The Age of UnReason?

By Eddie Howell

Most Americans my age (including me) never thought they’d see the day when America’s basic constitutional liberty would be so endangered. And yet that’s just what we are seeing. With leftists calling for curtailing the Second Amendment, restricting the First Amendment to control “Hate speech” and shout down conservatives or prevent them from speaking, our liberty is at risk today. The major factor in this is the influence of the political left. They encourage people to believe they’re “victims” and must be protected from disagreeable opinions, yet they should go after their opponents with violent “protests” (riots), and promote hatred of police, conservatives, white people, Christians, and whoever they decide to dislike or disagree with.

The left is trying, and somewhat succeeding, it seems, in replacing the “Age of Reason” or “Age of Enlightenment” we thought we were living in, with just the opposite. In his article titled “The High-Tech Traditionalist: The Age of UnReason -- It is Impossible to Overestimate the Dangers of Mass Hysteria,” Baruch Pletner, at Tsarizm, gives an instructive analysis of this process and its serious risks:

He states,

It is impossible to overestimate the dangers of mass hysteria. Nearly all manmade disasters from the unthinkable to the merely uncomfortable are the results of it. People who are hysterical, who think with their wombs rather than their brains, be they male or female, are easily manipulated by special interests who have much to gain from whipping up emotions at the expense of reason.

 The system of checks and balances put in place by the Founding Fathers to guard against hysteria and mob rule is on its last breath. Undermined by universal suffrage, a concept that would have horrified every single one of them, coupled with excessive immigration from countries in which emotion rather than reason reigns supreme, the death knoll of the American Republic as the last bastion of the new Age of Reason in the West is fast approaching.

An Organized Effort

I am convinced that this process in America and elsewhere is being orchestrated by the socialists and communists of the political left in order to create chaos and confusion in our country in preparation for their hoped-for violent overthrow of capitalism and the market economy, to be replaced with socialism. Socialist and communist organizations are very active among members of Congress today, for example, and many of our legislators are not loyal to America but to socialist and communist causes, contrary to the Constitution that they have sworn to protect.

Anti-Trump Red Guards Austin march in November 2016. Six communists
 were arrested in confrontations with pro-Trump demonstrators. Photo from
Maoistroad website.

A look at communist and socialist websites will demonstrate that these leftists regard America as the bad guy, and they support the communist countries of China, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, Vietnam, etc., and are involved in communist goings-on in Russia and the communist countries just mentioned. The goal is world domination, as it has been since 1917 and before. Stirring up emotional upset, hatred, and prejudice is the road to subverting the nation.

When ‘Snowflakes’ Rule

People need to better understand the nature and uniqueness of American freedom. The so-called Free World, just in the past few decades, has given up much of their liberty. In most of these countries, a person’s complaint that someone insulted them can result in criminal prosecution. No nation other than the United States has protections equal to those decreed by the First Amendment. Under the U. S. Constitution, people cannot be criminally accused or punished for what they think, write, or say (unless directly inciting violence), but only for their actions. Thus, disloyal individuals and organizations have great latitude in spreading their propaganda. But when they translate that into violent or subversive acts, they can and should be punished under the law.

Beyond this, the leftist propaganda must be overcome by truth. Principles of individual responsibility and individual liberty must be taught, and education must be taken back from the leftist propagandists. Not everything a person disagrees with is racist, sexist, or homophobic. And even if they are, the answer is to overcome bad ideas with good ones, not silence everyone who wishes to speak what one considers heresy. “Political correctness” is a concept invented by communists. It is thoroughly antithetical to the American concept of individual liberty.

Leftists in America today, such as the reprehensible Southern Poverty Law Center label as “Hate groups” many traditional Christian organizations who believe in traditional marriage and biblical morality. The SPLC is one of the most hateful groups around. Why do supposedly legitimate organizations rely on their list?

It should be borne in mind that no “Progressive” politicians are far from socialism and indeed communism in their basic political positions, and many are rather openly affiliated with socialist and communist organizations. Their loyalty to America is extremely questionable. Yet many serve on the most sensitive committees in Congress when they could not pass a routine background check. Congress needs to recognize and correct this problem.

After the Civil War, America Was Reunited

1913 - At the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, Union (left) and Confederate (right) veterans shake hands at a reunion in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  Image: Public Domain

By Eddie Howell

There was, not so long ago, a time in America, when people thought the Civil War, that bloody and a horrible nation-wrenching struggle of brother-against-brother, was finally over and peace was restored. As difficult as it was for everyone who fought, or who waited back home for their loved ones to return, it was finally over, and a true healing process had begun.

