Things Are Moving Fast

In many ways the current situation is deteriorating quickly. We can sense the whiffs of chaos on the horizon and each new day seems to bring a yet another data point. It can be difficult, if not impossible, to keep up with everything that is happening. And it is all too easy to be overwhelmed or, equally, distracted by one crazy story after another but miss the bigger picture. Consider the following list of examples (which is woefully incomplete):

- The Senate's Jan 6 2021 witch hunt is hell bent on convicting President Trump in their kangaroo court of faked public opinion. Even better if they can put handcuffs and an orange jumpsuit on him.

- The economy is accelerating off the cliff, with gas prices through the roof, markets through the floor and true inflation running at least double the admitted figure. Savers and investors are being brutally punished while those with their hands out are bribed with loan payoffs and welfare increases.

- Billions in US taxpayers money goes to arm citizens of Ukraine (enough to provide a Swat team for every school in America) while back home Congress passes laws to deny God given rights to 18 year olds and denounce the rest of us to the state with red flags and no due process.

- The evils of mental health care in the community, mass prescription of SSRIs, woke parenting, mask mandates and Covid lockdowns are coming home to roost in a rash of shootings where the only policy answer is to punish law abiding citizens and ban inanimate objects.

- The border invasion is being facilitated at an all time high in order to fundamentally change the demographics of key states forever regardless of intervening political winds.

- Russia threatens to nuke London first as Sweden and Finland join NATO while Lithuania cuts off supply lines to an isolated bit of Russia and feeds the war fever of its Baltic neighbors and Poland. Meanwhile, Russia is making more than ever before on the oil it sells via India back to Europe to bypass sanctions which are in name only. And our own Strategic Petroleum Reserve has been frittered away to its lowest level in 40 years.

- Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) scores are crippling investments in the traditional energy sector and strangling business to business relationships in sectors that the Left disapproves of. Pay more for your loan if you are drilling for oil or maybe you cannot find a loan at all. Have your bank accounts closed if you manufacture guns. Watch your insurance rates climb if you donated to Trump.

- Have you seen the videos of drag queens in kindergartens? The class room assignments which teach that being white is to be intrinsically racist? Enough said.

There is much worse to come over that horizon. The housing bubble simply has to pop soon. The clueless Federal Reserve is going to kill its patient with clumsy interest rate manipulations. The US dollar is going to get sliced down to size as interest payments on debt become the bulk of the budget. Push Putin just a little bit further and there will be a global war with Russia, China, North Korea and Iran. Arrest President Trump, pack the Supreme Court, assassinate Clarence Thomas and/or end the filibuster and we will see the sparks of civil war here.

The past few weeks have offered some relief from the above, with the Supreme Court decisions on abortion, guns and the EPA (see Do Not Rejoice In Their Defeat). Long overdue and probably too little too late, but we'll take them. It is very telling just how novel, refreshing and encouraging a handful of Constitutionally correct judgments can be. More please but be quick about it: the Left is already doubling down on each of them with New York creating the concept of sensitive spaces from which guns are banned (basically everywhere) and demanding your social media history to evaluate your character when applying for a gun permit. The Federal Government is planning for abortion clinics on military bases and Indian reservations (with tax payer money?) as well as trying to shove legislation through Congress against coal and emissions.

The truth, though, is that the Supreme Court cannot save us: there will be no more decisions out of them until next year and the decisions from this year will take many years to percolate through the lower courts and no doubt result in other legal challenges which end up back with the nine justices. Not even the mid-term elections can save us (even if we make it to November and the elections are free enough and fair enough). A Republican landslide will certainly offer some hope of slowing the process down but the Republicans themselves have a hard time following the Constitution, let alone fighting back against big, bloated, totalitarian, extravagant, intrusive, pandering, patronizing and suffocating central government. They actually seem to like it and enjoy way too much their membership of the big club that we are not in. Elizabeth Cheney, anyone?

