“Something is wanting, and something must be done, or we shall be involved in all the horror of failure, and civil war without a prospect of its termination.” ~ Henry Knox, (1750 – 1806) Revolutionary War General and Secretary of War
Did General Knox see something in his “crystal ball”, that we are now seeing in ours? Are the precursors of civil war always growing irreconcilable differences? Can we pull back from the brink before civil war or revolution become the only solution to those differences? These are the questions that percolate in sane minds as we approach the precipice of war before there is no turning back.
Make no mistake. America is headed for a civil war or revolution. It will take just the slightest whisper of conflict to set it off, unless the widening gap between the two sides is somehow bridged by cooler heads.
The causes of our irreconcilable differences grow by the day. All of the societal norms that created a harmonious society are breaking down before our eyes and we can’t seem to stop it. Our public schools and colleges have become instruments of indoctrination. Marriage is under attack. The nuclear family is under assault. The definitive line between male and female and their respective roles are being blurred such that now instead of two genders, we have multiple genders and indistinguishable roles. Simplicity is rejected, natural biology is ignored and confusion reigns as a result. Confusion about who we are leads to arguments, heated debates and many times violence. It also leads to crime, health problems, depression, sexual deviance, mental illness, substance abuse and even suicide. Fiscal negligence and political correctness are corrosive offshoots from that confusion.
But the destruction or perversion of societal norms is not all that leads to irreconcilable differences. Moving away from the foundation of our liberties is the prime reason for the widening gap on how America should be governed. Here, in a few lines, are two opposing descriptions of how government should operate, from totally different perspectives:
“I heartily accept the motto, — ‘That government is best which governs least’ and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which I also believe, —‘That government is best which governs not at all.’” ~ Henry David Thoreau
“From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” is a slogan popularized by Karl Marx in his 1875 Critique of the Gotha Program. The principle refers to free access to and distribution of goods, capital and services [by government]. In the Marxist view, such an arrangement will be made possible by the abundance of goods and services that a developed communist system will be capable to produce; the idea is that, with the full development of socialism and unfettered productive forces, there will be enough to satisfy everyone’s needs.” ~ From Wikipedia and all the 2020 Democrats running for president
The foregoing statements are incompatible with each other and cannot co-exist peacefully together ….. without war eventually developing between them.
Here are some lines from a previous article we wrote over a year ago. We repeat them for emphasis because they are directly relevant:
Is it any wonder that Americans are so divided and are on the brink of going to war with each other? The Democrats have gone off the rail with concepts, policies and agendas that would have created a war just a few decades ago. The younger generation has no clue as to why America is (or was) exceptional.
But in reality the only thing that stands between a planet in perpetual world war, or human annihilation, is American freedom! [Read this sentence again and again and again!]
Maybe the rise of American freedom in 1776 was providence at work, maybe not. But if we succumb to the siren call of socialism, which seems to be the direction we are heading, civil war is our future and the promise of providence will have been denied.
We say civil war because there are millions of Americans who will not lie down and play dead for the rise of socialism. Those millions are heavily armed and if you push them too far, like the “shot heard round the world“, war will break out between those that cling to socialism and government dependence and those that cling to freedom, their bible ….. and their guns.
Given all this, let us not forget who we are. We are Americans for God’s sake. The blood of heroes and patriots courses through our veins. Each of us is the descendant of those whose spine was stiffened by courage when his or her country called, or evil raised its ugly head. We are the direct lineage of the men and women whose intellect and fortitude carried them to new heights and made America the greatest, proudest, industrious, creative, wealthiest, productive and most generous nation on Earth. We share our chromosomes with those pioneers that settled the west, tamed a wild country with roads, bridges and towns and brought law and order to the homeland. We are the sons, daughters, grandsons and grand daughters of those who stood up to tyranny, no matter what the cost. The genes of creators, inventors, hard workers, the educated, the warriors and those in service to others, are an integral part of our DNA.
Real Americans are not whiners or losers they are doers and winners. They build and invent things. They excel at their chosen professions. Americans are the givers and preservers of life, not the takers. Americans believe that life is precious and a gift from God and its preservation is paramount.
Americans are the light to the rest of the world, not because we are better than anyone else, but because we live under the bright light of liberty that frees us to climb the highest mountains, or jump off this once giant planet into the vastness of space, where only the brave dare tread, in search of the secrets of our island Universe.
Heed not the doomsayers that warn us we are no longer an exceptional people or a country. Pay no attention to those who say we are destroying the planet and that we must conserve and cut back. The planet is big enough to handle us. If man went extinct today the earth would heal itself in a thousand years or less. A thousand years is nothing in comparison to the eons the earth has orbited the Sun.
Sure there are things we can do to lessen our impact on the earth but we don’t have to return to the dark ages to do it, nor do we have to replace fossil fuels with ineffective, inefficient, government subsidized and highly expensive wind and solar power on the trumped up charge of man-caused global warming. That’s not just stupid, it’s insane.
We have no choice but to find a way to right the situation peacefully, or we are in for a very long, protracted and bloody civil war, where the outcome is totally unpredictable and freedom may not be what we win in the end. Let us not, once again, fall into the trap where we find that war, carnage, brutality and violence are the only way to preserve our freedom.
Let us remember when brave Americans stood up against tyranny with their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor over two centuries ago. In their memory and sacrifice can present-day Americans do no less? We call on all constitutional Americans to openly reject Progressivism, political correctness, collectivism, multi-culturalism, radical environmentalism and the one-world government and reject these things with all their heart and soul, or watch America succumb to the fatal disease of world socialism and planet-wide slavery. The fate of liberty is in our hands. If we fail, freedom fails.
We do not believe that war is inevitable, but it will take the combined, unified and courageous effort of all those Americans who still cherish freedom and are willing to defend it ….. by any means. An American civil war today will be a lost cause and only invite the two other super powers to intervene and take us down. And a civil war or a revolution, do not always end up in the birth or re-birth of freedom. The history of of thousands of revolutions tells a far different story. (See “Revolutions“)
Once again, in the words of Revolutionary War General Henry Know, “Something is wanting, and something must be done, or we shall be involved in all the horror of failure, and civil war without a prospect of its termination.” Remember, civil war is a complete failure of society.
© 2019 Ron Ewart – All Rights Reserved
~ The Author ~
Ron Ewart, a nationally known author and speaker on freedom and property issues and author of his weekly column, “In Defense of Rural America“, is the President of the The National Association of Rural Landowners (NARLO), a non-profit corporation headquartered in Washington State and dedicated to restoring, maintaining and defending property rights for urban and rural landowners. Mr. Ewart can be reached for comment at info@narlo.org.
Mr. Ewart has been a continuing contributor to the Kettle Moraine family of publications since May of 2007.