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The Worst of Times—At Least for Now

Posted on Monday, August 30, 2021
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AMAC Exclusive By: Cal Palmer

times

Some events are so dark that they become illuminating.

Say what you will about our unconditional military surrender in Afghanistan. Say what you will about hastily abandoning tens of billions of dollars’ worth of high-tech military equipment to an enemy eager to use it against us and our allies. Say what you will about this betrayal of America’s friends. But you can’t say this defeat doesn’t capture where we stand as a nation. These are the worst of times.

Of course, it’s foolish to say things can’t get worse. They can, especially with a president allergic to coherence, let alone competence. But this feels like a low point because it is one.

Not just because an enemy with the blood of American civilians on its hands is humiliating us. And not just because everyone on Earth with a smartphone can watch the 21st century United States military lose a war to a seventh-century enemy.

In truth, the Afghanistan debacle is a symbol of a larger problem. For two decades, we have allowed our failed political class to lead our nation down the tubes.

For more than 20 years, we have watched them outsource good, middle-class jobs to other countries, even adversaries, and hope Silicon Valley saviors will make up the difference and spread the wealth. They haven’t, and they won’t.

We’re also a decade into learning that our elites prefer bailing out each other to having the backs of ordinary Americans. And we’re eighteen months into a pandemic which has validated every bit of skepticism toward the class of so-called “experts.”

Our schools, once great stewards of Western culture and American values, now teach our youth to hate their country and judge one another based on arbitrary categories of “privilege,” threatening decades of hard-won progress. Corporations have abandoned hard work, integrity, and merit as their guiding principles in favor of woke virtue signaling to appease the liberal mob.  

Eight months into a new presidential administration, seemingly every major American institution is more concerned with creating an imagined Jim Crow crisis out of election integrity reforms than solving the border crisis, the urban crime crisis, the welfare crisis, or the inflation crisis.

After all that, the world watched Afghan youths cling to an airplane with “U.S. Air Force” written on its fuselage and then fall to their deaths.

It takes a pain that sharp, in a darkness that deep, to certify that our fear of American decline was justified. It’s not a monster under a child’s bed. It’s an actual predator in the night slowly creeping its way up the stairs.

The hope provided by the Trump administration makes our present predicament all the more frustrating. It looked like America might beat these trends and once again recapture its characteristic optimism, prosperity, and strength.

But the Biden presidency has undone those gains and aggravated our underlying condition.

America has hung its head before. The period between 1968 and 1975 lends itself to the most clear-cut comparisons. Race riots. Surging crime. Traditional values under attack. And US Army helicopters lifting off an embassy in Asia.  

Of course, none of our institutions, were held hostage in that time by an ideology that treats men as “welcome” in women’s bathrooms and Columbus Day as a threat to decency.

Politicians have and will use such low points as fodder. As Ted Cruz often said, after eight years of Barack Obama, it took Jimmy Carter to get Ronald Reagan.

He was right. And the smart money is on another American resurgence. In our history, the worst of times have often led to the best of times. After the War of 1812 came a long period of expansion and growth that set the stage for America’s emergence onto the world stage. After the Great Depression and World War Two came another boom that made the United States the richest country in the world and sent ripple effects around the globe that lifted billions out of poverty. And after the turbulence of the Vietnam War and the economic strife of the Carter years came a decade of unprecedented peace and prosperity under President Ronald Reagan. Betting against America wasn’t wise then, and its not wise now.

But, as Charles Krauthammer once wrote, “history is tragic, not redemptive.” History—even American history—doesn’t owe us anything. The successes of our past have been thanks to a long tradition of Americans who were determined to seize their own destiny and create a better future for their children. No matter how Barack Obama used to draw it in speeches, the future will not move in some preordained “arc.” The “future” is just a word we give to an uncertain landscape that it is up to us in the present to shape.

Like 1968-1975, this period of history can become just another proving ground for an American resurgence, if we make it so.

Yes, these are the worst of times. But we will get another chance to write the future.

(Cal Palmer is the pen name of an analyst and fellow at a national think tank. He is an attorney and officer in the US Army Reserve.)

