The Razor's Edge

“It’s a shame the flame must melt the candle to survive.” - Roger Alan Wade

Kids, let’s talk politics, shall we? Just for a sec. We stand, I believe, at a critical time in human history. So many forces at play. So many loops converging. It is a time to pay attention. 

The American Empire has been in decline probably since the late 60’s, arguably since the early 60’s, either way, in decline. We are advanced enough in our human experience in the year 2025 that we can look back and see empires rise and fall. We can observe what eroded their strength and contributed to their collapse. Patterns have emerged. We can identify the markers of our own decline. The United States is in its final phase. Somewhere between debt & political restructuring and our final fall in the new world order. We are in the final seconds before the buzzer, to borrow a sports analogy. We can possibly muster a final Hail Mary play. Possibly.

But what got us here? How has the United States of America come to this point, ready at any moment to tear itself apart from the inside out. Let’s look at our failing political system. Republican and Democrat. These are the names of our two political parties. But political parties aren’t driving this madness. They themselves are being driven by ideologies that aren’t their own. Conservativism and Liberalism. Right and Left. Two completely different hemispheres of thought that are diabolically opposed to one another. Forever at odds. 

Conservatism is the elevation of the person. Personal responsibility. Creating and innovating for oneself. Competition amongst persons is a good thing. It fosters invention and progress in a society. Financial restrictions and laws must be minimized so the person is free to create and innovate. Historically, Conservatism and Capitalism are very closely intertwined. Government must be limited and cause as little friction as possible to the process of commerce. 

Liberalism is the elevation of the Herd. Or, in modern terms, of the Village. Responsibility is transferred from the person to the government. The government creates and innovates and then disperses benefits to the people. Competition amongst persons is a bad thing. Government drives invention and progress. Financial restrictions and laws are maximized both to free the government to conduct the business of the people and to limit the interference of the people in its government. Historically, Liberalism is closely intertwined with Socialism and Communism. Government typically defines and enables or limits all aspects of society for the good of the people.

Both ideologies have pros and cons. Both have done great good. Both are capable of absolute evil. It is also very important to bear in mind that two dogs in the middle of a fight both seem to have the same disposition and intention as the other. In an existential battle, they aren’t doing doggy business. They are about the business of fighting. In our times, Son and Daughter, Liberals and Conservatives sound alot alike. Both parties seem to be doing the same things and having similar impacts on all of us. But they aren’t the same. It’s just that now, this country is getting ready to fight. So both parties are about the business of fighting. That just creates the illusion that they are the same. The Uniparty. Both parties have departed from their core values in preparation for the coming fight.

Kids, you guys grew up in a home where the man was always made the villain. Not just me, but Wayne, too, when it was his time. So my views were always looked upon as weird and odd…something to be scoffed at or dismissed. That’s unfortunate, as I don’t feel my own kids really know anything at all about me, even though I’ve been present in their lives from day 1. But that’s how it works when your spouse is a narcissist. And reactive abuse- and my ignorance of it- played right into it and insured that the narrative always served her. Regardless, my point is that you guys probably have no clue what I really believe politically. It’s important to know that I am not anti-liberal. I am liberal myself in many ways. But at heart, I am a lifelong conservative. NOT Republican. I voted Libertarian my entire life. So I come at this, not from a lens of judgement born of dislike, but from pure historical perspective and cold observation.

I have come to believe that Liberalism is a scourge upon humanity that festers and grows in times of prosperity and security. Son and Daughter, you can do your own research and form your own opinions over time- and you will. Again, I arrived at my conclusion not from some political hatred of the left or a lack of sympathy, empathy, or respect for a good many liberal causes. I simply studied history. The history of empires- how they rise, how they fall, where they went wrong. Historically speaking, for all its care and concern and sincerity, Liberalism, as a worldview, doesn’t know when or where to stop. It never does. It has no concept of its own limits and it doesn’t see itself as particularly bound by limits or boundaries or laws of the society in which it festers. It doesn’t know how to lose or how to work responsibly within a political system. Civil disobedience is a cornerstone of Liberalism. Yet, it’s very zeal, over time, destroys the fabric of its own platform. Liberalism eats its own. And it doesn’t know when to stop. Because responsibility is the Government’s domain, persons are free to do whatever the fuck they want with near zero accountability. This is why we have ridiculous debates about boys playing girls’ sports. 

