Category: Society & Culture

A Black Swan May Be The Only Thing That Will Stop This Madness

America, Economy, Emergency Preparedness, History, Society & Culture

In my previous post I concluded that it may take a cataclysmic event to restore sanity to our nation. I’m not talking about the price of eggs or gas skyrocketing, or store shelves being empty for a few days. I’m talking about something that will cause even the most dumbed-down, brain-addled, handheld-screen-addicted person to pick his or her head up and say, “Wow, maybe some things are more important than what the Kardashians are up to this week!”

I’ve long said that Economics is the dismal science, an academic exercise in futility, and while it may be fun and may earn a whole raft of propeller-heads an income, even wealth, it’s really only mental masturbation of the highest order.

Why do I say this? Because economics deals with building “models” that describe what the panoply of pulled levers have caused in the past with the hope that those models will help us predict the future. The fundamental problem with these models, however, is that they depend on two flawed assumptions: 1) the “rational man” and 2) the “absence of an outside shock”.

In case you haven’t been paying attention let me state the obvious:

First, there is no such thing as a rational man (or woman). All human beings are driven, at least in part if not entirely, by feelings, perceptions, etc., what I’d characterize as “squishy stuff”, NOT rational, analytical thought.

And, as we have all seen, “outside shocks” OCCUR ALL THE TIME! They differ in magnitude, of course, but they destroy models’ explanations of the past and their usefulness as predictors of the future.

Nevertheless, thousands of economists and bureaucrats pontificate endlessly on the overarching topics that impact our daily lives and GET PAID TO DO SO! Sometimes they’re right, more often they’re wrong, but they persevere.

In his famous book, Nassim Nicholas Taleb defines a Black Swan as an improbable event with three basic characteristics: it is unpredictable, it has massive impact, and after the fact, explanations are concocted to make it appear less random.

Examples of past Black Swan events include: the 2000 Do-Com Crash, 9-11, the Fall of Lehman Brothers, the Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear Disasters, BREXIT, and most recently, COVID.

None of these were severe enough to wake people up. The effects, though severe, were not of such duration that people got serious about paying attention to things that matter.

Now we’re sufficiently far down the slippery slope, there is sufficient chaos, there is enough “information” flak in the air, that only a really BIG Black Swan of significant duration will, in my opinion, bring us back to REAL Reality!

So, what might such a Black Swan consist of?

China invading Taiwan
Israel nuking Tehran
The North Koreans launching a nuke at Japan
The San Andreas fault creating Nevada beach-front property
Tactical nukes get used in Ukraine
NATO deploys troops to Ukraine
The Stock Market crashes
The Yellowstone Volcano erupts
Biden resigns and Harris becomes President and Michele Obama becomes Vice President (threw this one in because it is such a frightening nightmare!)
A terrorist attack on the 9 key substations takes down the electrical grid for from 3 months to a year
Another, more deadly virus gets out of a lab
A coronal mass ejection REALLY hits Earth and wipes out much of what is electronic

I could conjure up more… These are just some “known unknowns”. A Black Swan is by definition an “unknown unknown”!

That one about a protracted blackout is the one that worries me the most. Three weeks without electricity and we’re in trouble. Three months without electricity and we’re in a shit-hit-the-fan, possibly even TEOTWAKI (The End of the World As We Know It) situation. I urge my readers to think about this stuff. The time to prepare for a Black Swan walking up your driveway isn’t after it’s already at your front door. It’s not as if we haven’t been forewarned and as if we don’t see how vulnerable our country and society is.

No Silver Bullets, No Easy Answers

America, Emergency Preparedness, Government, Headlines, Reason, Society & Culture, Values

Since the election, through the Holidays, now well into the New Year, I’ve been thinking about the answer to the question, “What now?”.

Sorting through the “news” each day, I can’t help but see more and more confusion over what is true, what is falsehood, what is sensationalism, what is understatement. The one word to describe our state of affairs is: CHAOS.

