November 24, 2017
MY CORNER by Boyd Cathey
What Thanksgiving Really Means for Our Country
in 2017
Friends,
In
the euphoria that accompanied the election of Donald J. Trump last November 8,
many of us felt that a tremendous curse had been, at least partially, lifted from
this nation. We—we deplorables—had been in some way granted a miraculous respite,
some breathing room, one more opportunity to roll back at least some of the
more noxious effects of the Deep State, which had seemed before that date to be
irreversible. The election of Hillary Clinton had been confidently predicted by
the entirety of the media, by nearly all “informed” pundits (including such
Bush-era luminaries as Karl Rove), by almost every poll; even the day of the
election we beheld the specter of various “serious,” furrow-browed political experts
speculating in measured tones on what the impending and overwhelming defeat of
candidate Trump would mean to the Republican Party and how quickly the GOP
establishment would regain its former control.
We
know what happened.
But
ominously, since President Trump’s inauguration this past January 20, we have
witnessed not only the refusal of the establishment Deep State to recognize the
results of the election, but a frantic, frenzied and all-out multifaceted
attempt to essentially nullify those results and unseat him, using most
prominently the “Russians Did It!” canard. In addition to hysterical and unhinged
opposition to President Trump and his agenda from the Leftist political
establishment—from the totality of the Democratic Party, from the educational
elites, from Hollywood, and from the media, the president has also been met
with similar, if more sinister and cunning and usually less public, opposition
and obstruction from the leadership of much of the Republican Party, most
especially centered in the US Senate and amongst the elites of the so-called
“(neo) conservative movement.”
The
recent “explosive” and not-so-veiled
attacks by former President George W. Bush and Senators Jeff Flake and Bob
Corker, the undying enmity and continual sabotage by Senator John McCain, the
various underhanded attempts by Senator Mitch McConnell to thwart the election
of a true “drain the swamps” traditional conservative in Alabama, plus the
incessant daily attacks by such pseudo-“conservative” journals as The Weekly Standard (e.g., Steve Hayes)
and National Review (which despite
their nominal “support” have never been reconciled to a Trump presidency…at
least not one in which they did not dictate policy), fully illustrate this mind
set. And what is ironic—and of significant value to observant conservative
grass roots voters—is that the election of Donald Trump literally forced these
supposed “conservatives” out of the closet, revealing for all to see that their
first allegiance is bound up with their subservience to the very same Deep
State managerial establishment that manipulates the Left. It is there where their bread is buttered,
where the goodies and sinecures come from…and despite their dishonest protests
that they represent us and defend us against the “ravages of the far Left,”
they are essentially collaborationists and enablers. Or, as the old saw goes, “With
friends like these, who needs enemies?”
So
that battle rages on both the national and state level. And thus we behold the
spectacle of approximately forty Republican US senators announcing that before any allegation or accusation is
verified or proven, that Alabama senatorial candidate Judge Roy Moore “must
step aside,” “that the women must be
believed.” It’s what I’ve called the “Mitt Romney Rule,” and if fully applied
it would mean that any time, any place when a woman makes an (unproven) charge
against a traditional (non-Establishment) conservative, the woman must be immediately believed, no matter
that no evidence has been adduced. In effect it states: “If you are a
traditional conservative and are accused, you are automatically guilty, no
proof or corroboration required.”
Can
you imagine this scenario if Luther Strange had won the GOP senatorial
campaign, and such accusations of similar supposed happenings forty years ago
had all of a sudden surfaced five weeks before the general election? Mitch
McConnell and John McCain and Mitt Romney would have undoubtedly run
lickety-split to his defense, demanding that unimpeachable proof be provided
before any judgment could be made.
The
Inside-the-Washington-Beltway Republicans and Potomac River punditry appear
smugly confident that their posturing and solemnly condescending pronouncements
about Alabama—and about those, you know, “rednecky” Alabama voters—are
infallible and will be heeded by those fly-over country folks. Apparently,
those politicians and “informed opinion makers” (and their polls) continue to believe
the rest of us to be rubes who must continue to absorb dictation dribbled out
in pontificated doses by their outlets and spokesmen.
I
don’t think so. My belief is that what has occurred since the election of
Donald Trump has in large part removed the scales from the eyes of many of us.
As never before, we see revealed in the faces and praxis of those elites all
the fetid ugliness and prostituted and naked corruption that they have attempted
to obscure for decades. That does not mean we shall “kick the bums out” right
away, not at all. Indeed, one year after the election of President Trump they
continue to control most of the means of communication and the “conservative
media” (with a few notable and salutary exceptions), and they still dominate
much of the national Republican Party. The impending departure of Senators
Flake and Corker from the Senate and the possible election on December 12 of
Roy Moore may just be a harbinger of a much more generalized and ruthless
intraparty “civil war.” And that, if it occurs, would be a good thing, something
long overdue.
Last
night, as I have done for a number of past Thanksgivings, I shared the
celebration with the extended family of a dear friend. He lives about five
miles from me just over the county line in Johnston County. I would say he is
representative of all the good solid citizens who have, over the years, made
America a success and an admirable place in which to live and raise a family.
Like millions of other North Carolinians he is active in his church, he has
been a wonderful father and now grandfather, he is a loving and considerate
husband, and he has worked hard and successfully for his entire life. He is
conscious of the many graces that have been granted to him.
Folks
like my friend once were a large majority of America’s citizens. And like most
of those folks, he supported and voted for Donald Trump. And so did the entirety of his family.
One
of the customary practices for that family on Thanksgiving is for everyone to
offer individual thanks for something specific that has meant a lot to them
during the past year. As the “thankful” paper strips were being read out, I
noticed that many of them, most of them, after expressing their thanks for
“God, country, family, and our military,” also mentioned: “for the election of
Donald Trump.” And in talking to a number
of the folks, it was clear that they understood far better than the Beltway
pundits and GOP elites in Washington what had happened since this past
November—and indeed what should and must
happen if this nation is to be made “great again.”
None
of them seemed to underestimate the difficulties, and, certainly, none of them
possesses the kind of wealth or the type of bully pulpit that normally are
required to make their voices and influence immediately heard. But there was a firm
conviction that reflected a faith that reminded me of what America, in its best
days, had meant and symbolized. I have not seen that kind of determination
since the heady days of the first Reagan administration, and even then, the
times and environment were quite different and the “national crisis,” less
severe.
I
only wish that their numbers were much greater.
So,
my hope and prayer is that the glimmer of light, that door cracked open last
November, that nearly miraculous reprieve granted to us and to this country,
may offer for us a path, if difficult and painful, in the direction of recovery
and restoration. I do not underestimate the extreme hazards and the immensity
of the forces arrayed against us—we have no divine promise that the American
“experiment” will survive. The odds are heavily one-sided. But armed with our
faith, and our assurance and Hope, and the knowledge that our fight is right,
we go forth to do our duty.
For
if not, we recede into the unlamented memory hole of a “once great people of a
once great civilization.” That is not the kind of future my friend and his
family—and millions of other fellow citizens—wish for their grandchildren
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