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A country is made up of people - some smart, some stupid, and every shade in between. There are those who work for a living, and those who coast, relying on others to take care of them. Again, there are shades of gray between those two extremes.
I remain optimistic about the future of my country, after all, a war in which we Americans slaughtered each other in great numbers ended one-hundred and fifty-seven years ago. We're not at that point yet, I doubt we will reach that point.
Perhaps 'tis better to say, that I hope we don't reach that point. Eventually people see through the nonsense and the lies of the political class, and the chattering idiots who report on their spew.
"You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time." This quote is often attributed to Abraham Lincoln, but I can't find any evidence to confirm that one way or the other. (Not that I spent a lot of time looking for it, I've better things to do. Still a good quote though, still pretty true.)
Anyhoo, the lies of the morons who claim to be our "betters" (in both parties) are wearing thin, hopefully we will wake up in November. If there is any funny business regarding the election, hopefully that is detected and corrected before things get worse. You can buy all the politicians you like, but one shouldn't be able to buy an election. At least not and get away with it.
Tip of the hat to those who died to get us to this point in time, let's not throw it all away, okay?
Otherwise, those in fell in the past, died for nothing.
And so will we.
I fear that things have already gone too far and we are all awaiting our Fort Sumter. Normalcy bias tends to make us deny what is before our eyes. We have show trials for the peaceful while the cities have burned and are burning. Those in power are refusing to honor our institutions and are fomenting violent revolution.
ReplyDeleteWhether it is through incompetence or design the world has been set on a path of destruction that cannot be controlled those playing with the matches. U am hoping for the best, preparing for the worst, and have no confidence that I can clearly see what the worst really is.
Leftist cities may have burned, a little, but the discord and the nonsense aren't as widespread as the MSM wants us to believe. Remember, you're getting a lot of your information from the organs of the left, they want the USA to burn down. Stop listening to them.
DeleteNo I use independent sources that I have put a lot of effort into vetting.
DeleteAnd they don't have an agenda?
DeleteNo I use varied sources who don't all cover the same subjects or all agree with each other. Why are you so invested in things not being that bad? In the sweep of world history pessimists have usually closer to right, it's just that almost no one ever is pessimistic enough for an accurate prediction. Even in your area of expertise, WWII, how many people at the end of the thirties really had a grasp of how bad it would be and how drastically the world would change. I believe that we are looking this intense if not more so.
DeleteBetter to look on the bright side.
DeleteHere's a guy who says it so much better than I https://tldavis.substack.com/p/when-the-gig-is-up
ReplyDeleteProfessional pessimist in a cowboy hat, bah humbug.
DeleteI pray you're right but I don't believe for a second.
DeleteYou have to believe in something other than the pessimists.
DeleteTime to watch 1776, and GETTYSBURG.
ReplyDeleteIndeed.
DeleteAye Sarge, a tip of the hat to those gone before along with stacking the victuals deep and the powder dry...........:)
ReplyDeleteWe shall see.
DeleteI not just hope but pray we do not reach that point. I pray that those we elect understand that consensus it what is required and consensus is not 50% +1. I pray that sanity will come to our elected leaders and they will understand like those before them that being kind and benevolent to those in the minority party(s) is required for our democracy to survive. I also pray that the majority party (whoever that is) remembers that eventually they will be a minority party and what goes around comes around. I fear that our leaders only are concerned about the next election cycle and not about the Union/Country that our forefathers fought and died for .
ReplyDeleteOn this 4th of July I remember that my forefathers fought against each other on the battlefields of Gettysburg, Antietam and elsewhere. I remember that at Appomattox Courthouse once Lee Surrendered my forefathers shared their rations with my other forefathers and sent the former rebels on their way home. So I remember today those in the 51st GA inf., the 1st FL cav, the 11th, 12th 13th PA cav, the 137th NY inf, the 38 PA inf, 201st PA inf and the foresight they had to love and respect their fellow countrymen in their victory as opposed to crushing them under their heal avoiding a long term simmering conflict and building a strong country
If only the politicians had followed suit.
DeleteBeen doing a lot of praying too - and "stacking" , training and building community.
ReplyDeleteNineteenth-century America was a different country; your forefathers shared a meal because the held largely congruent beliefs.
I have nearly no faith in our "elected leaders" because I have nearly no faith in our elections, certainly not on a national basis. The comparisons to 1863 reveal very little of use to me but I find those of the decade before that to be very illuminating - and downright scary..
The men who died in Pennsylvania died for something alright, but their sacrifice has already been rendered moot.
Boat Guy
Not yet it hasn't.
