By Robert B. Charles – November 17, 2020
Sailors know the term “caught in irons,” suddenly stalled, mid-tack between two different directions – until wind catches sails, pulling you back or swinging you round hard. That is where we are, caught in “electoral irons,” uncertain if Trump will win or Biden swing America hard left. In a larger sense, society is caught between socialism and liberty.
Truth is, our country is tacking into heavy headwinds, either way. If Trump wins, after an impatient media declared Biden winner, expect explosive reactions – urban riots, international confusion, social media chaos, attacks on the Supreme Court for affirming Trump the winner.
If Biden is President, headwinds are stiffer. If Republicans hold the Senate, they can slow socialism and stop court packing. If Georgia’s Senate seats go Democrat, bar the door –howling winds will rise. Even with Republican control of the Senate, a Biden win swings America left – a slap in the face to 72 million Trump voters, and the 35 percent of America that stayed home assuming the best.
If Biden wins, batten down the hatches. Socialist Bernie Sanders, who praises the Soviet Union, wants to be Secretary of Labor. Susan Rice of Obama-NSC “unmasking fame” wants State. Anti-capitalist Sen. Elizabeth Warren is angling for Treasury, and candidates for Attorney General include, if you can believe it, Sally Yates of Russia-Collusion notoriety, Tom Perez (Democratic National Committee), and losing Senator Doug Jones (all for gun control, Obamacare, and abortion).
Other “transformational” favorites include former Obama Chief of Staff and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (under whom crime soared), former Virginia Governor (and Hillary fundraiser) Terry McAuliffe, and a hodgepodge of party loyalists, former congressmen, mayors, and colorful apparatchik.
Policies will include vertical national debt., social/business lockdowns (arguably violating 10th Amendment), socialized medicine (e.g. Medicare for All), a $30 trillion dollar “New Green Deal” (i.e. mass spending, regulation, restructuring of America’s private sector).
The agenda does not stop there. Add “defunding” federal, state, and local police (via appropriations, grant termination, new regulations, consent decrees, penalties, ending liability protection for officers, and terminating Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE). Expect legalization of Schedule I Narcotics, release of felons who trafficked them, and possible elimination of DEA.
Judicial appointees advancing abortion “rights,” including at-birth, must be expected, plus rollbacks on constitutional rights. Biden seems determined to promote cancellation of opposing views, a redefinition of the Bill of Rights. This means asserting legal and cultural pressure, restricting free speech, religious rights, travel, and a host of other guarantees. We should be ready for the yank.
Expect more dependence, attempts to curtail gun rights. Beyond domestic policy, a Biden Administration will likely accommodate China (eyeing Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the Western World), Russia (increasingly defensive, eyes on Eastern Europe), North Korea (greenlighting missile launches), and Iran (advancing nuclear weapons).
Despite these concerns, expect defense cuts, new civilian leaders at the Pentagon with no uniform experience, or knowledge that deterrence is about being ready to win, so we do not have to fight.
Perhaps the biggest threat to our future is the unknowns – whether Biden would survive the next four years, or hand power to an inexperienced, unpopular, untested vice president; whether adversaries will see our internal strife, division, high debt, and rising leftism as weakness, moving while they can.
In short, we are caught in irons – awaiting the election’s outcome, and beyond that, the outcome of larger cultural and societal questions. Can we pause to recall the exceptional nature of who we are before we run aground? America’s greatness – rooted in our goodness – is entirely real.
Threats abound. Appreciation for our history and freedoms, not a mad dash to socialism, is how we survive and thrive. Regardless of how the election ends – we must cherish our freedom. Americans are not socialists, but individuals. The future depends on not being caught in irons – of any kind.
