National Security Implications Of Unresolved Grievances
BY Herschel Smith
5 years, 7 months ago
Jeremy D. Lawhorn writing at SWJ.
The Pew Research Center suggests that political polarization in the United States has reached a dangerous extreme. Divisions on fundamental political and social issues reached record levels during President Obama’s term in office. And the gaps have increased even further during President Trump’s first year. This polarization is caused by political and social entrenchment combined with a general reluctance to compromise creating extreme fractionalization. Fissures have opened up along every major demographic line including race, ethnicity, religion, place of origin, gender, and along every major political and social issue including immigration, national security, gay marriage, religious freedom, structural inequalities and many others.
The extreme fracturing along these fault lines has wide ranging social, political, and security implications for the United States. Today, the single greatest challenge to the United States national security is the growing threat posed by people that are being forced to join factions that align, if only loosely, with their beliefs, creating deep fractures and eroding the internal cohesion of the country.
[ … ]
Understanding the U.S. center of gravity’s current strengths and weaknesses is crucial for accurately assessing the U.S. national security. The Pew Research data on political polarization suggests that the U.S. center of gravity is critically weak. Analyzing these critical vulnerabilities, exposes the dangers posed by expanding fractures that are ripe for exploitation. As the population continues to become more polarized and deeper fractures emerge, the nation loses its cohesion which is one of the critical requirements. As each of the critical requirements disappear, America’s center of gravity becomes weaker. If not properly addressed, these fractures will continue to present significant challenges and have potentially devastating consequences for national security.
[ … ]
These historic lessons of entrenchment are instructive for leaders today. The difference is, that the speed at which information travels today exacerbates political polarization. As a consequence, the United States is once again at the precipice of self-destruction. While the United States is currently addressing threats to national security all over the world like those posed by violent extremist groups, a greater threat is looming at home. The homeland is primed to implode; at present, the political polarization and fractionalization driven by growing resentment over unresolved internal problems is becoming a significant vulnerability as more people are becoming radicalized along major fault lines. As people become more radicalized in their views, they become reluctant to engage in debate and prefer to take action.
The author goes on to explore race, social and economic strata. This is an interesting essay in that it is the first I can remember from the professional military in which these admissions are made. They all know it, but no one talks about it.
The problem with the essay is that it doesn’t even begin to address or identify the root causes of these “polarizations.” Barack Obama didn’t polarize America. Donald Trump isn’t polarizing America. They are symptoms, not the disease, branches, not the roots, effects, not the causes.
These divisions have been deep in America for quite some time. In the old South, men like James Henley Thornwell, Robert L. Dabney and Benjamin Morgan Palmer were the philosopher-theologians, and their pulpits and classrooms were the center of culture and philosophy. They didn’t just exegete the Scriptures, they conveyed a holistic world and life view throughout not only their congregations but to the entire South. The notion that proper governance, economics or plowing the fields for crops could be divorced from the edicts and laws of the Almighty would have been preposterous.
In the Nineteenth century social Darwinism saw it’s ascent to throne of American culture, leading to the temperance movement and in no small part the war between the states. Forgotten was the old hymns of the church, so even though theology was undercut and infected, it took a while (decades) for the church members to begin relinquishing their beliefs.
Eventually though, it happened. It was in no small part aided by the pagan philosophy of the American educational system promulgated by William James and Horace Mann. If students at American universities relinquished their theology, they replaced it with something else.
In the mid-twentieth century the hippies were reading Marx, Sartre and Camus. Several decades ago they were studying Jacques Derrida (does anything good ever come out of France?). Today they wear Che Guevara tee shirts and take to the streets to advocate fourth wave feminism. The self loathing is nearly complete.
The election of Barack Obama was a catalyst at the very most, and possibly just an opportunity for these divisions to manifest in the public life to an extent that would cause the writer to pen an essay discussing the fracturing of America. It’s a quaint notion, this idea suggested by the author that we do something about this. But the destruction of a society has taken more than a century to effect, and it will take longer to undo.
