"If our nation is ever taken over, it will be taken over from within."—James Madison
America currently appears to be in the process of destroying itself. The problems are too numerous to list here, but the most recent devolution comes from the Somali financial fraud and the killing of a woman in Minnesota by ICE, which has leftists all over the country rioting, protesting, and calling for a repetition of the George Floyd mayhem of 2020. And this is just the tip of the iceberg of the horrors the nation now faces.
As James Madison rightly said, if our nation falls, if it is destroyed, it will at least start from within. America is too big—has too many people, too much geography, too many financial resources, and too large a military to ever be conquered from without until there is nothing left but a dung heap which we created ourselves. Small nations can be overrun by larger ones fairly easily; Stalin walked into Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia in 1940 and said, "Give us your country," and there wasn't much those small nations could do about it. And the West, absorbed in Hitler, didn't help. But that won't happen in America—not until there is nothing left that any other nation would want. Only riff-raff would remain, and they would be more trouble than they are worth.
America is destroying itself by hate. I've never seen, in our country, such vitriol, bile, and venom as exists now and is being spewed forth, mainly from the Left, of course. Those people have not an ounce of love in their hearts, except for themselves; they want what they want, and they aren't willing to compromise with anyone they disagree with. They can only be forced, not persuaded, and they will answer force with force. It's only been escalating in recent years and months.
As an American historian, I cannot recall any president, perhaps any person, in our history who has been hated by as many people as Donald Trump is now loathed by the Left. All presidents have had opposition, of course, but never with the bitterness and odium that Mr. Trump receives. And the transference will be—already is—there. If JD Vance is the Republican nominee for president in 2028, then he will be reviled and detested every bit as much as President Trump is. They represent a movement that is in direct opposition to what the Left cherishes, and thus, the hatred is aimed mostly at them. But, ultimately, it's a hatred for everything traditional America stands for—limited government, Judeo-Christian moral values, virtuous freedom, "truth, justice, and the American way." I doubt most "normal" Democrats really understand what leftism is and believes—in fact, I'm sure they don't—so the leaders of the Left have made Mr. Trump (and by extension ICE and everything Trump does) the targets. It's pure, mindless, unreasoning, unjustified hatred, and it will manifest itself in deeds the deeper and wider it grows.
Evil is not new, of course. What is happening in America is the worst it's ever been in our nation—perhaps the War Between the States is the exception—but when we look at the history of the world, evil is a constant, and all of it is atrocious. The 20th century was saturated with some of the worst monsters ever—Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, Castro, Che—the list is long and worldwide. But read the Bible about some of the evils of ancient Israel and the nations surrounding them. What the American Left is doing is not new, far from it. It tends to be the rule, not the exception.
America's Founding Fathers came as close to getting it right as any men in history. James Madison said, "The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded." "It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps," the great prophet Jeremiah told us 2,500 years ago. But man has never listened to that, and the American Left—and much of the Right, frankly—have rejected the wisdom of Madison and Jeremiah. Evil human nature, directed by power-hungry politicians (always the case) are doing us in. Government is not intrinsically evil, but it becomes evil in the hands of unwise people. And that is where it is, largely, in America today. The exceptions are few and far between. Rejecting God always eventually leads to negative consequences.
So, America appears to be in the process of destroying itself from within. Can people's hearts be changed? Do you think Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Zohran Mamdani, AOC, etc., are going to experience a Saul of Tarsus-like conversion? Don't hold your breath.
The best answer, as much as no one wants to admit it or do it, is to probably go our separate ways. Let the Left have its own toilet bowl country, and play with itself until it destroys itself, and let the rest of us try to rebuild America based upon the vision and direction of our Founding Fathers. There are, however, at least two problems with this solution.
One is how to logistically accomplish such a separation. Who gets what and how? Is there enough wisdom in the country now to conclude a successful divorce? I doubt it.
The second issue is that nobody really wants it, especially the Left—they want the whole country. Their entire raison d'etre is to control as many people as possible and kill those who won't submit. And that especially means you and me. They hate us, and they want to see us defeated and cowed. They'll never go for a divorce.
So, I don't know the answer. I just know that history is full of what America is going through right now. And that people never accept the Madisonian, Jeremiah answer.
My substacks are a little unique. Not just current events, but history, our Founding Fathers, what America was meant to be, and Biblical exegesis. Check them out. "Mark It Down! (mklewis929.substack.com), and "Mark It Down! Bible Substack" (mklbibless.substack.com). Both free. Follow me on "X": @thailandmkl. Read my western novels, "Whitewater," "River Bend," "Return to River Bend," and "Allie's Dilemma," all available on Amazon.
Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy Townhall’s conservative reporting and opinion? Support our work by joining Townhall VIP! Use the promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member