The Guillotine

Written By: Evan Jones

What The Hell's Going On Around Here?

Make no mistake: the United States finds itself in the early stages of a revolution. The protests, the riots, the sentiment, the conversation are all early skirmishes. This revolution isn't what it purports to be, though, and they seldom are. It's not about race or in fact not really even about George Floyd, the man which supposedly sparked the revolution in the first place. It's really about something deeper. The word "systemic" is thrown around a lot, and what is happening is an attempted systemic dismantling of the Old United States to make way for the New United States. Whether the revolution will succeed or fizzle and what we will look like on the other side of it is still being determined. The early skirmishes are still happening. The battle lines are still being drawn. But there cannot be any other conclusion than it is an attempted revolution.

A Second American Revolution may have been inevitable. It likely was if the United States survived long enough. Change is a law of the universe. Change into chaos is a law of the universe. Anything can only hold on so long. Plenty have already remarked that we may indeed be heading down that path sooner rather than later. The chasms between ideologies and values and worldviews is all too obvious if you spend virtually any time talking to anyone who thinks differently than you do. It's not that we disagree anymore, it's that we have different belief systems. Different ideas about and for the country we live in. There is talk of the coastal elites, the flyover country, the rust belt. All of which are cliches used not to define areas of the country, but to signify where the dividing lines are. Where the "us" and "they" are. 

And all of this is magnified by another inevitability: tyranny. For just as the nature of the universe is chaos from order, a law of government among men is to devolve into tyranny from liberty, if liberty can be wrangled from tyranny in the first place. The law of nature exacerbates disagreements which under a small localized government could be easily reconciled, into irreconcilable ideas on the structure and nature of society under a strong centralized government. And our government looks a lot less like a small citizen government than the worrisome all-powerful national government precisely warned about at our nation's founding. This is a little bit what the George Floyd unrest is about, at least maybe for some people and vaguely, but it's not really what it's about. Not under the slogans and the photo ops. What it's really about is an overturning. An upheaval. Rage. Revolution. 

The Second American Revolution

Expressions of rage can be cathartic. Especially so in the kind of sensory suppressed, sterile world we find ourselves in. We've largely stripped ourselves of any meaningful experience. The mediated internet experience leaves us wanting for reality, whether we know it or not, and simulated combat through sports and video games could only take us so far. A foggy window of true survival through "reality" television shows about people surviving was never going to get us anywhere. What people want, and have wanted, is reality. True reality. And if you made your way onto the streets for the opening salvo of the revolution, a jolt of reality is what you got. But I suspect people still want more. They won't be satisfied with just a weekend of throwing down with riot police or smashing windows or marching. It becomes abundantly clear from witnessing the protests and the events that unfolded because of them and the literature and all the surrounding conversation that people want more. The difference now, is that they seem to be fighting for it.

And this is why we must be extremely careful. Just as chaos is a law of the universe, so too is chaos the rule for revolutions. Throughout history, political revolutions usually give way to either a different king than the one that was deposed, or as we have seen with any number of Marxist revolutions in the 20th century, they lead to extremely brutal dictatorships. As was the case with Hungary, the stakes for revolution are very high and the outcome uncertain. 

The United States is the only revolution in modern history which led to a better system of government than the one it had revolted against. In fact, it led to the only system of government in history which guaranteed in its charter documents the rights of individuals and limited the power of government, not gave it more. The leader of the revolution voluntarily relinquished his seat at the head of the revolution even when he was asked to keep it. This is of course not to say that the United States was nor has it ever been perfect. No government instituted among men will ever be perfect. But another law of physical reality is that perfection cannot be achieved. The first American Revolution was truly a unique moment in political and world history, and while it wasn't perfect, it was better.

Sadly, I fear the Second American Revolution will not be better. All indications are that we are headed down a ruinous path. Rather than championing liberty and individual sovereignty, limited government and tolerance for all viewpoints, the leaders of this second revolution are championing the sentiments all too similar to the revolutionaries of the early-mid 20th century. Their slogans, their attitude, their signs, their graffiti, their actions, their cause, are all tragic echoes of Marxist revolutionaries which inevitably led their followers to the gulags. We do not want this future for America, no matter what sort of racial heartstrings the revolutionaries are pulling. We must actively oppose this future for America and understand that the fight for America and a more perfect union must be a discourse, it must be a unified intellectual fight, not a partisan street fight.

