Not only did we show the world that we could govern ourselves, but we showed our government of the people, for the people, and by the people could survive a civil war. More important, as a self-governing people we were strong enough to save the world from tyranny during a worldwide war. Twice. The self-governing people were better at governance than the royalty of Europe, which had spent the 19th century at war with each other.

The rest of the world realized that civilians are capable of governing themselves, which is why democracies formed throughout Europe and several other places after WWI, a century ago. The once-popular monarchy form of government lost its popularity.

A century ago, the world changed. Many countries chose democracy through constitutional republics, and others chose marxism, which turns out to be another form of governance by ruling classes. Marxist countries are nations of men, where the laws do not apply equally but apply depending upon who you are. The police investigate men and find crimes to convict them of. “Show me the man and I will show you the crime.” One form of monarchy was replaced by a slightly different form, where dictators rule until they die or are overthrown by their fellow ruling class.

What went wrong between our Civil War and now — from the time we proved that We the People can govern ourselves and now, the time we aren’t able to define what a woman is?

1) Outside forces infiltrated the U.S., just as had been suspected in the 1950s, slowly making changes to our society and culture, from the hippies in the 1960s, who brought in emotion and instant gratification, to the schools in the 1970s and 1980s, which insisted upon self esteem over correcting errors, to our bedrooms in the 1990s and 2000s, when alternate sexual orientations became all-important, to our bathrooms and locker-rooms in the 2010s and 2020s, now it is politically incorrect to know what a woman is, and we can be one whenever we desire and can be a fuzzy at any time, too.

2) Few people are willing to shout, “The emperor is wearing no clothes,” because the feared persecution happens to those who shout the truth rather than speak the politically correct fantasy. We now suffer from cancel culture for failing to live up to political correctness.

3) We allowed a new form of ruling-class to take over American politics. The Founding Fathers had not intended for permanent politicians. They preferred for civilians to run for political office for short periods of time, then to return to their own private lives. Instead, we have a long list of geriatric politicians who have never worked for a living. Too few of our elected official have ever in their lives had to make payroll.

4) We now live in a nation in which the police investigate men and find or fabricate crimes to convict them of. We have seen this in the past decade as police, prosecutors, and politicians investigated and persecuted Donald Trump, his friends, his family, and several men who worked for him. This is not the United States of our childhoods, and it isn’t even the United States of twenty years ago.

Now we are challenged with the cultural civil war that Milt wrote about, above. Can we survive this civil war and return to a country in which We the People successfully govern ourselves again? Can we return to reality and accept that we are who we are rather than who we pretend we are? Will we ever again be able to define a woman? Can we restore freedom and liberty? Will we ever again have the freedom to speak our minds without being cancelled or arrested?

American culture is still superior to others, which is why so many countries attempted to emulate ours, all of which failed in that emulation, because they don’t understand freedom or liberty. The lack of understanding is why several of those countries, proud of their freedom of speech, will arrest people who say negative things about the people who are destroying those countries’ cultures and laws.

Our superior culture is why we are strong enough that the world asks us to rescue the world or to rescue individual countries. Our culture is why Trump is able to envision and execute peace treaties around the world. Ours is a culture that continues to find improvements, but to continue those improvements we must first recover from the corruption and deterioration that we have been suffering under for the past two-thirds of a century or so.

American exceptionalism exists, but not because Americans are exceptional. We are not better than the people of the other nations of the world. We come from the people of all the nations of the world. We are the rest of the people of the world. American exceptionalism is the freedoms and liberties that we live under, allowing us to do and say things that the other people of the world don’t dare to do or wouldn’t even think to do.

Milt: I think I fixed it.

I would posit that a significant part of this culture does still exist in red states and districts, but it has been challenged by the radical left in what is essentially a *cultural civil war*. Moreover, if you aren’t looking at our recent history in term of an ongoing civil war, you are missing the essence of the struggle that we are in, and you will have no idea of how we are faring in it. The radical left, on the other hand, is under no illusion that they aren’t in an actual war for the future of America, and the prize that they seek is a radically changed country and culture that comports with their Marxist interpretation of reality.

Likewise, if you think of the struggle with the Axis Powers in World War II — and, indeed, why we went to war with them as opposed to believing that their cultures were “just as good” as ours and it would be fine to be enslaved by them — you will have a pretty good idea of what kind of challenge we are facing. Today, however, the enemy is *inside our gates*, and they have the same objective as Hitler’s Germany and the Japanese warlords had in 1941. (Similarly, the Soviet Union in the Cold War.) Thus far, thankfully, this has been a largely bloodless *cultural* war, but the radical left — now cornered and increasingly desperate — has no qualms about “doing what needs to be done” in order to secure the victory that they believe that history has promised them.

Along these lines, here is some trenchant commentary on this and a useful and succinct “score card” in terms of how we are faring in this war: https://dianelgruber.substack.com/p/do-democrats-want-a-second-civil

In this case, the election of 2024 can be seen as a tremendous victory and perhaps even a decisive *battle* (Like Yorktown) to save our traditional American way of life, but, as Robert points out, it is far from the end of this war. And, as the next post suggests, we are at a critical juncture in terms of what the radical left may choose to do next. https://afnn.us/2025/11/21/the-nine-step-model-toward-civil-war-no-7-is-just-beginning/

Wake up, folks. We are still in a *war for our survival* as a country, culture, and civilization, and the radical left has not given up. And neither should we.

Dave Walden: Thank you for the kind words, and the support over the years.

