At the end of each year, as a new year is about to be born, we take a moment to reflect on the past and on what the new year might bring. According to the CDC—if anything they say can be believed—current American life expectancy for men is 74.8 years and for women, 80.2 years. There’s that white male privilege again.

Graphic: Old Father Time statue, Sandringham, Norfolk - geograph.org.uk.  Wikimedia common.org. CC A-SA 2.0.

For the past six years I’ve been writing about the probability of a second civil war.  That’s a hot civil war. The cold civil war, mostly fought on the cultural battlefield, continues apace. With the election of Donald Trump and the promise of substantial swamp draining I’ve downgraded from probability to possibility. 

What we’re dealing with is hubris—excessive pride—which inevitably leads to disaster. As always, much depends on which path Americans take: the path of liberty or the path of totalitarianism. One side—Democrats/socialists/communists (D/s/cs)—believe in equality of outcome—equity. They believe not only in big government, but that government can never be big enough. They’re the self-imagined, credentialed elite, the morally and intellectually superior, the expert class whose policies, like themselves, are perfect, non-falsifiable. They know America is evil, systemically racist, oppressive and just plain stupid and it’s their destiny to fundamentally transform it, to create the new, D/s/c man. They alone are qualified to recreate human nature into what they know it can and must be: a mirror image of themselves. They are their higher power.

On the other side are Normal Americans, largely but not exclusively Republicans. Politics do not consume them. Because most are Christian they know they’re fallen, sinners, and they labor to be worthy of God’s promise. They aren’t entitled. They expect to work for what they have and expect to be judged on their abilities and effort. Working, treating others with sincerity and kindness, caring for their families and going about the innumerable small things that make up daily American life are their focus. They believe in the Constitution and the rule of law, in equal opportunity and merit. While many have credentials they know experience and demonstrated ability are most important. They know things, do things, invent and make things. They’re the people who make America work. They don’t care about race and gender. They judge others as Martin Luther King urged: on the content of their character. They know they can’t change human nature, but they might help others change themselves, one soul at a time.

The next four years will largely determine which of those views of America, of human nature, will prevail. If Donald Trump succeeds in draining the swamp, in clearing the deadwood and malice from the federal work force, we’ll have the opportunity to see just how much of that non-work force was not only unnecessary but detrimental to the republic. Not “our democracy,” but to our constitutional, representative republic, where elected officials and every federal employee are hired hands, accountable to the Americans who hired them, duty bound to serve them and the ideals that created and sustain our republic.

That too is a fundamental difference in outlook. D/s/cs virtually never say “representative republic,” choosing instead “our democracy.” This is a very conscious choice, a matter of narrative and messaging, an attempt to define the terms of the debate and in so doing win before a word is spoken. “Our democracy” is a tyranny of the majority, totalitarianism dressed up in Sunday clothes. Our representative republic limits them in every way, in rhetoric, in intent, in power, and the self-imagined elite accept no limitations.

Looking back on the last year, on the last four years, Americans saw enormous damage to the republic and to their personal hopes and fortunes. Aroused from the hard work of daily living, of maintaining and building America they ignored the D/s/c media and informed themselves, went to the polls in numbers that overwhelmed the margin of fraud and voted themselves and America another chance.

Hopefully, enough of them also understand if America is to prosper, if it is to survive, they’ll have to be more involved in politics on a daily basis. They’re going to need to hold congressional Republicans’ feet to the fire. They’re going to have to demand actual, not rhetorical accountability. They’re going to have to demand the truth about every crime the Harris/Biden Administration committed, about every scandal, every hoax. They’re going to have to demand an end to DEI, CRT, every facet of wokeness, and a return of merit and sanity.

At least now, those things and so much more are possible, perhaps even likely. But they’re still going to stock up on ammunition, guns and other supplies, because they understand human nature. They also understand their only true privilege was being born American. In 2024, we may discover, all over again, how much that’s worth.

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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.