DeleteI apologize if I am over sharing, but here's another writer who has a grasp of things. https://myplanetmyrules.blogspot.com/2022/07/happy-independence-day-retards.html#more
ReplyDeleteThe pendulum is swinging the other way. Another pessimist.
DeleteMy G-Grandfather and his three brothers served with the 57th Virginia in Armistead's Brigade at Gettysburg. End of the day, one great uncle had been wounded while another was wounded and captured. By year's end, a wounded uncle died while convalescing in North Carolina then WVA. The magnitude of the battle may best be experienced by standing atop Cemetery Hill and viewing the expanse of open ground that troops covered while under fire.
ReplyDeleteProbably doomed to fail, but they did it anyway. That's devotion.
DeleteOne key term that was hammered at me during ARRRMEEEE Training, SIR!!! was "Key Terrain". It made no sense to me as a Fighter Pilot, I could see the whole battlefield what's the big deal.
DeleteWhen we got assigned to "Hell on Earth" AKA, Puzzle Palace. Little Juvat joined a local Boy Scout troop and I signed up as an assistant Scout Leader. The Troop went on a camping trip to Gettysburg. We climbed Cemetery Hill. I got an Instant Understanding of "Key Terrain". Holy Cow. You could see quite literally everything. Unfortunately, I never had to use that Knowledge...or maybe Fortunately. Good Post, Sarge.
I'd go with "fortunately"!
DeleteSarge, I truly waffle back and forth. Pendulums do indeed oscillate and on the whole, people can be a lot more reasonable than their leaders (as your WW II series points out). At the same time - and as Don Pace points out - there was willingness on both sides to move on when the time came to move on, that utter destruction of the opposition was not the desired outcome. That is the part - on both sides - I am struggling to see.
ReplyDeleteAlthough also to be fair, your optimism has caused me to go back and re-edit tomorrow's post. That much, at least, your post has accomplished.
DeleteTB #1 - Suffice to say that most "leaders" are in it for personal gain. Seems most apparent now, but it's always been that way.
DeleteTB #2 - Never give up, never surrender.
DeleteI am in the pessimistic column though I have a little glimmer of optimism peaking out. The people that pull the stings of government don't give me much hope as they only seem interested in power. This year may well be the turning point. We will have to see how the Elections go if they do at all.
ReplyDeleteNothing has changed in that department, they're just more blatant about it.
DeleteA timely and thoughtful post.
ReplyDelete"... a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
. . .
"... that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Many in our country today are working hard to remove the notion of God from our culture. They abhor "liberty" and "freedom" and worship "dependency" and "control over others." They have an Orwellian notion of "equality" where "all animals are equal, but some are more equal."
The America of our ancestors, as praised by Lincoln, is what made us great, and is worth preserving. The Amerika desired by far too many people today must be rejected before it destroy our nation from within. We have lost the soapbox, and the ballot box has great power but only if the elections are fair and honest and accurately counted. Sadly, I am skeptical about the honesty of our elections any more. We do not want to resort to the cartridge box, but liberty and freedom at a terrible price is far more valuable than enslavement to a tyrannical government ascended to power by treachery.
Meanwhile, the world continues in turmoil far beyond our borders, creating "interesting times" where external events confronting a befuddled President may erupt in unthinkable disasters.
Sic vis pacem, para bellum, but pray for peace abroad and domestic tranquility at home.
We don't need any crap interfering with Sarge's fictional stories.
John Blackshoe
This November will be the test, if any funny business attaches itself to this one, and the one in 2024, then the United States will have perished. May those who would steal an election, no matter which party they follow, burn in Hell for all Eternity. For they will have condemned the world to never-ending strife and agony. A pox on their houses.
DeleteJohn Blackshoe - Agreed, nothing needs to interfere with the morning update. To mis-quote Dune, "The Stories Must Flow".
DeleteAnd the stories will flow!
DeletePendulums do swing. Pushed to hard, too fast, they become detached from their suspending point ... and fall, out of control. I'll point at the 16th Amendment, which broke the Federal - States balance. I pray ... I don't know what to pray for.
ReplyDeleteQuote Investigator is a more than usuallity reliable source for such things: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/12/11/cannot-fool/
The 16th Amendment ...
DeleteSigh, I can't believe the people let that one pass.
Good source on the quote and who might have said it.
My default is "Sun Tzu", since somehow I hope it will make people actually open up The Art of War and look for the quote...
DeleteNot bad, I see what you did there.
Deleteall the artillery was the norths. the artillery always wins.
DeleteNot always.
Delete