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.