Thomas Wolfe, a novelist, poet, and essayist extraordinaire, wrote, You Can’t go Home Again. Kamala Harris has adopted as her campaign slogan, “We can’t go back.” It is beyond irony, well into the realm of blasphemy, to suppose that the Harris campaign was inspired by Wolfe. That someone who uses words as if they were nothing more than shards of iceberg lettuce, a crushed tomato, and a bit of chopped radish and cucumber was inspired by a man who crafted words much as Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings and Albert Einstein explored the mysteries of the universe, defies belief.

Wolfe’s quote was a lamentation for what he recognized as a better place and time, expressed in his masterpiece Look Homeward, Angel. Anyone who has crossed the ‘best used by date’ in their life is likely to have nostalgic dreams of those places and times. But his quote was far more than a dismissal of time travel. It was a recognition of ships that have sailed and water regrettably over the dam. As much as we would love to recapture the spirit and comfort of those days, we recognize the futility of those desires.

The Harris campaign slogan is nothing more than gaslighted demagoguery directed at a recoverable time. Her refusal to answer the question of whether or not we are better off today than we were four years ago under the Trump administration speaks volumes. Slogans and bumper stickers can attempt to lead you in any direction. The truth unfailingly points due north. That truth says that we, as individuals and as a nation, are undeniably in worse shape than we were four years ago.

The weaponization of the DoJ by the Biden-Harris administration has failed to prevent the possibility of returning to the Trump years. The media campaigns of misdirection, outright lies, and invective, which may have incentivized two failed assassination attempts, have thus far not derailed the possibility of a re-emergence of a great American era.

It appears that divine intervention has played a more significant role in the protection of former President Donald Trump than have the efforts of the Secret Service or Department of Homeland Security. This is not meant to imply that God is on Trump’s side. It suggests to me that He is on America’s side, and is giving us the opportunity to return to better times, likely more in keeping with His wishes for our nation.

Whether we choose to make the most of that opportunity is up to the voting public, and hopefully not fraudulent vote counting or harvesting efforts. We can discount Wolfe’s words because we have not sailed too far from our home port. The place and people are still there waiting for our return. But we must reject Harris’s campaign slogan, which attempts to disparage those better times and keep us from recovering America’s greatness. I don’t believe Wolfe would deny us the short return trip home. On the other hand, Kamala must be left with nothing to cackle about. 

Bill Hansmann is a dentist and dental educator with over fifty years in the profession. He continues to teach and write political blogs and semi-mediocre novels while living with his wife and cats in Georgia.

Image: Gage Skidmore