Category: The Resistance

The Moralistic State: Of Christians & The Secularization Of America

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I was raised in the church and have a lot of relatives who are still Christians, so I know all about how alienated many modern conservative Christians feel. They tend to think that all of America’s problems could be solved if everyone turned to Jesus.

While I suppose this is true, some of my relatives really, really wanted a white Christian ethnostate without thinking about the consequences of doing such a thing. They want whites and men on top and they want there to be only one gender and none of this “pronouns” business.

They don’t have a problem with people being gay, but they should be quiet about it. And if pressed, they probably wouldn’t have a problem with someone getting an abortion as long as it was a deep personal shame that the person never spoke of to anyone.

What the Christians I know seem to want is to replace the Administrative State with the Moralistic State. They think taxation is theft and they want a total ban on abortion, birth control in general and online porn. They want to gut the modern safety net, even as they require any human egg that is fertilized by sperm to be carried to term, damn whatever horrific life the child may have once they’re born.

With that it in mind, that is yet more indication that the U.S. is tearing itself apart and there is a better-than-zero-sum chance that there will be a civil war (Reds if Trump loses) or a revolution (Blues if Trump wins.)

And, yet, there is every reason to believe that just like in 2020, somehow we’ll find an off ramp, a “third way” that allows us to punt our problems down the road again. And, hell, who knows, maybe the fabric of the nation is strong enough that no matter what, we’ll muddle through in some way and all my political dystopian hellscapes will seem rather amusing.

I really, really want that to happen.

If some of the things I fear will happen, happen, it will s u c k.

America’s Fate Starting in Late 2024, Early 2025 Rests On State Republican Parties

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Yeah, right.

The thing too many media popinjays miss about the looming threat of a civil war in the United States is that on a state level, the Republican Party has crossed the Rubicon on the issue — at least on a rhetorical basis. So, the question of the moment is, at at state level, is the Republican Party prepared to put its money where its mouth is on the issue of secession.

Just from my discussion of my mainstream conservative Traditionalists relatives — whom I love dearly — it definitely seems as though if there was a sudden lurch towards a secession crisis that they would be prepared to follow along.

Of course, any secession crisis would be a royal clusterfuck for a number of reasons. There are a lot of Blue dots in Red States. And there are states –like Virginia — which are actually two states, one Red, one Blue, fused together who fucking hate each others guts.

So, Virginia, in particular, would likely be the site where the first actual violence of a Second American Civil War might occur. I could see there be coups and counter coups as the two sides fight over if the commonwealth is going to stay in the Union or not.

What’s more, that particular situation is easy compared to areas of the Deep South where you would have the dominate white Republican Party pushing for secession and the large African American community balking. That is a very complicated situation that, if not handled properly, could possibly lead to a historic race war.

I know, that sounds like my usual “hysterical doom shit,” but that’s what we’re facing at the moment. Once you take the idea of secession seriously, you start to come up with a lot of very, very dark scenarios.

Win Or Lose, Trump May Spark A Second American Civil War Starting in Late 2024, Early 2025

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The Republican Party is now, on a structural basis, primed and ready to start a civil war by calling up Secessionist Conventions. Now, I fear this could happen both if Trump loses or wins. It will happen if he wins if he is promptly deposed in some way — either by impeachment and conviction or by the U.S. Military — or it MAY happen if he loses.

The issue of Trump sparking a civil war by losing is really difficult to game out at this point because it is, on the face of it, very, very silly to think any such thing might happen. It just is staggering to imagine that the most powerful nation in the world might collapse into civil war because of “vibes.”

But, here we are.

And, yet, now, at the end of 2023, I still can’t tell you with any certainty that even if Trump screams bloody murder about the 2024 election being “stolen” from him that any state legislatures will listen to him.

It could be that there might be — some — politically inspired violence, but, on the whole, Trump just rants and ultimately fades into politically obscurity.

I just don’t know.

Let’s Address The Right Wing ‘Lawfare’ Talking Point

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It has become a matter of gospel within Right wing ranks that the evil liberal cabal that is out to get good (white) Christian men and women is using “lawfare” against Trump.

But, it gets worse.

Even people who don’t support Trump the person, have gotten into their noggins that this is the case. You can tell this nothing more than a fill-airtime-in-an-argument talking point when you press these people about the classified document case against Trump.

When you point out that Biden also had an investigation against him for classified documents they suddenly just wave their hand and move on to their next point. So, according to their logic, even though Trump is being investigated for something legitimate — stealing national secrets — it’s still lawfare because they think it’s neat to use the word “lawfare.”

It’s shit like this that makes me wonder if we, as a nation, will be able to survive past 2025. There is growing evidence that if Trump becomes POTUS again that we’re all in for a very, very bumpy ride. Either because about 1 million well educated wealthy liberals leave the country in a massive brain drain, or we depose Trump in some way and there’s a civil war.

Pick your poison.

I Don’t Have A Problem With Being ‘Woke,’ Just Don’t Come After Me For Being A Male Author Writing From A Female POV In My Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I notice that someone is interested in all my ranting about the “woke cancel culture mob.” So, let me be clear — all my ranting on this subject is usually generated by booze and annoyance that I will be dinged by some hyper-woke people for being a male author writing from a female POV in my novel.

If Stieg Larsson can do that, why can’t I?

Anyway, I also know that being a drunk crank I’ve almost — certainly — done more than one thing in my personal life that will leave the hyper woke aghast. But, all I can say is the worse thing anyone ever said about me was that I’m a “delusional jerk with a good heart.”