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Kim
Kim
3 years ago

Like a sapling swaying in the breeze, it’s not the stake but the movement that creates a stronger “spine”. Likewise, strict adherence to dogma spewed by the leftists has gotten us into great difficulties today and for the future, as well, if the dems maintain their positions in government.

Those woke folk who believe what the socialists are telling them (critical race theory and the 1619 project are valid; conservatism and capitalism are dead) are stuck, whether they know it or not, in an endless cycle of dependency and abdication of original thought. Give them a stake to lean on, and they’re yours for life.

PaulE
PaulE
3 years ago

This article outlines the effects of horrible policy choices being enacted by the career politicians, of both parties, over really the last 30 plus years and the brief respite we enjoyed during President Trump’s term in office. Now of course we are have the globalists back in charge in the form of Biden and his administration largely populated by Obama era retreads running the show. Yes, I know Biden himself is not running things and neither will Harris run anything when they swap out Joe for her. They are both figureheads simply playing roles assigned to them.

We had four years of sane, focused strategies designed to reverse the previous 30 year slide designed to weaken the United States on multiple fronts and elevate China to the top economic and military position. Was Trump prefect? No, no one is. However, he was far better than anyone else running in 2016 and he certainly accomplished more in four years than any other President accomplished in two full terms. Especially when you take into account he was under constant attack from all sides as President Trump was. Now unfortunately, most of that has been effectively reversed or nullified by the so-called Biden administration in 7 months and we’re back on course towards becoming a socialist democracy. Some with the help of the many RINOs in Congress.

We did not militarily lose to the Taliban. Our political leadership decided to surrender to the Taliban by implementing the worst, most incompetent withdrawal. All so Biden could give a speech on the anniversary of 9/11 of how he ended 20 years there. Anyway, like everything else this administration has chosen to do, that will have long-term ramifications for the United States and us that doesn’t simply go away after the next election.

The notion by the author that we’ shouldn’t be concerned. That someone will come along to set the country right again as Reagan did after the cumulative damage that preceded him, is at best wishful thinking and at worst delusional without proactive planning and action to bring it about. Something I would expect from some academic or think tank that measures progress in how many useless white papers they generate on an annual basis. They have the luxury of being insulated from the most of the carnage poor political policies, by incompetent career bureaucrats, inflict on the country as a whole.

Both Reagan and Trump were extreme exceptions to the norm for what we’ve had as Presidents in the last 60 years. Both Reagan and Trump were hated by the establishment of the Republican party, because they threatened the status quo. So the idea that eventually someone like them will one day appear and then successfully beat all the odds to become POTUS and right the ship of state once again is telling people to just blindly hope for the best. In the meantime, just sit back and do nothing. As they say hope is not a strategy for success. It takes dedicated planning and action to bring about that kind of change. Anyway, that’s my rant for the day. Hopefully it gets some people to think.

Kathryn DiPiazza
Kathryn DiPiazza
3 years ago

This is an excellent article describing America and its many challenges then and now.
I remember 1968, I graduated from college that year, started a teaching job and got married. It was a stressful time especially since my fiancé at the time was almost drafted. Many of my friends were drafted and some died in that tragic Vietnam War.
We got through it but I do not have many good memories of that time period.
Now, we face an even more disastrous period, one of doubt, fear, immorality and lawlessness to name a few.
Biden created this tragedy of Afghanistan and all the crises along with it. He needs to resign or be impeached along with his most of his administration. If he stays, we will not survive this let alone recover.

Nina Rae
Nina Rae
3 years ago

PaulE…Thankyou for stating so clearly how so many of us feel. I feel so strongly that we must DO SOMETHING, but I don’t know what to do. Removing Biden is obvious, but his replacement is no better. Will anything ever be done to correct the Fraud that was the 2020 election? State after State finds this as the Finally check into their voting systems, but what Good is it doing. It is obvious to all that President Trump was overwhelmingly re-elected, but there does not seem to be a way to reassemble our government as it should be. Does it take a Revolution? I know many who are upset enough to pursue this! I thought perhaps the Military might step in, but the current so called leadership is in step with DC, not the American people. I’m far from a political strategist, only extremely fearful for the upcoming generations and most especially for the America I’ve known & loved. May God bless her again.

Chuck
Chuck
3 years ago

Any of you people hear about the Convention of States? Educate yourselves and get on board. It will be a start in the right direction.

