On the EDge: Suffering the effects of an ill-planned revolution

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OPINION — Revolution for the sake of revolution is hardly a noble, or rational, endeavor.

It is a naïve, chaotic, dangerous path walked by fools.

In November 2017, the United States underwent what many termed a revolution that began 10 years ago when Sarah Palin was thrust upon us as the running mate of Sen. John McCain when he sought the presidency. As the poster child for the vociferous, but misguided, neoconservative revolutionaries that rallied under the Tea Party banner she opened a Pandora’s box of rage.

Conservatives were unhappy.

They had just come off of the George W. Bush years, were stuck chin-deep in the quagmire of a three-pronged war in the Middle East and at the mercy of an economy that was on the ropes.

Revolution seemed like a good idea to this sect of the GOP at the time, but all it really did was splinter a party that instead should have been searching to maintain its conscience and adhere to a structure of traditional Republican economic mojo that would have been steadier than upending the entire system. Even four years later, when Mitt Romney made his unsuccessful bid to unseat a president who was viewed with disdain by conservatives for myriad cultural, racial and political reasons, they couldn’t pull it together enough to put their man in the White House.

Finally, in 2016, they had the perfect opponent in Hillary Clinton, a candidate all conservatives could agree was worthy of their vitriol and hate. In retrospect, it should be no surprise that she was defeated, even though conservatives still were unable to find a majority in the popular vote, shoehorning a reality TV star into the White House by minimal wins in a few key Electoral College states. The vote certainly did not hand the new president a mandate as he entered his term.

Most thought the campaign was a joke, that it was done to prop up his TV ratings, that it was an exercise to stroke a massive ego. It is highly doubtful even the president thought he’d emerge with the win. But, those revolutionaries who undermined traditional conservatives, pulled the trick and landed a guy in the White House who was just like them: uninformed in the form and function of a complex governmental system; unschooled in the necessary finesse of diplomacy and statesmanship; a socially inept and graceless presence who eschewed dignity and embraced vulgarity – in essence, The Ugly American personage.

At the heart of this all was a bunch of wannabe revolutionaries, redneck militia types who actually believe in their hearts that their stockpiles of AR-15s and other assault weapons is all they need to rescue their government from some imagined tyrant and take down the entire United States military complex under his command.

They espouse a belief in isolationism, swear allegiance to white-nationalist profile and policy and have created a fear of our southern neighbors that can only be overcome with a ridiculous wall that will never be built because although racism is still at pitch levels, when it comes right down to it, nobody is really that stupid.

But, those are the roots of this sociopolitical revolution that resulted in a helter skelter administration that is now being slammed with indictments and an investigation that is creeping ever-closer to the Oval Office.

And, the guy in charge is displaying the frightening traits of what is best referred to as a Third World strongman as we slide dangerously closer to becoming an authoritarian state representing the tyranny the militia types have been preparing to stand off against.

He can’t achieve anything of merit in Congress, even though his party holds a majority in the Senate and House. Instead, he has had to rely primarily on executive orders as a base of power and decision-making. Of course, his executive orders have been pretty much mired in the courts because of constitutional issues and the rule of law.

He is trying to manage/suppress a bewildered media that has never had to deal with the likes of this administration. I mean, as a former editor, I have watched numerous 24-hour news cycles pass and wondered which of the half dozen or so White House stories that break over the course of just about any given day should be the lead piece. Between the scandals, resignations, firings, mishaps, investigations and general jabberwocky, how do you choose?

Benito Mussolini was a strongman.

Saddam Hussein was a strongman.

Fidel Castro was a strongman.

Muammar Gaddafi was a strongman.

They were powerful, dangerous figures. There was madness within them, but they held, even in that madness, a certain level of control. They were deliberate, calculating, shrewd. You always knew what you were getting into with them.

Unfortunately, the emerging jefe of this revolution is nothing more than a hot mess.

We don’t know what to expect from him.

We don’t know what his aims are other than to cover his backside in the ongoing investigations into his possible collusion with Russia to fix the 2016 election.