My heroine, in my mind, looks like Corrie Yee.

So, yeah, I’m not perfect. But who is? And I generally mean well. So, I find myself wondering if all my talk about consensual kinky sex and periods in this novel will be poo-pooed by woke liberal white women because it’s ME, a smelly CIS white male, who wrote it.

Meanwhile, Emerald Fennell can go way, way off the creative beaten path and is hailed as the best thing since slice bread. It’s shit like that that causes me to rant when I’m drunk. Judge me by work, not by my gender. I GENERALLY support the media narrative about trans rights, etc, but I’m human and I have the occasional stray thought that maybe might get me in trouble with the woke Powers That Be.

I HATE this type of “woke.”

Regardless. My first novel is going well. So well, in fact, that I’m probably going to feel comfortable doing a lot more reading, watching of TV and movies and doing some writing on my “backup stories.”

We Need An Era Of Accountability

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I talked to a conservative relative recently and they said they will “never” trust the CDC again — ever. They are still seething over the perceived errors and missteps of the COVID era. I keep asking this person what exactly they want from the CDC and usually it boils down to they want liberals, in general, to take a long walk off a short pier.

And things get really wild when I note that if they get the solutions they want for the “border crisis” that the same dynamic they so hated with COVID could apply to that particular situation, too.

The issue is, of course, that there will be no “era accountability” unless, well, we break a few eggs — probably some combination of civil war / revolution. We would have to have a Second Reconstruction whereby there was some sort of “reset” where we all got a little bit — but not all — of what we wanted.

And if you throw in WW3 happening during an American civil war / revolution, then during the process of putting everything back together — if the liberal Good Guys win, that is — we might start to address global issues like global climate change and AI, too.

But that is really speculative. And things could go any number of ways I just can’t predict.

The Question of 2024

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The question of 2024 is, of course, how bad will 2025 be? As of now, late 2023, it seems within reason that either Trump loses and we have a civil war, or Trump wins and we have some sort of revolution then civil war in 2025.

And, yet, as 2020 proved, no one can predict that future.

So, it’s very possible that through some unexpected twist of fate, Trump will no only lose, but fade into political oblivion in some non-violent way. That’s all we can hope for at the moment.

But who knows. I know I don’t. It could really go either way. One reason is, Trump has made it clear that he will only accept his victory as legitimate. Meanwhile, he is a vessel, and avatar for a lot of bent up rage among white Christian (men).

So, I just don’t know. It really could go either way. And if we punt our problems down the road again, I will be very grateful.

The Thing That — Thankfully — Hasn’t Happen Yet

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

A number of things haven’t happened yet as we potentially careening towards a civil war / revolution. Among them is two Congressmen haven’t hurt each other in any significant way within the walls of Congress. The other is any sort of coordinated mass casualty event inspired by our political divisions.

It could be that we will avoid either one of these dark events and STILL have a revolution / civil war type situation. I’m really worried about places like New York City should Trump get re-elected because there are so many Red media outlets based there. If things really got hairy, I could see mass chaos on that front.

But, like I said, maybe we can avoid that type of thing from happening. No fate but what we make and all that. Yet it is clear that the bolts continue to pop off the United States at an alarming rate. The big question is how bad things will get.

Remember, if Trump loses, that, unto itself, might evoke some of the political violence I’m afraid might happen. And if things got really bad, Trump could rant about a National Divorce to the point that Red States take him up on it and start to leave the Union.

Trump is just a human chaos agent and we have to prepare for the greater-than-zero chance that he will, unto himself, cause some sort of mass political violence no matter what happens.

‘Show Your Papers’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It definitely seems as though if Trump becomes POTUS again that the issue of proving citizenship will become the central issue of the day. If you’re actively trying to deport 20 million people — many of them with American children — then you find yourself in something of a quandary.

What is going to happen is Birthright Citizenship will be abolished one way or another and then things will only get worse. The greatly expanded ICE infrastructure will be used for not just rounding people up — which is popular with the MAGA base — but also coming after, well, people like me. I’m a drunk crank who occasionally writes that Trump can suck my cock.

Just like how we built the A-Bomb to go after Germany, only to use it on Japan, so, too, will we build out this massive Gestapo to kick undocumented people out of the country, only to go after Jews, gays, the mentally ill and drunk cranks. It’s the oldest story in the world — the law of unintended consequences.

It definitely will be interesting to see how everything works out. I can still see a revolution then civil war happening in 2025 if Trump goes “full tyrant.”

The 20 Million Body Problem: People Are Not Thinking This Through

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I had a long conversation with a conservative relative of mine (whom I love dearly) who is all-in when it comes to deporting 20 million undocumented people the moment Trump is POTUS again. And, yet, when pressed, it was clear that he had not through through the implications of doing such a thing.

It was all very curious to me for a number of reasons. He wanted a simplistic solution to a very complex problem. The issue is of course, — bigotry. That is the core of the issue. He is so wrapped up in hating the browning of America that he has a very poor grasp of what it would mean in real terms to get rid of all the undocumented people in the United States at the moment.

He finally said, “I don’t know the details, but all I know is I want those people out of the country.”

Talk about a “Not great, Bob,” situation! You would be ramping up the existing ICE infrastructure to the point that it could be used as a national police. And, what’s more, the whole issue of “show me your papers” will be introduced and that is a whole new level of complication to our lives.

And, yet, here we are, zooming towards it being huge part of the national agenda to round up and deport 20 million people — many of them could be American citizens under a traditional interpretation of the 14th Amendment.