It turns out all the assumptions of the Conservative political
project were built on sand.
For years, the “normal folks” assumed that the small-town America
of the 1980s was still lurking, unseen, around the corner. That when the
crazies (on either end of the spectrum) raised one flag too many, pushed a
little too hard, or assumed a bit too much, the “Silent Majority” would rise up
and toss them all out. That A-mericuh—Land of the Red, White, AND Blue—would
resume its customary sanity and we could all go back to normal. That folks just
wouldn’t stand for any more of that s---.
They were wrong.
Over the past few years, the government of the United States of America has now demonstrated that it can control—in theory—your business hours and conditions, wages, ability to work, where you can go, who you can see, what you can talk about via the interwebs, your right to murder your offspring, and your ability to worship God the way you choose. And over half of the nation sees this as a positive good, and wants it to continue unabated. You have doubts about my math, you say? So have others. Many people discounted the election of Joe Biden because of new voting measures, occasioned by an unprecedented government overreach in the pandemic. They claimed that 2020 was rigged. They claimed that the “silent majority” was really out there, waiting for a chance to make its voice heard.
They were wrong, and 2022 proved it. The vaunted “red wave”
turned into a local Florida tide pond. After the supposed Great Reversal of Roe
v Wade, the ability to legally murder your own offspring was made more
available, not less. In an election that was going to show that the “old America”
was still alive and kicking, the party with the most useless President since James
Buchanan pulled out majority wins—and nobody could blame it on the electoral
college this time.
It turns out that the Silent Majority was silent because it
was dead, dissected, and on display behind thick glass in the Smithsonian,
right next to the Star-Spangled Banner and George Washington’s teeth.
What killed it? The investigation is ongoing, but I’d finger
public school socialism and the rise of the smartphone. How could a generation
like mine (that thinks waiting eight seconds to skip through a YouTube
ad an interminable amount of time) be expected to deal with careful political
theory, sustained thought, and future consequences of billion-dollar actions?
And the i-Generation of TikTok and Zoom is, if anything, worse. They are eternally
young, deliberately educated to be incapable of self-control, and emotionally
fortified against Right-Wing Fascism (a.k.a. the current Republican Party) by
stories, shows, and advertisements from when they open their eyes to when they
close them at night. Why would they vote for something that the Gods of the
Back Hip Pocket have clearly marked as hellish? That threatens to take away
their right to do whatever they want to do (which is mostly worship at the
Shrine of the Back Hip Pocket, an average of seven hours and four minutes per
day). They don’t want a government, they need a mom—and the cooing elite are
glad to trade votes in exchange for security and free high-speed internet.
Socialism, soft fascism, totalitolerance…whatever you call it, it’s what they
want—and in America, as everyone knows, the People always get what they want.
Those of us who are actually opposed to all this need to
stop calling out to the “squishy middle.” It isn’t there, and it wouldn’t hear
us if it was (it has its AirPods in). We have to stop assuming that that grey mummified corpse next to
the fading U.S. Constitution will miraculously rise and save the day. Your
options now are simple and stark.
First, forget winning. Our candidates need to recognize that
even if they somehow win the odd term, there will be no real changing course,
no real policy adjustment. That takes numbers and national will, and 2022
demonstrated both are pipe dreams. You’re not there to save America, you’re
trying to keep the patient hooked up to the hospital machines as long as
possible, so the doctors won’t notice she died five minutes ago and swoop to
loot her for the organ donations. Politics is now about rearguard defense, at
least for the next thirty years—until the Boomers die off and we have a chance
to raise a new generation. We really are in the Negative World.
Second, focus local. Every citizen of the United Socialist
Republic of America (U.S.R.A.) is desperately looking for love and
companionship—and the government will not, and cannot, give them anything but
cheap substitutes stuffed with Red 40 and high fructose corn syrup. So take
every chance you can to invite them over for real home cooking: in worship, in
family, in politics, and plain old dinners with the TV turned off. They might
just notice what they’ve been missing.
Last, fear God and raise your kids in the same fear and
admonition of the Lord, far away from the pagan school system. Don’t give in,
don’t give up, and don’t be afraid to break a sweat. If they did it in seventy years,
just imagine what we can do in the next hundred.
The Silent Majority is dead. Long live the Loyal Opposition.