All we know is his inflated state of self-esteem, preponderance of lies and his iron fist, which seems to grow tighter each passing day and an ego that, it seems, will require a full-dress military parade to assuage.

That’s what happens when revolution for the sake of revolution occurs.

There was no plan, no goal, no unification, just a simple desire to tear down the old because this group of people believed it had failed them and stick somebody – anybody – on the hot seat. That somebody, of course, was our president.

It would be easier to deal with if he had a team of experts or counselors to fall back on, to give him advice, to school him on the nuance of standing in the spotlight of the world stage.

But, there is none of that, leaving us not only rudderless in the abyss, but without a captain, or even trusty navigator, to guide us across these stormy seas of diplomacy and global interaction.

Complicating matters is a gutless Congress with conservatives afraid to take a hard stance and liberals outmanned and too timid to put up much of a scrap, leaving the president to lumber about pretty much in an unfettered fashion.

Except, of course, for the continuing investigation by Robert Mueller, who is heading the probe into the whole Russian thing.

He is, at the moment, our last best hope at keeping the system functioning as it should.

He has the law on his side and that is a powerful thing. So powerful, in fact, that it forced the attorney general to recuse himself from the proceedings. Even Jeff Sessions, who was one of the president’s first and most ardent supporters, realized he was not above the law and did the right thing by removing himself from the proceedings.

We’ve seen the departure of some fairly unsavory characters whisked through the revolving door of the White House, all claiming, of course, that they were leaving on good terms.

Don’t buy it. It’s something you do when there is somebody waiting with a fairly hefty payout on the other side of that door.

Some day, some way, this house of cards will collapse.

It almost always does.

And, we will get a peek into the revolutionary ravishment of a nation because, well, why not?

But, it won’t be pretty.

And, it won’t be easy to erase the harshest stain placed on the fabric of our governance.

No bad days!

Ed Kociela is an opinion columnist for St. George News. The opinions stated in this article are his own and may not be representative of St. George News.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews, @EdKociela

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2018, all rights reserved.

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27 Comments

  • tcrider March 6, 2018 at 7:29 am

    Good article Ed,
    I would of voted for John McCain, but gop
    insisted on inserting sarah skanklin and you throw
    in the fact the george w invaded a country that had nothing
    to do with 911, McCain would of been fighting a losing battle.
    The only country we should of invaded was Saudi Arabia, because
    that is where the majority of the terrorists were from.
    I really think the whole dungle trump dilemma will end up making
    the entire political landscape unbalanced again because the gop
    is really making a mess of things for the short term which in turn
    is going to cause a massive movement to the left. The mid terms
    which are creeping up on us super fast will be a real indication of things
    to come.

    The dungle trump, never my stinking pile.

    • comments March 6, 2018 at 11:08 am

      From what I recall Mccain was the biggest Iraq war cheerleader of them all.

      • tcrider March 6, 2018 at 12:56 pm

        I am more of a Mccain fan and completely despise the dungle trump piece of crap.

  • No Filter March 6, 2018 at 7:59 am

    Good article Ed, I think you really put into words what many of us are thinking. Let’s hope Mueller gets to the bottom of this quickly so we can start the rebuilding process, conservative or liberal anything is better than Trump.

  • Craig March 6, 2018 at 10:58 am

    Short on fact, long on attempting to prove a pre-determined opinion.

    I can praise Trump for the many good things he is doing for our nation without being anything like your suppositions.

  • comments March 6, 2018 at 11:26 am

    I’m no trump fan, but when he does things that upset the corrupt-to-the-core republican establishment I applaud the man.

  • NickDanger March 6, 2018 at 4:41 pm

    There’s no conservative revolution happening. Everything that’s currently happening is simply backlash.

    When you force-feed the homosexual agenda to the entire (still largely Christian) country via intravenous mainstream media…

    When your safety-blanket agenda starts to sound more and more like the Salvation Army agenda every time you pass a new budget…

    When you give voice to hilarious concepts like gender-fluidity…

    When you embrace lies as the truth (women are equal to men, there are no differences in races, equality of opportunity really means equality of outcome, etc.)…

    When you escalate every war you promised to stop…

    When you prosecute the very whistle-blowers you begged to step forward, to the fullest extent of the law…

    When your agenda leaves the average white male wondering why everyone suddenly hates him when all he’s ever done is built all of Western civilization as we know it…

    …there’s going to be a backlash.

