I have told y'all before about my peculiar habits in bed - NO, not those! - I mean the fact that I stick a radio earpiece into my ear so that during the night I can listen in to Radio5 Live, or the World Service or 'TooorkSpooort'! Last night I went to sleep with the mellifluous sounds of President Trump delivering his State of the Union address to Congress. I fell asleep quite rapidly as I realised it was mearly a litany of brags and boasts but reading the reports today I would judge that the, er, 'State of the Union' is actually abysmal! The two main antagonists, Trump and Pelosi, behaved like spoilt brats! He refused to shake her hand and she made a point of tearing up the copy of his speech. The equivalent of 'yah-boo-sucks, 'nah-na-na-nada' and "I'll tell my Mum of you!"
For 'Chrissake', America, get a grip!
I sense that 'over there' the temperature is rising rapidly and that far from blowing the embers in the fire into full-on flames, the leaders should turn on the shower and cool down! America is, I judge from way 'over here', a very much more volatile society than our boring-snoring, sleep-walking equivalent. I could be wrong - I frequently am as you, my readers, can testify - but I really do fear that 'over there' someone, somewhere, will strike a match soon and calamity will ensue!
After eight years of Obama's "blame America first" speeches, Trump is delivering pro America speeches. Neither side will tolerate the other. There is no reconciling the two. The Right wants order, rule of law and freedom. The Left was chaos, no opposition and power. In other words Entropy. There is no compromising with entropy.
Posted by: Whitewall | Wednesday, 05 February 2020 at 16:30
David,
You're quite right that the temperature is rising rapidly. We are really two nations now, locked in a bitter marriage. So much damage has been done that reconciliation seems quite out of the question; so completely incommensurate are the two sides' worldviews, values, and opinions of the traditional American nation that it is no longer possible to imagine any basis for comity.
The mandarins of the Blue team have been picking this fight with "legacy" Americans for decades now; it is they who have sprinted away from the hearth and altar of American heritage, mocking and taunting and reviling those of the traditional center (now called the "far right") who found much to admire in the traditions and folkways of the America they grew up in, and mainly just wanted to be left alone. For millions of these "deplorable" legacy Americans, patience is finally running out. The election of the deeply flawed Donald Trump was a symptom of this, but if the political system breaks down any further -- and it is disintegrating rapidly -- the next step is what John Locke euphemistically called "an appeal to heaven".
Long ago, in a different context, Winston Churchill said this:
Back then, the antagonist was the Soviet Union. But today you could substitute "Mr. Schiff", "Mr. Schumer", "Ms. Pelosi", "Ms. Ocasio-Cortez", et al.
A couple of years back a writer by the name of Larry Correia wrote a piquant blog-post about the prospect of civil war in America. It contained this ominous passage (please forgive the blunt language):
Nobody should wish for civil war, but as matters now stand, it's hard to see how things don't get worse before they can get better.
Posted by: Malcolm Pollack | Wednesday, 05 February 2020 at 17:06
Crikey! That truly is grim reading, Malcolm. I hope, and would pray if I was the praying sort, that we are both wrong but I am very uneasy.
Posted by: David Duff | Wednesday, 05 February 2020 at 18:33
Apparently we have descended into a parliamentary system.
Posted by: Bob | Wednesday, 05 February 2020 at 19:37
Cartoon of the speech:
https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/02/branco-cartoon-hissy-fit/
Posted by: Whitewall | Wednesday, 05 February 2020 at 20:16
No, Bob, you have descended into the school playground!
Posted by: David Duff | Wednesday, 05 February 2020 at 21:29
Actually, David, I consider you an expert on the matter, since you're experienced with Prime Minister's Questions and the recent Brexit debate.
Posted by: Bob | Thursday, 06 February 2020 at 17:58