Michael
Michael
3 years ago

Joe Biden has sold this country so far down the river we may never recover. Only a buffoon would pull the military out ahead of the diplomats, their families, and their staff and families. How many billions worth of military equipment, our latest and very best, did he give to the enemy, Red Chinese, and Russians? Again, only a buffoon or an idiot would do that.

Joe Biden should be impeached, tried, convicted and executed. All of his “henchmen” also.

Denice Fennell
Denice Fennell
3 years ago

We are British and love America and it’s people but feel so sorry for all Americans who are now ashamed of what their Government have done.

Linda Sweet
Linda Sweet
3 years ago

Ronald Reagan once said, “A nation not under God is a nation gone under.” I think, like the herd of swine that Jesus cast demons into, we don’t go crashing over the cliff and drown in mindsets of politically correct bull shit.

Ollyoop
Ollyoop
3 years ago

A lot of truth in this article, but unfortunately, the number of sheep only looking foward to when the next ‘guvment stay at home check’ will arrive, far out number those who will step up and attempt to turn this once great county around! If one has any kind of foresight, it should come as no surpise that the Third Civil War is already on the horizon! Yes, historically we have had three, the first was against our ‘red coated’ British brothers, the second between the states, and the third will be against the most oppresive US ‘guvment’ in history. As we know, there were actually ‘victors’ in the first two, but there will be no winners, and most unfortunately, no remaining USA following the next one.

Sharon Harrigan
Sharon Harrigan
3 years ago

We must remember that God still rules the world. He is seated solidly on His throne and is not astonished by current events. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 commands us to pray for our leaders. Even though we don’t want to, we must pray their hearts will be changed and do what is right in God’s eyes. Nothing is too hard for God. Jeremiah 32:17 “A Lord God, behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.” Pray for a great revival to sweep America.

Kyle Buy you some guns,and learn how to shoot
Kyle Buy you some guns,and learn how to shoot
3 years ago

The last good democratic president we had was Harry TRuman.

Kenneth P Ostrowski
Kenneth P Ostrowski
3 years ago

WHY isn’t Biden charged with treason? He is outright aiding and abetting the enemy! He left how much in arms weapons to the enemy? And lost how many life’s in this withdrawal? And nobody is doing a Damn thing? I am sick over the change in our leadership or the lack of it.

Judy
Judy
3 years ago

I appreciate the writers optimism in his final sentence, but this could very well be America’s last and final disastrous moments. Our country is so far gone morally, and has departed so far from our blessed Creator that I feel the end is just a blink away. I pray continuously for our country and leaders, but sometimes I hear this still small voice saying, pray for loved one’s to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We need to get our priorities straight and examine ourselves, whether we are in the faith. Are we real as Christian’s, or are we just going through the motions and being complacent? May God help us all!!

Rik
Rik
3 years ago

We the People SHOULD NEVER AGAIN TRUST ANY POLITICIAN with a ‘D’ next to their name because it really stands for Dumkoff. Jackass Joe, OUR “Liar in Chief” doesn’t know how to tell the truth has ABANDONED THE LIVES OF UNITED STATES CITIZENS to Our Enemies! What absurdity! … For every abandoned American citizen that dies 5 Jackass Democratic Politicians should forfeit their lives! I never thought I’d see the day when an American President would lose to a bunch of 17th century terrorists!
Our ancestors are crying in their Graves!

Ralph S
Ralph S
3 years ago

How long before the DemonRATS start promoting “Soylent Green” as the solution to all our problems?

Hal
Hal
3 years ago
  • After deep reflection, I must also have a measure of disrespect for any Party or person who is NOT sincerely openly critical of Joe Hidin’ Biden’s actions regarding leaving Afghanistan. Joe’s actions in this regard are those of an incompetent person not fit to hand out pamphlets at a public gathering. If the DemocRats want to make the best our of a really horribly bad situation, they will find some way to oust him with some small thread of dignity. If all we can get worthwhile out of the Biden Political and Voting Rigged Circus Fiasco. Just think about a White House greeting echoing thru the Capitol, “Ho!, Joe”, instead we might be hearing, “Ho! Kamelo?” Tain’t funny… but when nothing is left to laugh about,……
Garye
Garye
3 years ago

