Only slow and laboriously do men, people, society, realize what has happened to them. Realize the truth about their position. … – Page 231

I was too young and politically immature yet during the George H.W. Bush years to really see the game being played against us by the DC uni-Party. Then, during the Clinton years, the forces working against my constitutionalist sensibilities were too easily assigned solely to the Democrats in power. The charade that was enabling the continuous, slow, managed decline of the American Republic became crystal clear to me after (reluctantly) going along with the “compassionate conservative” marketing gimmick long enough to get stabbed in the back by the Bush-Frist combination. Unfortunately, my “realization” came after too many of those older, wiser versions of me…those who had become enraged during the reign of Bush the elder…had passed from the scene. It appeared to me that the Ruling Class had hit upon a sweet spot in the Constitutional algorithm to keep the opposition from ever gaining critical mass. It was nearly perfect…as long as they didn’t get too greedy.

But, of course, that is not human nature…especially among the corrupt and powerful.

It was the quick succession of some rather large blows to the Solar Plexus of We the People – the extralegal auto bailout, the illegal TARP switcheroo, the (then) unbelievably massive and completely unaccountable Stimulus Package, all topped off by the ramming down our throats of the PPACA (Obamacare) – that finally created the spark. If not a critical mass, certainly a concerning portion of the American people came to the “realization” between mid-2008 and early 2010. The reaction of the DC uni-Party (and their tools) to the portion of We the People that dared to cry foul – the snuffing out of the Tea Party movement of the early 2010’s, the total political war waged on the President elected in 2016 from outside their fraternity, the dirty retaking of the Executive Branch via the 2020 election…and don’t even get me started on the overreaction to, and cynical political use of, the events of January 6, 2021  – clearly signaled that they have no intention of even putting on a front with respect to a government of the people, by the people, and for the people anymore. (Yes, as we have now evolved to a point that even the scripted Presidential rhetoric in speeches to the nation lumps every “skeptic” – from the most unhinged conspiracy nutjob to those who stand by the demonstrably factual cases of unconstitutionally modified voting practices to those who just openly recognize that Joe Biden is a moron and an insufferable twit – into the catch-all “election denier” category (Shall we call that our Article 58?), I no longer see the need to fight such irrationally juvenile demagoguery and meaningless word play anymore: I admit to being an election denier. Specifically, a 2020 election denier. So what? Piss off, Joe! But I digress.)

The point this far is to simply state the obvious…that the actions of the Ruling Elite…and their assistants (the Deep State) and enablers (the State Media Complex)…have pushed the American System into a revolutionary cycle. While the ultimate magnitude and scope of this instability are far from being resolved, the path we are now on is dangerous for both sides of the field. Interesting times indeed.

There may be better but one of the best books I have read on the American Revolution is 1775: A Good Year for Revolution by Kevin Phillips. I enjoyed it particularly because of the focus on the years leading up to the famed “1776” and the insight into the time phasing and broader dynamics within that revolutionary cycle. There is a whole lot of mostly forgotten history between The Stamp Act of 1765 and the relevant “realization”:

By 1775, few Patriot leaders still saw merit in the idea of North American representation in a corrupt Parliament 3,000 miles distant. Debate was shifting into a new and broader context: the rearrangement or breakup of existing economic and imperial relationships. – Page 114

Earlier I demonstrated that since at least 2008 (and continuing today), the DC Ruling Elite have clearly signaled that they have no intention of even putting on a front with respect to a government of the people, by the people, and for the people anymore. How long before today’s “Patriot leaders” from among the many states (and counties) stop seeing merit in further representation among the distant corrupt hoards that now occupy the rotted shell of the government established by the Constitution?

But it is the details and dynamics between the abuse of power, the “realization,” and the end game that I came to focus on today. For this, I will transition away from the American Revolution and back to the “society” among bosses and the political prisoners as described by Solzhenitsyn in The Gulag Archipelago – Volume 3. Maximum control had ensured that any “social changes” happened as slow as possible. But even within that seemingly powerless position, change found a way. In this case the vital link was the meeting between a stoolie and a knife. As a result, the elimination of a handful of stoolies in this manner created a little bit of fear pointed in the other direction. Many of the remaining stoolies were pulled (or pulled themselves) from among those they spied on and were put into the “safe deposit” barracks. This changed the boundary conditions of this little society and new dynamics and processes were allowed to evolve:

And the informers…stopped informing. (Page 238) So now the bosses were suddenly blind and deaf. … The information machine on which alone the fame of the omnipotent and omniscient Organs has been based in decades past had been broken. (Page 239) Purged of human filth, delivered from spies and eavesdroppers, we looked about and saw, wide-eyed, that…we were thousands! that we were politicals! that we could resist! …the chain would snap if we tugged at this link—the stoolies, the talebearers and traitors! … The revolution was gathering strength. (Page 248)

In both eras referenced above, I in no way mean to insult history with a suggestion of equivalency but within the context of the evolution and dynamics of a clearly divided “tyrants-over-oppressed politicals” society there are potential parallels to be evaluated. Here, it was not the knifing of “the stoolies, the talebearers and traitors” who had muddied the waters from inside out perimeter for so long but merely an uncomfortable presence (i.e., a Trump?) that nudged so many of them to self-identify and separate themselves from the Patriots. (Yes, the Patriots.) Many chose and/or were encouraged to follow. To the extent that has happened, and aside from the giggles many still get from the hysterics of the Jen Rubins of that class, the thinking across the anti-progressive end of spectrum has cleared up and matured significantly over the last five to seven years. Purged of the pollution inserted into the dialog by this “human filth”…we are now seeing the game much clearer. To the extent this hasn’t been done, well…the distraction and waste of intellectual energy on such things at this late date is a choice to remain safely among the “human filth” and not advance with the changing game. So be it.

The full quote from which I pulled the title of this post is: “And the wolves understood that we were not the sheep we used to be.” (Page 284) As we have seen for more than a decade now, it is not the “understanding” that is our current problem: The wolves clearly understand but just don’t care.  It is the wolves’ insistence on pushing further past the guardrails established for this republic (not “our democracy”) that is driving this society into a rather fearsome abyss. Messages from both camps will be sent this Tuesday. The “revolution” is clearly gathering strength…unfortunately, I have seen little evidence that the wolves possess any inclination of backing off full-throttle on this deliberate push toward totalitarianism.  It seems a rather important reckoning is at hand.

Into the abyss.