Rashômon 2: Election Bogeyman

Despite the melodramatic grandstanding and hyperventilating rhetoric from Democrats and other leftists, the so-called January 6th “insurrection” barely merits any mention other than to highlight the political charade and lunacy represented by the subsequent witch hunt. The partisan-led Congressional inquest to “restore our values” and “save our democracy” is nothing more than a distraction; characterized as a judicious review of events and participants, the wasteful investigation is the fleeting gasp of a political party assuredly facing electorate backlash not only this year but two years hence. Rational voters in “flyover country” understand this and, as typical, have more pressing concerns than what politicos attempting to cling to power deem priority in the D.C. swamp. Yet, if a claim, especially an accusatory one, is sufficiently repeated and supported by any convincing assertion, with even only a minority of people believing, then it morphs into a kind of self-fulfilling truth - whether or not based on any substantive certainty or validity.

That is what Democrats are counting on, a tactic they continually use when it serves their narrative - from proper pronouns to gun control, and everything in between.

At present, the Biden administration and its disastrous record on every issue and policy - from the economy to international relations - increasingly represents a more legitimate threat to our constitutional republic than anything concerning its predecessor. With this in mind, I offer a list of events - while not exhaustive or limited - that indisputably represent some of the “darkest days” in American history:

1)  U.S. Civil War
2)  Abraham Lincoln assassination
3)  Pearl Harbor attack
4)  September 11th attack
5)  John F. Kennedy assassination
6)  Martin Luther King Jr. assassination
7)  The Great Depression
8)  War of 1812
9)  James Garfield assassination
10) William McKinley assassination

“A lie told often enough becomes the truth” and “repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth” are two maxims attributed, respectively, to Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin and Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. Ironically, there is no concrete evidence that either actually ever expressed these exact sentiments - although both undoubtedly would agree and take credit in the scope of their own fanatical ideologies. Read into that however you wish concerning the events and participants of January 6th, as well as for the hypocritical purveyors of supposed moral indignation and righteousness charged with investigating it. In the D.C. swamp, the truth often gets drowned out by the lies in order to preserve an agenda - a feature, not a glitch.

©2022 Steve Sagarra

A Tolerable Measure of Inconvenient Free Expression

“When men exercise their reason coolly and freely on a variety of distinct questions, they inevitably fall into different opinions on some of them. When they are governed by a common passion, their opinions, if they are to be called, will be the same.”
-Alexander Hamilton

Anyone else tired of having to have an opinion about everyone and everything under the sun? An especially contradictory proposition for a (former) opinion columnist, it nonetheless is ridiculous if not exhausting - frankly, even more so during the last few years. Simply attempting to stay informed among the ever-changing landscape of the news cycle, let alone forming and then expressing one's opinion concerning it, can be enough of a multiverse of madness at times. Seemingly no topic is off limits or goes unscathed in this post-rationality era of perpetual hyperventilation and outrage.

Naturally, engagement and discourse are central elements to actively participating in modern society. Such activity only serves to cultivate and advance civilization, with any abandonment of it equally decimating and a hindrance to progress. Of course, one will more than likely opine anyway even when consciously attempting to avoid doing so. Human nature dictates casting our personal beliefs and thoughts into the void, listening either for the echo chamber of acceptance or the deafening chorus of repudiation. Therein lies the current problem with the system, and the consequential devolution of this dynamic - engagement has become enragement, while discourse has become disregard.

Furthermore, censorship and silencing are rampant given the ease with which to do so through the medium of social media. No longer must one produce a counter pamphlet tacked up in the town square or shout down another in the salon. Instead, an online complaint at the click of a button - whether buoyed by any worthy gravitas - with self-anointed arbitrators of “truth” dictates what is allowed in these modern digital squares and salons. Even the most foresighted dystopian prognosticators could not have predicted such a circumstance, nor the propagandists who could only dream of having such means at their disposal.