I don’t see any cohesive strategy, any clear direction, any comprehensible plan to either ‘make our country great again’ or ‘take it back’ or ‘drain the swamp’ or ‘root out corruption’. I see little to no consequences for malfeasance, for lying, for theft, for waste, for self-abusive destruction of what has since its inception been the greatest country in the world.

‘Common sense’ is no longer common.

Demagoguery,, self-delusion, obsequiousness and self-centeredness are common.

Psychologists call it ‘other-directed’. Fewer and fewer people think critically much less skeptically. Individualism has given way to herd instinct. Emotions rule – no one spends the time to think rationally.

What was fringe is now mainstream. Pushbacks against what would in other time be considered lunacy are met with overwhelming, crushing condemnation. It’s as if the one reasonable person standing in the middle of a valley is being charged by thousands of buffalo. Just read the responses on Twitter or any other social medium to a ‘traditional’ statement or viewpoint.

I’ve long thought that the way to change the course of our national ship is with good leadership, with the development of new Hollywood heroes who successfully fight and win against the encroaching and increasingly pervasive evil infecting our society, with ‘reality’ hitting Gen X and Gen Z such that they awaken from their folly.

It ain’t happening! The megaphone afforded by the Internet puts power in the hands of the deleterious, the destructive, the Evil. On one hand it improves lives. On the other hand, it destroys them.

It’s not just artificial intelligence that has supplanted real intelligence. Social media and the ubiquitous handheld phone/tablet/computer combined is now an addiction.

Pew Research tells us:

  • 46% of teens say they use the internet “almost constantly”
  • 48% of teens say they go online several times a day
  • 48% of teenage girls say they’re online “almost constantly”
  • 43% of teenage boys say they’re online “almost constantly”

Look around you. It’s not just teenagers. So long as our society continues to descend into an artificial reality, fundamental human priorities will be back-burnered, what’s important neglected, what’s moral diminished, what’s good scoffed at.

No hero, no charismatic leader, no game of whack-a-mole is going to turn this around. Artificial reality has become Real Reality!

Thus I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that it will take some kind of cataclysmic event to wake up society and get people serious again. A Black Swan. Something that completely shatters what I will call Artificial Delusion and return us to basics.

It’s long past time to prepare for that Black Swan event.

An Exceptional Article Worth Reading

America, Government, Headlines, Society & Culture

As I have often said, there are many who say it like I wish I could have said it. The following article, found on American Thinker January 11, 2023, is an example. J.B. Shurk expertly lays out the case for “we the people” pushing back on government. I strongly urge you to read the full article which can be found here. Some excerpts:

“Ordinary people have extraordinary power. Don’t believe me? Watch what happens if tens of millions ever decide to close their bank accounts all at once. Or critical sectors of the workforce decide to stay home for weeks. Or a sizable percentage of the population refuses to obey arbitrary and capricious government orders. When citizens become fed up enough to take matters into their own hands, those with government-bestowed titles learn quickly how little power those vaunted titles actually have.”

“Nothing is so certain as death and taxes,” the old proverb goes, but it might just as accurately be said of almost all governments throughout history that those in charge will extract from those under their thumb either death or taxes — and often both. Force is the only language most governments know, although that force is often disguised as being performed for the people’s “own good.” As it turns out, force is generally sufficient for corralling humans into their government-controlled pens, especially if there are carrots or other treats inside to keep them content, if not particularly happy. When those pens have nothing attractive to offer and become overrun with filth, however, then those doing the corralling must resort to more and more force in order to make their captives obey.”

“It is not the American way, however, for citizens to live higgledy-piggledy under the ambiguous reign of one government dictate to the next. It is not American for an unelected bureaucracy to create rules out of thin air and enforce them upon the people through agency prerogative and regulation. It is not American for presidents to legislate through executive order.”

