Cacophony of voices

The more I observe the diversity that exists within the various voices that dissent, bemoan and/or truly wish to change the current state of affairs the more I am convinced that these various efforts are doomed. These efforts amount to little more than angry men (and women) tilting windmills.

Oh I am not just talking here of the Southern Movement again, although I will get to that directly. I am thinking of things like the recent CPAC We the People conference, the libertarians up in New Hampshire and their Free State project, Dr. James Kennedy and his Center for Reclaiming America, Allen Keyes and his Declaration Foundation, the various un-reconstructionist in the Southern Movement, the plethora of otherwise good Americans that throw their votes to the Republican party in the hope that the lies about restoring America might be true, and the third party folks in the Constitutional, Libertarian and Southern Parties. I am talking about all of these folks and more.

I do not mean to paint all of these groups as just angry men. Some are practical and pragmatic. They seek to use the current system that effect change. Others, like the un-reconstructionist seem to be nothing more than angry men with no real plan.

Of the groups I mentioned above at least all have some element of the truth in their agenda, some much more than others. I cannot disagree in theory with all they stand for, not in theory at least.

Of course there are a lot of angry men that wish to change the system that I do disagree with; the Nazi's, Skinheads, NAACP, Socialist, KKK, SPLC and a bunch of others of their ilk.

Then there are those that have most of the basic principles right but they lose their way in a myriad of conspiracy theories and other unverifiable beliefs. The Patriot or Militia movement is specifically who I refer to here. These folks understand what America was founded upon and how the Constitution was intended to be interpreted. On that they are generally correct with minor variations. They lose credibility by focusing on "invisible enemies" and unproven conspiracies. Thus I would have to add to the moniker of angry man that of confused.

Excluding the folks that wish to change America into something it was not founded to be, i.e. Nazi's, Skinheads, NAACP, Socialist, KKK, SPLC ad nauseum: I will focus on the groups that at least get part of the problem.

The real issue that ought to be foremost in the minds of each of these groups is; can change be achieved inside the current system and if so what sort of coalition do we need to achieve that?

Two of the groups mentioned disavow outright the potential for internal change, the un-reconstructionist and the militia folks. I will talk about their difficulties in a separate piece.

Of the groups that remain, and I undoubtedly left a bunch out, there is a great degree of variation in their agenda. These groups tend to focus on their differences rather than the items that they may share commonality. Many of the movements and groups are focused around personalities and therefore ego comes into play. A man does not want to give up his little empire to ally with a larger group even if it means an increased possibility of success.

I hate to beat anyone up specifically but the libertarians seem as guilty of this as any of the groups; maybe more so. Their arrogance surrounding their grand plan for New Hampshire has made them insular. They believe they are becoming part of the "mainstream" and do not need to cooperate with "fringe" groups. How foolish of them. As soon as they abandon enough of their original principles to become mainstream they will no longer be a viable vehicle for change.

Right behind the libertarians I would place Christian men pastors that speak on political issues. Dr. James Kennedy comes to mind first but he is far from being alone, Pat Robinson, Jerry Farwell and a dozen others are the same. Each runs his own little movement with various aspects of the "restoring America" theme included. Each is separate, isolated and unconnected to the others. There is much commonality in the themes that each advocates in their agenda bit because of ego, doctrinal differences and other reasons there is little cooperation. In essence these are just angry men talking and accomplishing little.

Allen Keyes, Pat Buchanan, Walter Williams and others like them that see what is wrong and provide excellent commentary and opinion serve a purpose and achieve much in terms of public awareness and education. To be certain Pat and Allen have done their part to take the fight to a national platform by enduring the pains of running a doomed presidential campaign. Alen Keyes is now involved with his Declaration Foundation with goals very similar to almost every other group that sees what is really wrong with America. The problem is his group just one, based mostly on a man. In that regard is falls into the trap of so many others.

Then of course there are the third party folks. You have to love them because they see full well the lies, transgression and failings of the two major parties. Their pitfall is that they have not broadened their base enough to include all the disinterested electorate. This could easily be done in such a way that libertarians, constitutionalist and States' Rights folks could easily fall under on umbrella. The alliance would not need to be permanent; just long enough to break the back of the two party monopoly. Yet, instead, these groups are splintered into three factions that will never achieve any success.

With all of these varying voices, opinions and movements the average guy is left with little real choice. A rationale analysis of the situation says that none of these concepts or movements are really going to impact things. So the ordinary joe marches off "dutifully" to the polls and casts his vote for the Republican party.

It is hard to find contempt in my heart for conservatives, Southerners, Christians and other good people that vote in such a way. I even forgive fools on the blogshere that boldly state their support for the Republicans. After all what winning option have they been provided. (I am not forgiving all such supporters; some are genuinely confused as to what constitutes good decent conservative thought--one such moron recently refused one of my comments on his blog because I dared question his sacred party)

The simple fact is that if we are ever to really "restore America" these various groups must cooperate. The idea that little groups can become part of the mainstream is fallacy. The only hope is that all of these groups join their efforts in such a way that the definition of mainstream is redefined. Mainstream conservative is something these groups do not need to Join; rather it is something they must define by their combined efforts.

Failing this there are but two options remaining. I will discuss those in my next piece.


Recedite, plebes! Gero rem imperialem
El Cid