly portion of the American people have reached a fatal level of self-absorption and illogic, what I like to call “8th grade syndrome.” ‘Why can’t we all get along?’ is the central core of their social and cultural stance and they firmly believe material goods and security and recreation are freely and deservedly provided by dufus parents who Just Don’t Understand Me. So, they vote accordingly, for anyone who promises to give them anything for free; against anyone they think is mean i.e., anyone who talks like a dufus parent, i.e., conservatives; and for anyone they feel sorry for, i.e., Fetterman. The result? Over the past twenty years, there has been an increasing Balkanization of the populace, somewhat along the same lines that split the Romans and the Visigoths, with about as much chance of compromise.

Newt and the other Republican party mavens have, of course, missed this. Having moved from one civilized environment to the next - middle class family to middle class college and career - they developed a logical and common-sense view of human behavior. Maslov’s Hierarchy of Needs and western civilization’s inspirations and motivations for family, relevance, and prosperity form the convictions and subsequent voting patterns of the populace. In normal times those are givens and the various political parties set their platforms based on them, the Republicans for an orderly society in which anyone can participate by exertions of their own efforts, the Democrats for more assistance to those who have somehow missed the chance to participate, the one-off lunatic fringe parties for their various single issues, such as the environment or anarchy.  

That was then, this is now.

Pocketbook issues and common sense are now only the province of a rapidly dwindling boomer generation, which was the last one raised with individuality, respect, and optimism. We now have the Nietzsche generations ascending, and they have far more loyalty to themselves than they do to social structures. Anything that promotes their own well-being and the advantage of their friends over others has their attention. They are far more akin to the 18th Century aristocracies than they are to the American yeoman class, seeking power and wealth and control over yon peasants who still cling to those outmoded concepts of individual rights and sacrifice and responsibility.

Which is why they vote for Fetterman. Because a brain-dead pseudo-Marxist is far more likely to help install the neo-corporatist state that they feel will bring about the eight-grade world they have long dreamed of than will some fussing farmer boy spouting self-reliance and more police.

Which means, of course, that all former bets are off. So, Newt, and everyone else who still thinks elections will save us, y’all best re-evaluate.

Dear Bill Barr

I had the pleasure of watching Guy Benson’s interview with you discussing your new book, One Damned Thing After Another. It appears to be a very informative and entertaining read. But there are a couple of things you said during the interview that you should address:

1. The Nov 2020 election: you said that Trump “beat himself” apparently by not listening to your advice. Perhaps that is so, but you imply that the 2020 election was legally and legitimately conducted. However, there are anomalies in that election which raise serious questions about its validity. Those include the unconstitutional changing of election procedures by several states, the inexplicable halt of vote counts simultaneously across several precincts, the number of votes exceeding the number of registered voters, the defects of Dominion voting machines, and even video evidence of votes pulled out of hiding spots.

Perhaps all of this can be explained, or perhaps the level of fraud was insufficient to change the outcome of the election. But no one has done anything to establish either take. There has not been one grand jury convened to review the evidence of vote fraud. Not one federal prosecutor has conducted an investigation of vote fraud allegations (except, of course, against President Trump for having the temerity to protest a fraudulent election). Judges have dismissed voter fraud complaints on specious procedural grounds, not on merits of the evidence. Subsequent private or state legislature investigations have uncovered massive evidence of widespread voter fraud at a level that seems to alter the reported outcome. Yet, you did nothing. And you still do nothing.

You remind me of a coroner standing in a crime scene covered with several sets of bloody footprints and several bullet casings, five bullet wounds in the victim’s head, and declaring, “Suicide.”

2. The indictment of James Comey: James Comey used a cutout to transfer classified information out of secure holdings and to a newspaper for the purposes of damaging the newly elected President Trump. At the very least, this is felony mishandling of classified information. Given the intent of the act, it’s treason. You acknowledge Comey’s crime in so many words but say the charges did not meet your standards of proof. Really? I have no doubt that had I, as a captain in the USAF, mishandled classified information in as egregious a manner as Comey did that my conviction would be a slam dunk and I would be serving my 25-year sentence in Leavenworth right now. So I can only presume that it’s collegiality that stayed your hand because you and Comey run in the same elite circles; for lack of a better cliche, you went to the same schools. It is the same principle that sends sergeants and captains to jail, while colonels and generals are simply denied promotion and allowed to retire.

I do not take away from your years of outstanding service, but we have a saying in the Air Force: one ‘aw crap’ wipes out ten thousand ‘attaboys.’ In this case, we have two ‘aw craps,’ the 2020 election and Comey’s skating out of charges. From the latter it is plainly obvious that there is a two tiered justice system in this country, and the average person now has no chance of ever obtaining justice. Indeed, the average person will now be judged with a political standard instead of a legal one. Just check on the Jan 6 prisoners. The average American is, therefore, foolish to rely on the criminal justice system for redress and protection. You may not like that, but you helped create that viewpoint.

And you reinforce my and millions of other voters' conviction that the election was fraudulent, that Biden is not the legitimate president of this country, and that you elites conducted a coup against the US because President Trump wasn’t the smooth and urbane striped-pants effete that you prefer in your politicians. President Trump was the first president since President Reagan to actually punch back at the sneering pseudo-intellectuals who daily insult us peasants. And that’s what we wanted. You didn’t. 

Thing is, it would be very easy for you to put our concerns to rest. Arrest Comey. Impanel a grand jury to review the vote evidence. Prove to me that Joe Biden actually won the election. It should be easy. Why won’t you do it?

You are more and more like the dog that did not bark.

It is painful to regard you in this light. When you were first appointed, I was hopeful that an out-of-control Justice Department would be brought to heel. But, in the critical cases, you were wanting. We thought you were George Patton; turns out you're Mark Clark.