“It is not American for congresses to conduct show trials against American citizens or to demand that tech companies censor points of view. It is not American for courts to scribble over the Constitution whenever expedient. It is not American for the Department of (in)Justice to persecute citizens for their political beliefs or for the FBI to act as a lethal enforcer against the regime’s political enemies.”

“It is not American for there to be so many criminal statutes that no American could possibly know them all, let alone confidently act without fear of sanction. It is not American for there to be so many government agencies and divisions that no American could capably draw a diagram listing their roles and functions.”

It is not American for the government to champion its secular religion over the moral tenets of Americans’ spiritual faiths. It is not American for the government to ignore the will of its citizens and subvert immigration law by leaving its borders unprotected and wide open. It is not American for an amorphous Intelligence Community to spy on American citizens with neither warrant nor probable cause. It is not American for the news media to be so co-opted by the State that they almost universally support the government’s talking points — no matter how ludicrous and unsupported — while taking aim at dissenting citizens’ debate.

It is not normal for a “government of the people” to regularly denigrate its citizens as racists, extremists, deplorables, terrorists, misogynists, bigots, and rubes. It is not normal for any government claiming to be “for the people” to declare half the nation “enemies of the State.”

“These are the acts of a government committed to using intimidation, violence, and other forms of coercion in order to get its way.”

The Christmas Story

America, Religion, Society & Culture, Values

I am dismayed by how many people do not know the story of the birth of Christ. Sure, there are cartoons and videos and picture books that depict the sequence of events, all with high production values to capture the attention of young and old in a world of instant gratification, shiny objects (.sic) and eye-popping visuals, but even I had to stop and think about the main points as I prepared to recount the story to my grandkids this Christmas. They’re still too young and squirmy for me to read it to them from the Bible but I take a few minutes, have their parents hold them down, and remind them of what the Christ is Christmas is all about.

We can lament how commercialism has overtaken the significance of what happened over two thousand years ago, but unless we pause at some point during the next few days and think about it, another year will rush by.

So for those of us with short attention spans or those who wish to recount the story to others without a PowerPoint presentation… here goes:

  • Joseph and Mary are living in Nazareth when one day an angel, Gabriel, appears to Mary and tells her she is going to have a baby boy who is the Son of God and that she is to name him Jesus.
  • Mary travels to visit her cousin Elizabeth who is also going to have a baby (John) and when Mary enters Elizabeth’s house, Elizabeth’s baby jumps in her womb and Elizabeth immediately knows that Mary is carrying the Holy Child. Mary spends three months with Elizabeth, then returns to Nazareth.
  • Caesar demands a census be taken so he can tax everyone, and everyone is to head to their traditional home city which for Joseph and Mary was Bethlehem, about 70 miles south of Nazareth.
  • When they arrive in Bethlehem, there is no room available for them in the “inn”.
  • They are told to spend the night where the sheep were kept. Mary gives birth to Jesus, wraps him in swaddling clothes, and places him in a manger.
  • Shepherds living out in the fields nearby keeping watch over their flocks at night are terrified by an angel that appears to them.
  • The angel says to them, “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”
  • Suddenly a great company of additional angels appear praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
  • When the angels retreat to heaven, the shepherds decide to go find the baby the angel spoke of.
  • The shepherds head to Bethlehem where they find Joseph and Mary and the baby lying in a manger. They tell everyone about what the angels had told them about the baby, and they go back to their flocks praising God for all they had seen and heard.
  • Mary had been told by the angel Gabriel that she was to name her son Jesus, but when he was eight days old, according to Hebrew tradition, the baby was officially given the name Jesus.

So what does this have to do with the price of eggs or gas, or the open border, or the election shenanigans, or the crises in our cities, or government corruption? In truth, it has to do with ALL of it. The Lord’s prescriptions really aren’t complicated or ambiguous. They’re straightforward and virtually all of our current problems can be traced to either violations of the Ten Commandments or Gospel Law.

As for me and my house, this year and every year I will insist that we pause to reflect on the real meaning of Christmas.

