A Republic, If You Can Keep It.

There is a popular story of Ben Franklin emerging from the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, and being asked by a woman ““well, Doctor, what do we have, a republic or a monarchy?” To which Ben supposedly answered, “a republic, if you can keep it.”

That statement carries significance in today’s world.  We see threats to the Republic all around us, both internally and externally.  We as citizens have allowed forces, we believe are beyond our control, to drive us into fractured elements.   All seeking our own supremacy.

We no longer seek a common ground of understanding but have chosen sides where there can be no compromise.  One side is allegedly filled with people who would destroy the republic in the name of freedom, and the other side would destroy freedom in the name of the republic.  The sadly humorous thing is neither side recognizes the risks of their position, and at the extremes both views are interchangeable.  Both extremes would destroy the republic in pursuit of their own agenda, and both would destroy the freedom to accomplish that.

I think the irony of this reality is striking and so obvious I am either insane in my vision, or the reality we face is truly being manipulated by the power brokers.  In either case, we continue our movements toward some new world reality where minorities carry a louder voice than the majority and there is no longer a sense of the common good. 

Right now, and I’ve said this to friends, I think it must feel like the world did in the 1930s, where the radical elements of Germany, Italy, and Japan moved toward world conquest, while the west sought only to maintain the peace, at any cost.  Russia, at the time, was a wild card with Stalin more worried about internal threats than that posed by Germany.

Vladimir Putin has taken on the role of Hitler.  He wants to return Russia to its former glory (I assume as it was under the USSR and not the Czars), regardless of the cost of human lives.  Meanwhile, in the west, we’ve chosen again the path of appeasement we followed when Hitler began absorbing adjacent regions in the name of a greater Germany.  We didn’t challenge Putin when he began stirring up Russian separatists in Georgia, we accepted his claim to Crimea, and only now are we beginning to send supplies to Ukraine as it fights for its independence against the Russian invasion.

The question for us in America is, is this the end of our greatness or the beginning?  It took the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and Germany’s declaration of war to bring us into the second World War, our leadership is afraid if we were to actively engage in the defense of Ukraine it would be the beginning of the next World War.  Better, they say, we quietly work behind the scenes to bolster Ukrainian defenses to help them fight this invasion.  Unfortunately for all of us the UN has no power to compel peace, it can only engage in peacemaking war if the Security Council agrees, and Russia learned its lesson the last time when it boycotted the UN and America got everyone to agree to defend South Korea.

We are rightfully afraid of a nuclear conflict, and it was only a couple of years ago the left was warning Trump would start a nuclear war.  The thing was -- Russia and China worried about the same thing, and nothing happened.  Now Trump is gone and I imagine Russia and China know the U.S. does not have the will to engage and risk that possibility.  We will be more worried about how our economy is doing, how the move to socialism is working out, and how the shift to “green” energy will save us from climate change.

Meanwhile, we can expect double-digit inflation, and soaring gas prices as this administration stick to the idea we should buy someone else’s oil rather than encourage the self-sufficient posture we were moving towards.  If we stop buying Russia’s oil, whose will we buy?  Saudi?  Iran?  Venezuela?  Mexico?  It seems according to Jen Psaki our energy policy isn’t to blame for American companies’ decision not to drill here.  She could be right, but that would be a first for this administration.

As we focus on the important things in life, like equity, diversity, pronouns, and free college for those who fail out of high school the world will go on.  The only question is will the greatness of our Republic?