Summary: The Left is working to profoundly change American society. Their program is politically suicidal. It tells us much about modern America. About Weimerica. It suggests that large changes lie ahead. A later post will describe how the Right is also pushing us on the path blazed by the Weimar Republic.
After decades of slow defeat since their peak in 1994, the Left (considering Left vs. Right) faces a crisis and an opportunity in 2016. It is a crisis because Trump’s surprise electoral college win gave the Right control of all three branches of the Federal government plus a majority of State and local governments. It is an opportunity because Trump is one of the weakest Presidents in US history — manifestly unqualified for the job by training, experience, and temperament.
The Left’s response has been hysteria. Their priorities have been the long and so far futile search for a smoking gun to RussiaGate, the quest for open borders and mass immigration (with resistance to ejecting illegal immigrants), and the campaign to use government power to redefine gender as a social construct (not biology). The first is a simple attempt to gain political advantage. The latter two are attempts to profoundly change American society.
None of these address the concerns of most Americans. Worse, they feed the belief that the Left cares more about reshaping American society along ideologically pleasing lines than improving the lives of most Americans.
This is all very Weimar.
Redefining gender
The Left has used its immense power to make treatment of the transgendered a major public policy issue in two years — starting from almost scratch — despite almost no public support. Suddenly government agencies act as if gender is a social construct, defined by a person’s preference. There has been little discussion of this in elections. Our elected representatives have passed few laws. It’s one of the most impressive displays of political and social power in modern American history.
The news overflows with stories like these, with more every week. All this is happening with GOP control of most Federal, State and local governments.
NYC mandates politically correct speech and behavior.
The New York City Commission on Human Rights (NYCHR) issues regulations redefining broad range of gender practices considered standard in US history, with penalties of up to $250,000 for violations. This is just one small aspect. They will probably force changes slowly, to avoid alarming the proles by showing their culture being hammered into a new shape. See this article about it by Law Professor Eugene Volokh in the WaPo.
“The {NYCHR law} requires that individuals be permitted to use single-sex facilities, such as bathrooms or locker rooms, and participate in single-sex programs, consistent with their gender, regardless of their sex assigned at birth, anatomy, medical history, appearance, or the sex indicated on their identification. “
Minnesota works to produce a generation of transgendered children.
Fox News reports that the Minnesota Department of Education approved a “Toolkit to Ensure Safe and Supportive Schools for Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students.” It has the usual benign language, but in practice it will screw up the natural development of countless children. It’s filled with advice such as this.
“Schools should not assume a student’s name or pronoun. School officials should ask the student and use the requested name and pronouns. Students need not provide schools with legal documents to correct their first name or gender within their student records.”
To see how this will play out see one of the resources it recommends: “The Teaching Transgender Toolkit” by Eli R. Green & Luca Maurer. It guarantees a generation of children with confused gender identities and difficult lives.
The US Army prioritizes the transgendered.
The new U.S. Army’s new “Tier Three Transgender Training on Soldiers and Units Policy on Military Service of Transgender Soldiers” is fascinating reading. See the PowerPoint slides and accompanying lesson plan. See this article about the training.
It is a new training program — now that combat units have assimilated the “Breastfeeding and Lactation Support Policy“. Unfortunately, Army HQ only adds, it does not remove anything from the already long list of commanders’ responsibilities or list of training requirements (so preparing for war becomes secondary). Hence reports such as “Lying to Ourselves: Dishonesty in the Army Profession” by Leonard Wong and Stephen J. Gerras (both retired Army officers), published by the War College, 2015. From the summary…
“While it has been fairly well established that the Army is quick to pass down requirements to individuals and units regardless of their ability to actually comply with the totality of the requirements, there has been very little discussion about how the Army culture has accommodated the deluge of demands on the force.
“This study found that many Army officers, after repeated exposure to the overwhelming demands and the associated need to put their honor on the line to verify compliance, have become ethically numb. As a result, an officer’s signature and word have become tools to maneuver through the Army bureaucracy rather than being symbols of integrity and honesty.”
The training to deal with the transgendered will become more important since President Obama’s officials authorized transgender soldiers to serve openly and funded gender-change surgeries with taxpayer dollars.
Update: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has ordered a review of all the administrative and training requirements that prevent trigger pullers and pilots alike from focusing on warfighting. See the Military Times article and his memo.