It might be tempting to simply observe that we’re adjusting and preparing for a separation. But a separation from what, and to what? There are two problems. The first is geographical. From the town council in Jackson, Wyoming, to lower state South Carolina where their ideas still hold sway locking the state into union with California, Hawaii and New York as prohibiting open carry, from the so-called “Northwestern Redoubt” to Appalachia where many still vote for the party that will give them the largest welfare check, America is in trouble. There is an admixture of ideas, political beliefs, self interests and no beliefs at all, making a division based on geography impossible.
Deeper still is the problem with world and life view. Even if a division based on geography was possible, with beliefs so scattered, fractured, disjointed and disconnected, with the concept of social covenant and contract outdated, and moral scruples so out-of-favor, it’s unlikely that there can be a national agreement on much of anything, much less something so significant as a covenant under which we must all live and work. Even if there could be agreement, that doesn’t ensure fidelity to the promise.
Unlike the author, I have hope, but it is not in addressing grievances or coming together as a nation. My only hope is in an American reformation not unlike the European reformation of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. But take careful note – the first one was rather hard, required centuries to effect, required the leadership of fearless men, and wasn’t bloodless.
On September 9, 2018 at 11:04 pm, Frank Clarke said:
http://tinyurl.com/TipgPt2
It’s looking more like a documentary every day. In the early 1800s, Jefferson opined that the nation was getting too big to be efficiently managed by a central government in DC — in the early 1800s, barely a quarter century after the revolutionary war. The moralistic decay hadn’t started yet, if I read Herschel aright, but Jefferson thought the structure was in danger even then.
We ARE going to come to a resolution to this. Perhaps we will return to thinking of ourselves as 50 sovereign nations with a joint infrastructure for handling those tasks 50 sovereign nations don’t do so well individually.
That, or we’re all going to be low on ammunition before it’s fixed.
On September 9, 2018 at 11:35 pm, George said:
No good solution is available anymore. We can’t co-exist in our current form while dealing with the numbers of aliens we are importing. No nation in the history of the world has survived an invasion the likes of which has happened to the U.S. since 1965. The average IQ level of the new “Americans” is in the mid-eighties. They are very susceptible to the ideas of communists like Obama, Hillary and Osorio-Cortez. Yes there are exceptions but they are not statistically significant and will not carry the day.
Diversity plus proximity equal war. It has always been thus. In multi ethnic societies the main loyalties are to your group. Race and ethnicity are even more binding than ideology. White people are only beginning to see this. The situation has three possible outcomes. 1. The invaders win and together with our home grown minority communists vanquish white people. 2. The invasion is stopped and the invaders are returned to their countries. 3. Partition. In any of these outcomes our country will probably not survive as currently configured.
On September 10, 2018 at 4:39 am, Nosmo said:
It’s truly a shame that a competing outside power failed to attempt to capitalize on America’s attention being diverted by the Civil War; that failure will not be repeated.
Had England, or France, or Russia, or, for that matter, the Principality of Monaco, attempted an attack or usurpation of America’s interest, it would probably have resulted in a unification of some sort between the North and the South to combat it; such usurpation would have been regarded as a direct threat to, certainly, regional autonomy and probably extended as well to national autonomy. Repelling the invaders would have been a joint effort, despite the obvious disagreement in approach, method and reason.
Such unification of effort would probably not have resulted in a complete cessation of Confederate-Union hostilities, but it’s possible that the intensity would have been lowered from “gunfire” to “vicious and rancorous debate” in many quarters.
When our attention becomes newly diverted by kinetic internal strife our international neighbors and associates will eagerly capitalize on it. We – sort of – recovered from the Civil War, for various values of “recovered,” but I doubt recovery from earnest international action to procure gains at our expense will be possible; the cost of death and disruption from the unrest will pale in comparison to the damage done while we’re Engaged Elsewhere.
Since our politicans abhor the long game and the patience required for it – except for some subscribing to far Leftist ideology – they are not only not considering the downstream impact of increased national divisiveness, they’re not even aware it exists.
