The Stakes : America At The Point of No Return

This link should take you to all my notes and comments on Goodreads. 

The book is unimaginably great, and sadly, probably all but unreachable to most Americans because in this age of distraction, the general population is so convinced that a quick hitter high entertainment value tribal tidbit is all they need to bother with. Something long enough to provide required context, is by design something to avoid. Let the experts deal with it, surely we can trust them! 

It turns out that Michael Anton is the "Decius" that wrote an incendiary column in the fall of 2016 -- commented on by me here.

The point of it all is that we are either "at", or (as I believe) beyond the point of no return for America. That fabled nation that believed in GOD GIVEN rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" ) ... or maybe conferred by "the thing" as the current candidate for president of "The Party"(TP-D) prefer. "God" is a bit uncomfortable if you worship the relativism of "if it feels good, it IS good"! 

 

This book summarizes what I had predicted from my study of 100s of books, articles, etc of 20+ years. Basically: 

• Democracy is either dead or in hospice in the once Constitutional Republic (but no longer) of America. 
  
  
• We are in or headed quickly for "Bluetopia" / "Wokeistan". Essentially current California (or the burning cores of our TP controlled blue cities)  -- a place where only the very elite of the 1% or the bottom "20%" can live "decent" (though very different definitions of "decent") lives.
  
  The top 1-5% look a lot like a little better version of the old "American dream" -- nice homes, great schools, safe communities, bright futures, etc.
  
  The "hollow middle" either increasingly leave, or live like college students in crowded "dorms" (2 bedroom apartments with 5-10 "living" in them) in increasing nasty "ring suburbs" ... even if they make like $200K a year! 
  
  The bottom lifestyles look like a welfare subsidized much better version of Mexico, Guatemala, Somalia, etc -- the shell of what once America is still a significant step up from a lot of the world. The elite Wokerati is planning that as the target lifestyle for the masses.
  
  If TP wins, there will be nowhere to go, so we Deploreables will get what the elite has decided we deserve.
  
  
• The world is being "Davosized" -- the 1% get 99% of the good stuff and the 99% get the shaft. (like 8 guys have more wealth than the bottom half of the world). 
  
  
• Since our elites receive only a very narrow "education" (really rat race indoctrination), "our betters" have a complete lack of "native intelligence / common sense", and have no choice but to parrot whatever the TP "experts" bleat. 
  
  
• We are a nation that is demoralized and "stuck" ... covered well in "Decadent Society"  

I found this quote to be rather chillingly aligned with one of my main observations. Rather like pre-reformation Western civilization, where questioning anything might be seen by the Popeish elite of that day as "burn at the stake, heresy". 

More sinister is the insistence that you deny reality—for example, affirm that a man is really a woman—or profess things you don’t actually believe: say, that the world will end in twelve years “because of climate change.” As with all cases of religious intolerance, outward conformity is an unsatisfactory defense; the inquisitors must be satisfied that, in your heart, you really believe. Hence insufficient fervor for elite California’s latest enthusiasm is taken as sufficient proof of heresy. There is no political or cultural check on any of this. Millions of Californians may disagree on this or that point and even resent being bullied, but there’s no way to know because they never dare say so—not if they want to stay and continue to earn a living.

In order to survive in Wokeistan, you need to increasingly convince the Elite that you BELIEVE what they demand you believe. BLM "mostly peaceful"? Sig Heil!  Showing ID to vote is racist? Ya Vol! Killing the baby after it is born? Yes master! 

Fear is the universal solvent for rationality. 

This is a decent review, where I stole the following conclusion: 

Anton is praiseworthy in that he is at least still seeking peaceful outcomes. For those who would paint his work in a negative light, ask yourself who else is doing the same. Armed violence is in our streets, and cities are burning in the face of those Anton calls the Wokerati. The old solutions no longer work.

Both left and right say that the solution is to vote the other out of power at every level, but neither has the votes. War is the obvious solution, but not a good one. This book wisely tries to imagine a new working way.

I like this review as well if you don't think you can handle the book. If that is the case, I HIGHLY recommend finding a way to read chapter 7. 

By far the most striking interlude in the book comes in Chapter Seven. Anton describes his ruling class oligarchy in detail — the tech monopolists, the woke universities, the leftist foot-soldiers, the neoliberal economists, the sock-puppet Democratic leaders, the administrative state — and then games out what might happen if their project hits the wall. Contemplations range from the mild (continued geographical sorting along political lines), to the less mild (secession), to the apocalyptic (civil war). These are, to put it lightly, troubling scenarios. In recent days Anton has warned of another: that the Democrats might be plotting a coup in November.

The fact that the RINO ruling class wanna be Republicans hate Trump is one more impetus for me to like him (not love, LIKE!). "There is very little wrong with Trump that more Trump won't fix". 

If TP triumphs, we will get to experience the interior of a totalitarian hell updated from the Gestapo, and KGB versions. With modern surveillance technology, will there really be any difference between inside and outside the reeducation camps? Will your mind even realize it has been captured?