Great article, every word is honest and on point!
So,so sad what these failed establishment politicians have done to Our Country, with their self appointed knowledge of what’s best for us.
These traitors are merely a clown show.
This dishonest administration, the partisan political parties,spew their self serving rhetoric, cloud any real transparency to avoid accountability, and continue to destroy the principles which made America the envy of the world.
As opposed to recognizing how great,generous and welcoming we are, they choose to obfuscate reality and force division,hatred,CRT, gender confusion and utterly ridiculous policies on Citizens and genuinely patriotic people of Our Country.
Who do these LOSERS think they are???
Why do they believe Real Americans will tolerate their failure??
How can they expect We the People will sit back and allow America,it’s principles and Freedom be stolen like our last election??
Politicians better realize We have had enough!

We will not roll over and accept absurdities of establishment elites, self entitled liars and those who look down upon the people that Make America Great!
Those who temporarily occupy seats and who think they are beyond accountability and justice, will discover they work for US.
We the People are the backbone, brains and future of America,Always have been, Always will be.
Politicians and their parties are merely a speed bump in the road, an irritant, and inconvenience,
America’s Patriots will Keep Our Country Great!

Voter Ann
Voter Ann
3 years ago

Sorry, I’m not sure America WILL “get another chance.” I believe God, who has shown us GREAT mercy over the past years, may well have determined that America is no longer the “shining city on a hill”, and, as He is in control of all the nations and cultures of this world He created, is no longer willing to abide our national manifold sins.

We have sacrificed our unborn children for “convenience” and “preference” for almost 50 years now. Each life is precious in His sight (because He formed each and every one of them in their mother’s womb, according to Scripture), and we’ve slaughtered many more than 62 MILLION of those lives in that time.

He allowed the disaster of the 9/11 attacks – almost 20 years ago – to wake America and our leaders up. Instead, we shook our collective fists at Him and vowed to “build back better” in defiance.of His plan and His design. And kept on sleeping.

Look at the signs around us: God’s judgment is coming.

Wildfires and drought destroy our western lands. Flooding, tornadoes, and hurricanes destroy our southeastern lands. The COVID-10 virus (in addition to the state and federal governments which eliminate our citizens’ rights and freedoms) has destroyed our ability to gather together – even in our houses of worship, in many places. America’s educational leaders have committed malpractice, first on our college students by indoctrinating them with Marxist philosophy and leaving them ignorant and angry, then by warping our children in k-12 public schools with critical race theory and transgender lies. Our southern border is an open conduit through which pass hundreds of thousands of illegals – and criminals – without vetting, or even testing for COVID. Through this all, the entertainment industry continually inundates us with pornography and disgusting, evil horrors. Our media lies to us with impunity; our government leaders are senile, power-hungry, and oblivious; our families are struggling to survive. Do we not deserve what we many soon receive from almighty God?

Our only salvation comes from Him. We, as a nation, must turn to Him, and practice what He proclaims in 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If My people, who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Christians need to wake up and PRAY! Those who do not believe that there is a God may have only a few short days before our country descends into chaos and many will be facing a future eternity apart from their Creator. Believers, be ready always to share your faith. Unbelievers, please, seek out a believer who can help you and lead you to a faith which will preserve your soul, if not your life.

No Name
No Name
3 years ago

A Qualifier ==> We HOPE we will get another chance in the future.

With the way our country is sliding into not only socialism, but fascism, the likelihood that we will ever recover is becoming more and more remote.

As long as people are willing to say: ‘Well, this is bad, but it could be worse’…then it gets worse and people say ‘Well, THIS is bad but it could be worse’…until it is too late to do ANYTHING — things will CONTINUE TO slide into a totalitarian state and we will lose EVERYTHING.

Stand up; speak out; do WHATEVER it takes to keep our country a Constitutional Republic!

Jeannie Huppert
Jeannie Huppert
3 years ago

My opinion: way too many people soft-stepping “things”. those squatting, usurping in white house, some senate, some house, etc. are demonic. they not only follow devils, they do what devils tell them to do: steal, kill, & destroy. JOHN 10:10. We MUST DO SPIRITUAL WARFARE, STEP #1 PRAY!

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