Far flung is the pendulum that swings back brutal. Here, enter onto the world stage President Donald J. Trump. History’s Hail Mary. People are confounded as to how this dude gets elected. Twice. They don’t get it. And the left has completely misunderstood MAGA. From the start. And I don’t mean 2016. I go back to the Tea Party days of Clinton, Bush, and Obama. The Tea Party is the briar patch MAGA came from. Same people. Same beefs. Older, more pissed off, and far less patient in the red hats. Trump is far more a symptom than a cause. He is the pendulum swing-back. Why did he get elected? Twice? Because he is the only motherfucker crazy enough to do what MAGA has known all along must be done to restore constitutional norms in this country if we have any hope at all of surviving as a nation. And they may not be wrong. 

Don’t shoot the messenger. My telling is not an endorsement or an indictment. It’s an observation. My mother has often spoke about how the rise of feminism in her lifetime shaped her worldview. She grew up in those times. Better times for Liberalism. That’s her nostalgia. And that’s my point. It doesn’t know when to stop. In my lifetime, I saw the rise of militant Liberalism bullying its way into mainstream. I remember the day in 3rd grade Mrs Tucker could no longer pray in school. I remember crack cocaine epidemics on the news. Fuel shortages. HIV/AIDS. Violence. Racism. Nuclear arms treaties. Fall of the soviet empire. Abortion. Riots. Wars. Climate change- that philosophical Baphomet that seeps into everything in our culture- usually with a high price tag. Protests, protests, protests. Everyone wanting kids and youth to be involved in politics. Rock the Vote. Blah blah blah. Activism. Non-stop, down your throat, all the fucking time. 24/7/365 news cycle, social media, and Internet news that spotlights near constant gaslighting of the population by the government. Recessions, scandals, blowjobs in the oval office. That shaped my worldview. The Resistence isn’t anything new. They just finally gave it an honest name and a capital letter. I used to be a part of the old resistance. I was a stupid kid once. But the resistance outpaced my common sense. It became far more radical than I. So I let it pass. It doesn’t know when to stop.

Again, kids, do your own homework. Don’t take my words. Read history. Not news. History. Not YouTube. History. It’s all there. We have tumbled down the rabbit hole for the past 60 years. Liberalism has pushed, protested, filibustered, and bullied its way into nearly every corner of our lives. As a society, Liberalism in today’s United States of America has become so radicalized, it requires its believers to accept things that no human has ever had to accept in all of human history. For instance: that there are more than 2 genders. That our nation should not have a border. It has gotten out of control. Sensible people already know that you cannot legislate morality. Nor can you legislate hedonism and legally abolish natural, moral, and ethical consequences that follow personal behavior. The pendulum is swinging back. 

It takes alot of critical thinking to pick past the smokescreens and the lies and gaslighting and the facade. It requires a mindful exercise in REALPOLITIK. Seeing things as they are, not how we want to see them or are told to see them. Seeing what actually happens, not arguing over what is supposed to happen. 

We are at a point in this country where the cure to what ails us may well kill us all. We are way fucking past a spoonful of sugar. Our society has fallen so far and real solutions have been so long avoided, that behavior that was once shocking is now normalized.  A true fix now would be a massive shock to our collective system. One that we may not recover from. One that may be too painful a split from reality for half of us. But we are about to tumble off the proverbial cliff anyway. So what the hell? Right? If I’m being honest, part of me loves seeing the Antifa idiots in their furry outfits getting dragged across concrete. Part of me loves seeing illegal immigrants being stopped at the border. Not because of who they are but because we have laws that matter. That are there for specific and valid reasons. Part of me loves seeing criminals being held accountable. Part of me loves seeing democrats actually held accountable to brick-wall consequence. It’s a long time coming. If we, as a nation are to survive, it is what MUST be done. 

We in America live in a bubble. Our country has grown complacent and lazy, sitting between our two oceans with reckless disregard for the reality everywhere else. This is a bubble the rest of the world has no illusions about. We have two generations of young people raised on liberal ideology, from K through 12 plus 4. Fat, out of shape, lacks skills, our younger generations have grown up under endless wars and would rather play video games or dress like animals. A massive percentage of these generations STILL LIVES AT HOME and is unemployed. A larger percentage are sidelined with emotional or mental health issues. Our young men are on the verge of revolting against a system that has oppressed them into near social oblivion. Our national birthrate has tanked. We haven’t won a war since WW2. Our economy is on the verge of hyperinflation- it’s a matter of when, at this point. It has been too long propped up by the military industrial complex. The economic bandaid of the American War Machine can no longer cover the cancer rotting in our financial system. All of our industries have left. Our factories are gone. We are endlessly bombarded with consumables we must endlessly work to pay for. Void of any real meaning. We are 3 generations removed from basic skills of civilization- how to make soap, can vegetables, preserve meat, generate power, purify water, set traps, or use plants for medicine. Our national debt is the single greatest liability and security concern that exists. Yet, our elected government votes regularly to increase it after arguing for weeks- NOT about whether to raise it, by goddam- but about how much to raise it by and for how long. 

