Trenchant commentary indeed.

Over at the Belmont Club, sometimes the commenters there rise far above the norm in expressing quite exactly the situation our country faces and in visualizing what might come next.

Tonight was one of those nights.  Richard posted this article on our current political and cultural conflicts, and where we might be going.

Fully worth the read, and thoughtful contemplation.

Then, the commenters took over, and outdid themselves.  Specifically someone going by the cognomen Subotai Bahadur stated the following:

   "John Adams wrote, “The Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations. This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution.”

And I do not disagree with that. I tend to concur with Pauline Maier whose From Resistance to Revolution in 1972 laid it out pretty thoroughly. The problem we face is two-fold. First, the opponents of Liberty today make the Georgian Ministry seem like the Sons of Liberty. Modern history has taken the lessons of Stalin, Mao, and Hitler to heart. The Left does not seek a parliamentary victory. They seek to be the Khmer Rouge.

The second is that history moves faster than it did during the Revolution. This is a function of both the pace of modern life, and the ubiquitous means of communications. Maier's book covers the period from 1765 to 1776. One could argue that the break began in the late 1750's. But at least 11 years.

We now have had a modern Tea Party movement in existence for only about 4 years. The question is if there is time for a political or ideological change to take effect before the collapse of the rule of law and Constitution is complete. With no organized political party opposed to dictatorship, with the media a handmaiden of the state, and more importantly modern Americans having little or no knowledge of politics, history, human nature, and the American heritage compared to the Colonists; it is highly doubtful that there is time for such a change to take place before the total seizure of power by the State.

I intend to work electorally against the Left and around the Institutionals as much as possible, but by November I think we will know our path. Between domestic totalitarianism, possible economic collapse, and foreign attacks; the odds are long indeed that our children and grandchildren are going to live in anything like America." 

And then this:

   "The ability of institutions to change and ameliorate the nature of any future conflict has one hard limit. The institutions involved have to be regarded as legitimate. As the Constitution evaporates, the law is replaced by press statement decrees, the Congress avoids its duty out of either political power seeking or fear, and the Courts are suborned and try to pretend reality does not exist; that legitimacy gets more and more scarce. Add in the open prevalence of successful vote fraud in elections, and the moderation effect shrinks considerably.

There are things to watch for, although as individuals we cannot affect them. The first is a Calvo-Sotelo moment. Based on history and who is in charge of the coercive organs of the state right now, it is likely to come from the Left. The second is the existence or non-existence of fair, free, and honest elections in November.

The consequences of the Left losing control of the Senate in 2014 or the White House ever are beyond risking for the Democrats. So many violations of law, of the Constitution, have taken place that if they lose control of the process or of the coercive organs of the State; that if ever once properly started the legal process would make Germany from 1945-48 look like a time out in a kindergarten. Thus, they cannot lose that power, which has implications for the honesty and conduct of any elections from November on.

The only thing that would prevent this would be a voluntary or coerced power-sharing conspiracy between the Democrats and the Institutional Republican party to deliberately protect and continue the illegal practices; that would formalize their current de facto alliance, which would be the third indicator.

If any of these take place, there will be no institutional moderation of what will come."

I cannot help buy agree with this point of view.