At the heart of the issue, trustworthiness is key. Without trust, legitimate engagement and discourse by those on opposite sides is futile; no matter how fervent the debate, bipartisanship is hollow if it is not based in honest understanding. Likewise, suppressive tactics allow for only a singular truth, rather than a melded composite agreed upon by such bipartisanship. Believing that all voices should be heard, no matter your own particular viewpoint, is recognized as a necessary component to a healthy and prosperous society. Those who believe otherwise see this as a hindrance to their clearly underhanded agenda, which undoubtedly cannot endure scrutiny.

This is only my opinion, though - you very well, and rightfully so, may have a different one.

©2022 Steve Sagarra

Sorry Charlie, Tricks Are For Squids

“Society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness.”
-Thomas Paine

Democrats wish for everyone to forget their past sins including, but certainly not limited to, slavery, lynchings and, especially, their own longstanding history of disenfranchisement. Yet, they also demand that all of us collectively pay the consequences for their guilt, through such means as obfuscation and projection rather than self-flagellation. Question that really needs to be asked - what exactly does your party stand for, President Joe Biden? Denigration, inflation, misinformation, stagnation, victimization, to name a few. With poll numbers lower than any president in recent memory in only their first year in office, it almost seems disrespectful and insulting, even if pertinent, to compare the Biden administration to the last one-term Democrat president, Jimmy Carter. Almost.

Another idea Democrats stand for is fundamental transformation to “save our democracy.” Couched in such language, it subtly reveals their entire misunderstanding of our established system of government for one they want to truly implement. As repeatedly must be reminded, the United States is a constitutional republic and not a democracy. For this reason, they have zero qualms concerning their incessant quest to dismantle certain safeguards (Electoral College, filibuster) aimed at maintaining the former over simple majority, e.g. “mob,” rule that a democracy invites and feared by the Founders. When the French Revolution erupted not long after American independence, those fears were validated by the actions of France’s revolutionary leaders once in power.

In an era of arbitrary pronouns to assign desired non-biological genders, segregation deemed appropriate supposedly to educate about racism and enhance diversity, and burger and chicken joints selling plant-based “burgers” and “chicken,” it is little wonder that the twisting of language is at the forefront to propagandize and mainstream controversial ideas. This has warped the very fabric of society to the point that a majority of individuals have no clue that they are being fooled and sent hurdling into catastrophic folly. In no other instance can this be better illuminated than during the global pandemic, definitions of “immunity” and “vaccinated” changing daily as power over the world’s population broadens and wanes. As George Carlin eloquently stated, echoing Orwell, “government wants to control information and control language because that’s the way you control thought, and basically that’s the game they’re in.”

Recently watching Netflix’s Munich: The Edge of War, the movie unexpectedly, and startlingly, brought current events into prescient focus. A doddering, aloof leader engaging in high-level diplomacy and negotiations with a determined, charismatic one in the attempt to stop the latter’s aggression and avert war - the former naively believing they have the wits to match. One could be forgiven for failing to distinguish between the dealings of Neville Chamberlain and Adolph Hitler with those of Joseph Biden and Vladimir Putin (or any other world leader, for that matter). As has been the situation for decades, inexhaustible threats from hostile adversaries continue to loom throughout the globe. Yet, the gravest danger lies with an American president unable to coherently recite from prepared notes to undemanding questions from a prearranged cadre of reporters, while simultaneously failing to adhere to their sworn Constitutional duties with policies not only undermining national sovereignty but also endangering allies.

An overarching theme in Alan Moore’s influential graphic comic series, Watchmen, is the forewarning to anyone who willingly sacrifices personal responsibility by placing their faith in those entrusted to guard - whether by consensus or self-anointment - the world's fate. To some characters, establishing themselves as god-like saviors, the ends justify the means to rescue humanity from itself; for others, even in the context of an increasingly secular and nihilistic worldview, compromising morals to attain such goals is objectionable if not contradictory. In the end, those who proclaim themselves to be acting for the “greater good,” no matter the unforeseen consequences of their actions, not only must be held accountable but also never allowed to hold such a position again. Failing to do so is nothing less than complicity. 

©2022 Steve Sagarra