The impact was lasting, since the war was fought in America and not some far-off continent, and feelings did not change overnight. By the 25^th anniversary of the end of the war, there were expressions of unity at Civil War reunions, although resentments still remained.

At the 50^th anniversary (1913) of the Battle of Gettysburg, Union and Confederate veterans of the war shook hands across the stone wall of Pickett’s Charge in what appeared to be a time of sincere unity and forgiveness all around. Slavery was over, and to many, it seemed that the animosity had given way to mutual respect, and acknowledgement that the issues were settled.

Eternal Light Peace Memorial, dedicated in 1938 by President Franklin D.
Roosevelt at Gettysburg. Photo by Gettysburg Daily.

At the 75^th anniversary (1938) of the Battle of Gettysburg, President Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the Eternal Light Peace Memorial, recognizing the Blue and the Gray veterans in attendance and saying, “I accept this Memorial in the spirit of brotherhood and peace.” After all those years, there appeared to be some closure concerning the North-South struggle. America was well united again and only a few fanatics still wanted to continue the fight. There was respect for all who had fought, if not agreement on all the controversies. Families by then were reunited, and the American family could take some satisfaction in the fact of peace in our own country.

So what has happened in this age of snowflakes, victims, and troublemakers? Any reference to the Confederacy today is considered by some to be a trigger for traumatic upset. This is very unfortunate, for it threatens basic American and human values: Free expression, free inquiry, knowledge of the facts of history, and respect for others. There is no one alive today who owned slaves during that era. The war ended over 150 years ago. All this time, until very recently (before the leftists began stirring up their misguided efforts), people accepted the facts that there was a Civil War, slavery was abolished, and now it’s over, and occasionally we see reminders of it.

The Civil War statues and memorials, flags, and symbols represent historical people and events, and it is a miserable injustice to condemn those who fought for the South as if their only concern was to oppress people. The war is over. The South lost the war, suffering mightily, but what has happened to the spirit of Lincoln, who wanted, above all, to preserve and restore the Union, as though it had never been separated? Those who demand the destruction or removal of Confederate statues, flags, and relics, even if they think their motives are pure, do a great disservice to our country. All Americans, North and South, deserve better.

Destroying Western Civilization for Leftist Control

By Eddie Howell

The following short videos are of Professor Alexandre Del Valle’s interview with the French news organization Damoclès. He explains that that the radical left wants to destroy the nation-state and the West, and are using NGOs funded by George Soros and other billionaires, along with criminal organizations, to help accomplish this.

Day by day, we’re seeing more signs that the radical-left-controlled U. S. Democratic Party and the globalist elites of the EU and elsewhere are stepping up their efforts to bring down Western, historically Christian, civilization and nations. The “refugee” crisis engulfing Europe, and the related Islamic jihadist movement have been largely manufactured by leftist globalist elites who want to cement their places in power by replacing the current populations with “immigrants” who will eventually receive full citizenship and voting rights, and, of course, vote for the politicians that encouraged their invasion. This they hope to accomplish even at the cost of the national identity of the European countries, and eventually even their nationhood.

This is also what the left wants to do in America. Their hatred of Donald Trump and his supporters has been stirred up because he represents an obstacle to their plans. Had Hillary Clinton been elected president, she would have facilitated their program as she promised, and soon it would have been arranged that there would be a one-party political system in America, going all in for global socialism. The well-known Clinton and leftist corruption would have been hushed up so much that anyone calling attention to it in an effective way would have to be silenced and discredited.

American sovereignty and freedom are on the line, as is Western civilization itself. The left would like to suppress Christianity and substitute socialism-communism.

Americans and Europeans should realize that socialism and communism are essentially the same thing, and lead inevitably to totalitarian dictatorship and murders of many citizens. There is no chance that “next time” socialism-communism will be set up with better people and a better system than, say, the Stalinist Soviet Union, because socialism-communism is inherently lawless and criminal, and incentivized so that the most cleverly ruthless people are soon in charge, and getting rid of anyone who shows effective opposition, and finally, also getting rid of anyone who fits the leaders’ baseless paranoid fears.

The entire popular appeal of this system is based on class envy and stirred-up anger that encourages atrocities as means to gain power. Rulers like Stalin, Mao, or Hitler are simply the natural results of such a lawless system which finally boils down to the law of the jungle and, in effect, the end of any decent civilization, let alone economic prosperity for any but the top echelons. The promised equality never happens.

The keys to an actual successful (although not perfect) society include individual liberty, free markets, and real justice. These things require, as John Adams said, a virtuous people who possess a love of liberty and country and also an underlying spiritual foundation of faith in God. Also required is a willingness to defend these things. Otherwise, the result will be an oppressive society.