Time to take the Red Pill, part 4/5
More and more Americans are waking to reality. Time to welcome them over to a big tent GOP focused on isolating and defeating the insane authoritarianism of Wokeism.
Picking Up Where We Left Off
Red pilling, as I’ve noted, is a process. It unfolds slowly, over time. First you notice that your longstanding political allies have taken a dangerous turn. Only slowly do you begin to warm to the other side. By Election Day 2006 my “pox on both your houses” theme was on full display. I dreaded where things were heading, and I turned out to be right.
From Election Day 2006:
Can’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow
Regrettably, the more I think about tomorrow, the greater the nausea. I cannot recall ever feeling as dispirited heading into a major national election. Were there ever two houses deserved of the pox, today's Democrats and Republicans are they. Can they both lose?
Both of our major political parties can count numerous fine people and deep thinkers among their members. Regrettably, all such decent types have been relegated to the sidelines. There isn’t a mensch in a leadership position anywhere in Washington. I could regale the left with a recounting of GOP absurdities, and the right with a comparable list of things the Dems would make worse, but why bother? The web and the airwaves are already replete with fodder for dogmatic true believers. If you want to hear why the other party’s ascendance would result in nuclear holocaust followed by plagues of locusts, go right ahead. If you prefer to dedicate a moment of silence lamenting the plight of our great nation, feel free in joining me to do so.
Nevertheless, it is always best to approach elections with a concrete question in mind. After all, ex ante concreteness helps guide ex post analysis.
So here’s my question: Whose leadership will emerge most chastised?
As things stand, the general expectation is that the Democrats will do VERY well. If they even come close--say by gaining control of either the House or the Senate--the party’s current leadership will earn accolades and entrench its position. Should the Republicans retain control of both chambers, the Democratic leadership will be cowed, even if their candidates make major gains. Reform within the Democratic party will be possible; new leaders might emerge intent on bringing the Party back to where it belongs--essentially, the path the Bill Clinton blazed tempered by the lessons of 9/11.
At the same time, any significant Republican losses will hit the leadership hard--even if the GOP retains control of both chambers. Unless the Republicans defy all predictions and suffer only minimal losses, look for a major shakeup. Hastert may be done as Speaker, whether his replacement is Pelosi, Boehner, or someone else. Outsiders like McCain, Giuliani, or possible even Romney may start to look good. More to the point, the Republican Party might rediscover its social libertarians, marry its uplifting neoconservative rhetoric to a matching foreign and defense policy, and regain its affinity for fiscal responsibility.
So what do I hope? What do I expect? As a lifelong Democrat and a recently announced independent, my greatest hope would be for the Center-Left to retake the Democratic Party. I see almost no possibility of that occurring. I believe that the Dangerous Left is ascendant in Democratic circles. It may take a decade or more to come to full fruition--much as the Dangerous Right takeover of the GOP appeared likely in 1980, ratcheted forward in 1994, but didn’t reach full bloom until 1997--but it seems inevitable. The Netroots, Deaniacs, and their friends are going to have to take a serious drubbing tomorrow to derail their freight train. A guy can always hope, but I don’t see it happening.
My second choice, with the Democrats likely lost, is that the GOP move itself in a direction that I consider positive. Here, the prospects seem brighter. The party is tired, its leadership corrupt, and its constituents disgusted. As soon as this election is over, Republicans will have to choose between cleaning house on the one hand and continuing their inexorable slide into the minority (or their “fall from grace,” to use terminology that some might prefer). Of course, a mere decision to refocus the party hardly means a move in my direction. After all, just look at the Democrats.
So what do I hope? The best possible outcome would be Republican losses just larger enough to deny the Democrats a majority anywhere. Only that outcome has the potential to shake up the leadership in both parties.
What do I expect? My best-case scenario remains a possibility, though a slight one. My second choice, a GOP gain significant enough to knock the loony left back to the Democratic sidelines, appears so unlikely as to barely warrant mention. That leaves me hoping for a Democratic victory significant enough to wipe out the GOP leadership, but not significant enough to eliminate leadership challenges among the Dems. By most indications, this outcome is what we will get. The worst of all possible outcomes, a Democratic blowout so significant that it locks the loony left in place while leaving the GOP more despondent than energized also appears possible, though unlikely.
In short, my expectations are that for the next two years I will be an independent, working increasingly closely with positive elements of the GOP helping them to craft a new direction for the Republican Party.
