THE LONG STRANGE TRIP
Kathmandu, Nepal. Years ago, Joel Wade and I were here after completing a month-long expedition across the entire Tibetan Plateau and through the Himalayas. We spotted a t-shirt in the bazaar with an embroidered map of the world with the words stitched around it: What A Long Strange Trip It’s Been.
That’s the famous refrain of the Grateful Dead’s Truckin’ from 1970, and it was so appropriate for what we had just experienced that of course we each got one.
Being here now sparked that memory, causing me to reflect on how appropriate a description it is for the totally bizarre spasm of masochism America has suffered over the last seven years under Zero. The experience of being here now is, on the other hand, a surprising lesson on how to repair the incredible damage Zero has wrought upon our country.
We’ve had spasms of craziness before – the Hippie 60s come to mind – but nothing like this, where Americans en masse are acquiescing to the murder of their country, willfully placing the perp in the White House not once but twice.
Zero was elected in the utterly naïve belief that it would put an end to racial divisiveness in America, and the accusation of Racist America constantly being made by the Left. Not a chance. The accusations became louder than ever, the divisiveness worse than ever.
There is no way to explain Zero’s reelection other than sheer idiocy combined with beggary, the “47%” of moochers on various forms of government welfare. It was sheer masochism on the part of Zero-voters, who are too stupid to realize that unlike viruses that can continue to live after the host they infected dies, they as parasites will die with the host when the American economy becomes too sick to support them.
Smart people, as we all know, are fully capable of doing and believing in really stupid things. The stupidest aspect of naïve belief in Zero was that the promise of an overt Hate America Marxist to “fundamentally transform” America meant he intended to transform America for the better. It never occurred to Zero-worshippers his promise was to transform America for the worse.
Today, after seven years of Zero relentlessly keeping that promise, virtually every institution in America – from our culture to our economy to our politics to our military – is catastrophically worse. What’s more, the rate of damage is accelerating – the lawlessness of every bureaucracy such as the IRS and the EPA, the total inability of the GOP-run Congress to stand up to it, a race war of murder with white cops being gunned down in cold blood by black thugs, the homofascism of the Gaystapo, our southern border’s floodgates opened for countless illegals to pour in, the list goes on and on.
There seems to be no end to it, and it’s driving a lot of conservatives around the bend. They go around the bend in two ways. One is to retreat into hopelessness. America is as doomed as Rome in 465 AD, it’s gone, gone forever, there’s no hope, let’s just give up.
This is daft. History doesn’t repeat itself. This is America, not Ancient Rome, any comparison is silly.
The other way for conservatives to go wacko is to turn off their pre-frontal cortex and let their emotions take over. This is of course the last thing to do in a crisis. This is of course why we call To The Point “The Oasis for Rational Conservatives.”
Among other things, being rational means assessing a given situation objectively with reason and logic, rather than replacing both with anger and frustration. It means figuring out solutions to problems, not lashing out instead.
TTPers understand this, but unfortunately Trump-worshippers do not. Trump-worship by conservatives is very much like Obama-worship by liberals – it’s all emotional frenzy unsupported by reason or logic.
At this point in the drama, Trump is serving a useful purpose, no doubt. Not only is he letting us release tremendously pent-up emotional steam regarding the outrage of an illegal alien flood, he’s giving the finger to the entire Washington Establishment, Dem and Pub. This is enormously satisfying.
Further, he has brought the issue of “anchor babies” to mass public attention, forcing other Pub candidates to take a stand on it. Most helpful of all, his candidacy has sucked all the wind out Jeb Bush’s. Jeb Ebb was how Drudge headlined story on Saturday (8/29) about his top fundraisers leaving his campaign. Jeb was the Chosen One of the GOP Establishment Elite, who now have to search elsewhere (watch for them to start promoting Romney).
And it’s just plain fun to see him outrage the Left by saying things that are true, such as calling Anthony Weiner a “sleazebag perv” which he is, or ejecting Jorge Ramos out of a press conference for pretending to be a journalist instead of a propagandist for illegals.
But let’s get to the rational bottom line: Trump is no conservative, he has no history of adherence to conservative principles in any way. He’s threatening a third party run if he doesn’t get his way, which if he does guarantees a Dem victory in 2016 just as Ross Perot did in 1992.
He’s a crony capitalist who can in no way be depended on to eliminate government shackles on small business. He attempted to use eminent domain to steal an elderly widow’s home so he could use her property as a limousine parking lot for his casino. The Institute for Justice successfully defended her. This alone disqualifies him for the presidency, full stop.
His understanding of geopolitics is abysmal, he’s a protectionist on trade, he’s a buffoonish demagogue for whom it would be nuts to trust the presidency. Our country is being destroyed and it’s time to get serious about how to remove the rubble and rebuild it.
Which brings me back to here in Kathmandu. Last April as the world knows, Nepal was hit by a horrific earthquake that killed over 9,000 and left tens of thousands homeless. Aftershocks continued into May. The capital of Kathmandu with its population of over 4 million was hit particularly hard. The photos of the earthquake damage in Kathmandu are devastating.
I just walked through the city center with its markets and World Heritage Site temples. It’s an absolute inspiration. Most of the rubble is gone. Many ancient buildings have been propped up and are being repaired. There are parades and festivals in the streets with throngs of people smiling and friendly, demonstrating an optimism and determination to rebuild their city.
This is what we need right now in America. No doom and gloom, no woe-is-me-woe-is-my-country, no going ga-ga over charlatan celebrities. America has suffered a catastrophically destructive political earthquake with Zero that has turned its culture and institutions into rubble. We need the same optimism and serious determination of the Nepalese to rebuild our nation.
Anger and frustration can be a great motivator, but only reason and optimism can provide genuine solutions. If conservatives want to end The Long Strange Trip that America has been on under Zero, then it’s time to stop venting and start thinking. It’s time to start focusing on the serious GOP candidates – Ted Cruz, Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, Rick Perry, Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson – and thoughtfully consider who can best “Make America Great Again” for real.
Here in Kathmandu you can see a triumph of the human spirit. America is the epitome of the human spirit. For bizarre and masochistic reasons, America has allowed people who hate her to try to systematically destroy her. It’s time to end The Long Strange Trip of America. There’s no time to lose. Let’s be Rational Conservatives and get to work rebuilding our nation.
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