Hope yours is merry and that 2023 will be better for all of us. Hang in there and may God bless us all!

Changing The Basic Concepts Of Society

America, Media, Morality, Reason, Society & Culture, Values

As I read about the soon to be passed, euphemistically named “Respect for Marriage Act” I shake my head once again at the Left’s success at changing the definition of fundamental concepts to suit their agenda. It’s all ok, of course, because this is meant to be “progressive” and move us further toward that utopian fantasy where we can “all just get along”.

The skill with which the Left (i.e. Democrats) are able to use the media and high production values to beguile or bludgeon us into changing what we name concepts and thus continue to insidiously change society as a whole is astonishing.

“Illegal Alien” is now “Undocumented Immigrant”.

“Global Warming” is now “Climate Change”.

“Sex Change Operation” is now “Gender Affirming Care”

“Male and Female” is “Sex Fluidity”, “Non-Binary” or any number of other ridiculous labels

“AR 15 Style Rifle” is “Assault Weapon”

“Utopian Absurdity” is “Progressive”

And now, in a reversal of the “Defense of Marriage Act” passed under the Clinton Administration, this “Respect for Marriage Act” changes a definition that has existed since Adam and Eve.

On the one hand, I get it that in some ways calling the committed relationship between same sex couples “marriage” is a shortcut way to ensure that, for example, a same-sex “spouse” enjoys the same rights and benefits as a heterosexual spouse in everything from hospital visits to probate law. On the other hand, these inequities were already being addressed with laws and policies being incrementally changed under the rubric “civil unions”.

What galls me is the degree to which the Left has sought, in many cases successfully, to shove their ideology down our throats. The LBGTQXXX invasion of our school curriculum is another example. Cancel culture, the designation “deniers” of this or that…all are meant to shame and or/demonize what has traditionally been the norm since the beginning of time.

In short, the tail is wagging the dog. A small minority of green or multi-colored haired, aberrant deviants, given a very loud megaphone by the “cool ones”…i.e. the unproductive losers who make up the majority of the print, televised and social media, funded by megalomaniacal, power-hungry and bent-on-domination godzillionaires, are destroying everything that made our country, and society in general, the most prosperous and civilized in the history of mankind. All so they can feel good about themselves, in the case of the deviants, or for power advancement, in the case of the puppet-string pullers.

Not only is the Left successfully changing the meaning of things, it is also successfully demeaning, censoring, blasting any voice that dares utter opposition to this civilizational suicide. Comparisons with Germany in the 30’s and what has repeatedly happened in totalitarian regimes across the globe aside, what’s happening to 2020’s America is nothing less than the necrosis of the greatest civilization in world history.

Can it be halted? Can it be reversed? I think so. For the good of my children, my grandchildren, my fellow-Americans and for all sane and traditional-minded human beings around the world, I pray so.

Finally!

America, Elections, Government, Headlines, Media, Politics, Reason, Society & Culture

It was ugly, but we’ll take the win. My worst case scenario materialized – we took the House but not the Senate. Blame can be placed wherever you want. Firing Nancy Pelosi and being able to block the Biden administration idiocy and masochism was a critical precedent for climbing back up the slippery slope.

Trump running? If, and that’s a huge if, he can stay on message and not revert to his childish name-calling and belittling tactics, he just might, and it’s a tough bet, win over enough independents to win in 2024. Some big if’s there. More likely, everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, is tired of the antics, the self-aggrandizement, the narcissism, the self-promotion. If he’d just act his age instead of like a schoolyard bully who put on a clean shirt to run for student body president, we have a shot at winning it all in 2024. But if the Dems recruit Tulsi Gabbard or Joe Manchin or some similarly popular and populist figure, Trump will go down in flames.

As much as we’d like to think that performance record is the determining factor in how people pull the lever on election day, it ain’t! This election proved that. How on earth could the Red Wave not have materialized given the Left’s performance record?