Here is a wake-up call. America is about to be engaged in a world war on two if not three fronts. Outnumbered, probably outgunned. If we go to war with this generation born out of the culture in which we live where there is an excuse for everything under the sun, we’re all dead. It is that simple. As things stand, we are no match for the Goths or the Visigoths. Our population is not conditioned for this. 

For an empire in decline, whose only hope is for a crazy motherfucker to burn down what weighs us down and build up what lifts us up….it’s damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. Such a motherfucker might just do what the Trump Administration is doing right now. A massive campaign of consequences. Punch the population in the face. Wake them up. Stir that sleeping giant. Scare the shit out of the troublemakers or throw them out. Take money out of social causes and put it on defense. Increase weapon, ammo, and missile production, shore up treaties and begin making serious war preparations. Bring industry home at all cost. Fuck it all. Threaten and bully like our lives depend it. They just might, after all. Get the population in line, in shape, and in tune….but don’t tell them why. Because this whole charade probably isn’t going to work. At the end of it all, it’s probably just too late. I believe our leaders have known this since Ronald Reagan. He, interestingly, was the first to rally the nation and promise to Make America Great Again (That’s right, kids, Trump did not create that slogan. He stole it from The Gipper). 

Because to do what the Trump Administration is trying to do- if you give them the benefit of the doubt, and I do, for now- requires that this group of men and women walk along a razor’s edge. 

"Arise, awake; having approached the great teachers, learn. The wise say that the path is sharp as the edge of a razor, impassable, and hard to go by".  - from Hindu Scripture, Katha Upanishad 1.3.14

We are on a precipice. In front of us is a footbridge as narrow as a razor’s edge. At the other end of the bridge lies a chance at restoring this country. A chance, not a guarantee. And that slim-ass chance runs through simultaneous wars with 2 near-peer enemies (China and Russia) and a scattering of lesser enemies (North Korea, Iran, Yemen, and probably a score of others). First up appears to be Venezuela. That is IF we manage to walk the razor’s edge. For as we walk, we gaze down into the dizzying abyss of total chaos on both sides. Civil war, Authoritarian or Military rule, or continued oppression by Leftist ideology until our inevitable and imminent societal collapse from national bankruptcy. Those are the outcomes we can predict. Take your pick, doesn’t matter which one. They all lead to the same place for you and I. 

Outcomes aren’t certain. What we do right now matters. We should all be cheering the Trump Administration on. Like them or not, that’s who we fuckin got. They all we fuckin got. They are the ones to get us across that razor’s edge. They are the ones. And I believe, for right now, that they truly want to do that. I also believe that there are darker impulses at play. That every push or prod or poke matters. Every whisper. Words are spells, Margaret says. I believe that. Wish them well, people, for all our sakes. Pray they step forward and not into madness, for they can and will do either, if they feel they must. Resistance, indeed. Participate, please. There is no stopping this. It is far more than Trump. It is a historical pattern that repeats and we are eaten up with the flashing signs of it. 

IF we manage to transit that bridge and arrive at WW3 intact and somehow prepared for an uphill battle with most of the planet, then we just might have a fighting chance at starting over and rebuilding when it’s done. Might. That’s IF we win those wars with minimal loss of blood and treasure here at home. Remember, these enemies have weapons that can and will reach us. Our bubble is about to burst. Winning these wars will be a supremely costly affair. 

Kids, I’m afraid that my parents’ generation built a massive runaway train…my generation didn’t care enough to stop it. If we survive what is coming, it may be that you guys have a chance to begin building something new. 

If and when you get that chance, remember that, like all things in this life, RIGHT and LEFT must be balanced. Either by itself can and will lead to ruin. They are our dual nature, in many ways. Or at least the political expression of it. The ape and the god. As long as we are human, we can’t rid ourselves of these ideologies. Learning to balance them in the collective is a razor’s edge of its own, I suppose. I also suspect that a society will manage to balance its Left and Right impulses to the extent that its individual persons can do the same for themselves. You- as we all- can do your part by first learning to manage your own impulses before trying to govern those of others. 

Either way, these will be your problems to solve one day. Hopefully.