This Is What Revolution Looks Like

America is headed toward tyranny, and the tragic irony is that most Americans would agree with that sentiment. Most Americans would stand in lock-step and march against the tyranny we find ourselves in. That sentiment isn't exclusive to any race or political ideology. Which is precisely why the current revolution is not that, because a truly unified front beyond identity boundaries would lead to true change for the better. It would lead to decentralization and less power in the hands of leaders. So the current revolution is a highly orchestrated, centrally controlled operation with a successful propaganda campaign and carefully crafted emotional triggers that divide sentiments rather than unite them. Black Lives Matter versus All Lives Matter. Thin Blue Line versus ACAB. These divisions divide the sentiment and make it easy to identify who is with the cause and who isn't. These slogans are like Nazi armbands identifying who to purge. The purge isn't yet literal, but in some instances there are very real consequences for going against the revolution. And the end result will likely be American authoritarianism like few have dared imagine.

The censorship campaign, a hallmark of any Marxist revolution, is already upon us. It started with things like discussing the removal of Confederate monuments and flagging "fake news" but it is quickly seeking to blow down everything of the old way. Recently, HBO Max announced they would be removing Gone With the Wind because "the 1939 film was "a product of its time" and depicted "ethnic and racial prejudices" that "were wrong then and are wrong today." We should all be afraid of this idea because it's a completely vague notion that could very easily be applied simply to anything the majority or vocal minority disagrees with. It's perhaps cliche to say that today it might be Gone With the Wind today, but tomorrow it could be whatever is deemed unfit for the culture.

We have already seen for many years the effects on our discourse of political correctness which a cultural Marxist doctrine. Those effects are no longer sub-conscious or passive, but having a real effect on people's lives. As if there was some signal sent out to the revolutionaries, to speak against the revolution in the wrong place or in the wrong way now could very likely mean to lose your job, your status among your peers, or in extreme circumstances, your life. Just ask someone who tried to defend their business from the rioters.

The Guillotine

As Neil Howe and William Strauss identified in their book, "The Fourth Turning", what we are witnessing right now truly is inevitable, and it is a revolution. It is a bi-product of nature, of a generation coming of age and its natural urge to gain control of civilization from the "elder prophets" who currently control it. Therefore, the revolution will march on one way or another in our schools, online, in the form of stealthy censorship, and when we gather with friends. The old order will be overturned one way or another and give way to a new society. The only question is what will that look like?

Revolutions seldom end well, and this one has all the hallmarks of one that will not end well. Everything it is doing, and everything it stands for only erodes liberty. Rather than a united front, fighting against tyranny of all people regardless of identity, we've been duped into fighting battles along racial lines. We've been duped into the idea that all black people think the same way, and that if you're white and don't support the cause, you're a racist. These things are all you need to know about the nature of this revolution and where it will lead us. 

The best case scenario is that it fizzles, and at some point we can resume natural and healthy discourse and try and truly fix our government peacefully. This is both a best case scenario and in my opinion the least likely. The genie seems to have been let out of the bottle, and those who stand for this revolution seem to be on a course where there's no turning back. They've let everyone know where they stand, and where they stand is wholly removed from the idea of liberty as it was chartered at the founding of the United States.

The worst case scenario is that the revolution succeeds. The United States will resemble a Marxist State at this point. They restructure police departments into some bastardized Gestapo. Perhaps they take control of local governments, gain further power in the Federal government, and they successfully drive public discourse. They actively censor dissent, and culture is filtered through the lens of the revolution. If this happens, we can forget about the constitution. According to the revolutionaries, it was born out of a legacy of racism anyway and therefore it must be cleansed. A new course will be set for the United States which doesn't seek liberty or equality under the law, but will instead seek vague notions of "social justice" and "fairness". These, too, are Marxist slogans and what they really mean is you will agree with us or we will punish you. 

But the likeliest scenario is somewhere in between. The protests will fizzle. The street violence will fizzle. We will have an election. The National Guard will go back to base and the police will stay with us. But that doesn't mean the revolution has ended. Far from it. As it stands now, the revolution will plod along and make it harder and harder to talk openly about your opinions if they happen to differ from the "accepted" ones dictated by the revolutionaries. They may not be a majority, but right now they have a stranglehold on discourse. The censorship will continue and even get worse. As revolutionaries gain seats in public office, the ideas of the revolution will be enshrined in law. It will be harder and harder to peacefully resolve our differences and the idea of individual liberty and limited government will continue to be eroded. But there can only be liberty and equality under the law. Anything else is tyranny, and we must stand up to it.

This likely scenario is not as dramatic or swift as an all out bloody revolution, but it is perhaps more sinister. More dangerous. Because we won't see it coming. We haven't seen it coming. It's like the blade of the guillotine falling, but falling in slow motion. So slowly that we likely won't realize our heads have been lopped off until we're looking back at our body hanging there limp and wondering where it all went wrong.