They won because of OTHER factors: visceral factors; clever marketing and merchandising; good production values in the pro and con messaging, and, of course, exploitation of the rule changes, habitual and proven cheating methods and above all, the hundreds of millions of dollars of free propaganda supplied by the main stream media.

That Lurch (Fetterman) could have won in Pennsylvania, or pre-adolescent Hobbs in Arizona, is testament to the gullibility of the masses and the ability of the MSM to manipulate perception, thus reality.

So on we go. If this next House doesn’t get its act together and learn how to fight, how to use their newly acquired power to stymie the Left’s agenda and fully expose, prosecute and perp-walk their rampant corruption, the pendulum will swing back to the dark side ever more powerfully next time.

You can’t win by pointing out the other guy’s a fool. You have to beat him at his own game, and if you’re not fighting on your chosen ground but his, i.e. on a field occupied by dumbed-down, dependent losers, you have to be a better Santa Claus. Parents have the hardest time teaching their children right and wrong. The GOP are the adult parents, and the Democrat Left are, predominantly, the immature, dysfunctional, self-absorbed and prodigal children.

Time for some tough love. I hope McCarthy and the GOP can apply it.

Why?

America, Elections, Government, Headlines, Media, Reason, Society & Culture, Values

The elephant in my room is large and gray. Why did we not crush/sweep/bury the Democrats in this election? With, ostensibly, 75% of the American public saying we’re going in the wrong direction, with inflation, an open border, unchecked crime, energy dependence, stunted education, outright lying, corruption and tyranny at every level of government, with candidates like Fetterman and Hobbs and Hochul even in contention, with so-called leadership in the hands of incompetents and fools like Biden, Pelosi, Schumer, etc., how could there have been any question but that the Republicans would sweep the Democrats from control of Congress?

Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not going to answer the question. There are analysts and pundits wracking their brains and working overtime trying to figure it out.

Frankly, I feared this might happen. Our elation and excitement, then our pre-election hubris was a warning sign.

As I’ve noted a hundred times, the Left was and remains bent on creating chaos, just as Alinsky prescribed. Deftly using the propaganda machine on a now-dumbed down populace, they have created perceptions that have shaped reality for at least half and maybe more of us. Chaos so obscures that weak minds can and were and remain susceptible to the lies and nonsense saturating the airwaves, on both sides.

America isn’t just polarized at this point. It’s balkanized! There is no clean dividing line…the ideological landscape is splotchy…pockets of red and blue intermingled but directly proportional to population concentration. By that I mean, where people are concentrated in the cities it’s blue. As the population thins, it goes from pink to red. Why? Because losers, the unproductive huddle where they can be fed and clothed and taken care of, and concentrations of power and money in the hands of a cabal of Leftist megalomaniacs that can be doled out and used to control the people are attractive to the indolent, the unmotivated, the uninformed. They just want their Obama phones!

The productive, the self-reliant, the industrious, lovers of freedom, truth and meritocracy, don’t tend to concentrate at all. The more elbow-room they have, the more free they feel and the more self-determining they can be. They just want to be left alone to care for themselves and their loved ones. They are red.

Step back for a moment and look at how far we as a nation have descended down the slippery slope. We are now questioning the very essence of humanity…what is a man, what is a woman? We legalize brain-altering substances; we force compliance with unproven and as it turns out, ineffective “cures”; a blind eye is turned towards not just petty but even heinous crime; corruption permeates and has destroyed virtually every institution. The media, writ large, dominates our discourse. Gone are dinner table discussions. Gone is civility. Gone is the unifying influence of faith and dedication to country that once guided us.

Ayn Rand is turning in her grave as person after person shoots themselves in the foot! Half of us won’t even be driven by logical self-interest! Rather, we have allowed ourselves to be subjugated to circumstances that HURT US! How stupid can so many of us be?