How well will I do? For a short-term answer, watch TV tomorrow. For a long-term indication, check back in 2008.
Checking Back in 2008
It took a long time for the GOP to become supportable. I changed my registration in early 2008 to vote in the California primary, but it was a reluctant sort of change:
So Now I’m a Republican
I guess. Sort of.
It’s been a few years since the Democratic Party abandoned its historic commitment to the growth of human rights and liberalism abroad.
Not all Democrats abandoned it, of course, but the “grass roots base” that now dominates the Party advocates a decreased American global footprint—economically, militarily, diplomatically, you name it, they want to reduce it. This faction is, in my opinion, the single most dangerous political group in the U.S. today. They are not, of course, the craziest (after all, Larouche and his ilk keep rearing their heads), but danger arises through a combination of bad ideas and access to power. These folks have long pushed bad ideas. It is only over the past few years, however, that they have seized control of one of our major political parties. And that makes them very, very dangerous.
The desire to reduce America’s global footprint is ass-backwards. We should be expanding as quickly as possible in every sphere. Military engagement is necessary to secure the country and to continue the battle against Islamofacism and other anti-liberal forces. Diplomatic engagement is crucial to enlisting allies of our own in this struggle, and to convince others that they share our interest in an increasingly liberal world. Economic engagement is the only way to ensure American leadership not only in economics and finance, but also in technology and innovation. The Democratic faction pushing in the opposite direction will erode the world’s prospects for a future of freedom and prosperity. And no Democrat, including those who do know better, will be able to govern without their support.
In January 2005, after a lifetime as an active Democrat, I realized that the Party had abandoned many of the critical values that had long attracted me. The lukewarm response to Bush’s Second Inaugural, coupled with the elevation of Howard Dean to the position of DNC Chair, told me that I had been correct: the 2004 election was the last opportunity to keep the populist, leftist wing from controlling the party. I quietly reregistered as an independent.
During the summer of 2006, the Democratic faithful knocked Senator Joe Lieberman out of the Party during the Connecticut primary. His sin? Fidelity to liberal values around the globe and at home. I stayed a registered independent, but dropped the quiet part. I issued a proud Declaration of Independents.
With the 2006 election cycle complete, I turned my attention to the field of 2008 Presidential contenders. I saw two candidates—and only two candidates—who instilled me with confidence about their ability to perform during this critical juncture in our history. Both were Republicans: Rudy Giuliani and John McCain. Both men represented the ability to do two important things: First and foremost, I believe that they are capable of defending American interests abroad while promoting the growth of global liberalism. Second, they represent an opportunity to wrest control of the Republican Party from its social conservative wing—a faction that, until recently, I considered the most dangerous part of the American polity. I determined to vote in the Republican primary.
I maintained my Independent registration because despite the Democrats many efforts to chase me away, the Republicans have not yet done much to woo me. In fact, every now and again, they seem to go out of their way to chase me back (see e.g., immigration policy). Today, I learned that, in a rather cynical ploy, the California Republican Party has decided to change longstanding rules: it will not allow Independents to vote in its upcoming primary.
There is really only one explanation for this change: It is a rearguard effort by factions, still powerful within the State Party, desperate to hold control. If they succeed—and if they succeed nationwide—Americans will be caught with an untenable choice, a choice that could persist for decades. We could be forced to choose between a Democratic Party hellbent on making the world poorer and more dangerous and a Republican Party hellbent on making life at home less tolerant and less comfortable. The best way out of this logjam is to challenge the currently weaker dangerous faction from within its own party.
As a result, I have changed my party affiliation. So now I’m a Republican.
Don’t make me sorry.
There’s more to come. As I mentioned, red pilling is a process. Mine was. If you went through one, I suspect that yours was, too. Most importantly, if you know people going through the process now, please share these columns. It’s critical that they know that they’re not alone.
To be continued…
For more information about Bruce D. Abramson & American Restorationism, visit: www.BruceDAbramson.com
To learn more about how America’s elites destroyed the republic, see: The New Civil War: Exposing Elites, Fighting Utopian Leftism, and Restoring America (RealClear Publishing, 2021).
To learn more about the ideology driving today’s anti-American leftism, see: American Restoration: Winning America’s Second Civil War (Kindle, 2019).
To learn more about our work at the American Coalition for Education and Knowledge, visit us at https://coalition4america.com/.
To learn more about how I turn the ideas I discuss here into concrete projects that serve the interests of my clients, donors, and society at large, please e-mail me at bdabramson@pm.me.