I like your analysis. As you note, the Old Testament fundamentally demands each individual make his own choices. It outlines what it considers the morally correct path, but requires you to decide for yourself what you will do. That basic idea, very Jewish, is also basic to Christianity. Both demand rational thought from everyone.

It is also this idea that eventually lead to the Enlightenment and the revolution in science and industry that followed.

As you understand, Robert, “politics” is downstream from morality and culture. When individual human beings determine right from wrong, good from bad, and justice from injustice, they will attempt to consecrate these moral value judgements (ideals) into whatever their society through whatever the rule of law.

Just as do so many others, you equate “American” political ideals with Judeo-Christian philosophy and its ideals. It is my belief while this is contextually somewhat true, it is misleading. Misleading to the point it has become a tragic error. What briefly follows is why I believe this is the case.

When Thomas Aquinas translated Aristotle from Greek to Latin during the 13th century, “introducing” the Catholic Church to (subsequently, “posterity” as well!) Aristotle’s “Reason,” it set into motion a chain or seemingly unrelated events that ultimately led to the founding ideals of America’s intellectual revolution. It is no accident that Luther’s posting and Gutenberg’s Press quickly followed.

Continuing on the preceding theme, most of mankind in 1500AD lived lives little differently than those lived in 1500BC. Then, in the geological “blink of an eye,” Gutenberg created his Press and knowledge and information that had been the province of royalty and clergy became “available” to the average mind.

Meanwhile, the “new world” was being discovered, the nascent concept of “rights” continued to gain moral traction, and the scientific and industrial revolutions astonishingly unfolded. Quite suddenly, what you and I and billions of others now take for granted became – as if by “magic,” well, able to be taken for granted!

I would argue, as I know would you, it did not occur by magic but by Reason! The Reason that enables so many stunning improvements suddenly brought about be “western civilizations,” when compared to thousands of years of cultural fears, superstitions, and concomitant brutality, carnage, and injustice. Is because when compared to other philosophies, Judeo-Christian theology is RELATIVELY less hostile to reason! It is the dominant philosophy of western civilization.

I would suggest its significance is more corollary but “causal.” I contend it is causal in relatively insignificant measure. Of far greater “causality” is the moral-political ideal – led by America, largely embraced by western civilization, manifesting in the separation of Church and State!

Yes, one cannot fail to recognize Judeo-Christian theology’s claims with regard to its arguments on behalf of “humanity.” Evidence of Christianity’s embrace of Reason value of benevolence certainly supports Christianity as being supportive of Reason’s logical consequences. Ultimately, however, it is only less hostile.

Again, your article is a superb contribution to your site. It has prompted, at least from me, a one-time contribution in excess of what I have donated over the years. I wish it could be more. I have just placed the check into the mail.

Thank you for what you do! I choose to post this on BEB and a copy will be included with the check,

Dave Walden

https://youtube.com/shorts/472B-j7U5rU?si=8pocA47GZtNHdQNU

What a legacy!

I just came across this video that illustrates my point about America, social media and AI, being attacked from the inside from without.

https://youtu.be/ftfed6D-Cr8?si=CKdp-gV4ySl9Kw0L

WHY DEMOCRAT LEADERSHIP AND ISLAM ARE SO LIKE-MINDED

“Why is it that the Democrat party which is ever more and more Leftist and Socialist oriented in America, and Islam, why do they so easily find themselves working at cross purposes to the foundation of America, the Constitution and the interests of freedom for the individual?”

An Imam comments: Who really makes the rules? https://youtube.com/shorts/PjZttCsf2Io?si=TpuB18RBzckhj14b

Read the rest: https://www.sigma3ioc.com/post/why-democrat-leadership-and-islam-are-such-fast-friends

Nature arbores a vacuum and the international Leftists, Marxists, Communists, radicals and anarchists, you know the Democrat party leadership in America have for so many years endeavored to create this hollowed out vacuum of discontent within the hearts of the young in America. How do you fight America? From the inside out, not the outside in.

You know, those who have grown up in the bosom of the safety and comfort provided to them by the Constitution, society, their parents and others who have sacrificed for them and their freedom to challenge the same that has provided them their freedom. It sounds counter intuitive, but it makes sense.

And now they are going to “Improve” what was provided to them because they are now so well educated and more “moral” than those in the past who have sacrificed for them and provided them with the freedom to challenge it all.

This is our American reality as the culture of dependency, the welfare state, the LBJ white guilt “reparations” to the oppressed and those ideologues who became “highly educated”, superior and more moral than all others and radical comes full circle.

This IMO is a good starting point to counter the trend of the arch of history: https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/1992621427951067278?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1992621427951067278%7Ctwgr%5Eacde880dc172a80cb074dd8aa10da9a16a66b131%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Ft%2Fassets%2Fhtml%2Ftweet-5.html1992621427951067278

And step by step this battle will be fought. To exactly what end? Stay tuned on that.

America and what it offers, freedom and prosperity, warts and all, lots of warts, is a social and cultural infection and as the generations are exposed to and processed through the American cultural blender the infection in theory becomes stronger than any ideology or religion.

Why do people risk their lives to somehow get to America in the millions? Not IMO to really recreate what they are fleeing from.

The biggest risk right now IMO in America and the world and the process is social media and the rise of AI which makes real reality undiscernible from the fabricated reality that appears to be controlled by those who seek the destruction of America and its Constitution which provides the freedom and prosperity.

“May you live in interesting times”, and these are today the most interesting times.

I just knew this would happen. Jones more or less kept his head down, and the more Trump cuts, the more Jones’s stock will rise. As governor, he could appoint a Senator if Tubby falters–with Finebaum a Rockefeller Republican slipping in.