And it’s not just happening here in the U.S. It is happening all over the Western World. Any student of history will tell you that what we are witnessing is a repeat of the demise of all the great civilizations. We are past the apogee and in a flat spin plummeting towards a state where third world countries and ideologies are now rising while we fall.

This election was expected to be the turning point, a significant advance back up the slippery slope. Instead, we must now regroup back at the bottom, lick our wounds and coalesce so as to fight the cancer that prevents us from healing. However, we need to forget about trying to unify the whole country. We need to unify ourselves first! We need to identify and rally behind a leader or leaders who will inspire us to set aside our rugged individualism for the good of the whole. We need to organize and speak and act with one voice as the Left so successfully does. We need to use their Alinsky techniques on THEM! We must surround, isolate, belittle, neutralize and eradicate the cancer pocket by pocket.

Let’s study what happened and pray the path back up the slippery slope becomes clearer and better lit.

On A Positive Note

America, Faith, Family, Morality, Society & Culture, Values

With permission from a friend and reader, I reprint a heartwarming letter from him to his naval officer son as the latter leaves for deployment on one of our great Navy ships. It captures just about everything a God-fearing, patriotic American would and should hold true.

“Dear Son,

Today you start writing the story of the next chapter of your life. Time to flip the switch from student to professional. From this day forward you will be judged by what you say,  what you do, and how you present yourself. All future opportunities in the organization will depend on people’s perception of you and only you can manage that. Always be mindful of your leadership position and the responsibility that attaches.

Grow thick skin. Much stress, feedback and ball busting dead ahead. Your bosses will test you to see how you handle it. Manage response and body language. Never give the bastards the satisfaction.

Embrace the chain of command and resist the trap of micro management. Let your NCOs know what needs to be done and when and turn them loose. Let them deal with the enlisted bullshit, stay above the fray. Delegation is a key management skill. Give your team responsibility and authority to complete tasks and monitor and mentor for compliance. It instills trust both ways and inspires loyalty.

First 30 days: mouth shut, eyes and ears open. Old quote: “Better to be silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt”.  Identify the competent, smart team members and develop relationships but always maintain a degree of professional separation with subordinates.

Lead by example. Appearance, demeanor, language, knowledge etc. Be the “Boss” they will remember as a professional who was competent and had their backs.

Take care of your people. Be fair and just. Do what you know in your heart is right.

Giving people a voice is a great tool and has always worked for me. You may not be able to give them what they want or agree, but they will appreciate the opportunity to present their perspective and ultimately accept your decisions.

Learn from and respect seniors and always maintain an open mind. Listen to their endless war/sea stories with great interest and they will embrace you. Take pearls of wisdom from each and build into your management style/approach.

Finally, head on a swivel, when things start going sideways…slow it down. When the shit starts people will look to you for calm leadership. Inevitably mistakes and accidents will happen. Make reasonable decisions… but make a goddamn decision. Indecisiveness is a poison to the team and mission. Assess all available information, consider options and pick the best path forward.

Take ownership of the good and bad. No excuses only explanations of thought processes and lessons learned.

Finally, be safe and take great care. I love you with all my heart and am indescribably proud of you.

Life starts to speed up now…enjoy the ride.

Fair winds and following seas my boy!

Much love,

Dad”

To which I add, “God Speed”!

Dignity, Honor, Majesty

Religion, Society & Culture, Values, World Affairs

Spent all day watching the Queen’s funeral. We often note how “no one does pageantry like the Brits” but they outdid themselves today, establishing a standard of excellence that may never be equaled. I texted my English brother-in-law sharing a selfie of my wife and me watching the ceremonies with the words underneath, “Words Fail”. Indeed they did. Only later did Extraordinary Dignity, Honor and Majesty come to mind and no more needed to be said. Once again, tradition, culture, custom and decorum were on display, as were the poignant scenes of thousands upon thousands of people heartfeltly honoring Elizabeth II.