On September 10, 2018 at 8:33 am, Fred said:
Herschel, I don’t think that a groundswell reformation is likely. I think its wishing to win the last war again now. The LORD can do what He wants (obviously) but I don’t see any desire for genuine repentance from any quarter by any Christians. Sadly I think it’s going to be centuries before a prophet is raised up and brought before whatever America turns into and converts its then leaders to the LORD, after which the realization that our abandonment of God is the root cause of what became of the former United States and general conversion will begin. Or maybe never.
“This polarization is caused by political and social entrenchment combined with a general reluctance to compromise creating extreme fractionalization.” – from the article
Volumes will be written, hey volumes are being written now about the “causes” of this fracturing. I know of a handful of people who know the real reason why. Even among the former patriot movement, now turned nazi light our something, they are claiming we can all get along, the Christians with people espousing real life Germanic Paganism, and atheists, and agnostics, and whitey firstists, and southern nationalists, and the Medievil times weren’t that bad idiots, and godless morons begging for a king, and the six parenthesis crowd. None of these people know God and they don’t care. They just want to kill. I’m not saying that killing commies is a fruitless endeavor but in whose name will you do it?
“For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.”
The only ones that makes sense are the ones saying to find yourself a handful of likeminded folks nearby and start getting ready to fight for your AO.
I’ll say it again, in case anybody bothers to read this; there are 70 million dead babies on account before a Holy Righteous Just Creator. The shitstorm that’s coming is Old Testament, the likes of which are not understood. Like it or not you are a party to this under a Blood Covenant, your awareness of which is not required for its existence to be so, nor is your awareness of it required for you to be a subject unto it. It may not matter how prepared you think you are and all of your stupid opinions and worthless gods mean nothing.
On September 10, 2018 at 9:36 am, Longbow said:
All that is left is Blood (meaning Clan and Kin) and Faith (meaning Chistianity, meaning Western Civilization).
There is a redoubt. Let me say for the record also, many Canadians should join us. There will be a gathering of what has been called “Heritage Americans”. Many years ago I heard Pastor Pete Peters say, “You can’t separate Race from the Land.”, meaning that a Nation must have a Country within which to live. Our Country was formerly, mostly anyway, one nation. It has been engineered into many factious Nations vying to control the Country. This cannot work, ever. This is essential destruction. If anyone has read Tom Chittum’s book, he lays it out clearly. Think Yugoslavia in the 1990’s writ LARGE. That is what we have inherited. Bracken says the same thing and he is right.
We must work toward a Gathering of The Clans.
Blood and Faith.
On September 10, 2018 at 9:50 am, Matt said:
For further insight into this fracturing and polarization, I would read “The Fate of Empires and
Search for Survival” by Sir John Glubb. It’s available as a free download at the below link and is well worth the time it takes to read it.
http://people.uncw.edu/kozloffm/glubb.pdf
I would also recommend a book by John Mosby titled “Forging the Hero, Who Does More Is Worth More”. It follows and builds on Glubb’s work. It is a book you’ll have to pay for, but it is worth it in my opinion.
http://warhammersixpress-com.3dcartstores.com/Forging-the-Hero-Who-Does-More-Is-Worth-More_p_12.html
Matt
On September 10, 2018 at 10:18 am, Fred said:
@Longbow,
“All that is left is Blood (meaning Clan and Kin) and Faith (meaning Chistianity, meaning Western Civilization)”
Yep. And you, and Pastor Peters, are correct about the Nation – Country distinction.
For those behind the curve, here’s a good starting basic blueprint:
https://maxvelocitytactical.com/2017/04/13/the-mvt-code-of-conduct/
On September 10, 2018 at 11:33 am, pyrrhus said:
All belief structures are significantly genetic, and intelligence is very highly genetic. Furthermore, human beings are naturally clannish, with only NW Europeans having Enlightenment values…. So it’s all about ethnicity, and the mass migration of more than 100 million 3d worlders into the US in the last 50 years has left the native population in a position where it can be outvoted and potentially put into a dangerous minority position…Mass migration is war, and that’s what is likely, unless our native white population wants to be part of the new Brazil, or potentially South Africa.
On September 10, 2018 at 12:45 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@Pyrrhus,
The enlightenment is why we are where we are. It attempted to overthrow the church, God, and any connection to moorings distinguishing between right and wrong. The French revolution was a DIRECT function of the so-called “enlightenment.” There has been untold bloodletting as a result of that philosophical movement.