    • comments March 6, 2018 at 7:40 pm

      well said

    • bikeandfish March 7, 2018 at 8:54 am

      Exhibit A: the entitled white male who thinks equality is a zero sum game. When living in a world in which others demand protection under federal law he’ll weaponize his fragile little ego against LGBTQi+ citizens, women, other races, other religions, etc. He fails to adapt to any environment in which he isn’t overtly privileged and honored. Welcome to the microcosm of the heteronormative white supremacists who would rather burn it all down than accept change and liberty for all.

      • comments March 7, 2018 at 11:02 am

        As a white male I can name several times I have experience racism from the Hispanic community. I know what it feels like to be a persecuted minority in those cases. Leftists have this absurd notion that only whites can be racist. Insanity.

        • bikeandfish March 7, 2018 at 12:50 pm

          I haven’t seen anyone here mention the notion that only white people can be racists, nor in my “leftist” friends. Any human can experience racism from another individual.

          Though maybe you confuse that with criticism of structural racism, which inherently deals with a socially dominant race’s privilege and oppression of minority races.

          Those are two different issues of racism and should not be conflated.

          Nickdanger exhibits both types of racism and is an unabashed white supremacist.

        • No Filter March 7, 2018 at 3:48 pm

          With views like yours I don’t blame them for being racist against you. People can sense hatred and you my friend have it written all over you. Just be happy you live in a white dominated community safe in your Utah bubble.

          • comments March 7, 2018 at 8:40 pm

            I don’t have anything against mexicans or hispanics per say. Just if you’re with a group of them in almost any context you’ll always be “the gringo”. You leftists are naive and willfully ignorant of the fact that human nature leads people to bond most strongly with others of their own race, or at least with people of their own skin tones, since I’m not sure hispanic is actually a race. Plus, even if fluent in english, it’ll always be fellow spanish speakers that are “their people”. One of these days maybe you’ll grow up and quit living in your leftist fairytale world.

    • No Filter March 7, 2018 at 3:59 pm

      Sounds like you are a believer in alternative facts. Did you ever stop to think that maybe homosexual people don’t like you either? And the fact that you believe women aren’t equal to men, you just lost all credit as a man, you are a pig. If you are wondering why everyone suddenly hates you then maybe you should look in the mirror. You likely have white racist homophobic womanizer written all over it.

      • comments March 7, 2018 at 8:44 pm

        You remind me of “theone” on here. That one (‘the one’, LOL) is also a woman.

        And I’m assuming she’s a real woman and not some kind of trans or ‘gender fluid’ BS that you kooks cook up. I’d hope you’re a real one too……

  • commonsense March 6, 2018 at 9:00 pm

    More vitriol Ed. Obama was elected by white people so the racism crap doesn’t play. Had he not betrayed us, he would have had a legacy. As it turns out, he divided us and left America in more debt, less employed, higher taxed, with worse healthcare and a weaker military. Racism broiled and business stifled with regulation and unfair trade agreements.

    Using analytics rather than emotion, Trump is doing well. Political parties aside America is undoing eight years of torture. Everyone has a job and is taking home more money. The bad parts of Obamacare were repealed and hundreds of business regs were scrapped by executive order. The military is stronger and law enforcement is empowered to rid the country of dangerous criminals.

    • Utahguns March 6, 2018 at 10:21 pm

      Your comment strikes me as pure common sense.
      Well done.

    • comments March 7, 2018 at 11:07 am

      Baby Bush II was able to nearly collapse the entire economic system. Obama did a fairly good job bringing it back from the brink, all things considered. In my view the donald is coasting along on obama era policy– maybe adding to it slightly, if at all.

