Americans love a winner. Americans will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win all of the time, for the very idea of losing is hateful to an American.
General George S. Patton (pre-invasion speech)
My beef with “wokeness” has nothing to do with “white fragility” or “homophobia.” It has everything to do with being raised by a bronze star-winning dad, who served in Patton’s 3rd Army, and knowing America owes its greatness to winners who compete, not whiners who’ve never played the game. Sadly, liberals went from kinda-sorta woke to you-owe-me woke in the last decade, turning every issue into an oppressor-victim struggle.
“Woke” leaders fail us. Democrat governors opened streets for black rioters and closed schools to black students. As foreign competitors make gains, ESG-fervid CEOs distract workers from market-changing innovation. One-party educators create safe spaces, blinding students to the hard knocks waiting in the real world. Atop this madness sits President Biden, overconfident in an American Century.
Sharp-elbowed rivals are increasingly America’s equal. As Vince Lombardi might explain the problem; Khamenei wants his studs allowed scimitars in the game, and Biden wants his scrubs to get a participation trophy. It’s no wonder a record number (75%) of Americans feel bad about the direction of their country (source: NBC News).
The Woke Are at War with the Truth
The culture and history of America doesn’t need a remake by the woke mob at Harvard or the New York Times. It is immoral for Harvard to boost black enrollment by telling Asian kids their personality scores (“courage,” “integrity,” “kindness” and “liability”) are too low. It was dodgy for the Times to promote presentism in the “1619 Project” and claim the collection of articles did “reframe the country’s history, understanding 1619 as our true founding” (that boast was later removed).
Presentism is the “woke” means of judging everyone in the past by the standards of the present – and it’s what (good) Democrat Bill Maher (you should follow him) tore into Friday night on HBO.
How we teach our kids history has become a big controversy these days, with liberals accusing conservatives of wanting to whitewash the past, but plenty of liberals also want to abuse history to control the present. The belief that people who lived 100 or 500 or 1,000 years ago really should have known better is so stupid. It’s like getting mad at yourself for not knowing what you know now when you were ten.
In today’s world, when truth conflicts with narrative, it’s the truth that has to apologize. Being woke is like a magic moral time machine, where you judge everybody against what you imagine you would have done in 1066, and you always win. It’s just a way to congratulate yourself about being better than George Washington because you have a gay friend, and he didn’t. But if he was alive today, he would, too. And if you [were] alive then, you wouldn’t.
Thank you, Mr. Maher, because my beef with “wokeness” has everything to do with E Pluribus Unum. America is great because of Columbus, Washington, Lincoln, and Patton – not in spite of them – and because the arc of its moral universe (as Dr. King predicted) has bent toward justice. Dr. King did not want to destroy the Unum – he spoke English and was a devout Christian. He wanted the Pluribus to have 100% access – financially, politically and socially – to the American Dream. Defend that, New York Times, because that’s fit to print.
Wokeness Stifles the Pursuit of Happiness
Many American downtowns have gone from clean and safe to trash-strewn and dangerous, because some politicians think “homeless” neighbors have a right to defecate on the sidewalks and “racism” can be cured by fewer arrests. Have you heard the mayors of Chicago or Los Angeles speak on behalf of the shopowners or middle class? No, which is why Florida and Texas are bursting at the seams with new businesses and families.
Most citizens living in “sanctuary” cities knew their mayors and city councils were more intent on virtue-signaling in the Trump era than complying with laws from the Obama-era. Ron DeSantis outed this deception by explaining why he flew illegal migrants to Martha’s Vineyard: “The minute even a small fraction of what those border towns deal with every day is brought to their front door, they go berserk. It just shows you that their virtue-signaling is a fraud.”
Joe Biden accused Florida’s governor of a political stunt, but DeSantis was ready. “A record amount of fentanyl coming into our country is absolutely killing Americans in record numbers. If people are coming here, [it costs] taxes, social services and all these other things. Every community in America should be sharing in the burdens and it shouldn’t all fall on a handful of red states. Now, what would be best is for Biden to do his damn job and secure the border.”
DeSantis nailed the duality of woke behavior; ostensibly helping victim groups, while trampling the unalienable rights of others. Open borders to migrants with few skills, and depress the factory wages of native-born citizens. Allow a biological boy to compete as a transgender female, and make biological girls uncompetitive in “girls” sports. The result is (shock faces, everyone) 70% of Americans say they’re angry at politicians (source: Washington University).
Without the Right Stuff, Our Enemies Prevail
Our existential enemies (Iran, China and Russia) take joy in our “woke” madness, saturating their people’s news with it every day. A few of us post personal “victim” stories on social media, supplying propaganda that sustains radical Islam. A few of us divert resources to placate aggrieved identity groups, while China hones the skills to sink US aircraft carriers in the Taiwan Strait (killing “they-them” sailors), and Russia perfects hypersonic missiles to slide nukes into US cities.
Take Mark Milley, head of the Pentagon. He couldn’t tell Republicans in Congress how social-justice programs translate into more lethal soldiers or help the development of invincible aircraft, missile, ships, and vehicles. Awful, and he upheld US military recruiting videos promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that (shock-faces again) coincide with the US Army falling 50% short of its recruiting quota.
War is hell – according to every veteran I’ve ever known – and an army that is half-sized and full of snowflakes couldn’t hold its own against French king Charles VI at Agincourt (he thought he was made of glass and, therefore, too fragile to fight). Our commander in chief, Biden, should bluntly tell America’s aggrieved identity groups how they will be treated by Chinese, Iranian, and Russian soldiers – and shut up about Republicans.
What if China is Rome, the 500-year empire of our time? And what if we are Carthage, the deluded wannabe? That’s the existential question voters need to ponder on their way to the polls this November, because it’s never crossed the minds of President Biden, his party, or his media allies.