The kids wearing Che Guevara tee shirts are children of the “enlightenment.” Raw power disconnected morality.
For the best dissection of this, see Carl Becker, “The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth Century Philosophers.”
https://www.amazon.com/Heavenly-City-Eighteenth-Century-Philosophers/dp/0300101503
On September 10, 2018 at 11:30 pm, Fergus Boon said:
Lack of education, judgement, and understanding are what drive the implosion of American culture. The author cites social Darwinism as a cause of the Civil War, duh, Darwin posited his theory after the War had ended.
America is on the edge of dissolving for the same reason it did before. There is a cultural strain in this country that sees man free from sin and therefor he is corrupted by a nations institutions. Choose your poison-capitalism, matriarchy, patriarchy, class, gender, race, religion, spin the wheel of fortune and the Left will tell you its flavor of the day.
The other man as fundamentally flawed and sinful. These traditionalists usually control the destructive impulses of the Left, but not always. And what we see are the challenges to the existing culture, values, mores of a society.
There are few shared values today. Motherhood, apple pie, the flag? One side worships infanticide, sodom , and do your all thing for tomorrow you may die. Where is the common ground?
There is none and when one side denounces the other as irredeemable and intolerable it isn’t far before you get treated to a free train ride to a government vacation camp and special showers. Violence is the result of the death of respect, civility, and common agreement on what is right and wrong.
I served overseas for over 29 years and saw more civil wars than I care to relate. Americans do not understand what war is. And those who advocate playing with fire do not understand what fire is. I have seen it. When those start the fires they will be put out with iron and blood in ways that the anarchists and crazies in this country cannot imagine. There will be those who advocate forgiveness, I will not be among that number.
On September 10, 2018 at 11:45 pm, Herschel Smith said:
Darwin got his views from Hegel, who pre-dated all of this.
On September 11, 2018 at 12:55 am, Tom said:
@ Fred
You have the strength to say that we are lost because we have forgoten our foundation.
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. Joel 3:14
On September 11, 2018 at 7:40 am, Frank Clarke said:
I pointed my wife (who is a die-hard liberal) at this and her reaction was “well… duh! They’re worried the slaves will revolt?”
On September 11, 2018 at 10:19 am, Gryphon said:
Outfits like the “Pew Research Center” and every other “Establishment Think Tank” are Completely Incapable of rationally Addressing the problem facing America today because they are Institutionally Unable to Confront the FACT that All of the Problems have at their Root the Same People; the (((bolshevik))) Communists.
The Destruction of Civil Society begins with the Dissembling of a Moral Society, and the “Communist Manifesto” and the “Zionist Protocols” are all one needs to Study to See Exactly how the Nation has been ‘compromised’ over the last Century. Also, if you want to See what was the Framework for the “control matrix” we are confronted with, read George Orwell’s “1984” and get the Fabian Socialist’s view of how Society should be Run… not all of the Enemy are (((them))).
Fred’s comment of,
…”there are 70 million dead babies on account before a Holy Righteous Just Creator.” is a Good Illustration of the depth of Moral Depravity that grips this Nation; I am not a ‘christian’ but I see the Murder of Children as being Quite a Ways more Immoral than Cruelty to Animals, to the point of if I were ever on a Jury for an ‘abortion clinic bomber’, I’m going to be the ‘Holdout’ that gets that “Criminal” found Innocent of the “crime”.
Like it or Not, it is (((bolshevik))) (((communism))) that has Destroyed the Moral Foundations of this Nation; Unless People (of all Races and Religious Beliefs) Recognize WHO and WHAT the ENEMY is, and does what is necessary to Extirpate the (((parasite class))) from America, this Nation will have No Future other than looking like a “Mad Max” movie….
I Seriously Doubt that at this Point, there remain sufficient Numbers of generally Moral People (of any religious persuasion or not) to “Turn this Around” without Society Collapsing much Further than any “Reset” in recorded History; there simply are Too Many Divisions to be Repaired in a Civil Manner.