I was struck by the deeply religious and reverent tone of the proceedings. Never in our own country would such a profound respect be given to religious belief in general, and Christianity in particular. Kudos to the British monarchy. Despite welcoming so many people of other faiths into their country, their steadfast allegiance to Christ and Church remain. England makes no bones about being a “Christian Nation”. Can you imagine Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer or virtually any other politician other than perhaps Pastor Mike Huckabee openly proclaiming anything close to that?

The Godless Left in America have all but succeeded in banishing Christianity from government and virtually every state institution.

As I watched the profoundly touching and deeply emotional proceedings today I was once again reminded why it is that I am a Traditionalist. What we witnessed was grounded, solid. The order, precision, highest standards of excellence, TRADITION, exhibited by not just those who participated directly, but also by the British people, were exemplary and things of which they can and may always be immensely proud.

I am ashamed for those times I’ve not exhibited the grace and poise I should in the face of adversity, controversy, hardship, loss but I am grateful for the example once again upheld by the British Royal Family of how the privileged, blessed and called should comport themselves.

But it is Tradition like that adhered to today: heritage, culture, class, dignity, honor and majesty, that ALL human beings should aspire to.

Rest In Peace Queen Elizabeth

Family, Headlines, History, Politics, Society & Culture, Values

Writers far more articulate than I are crafting tributes and condolences which pour in from across the globe. Flower bouquets are piling up at the gates of Balmoral and at Buckingham Palace. Years from now the question will be asked, “Where were you when the Queen died?” Momentous events etch indelible images and circumstances in our minds. We can all recall where we were on 9-11. Those of us who were around will recall where we were when Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon.

What can I add?

She was many things, but I would characterize the life of Queen Elizabeth as the embodiment of Traditionalism. She was its archetype. While talking heads will continue the debate as to whether a monarchy, even a constitutional one, is or is not an anachronism, the fact that in 2022 it exists and is still much revered is testament to what I believe is a human longing for the Traditional.

“Modern”, “Post-Modern”, “Contemporary” and the repulsive “Progressive” are all synonyms for what I might call “Anti-Traditionalism”. I spend most of my time and writing excoriating the values and behaviors of those to whom these labels can be applied so I won’t do so here.

I have long argued, on the other hand, that there are principles, values and human norms or standards that transcend all periods of time, all epochs, all generations. They are immutable and exist whether or not they are acknowledged by some or all of the world’s population. Some are couched in religious terms. Some in political. Some in sociological.

Among these are acknowledgment that irrespective of our circumstances every human being has worth, has inalienable rights, has a soul and free will. Honor and respect for the family, meritocracy, diligent work ethics, absolute values of right and wrong, honesty in business practices, wholesomeness in leadership, respect for authority, moderation rather than excess, self-responsibility, charity, trustworthiness, loyalty, helpfulness, friendliness, courteousness, kindness and above all, reverence.

Think of Queen Elizabeth II in these terms and you will realize she exuded ALL of them!

By way of contrast, try to apply these terms to the political class and wealthy elites, the so-called “leaders” of today.

Ok, you can stop now…you won’t find too many examples of them being exhibited, especially by Leftists and the majority of Democrats but also too many on the Right. You certainly won’t find the whole array in any one person.

Queen Elizabeth was the exception. She manifested them ALL, every day, in every place, in virtually every circumstance.

The so-called “leaders” of today all occupy space on the world stage due to their positions. Yes she was a Queen, but she took up the whole stage because of who she WAS, not because of her office. The only leader in my lifetime who exhibited anything close to her in terms of allegiance to Traditional values was Ronald Reagan.

Queen Elizabeth’s entire life was and will always be a monument to Tradition, to what in my judgment are the values and principles which when espoused and practiced by mankind have resulted in the greatest good for the greatest number of people. She lived it with dignity, with class, with noblesse oblige, with grace and with honor. Kudos is due her, as are praise, gratitude and the utmost respect for her contribution to the human story.

Rest in peace Elizabeth and may God bless your family at this painful time.

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