      At the end of the 08 Bush economic crash the banksters stole trillions from this country and got away with it. Both R and D parties are ruled by bankster corporatists and so are we. They’re untouchable. They’re the top of the power structure.

      So your old “it’s all obama’s fault” is a load of total BS. wake up

  • dodgers March 7, 2018 at 5:20 am

    -The anger and hatred from the left continue
    -McCain represents the establishment, business as usual and is a huge war monger
    -Mueller will continue his investigation until he finds a crime. (ass-backwards)
    -There was Russian collusion, that must be investigated, i.e. Trump dossier, Uranium One.
    -The swamp is REAL, recently showing its ugly head within the DOJ & FBI, and their methods to obtain FISA warrants
    -We need a second special counsel appointed to investigate the FISA abuses
    -Finally, a president is getting some traction with North Korea. Kudos to President Trump
    -Many millions are getting an increase in their take home pay. Kudos to President Trump
    -Lots of accomplishments within the first 14 months, including a greatly improved economy.
    -President Trump has put an extremely aggressive offer on the table to address DACA. The Dems are suddenly silent, apparently not really wanting to solve the issue
    -Yes, our Congress, on both sides of the aisle, continues to fail.

    • bikeandfish March 7, 2018 at 12:58 pm

      The FISA authorization was legal despite Nunes’s false politicizing. You clearly don’t understand the details of the dossier if you think it deserves a special investigator. And Uranium One is yet another political red herring.

      Trump destroyed DACA to weaponize it politically, its an example of a swamp creature’s behavior.

      Mueller’s job is to follow the evidence, and he has. He has an honored career investigating and indicting individuals without any partisan interference. He’s already indicted several for crimes and likely will find more. That said, we have no clue what else, if anything, he’ll find with the Trump campaign. That remains to be seen.

      • comments March 7, 2018 at 3:48 pm

        its an example of a swamp creature’s behavior.”

        LOL

    • bikeandfish March 7, 2018 at 1:03 pm

      PS… I’ll enjoy the continued economic betterment just like I did after Obama healed it from Bush’s recession. If you claim Trump’s success there then you have to accept Obama’s economic success as well as the same stats bear both truths out. I’ll also enjoy our extra tax money but also recognize its coming at a possible trillion dollar a year deficit after Obama decreased it for years. But i have no control over Trump and Republicans increasing that burden on the rest of us.

  • Common Sense March 7, 2018 at 7:20 am

    As I read this article I kept patiently waiting for the “fact” parts and then I got to the end and none of that happened.

  • Robert March 8, 2018 at 1:00 pm

    Ill-planned Revolution?
    That cannot be further from the truth. The idea that this revolution is just a bunch of trivial grudges is silly and ignores the reasons why this country broke from Great Britain. During the Civil War, Lincoln overthrew our Constitutional Republic, as written by our founders, and created a centralized state, with power concentrated in Washington. Since Lincoln, the process has been an ever-progressing centralization of power in the hands of unelected bureaucrats to the point that now, States, local governments, families and individuals have very little power. Most important decisions are made by unelected bureaucrats. If you do not believe me, consider:How easy is it for the state to take away your children if you ‘misbehave’ in some way that is not in the liking of some bureaucrat. Or suppose you are a senior citizen and want to continue to drive, but some bureaucrats says you are too old, even though you are not? Or what about the ‘auto safety’ laws which require that you have your car inspected yearly to make sure it is ‘safe’. Even the State of Utah finally recognized the stupidity of that law and does not require auto safety inspections.
    These kinds of laws affect us all and are made by unelected bureaucrats that come ultimately from the social engineers in Washington.
    We need to get rid of MANY federal agencies, so that future socialist administration busybodies cannot easily resurrect and impose new ‘tyrannies’. If these agencies are eliminated, it is much harder to justify new laws. We need to be free to make our own decisions without the many busy bodies who have axes to grind to use the thousands of rules that have been passed to justify their prejudices. In other words, we need to get rid of the agencies to get rid of the rules.
    Trump is doing just that by eliminating thousands of regulations, and the busybody socialists do not like it. Maybe they will have to have to find honest jobs.

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