Update: Trump tweeted a major policy change about transgender people in the military.
“After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you.”
The common element.
The common element in these policies is that people are to be treated by the gender they identify as, irrespective of their biology — including bathrooms and showers. It is a redefinition of breathtaking magnitude. See the lesson guide used for Minnesota teachers from. Also see in this slide from the Army training (click to enlarge).
Looking to the future
America’s universities are petri dishes for the Left. They give us a look at what the Left intends for America, and what we can expect under their rule.
A state of fear slowly is taking hold among at US universities. Countless incidents like this: militant LGBT students’ force professor Michael Bonesteel’s resignation from Chicago School of the Art Institute with bogus Title IX complaints (details here and here). Professor Laura Kipnis describes how “Sexual Paranoia Strikes Academe”. See the kangaroo court proceedings in the probably false accusations of “Mattress Girl” (she now does BDSM performance art) and countless other students (see these posts for examples). Plus colleges broad war against free speech. The latest being the publicly-funded Carl Sandburg College repealing the First Amendment for students.
See the forest, not the trees: America’s universities are undergoing ideological purification — brutal, unjust — like that during the Cold War. But this time it is done by the Left, not the Right.
This is what America would have been under a Hillary Clinton administration. This is what America might look like in the future, if the Left wins. These are symptoms of America becoming Weimerica, as is the equally dramatic radicalization of the Right.
Conclusions: stand by for Weimerica!
** “Weimerica” is a portmanteau of Weimar and America.
Ignore the ideology and theology, the high questions of Right And Wrong that dominate this debate. First, this is a major change in how we raise children. As usual with the Left’s crusades, they do not bother with research on its effects. They just know. The people of America are their guinea pigs.
Second, it is a significant change in our culture. Done without the consent of the government. Without even open debate. Certain to arouse opposition and anger, even among some who might otherwise be sympathetic to their policies (there is always a counter-revolution). It has, along with other things, sparked a civil war inside the Democratic Party.
It would be political suicide — if the Republicans were not in equal disarray, as seen by the internal revolt to their leaders’ attempt to strip health care from tens of millions of Americans, to fund tiny tax cuts for the affluent, and their inability to effectively respond to the incompetence of Team Trump.
The bottom line: both Left and Right have become in some ways dysfunctional. It makes our politics hollow, even fragile. The political insurgencies of Sanders and Trump revealed this hollowness. Stronger leaders will exploit this. That is what we should worry about, this hollowness. Our real challenge is coming from someone (or some people) far stronger than Clown Trump, who sees opportunity in the folly of Left and Right. Such a person could collapse their card houses and build a new politics.
It has been done before in the US, and elsewhere. Sometimes for good and sometimes for ill. Either way, we should prepare for the possibility of a radically different future.
For More Information
If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See all posts about the far Left, about women and gender, about immigration, about Russiagate, and especially these…
- Clinton lost because fear failed, and voters disliked her Social Justice Warriors.
- Feminist revolutionaries seized control of colleges. Now come the tribunals…
- How the transgender campaign produces large-scale child abuse.
- See universities’ programs to regulate sex. The apps are amazing!
Read these to better understand what’s happening in America.
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.”
— Aphorism, author unknown.
These two books are astonishing stories describing how the old regime of Europe, with roots going back a thousand years, was swept away in a decade. If it happened to them, it can more easily happen to us. To see how a strong leader can use such circumstances, see Martin van Creveld’s gripping biography Hitler in Hell
Agreed on all counts, FM. The Democrats are finally showing some signs of common sense with the “Better Deal” but I fear that it is a slogan at best, intended to attract voters to support their next change. The polygamists are very hopeful that the Left will take up their cause next.
My son is a big fan of the Onion but has commented that the times are changing so fast that their headlines are beginning to look like they could come from a conservative daily newspaper. Historians and screenwriters alike are going to have an almost inexhaustible supply of bizarre but true stories from the current era.
Pluto,
Yes, that the Onion’s headlines become realistic so soon is a powerful sign of “house of cards” politics.
The “Better Deal” is a polished version of what Hillary offered. But many suspect it is a cover story for the Lefts real passions: identify politics, massive social change (as we see in the their use of the transgendered as a wedge). Much as Trump’s populism was a mask for hard right conservatism (e.g, big boosts for war spending, deregulation, privatization, tax cuts for the rich — the usual basket of things to benefit the 1%).