The bigger picture is that the Left is playing for keeps. Biden might have to be told when to sit, when to smile and when to change his diaper but those writing his instructions know exactly what they are doing. Chaos is what they want and chaos is what they have been carefully, methodically and deliberately engineering. They want riots over abortion (even though the Supreme Court decision changed nothing about its legality in states that want it). They need $10 a gallon gas to build their new Liberal World Order. They want Donald Trump in prison so some on the Right will take up arms and can be put down brutally. They massively over-estimate their chances of winning that fight but that is not the point.

The even bigger picture is that they want chaos because they believe it is how they can grab yet more power, destroy the Republic and rebuild a left-wing fascist state without the checks and balances they hate so much. Filibuster? Gone. While they're at it, outlaw the Republican Party and ban anyone who voted for Trump from voting ever again. Gas too high? Nationalize the oil companies and institute price controls. Pack the Supreme Court? No, just abolish it all together and have elections for pet justices to a new high court. Amnesty? Open the border completely, give citizenship to anyone who wants it and allow every beating heart to vote, as long as they vote the right way. Gun Control? Start with a 1000 percent tax on ammunition, then ban lead from bullets and primers. Require prohibitively expensive insurance for anyone who wants to own guns (remember that ESG score?). Use Red Flag Laws to pick off vocal Second Amendment supporters one by one then cower the rest into surrendering their guns. Make an example of a few by using overwhelming force.

If the last paragraph seems fantastical, it is. At least for right now. But we know plenty of Venezuelans, Cubans, Poles and Czechs who know different. It has happened before and will happen again across the world. We just need to stop it happening here. And the answer to that rests with the states. The Tenth Amendment ensures that the states remain sovereign in the majority of their affairs. The federal government has consistently dishonored that limitation on its power over the last 100 years. But now, more than any time since the first civil war, is the time for states to stand for the letter and spirit of the Tenth Amendment in a way which protects their citizens and reflects their values and desires.

Sure, if New York and California want to continue with draconian and dumb feel-good laws on guns, energy, immigration, education and health then let them be the fringe, dysfunctional outliers. But a core group of states which respect the right to life, the right to work, the true meaning of the First, Second and Fourth Amendments (and all the rest) needs to take a strong stand against DC and not be bullied by threats on funding, DOJ investigations or lawsuits. It will take the umbrella of sovereignty and authority of the state government to embolden the citizens to stand up in a meaningful way to federal attempts to dictate their lives.

The good news is that some of this is already happening. Florida and Governor DeSantis have been leading the charge with banning mask mandates, making it harder to cheat in elections and holding Big Tech accountable for kicking people off their platforms. Florida also constituted and funded a new state defense force and passed a law that would teach the evils of communism in every school. Texas is not too far behind as it defends its border with Mexico, dumps illegals on DC's doorstep and restricts abortions. Several other states have gone toe to toe with the feds as well. Together, there is the beginnings of a coalition of like-minded states which can really call the bluff of the dictators in waiting in the federal government.

The biggest problem for us is that Wyoming is at the back of the pack. Across the US we are more known for Liz Cheney's treasonous antics than taking any sort of principled, practical or even token stand against those who would subjugate us into unarmed, harmless slaves who pick up cans and own nothing. Wyomingites' love of freedom is suffocated by a Cheyenne government apparatus which puts too much value on the civilized way the good old boys club has always been run. You know, the one where the tent is big enough that anyone serious about getting elected has to put Republican after their name but would be a Democrat in any other state. The time for gentle(manly) policies is over. We are in a cold civil war for the very fabric of the country. The Supreme Court's simple statement of the Constitution's limits on the federal government and the enemy's reaction to it has made that clear. Wyoming needs to be right at the front leading the fight with Florida and Texas. We need a Governor and a Legislature that stands shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the like minded states and helps lead the way with creative and substantial policies to foil DC. Not just defensive policies but pro-active efforts to put the feds back in their box. More to come on just what that should look like.