Also, thanks for catching the typos. Due to computer problems this was finished at midnight.
There are always true believers! Perhaps identity politics, open borders, and RussiaGate are a triumvirate that will bring the Left to power!
“Tolerance it a tremendous virtue, but the immediate neighbors of tolerance are apathy and weakness.” said by James Goldsmith, a UK financier and Bond movie villian lookalike. Goldsmith said this in a TV interview. video was used by a documentary from Adam Curtis, “twilight of the dogs.” And i’m/he’s not implying people should be intolerant.
the problem w/the American Left is that with its laser focus on identity politics, it has no overarching message or identity—just a mish-mash of transient, ad hoc pet causes which makes for some strange bedfellows. Like with today’s American-global secular left defending conservative Islam—really?
And as the Right has its own problems, but the Left’s house of cards will collapse before the Right’s.
my one cent,
The Left ” has no overarching message or identity—just a mish-mash of transient, ad hoc pet causes which makes for some strange bedfellows. ”
I disagree. The common thread is a desire to replace the current social system with their own ideas.
” but the Left’s house of cards will collapse before the Right’s.”
That depends on the fate of Trump, and how the Right reacts to his collapse. The Republican Party’s leaders will rejoice at Pence replacing Trump. But how will the masses on the Right react? Much depends on their response.
I just don’t get it. What does the institutional left think they have to gain by, for instance, teaching children about subjects such as genderfluidity? Are they true believers, who think this is a vital issue? Do they see it as a nice, toothless cause that won’t offend their big donors? Is it a wedge issue to divide the people and thus reduce their power? Or is the censorship and authoritarianism that goes along with it the real goal?
Flabbergasting.
Notorious,
You go to the heart of the matter. “Why” is usually the most important question and the most difficult to answer.
My guess (emphasis on guess) is that the Left hates much of Western culture and seeks to remake it along lines more pleasing to them. They believe that gender is a social construct, and transgender people are an example of this. Making society more transgender-friendly (and raising more kids with confused gender identities) is a both a goal and means to their larger goals.
Offtopic and maybe related. Do you think the victory of Rojava over ISIS will help boost the feminist revolution in the Middle East?
https://twitter.com/DefenseUnits/status/888710005633011713
infowarrior,
I’ve not a clue. But I believe there is little accurate reporting coming out of Syria, and much of what we read is propaganda designed for our tastes.
Remember what we were told about the mujahedeen freedom fighters in the revolt against the Soviet Union? For a reminder, see this. So we waged Charlie Wilson’s War, and got the Taliban.
infowarrior,
Another example: the women soldiers in the various Eritrea wars.
Women soldiers were lionized during the Eritrean War of Independence (one part of the Ethopian Civil war): 1961 – 1991.
Then came Eritrea, Africa’s equal rights second-wave feminist paradise! No, but journalists let us down gently with articles like from 1993 “Eritrea’s Women Fighters Face Difficult Transition in the CS Monitor.” Also “Eritrea: The kitchen calls” in The Economist (1993). “What happened to the Eritrean female freedom-fighters?” by Chris Kutschera in Middle East magazine, June 1997.
Also, the freedom loving Eritrean People’s Liberation Front seized power, established a one-party state along nationalist lines and banned further political activity. There have been no elections since.
Then was the Eritrean–Ethiopian War (1998-2000). And stirring articles like “Women take up arms in Eritrea’s war.” And “Like Mother, Like Daughter, Eritrean Women Wage War” in the NYT.
After their role in the second war, women returned to civilian life in a third-wave gender-free paradise (like Themyscira). Actually, no. But journalists let us down easily with articles like this from the WaPo in 2004: “Eritrean women returned from war to old attitudes.” As with many totalitarian states, there are more rights for women — especially education. But it is still a mostly traditional society.
But as a state with roughly one-fourth of the women in the military, this feminism must have shaped its society!
But that too might be wrong. Who knows?
Good to see you’ve picked up on the Weimerica term, although it might be nice if you were to credit Ryan Landry for its coinage.
Lordgladio,
Thanks for the cite on that! As an oversight, I didn’t think to look up its origin. I’ll add that to the post, and include mention of him hereafter.