Well the obvious thing to me seems to be that the farther you get from God, the more you can be convinced of crazy things, like people aren't born either male or female and you can have all the free sex you want and it won't do anything to your spirit, because you don't have one, and all cultures are equal and if you aren't happy you can blame someone else for it, and that'll do the trick. My parents were WWII kids who went to Cal Berkley (my dad on the new GI bill) and learned there to reject the religions of their youth so I was raised to be an atheist. If I had been a hippie they would have been happy with that. But I always knew there was a God and I just had to find him. I read all the books at the library in the "Why I am a (Catholic, Methodist, etc.....)" series. There had to be a purpose, there had to be a creator, even though my parents taught me that evolution was the answer and we came out of Darwin's warm pond because of a lucky lighting strike. And I did find Him. I went to whatever church was within walking distance when I was a kid. I prayed, "God, if you're there and you can hear me....." And finally he decided to answer and I had an experience I can't deny and that I know didn't come from me. I found God. People like Richard Dawkins say that all I have is faith and no evidence. But that's not true. What I have is experience My own experience. All these crazy people who are keying their neighbors cars and screaming on TikTok, they haven't found Him. They haven't had their own experience. with him. Once you do you can't deny it. And when you do find Him, he teaches you by his Spirit to stop blaming other people for what's wrong and start trusting him. This works. I wish more Democrats would start praying and then they could stop screaming and hating and destroying people's businesses and claiming that Trump is a monster who is destroying things. Maybe you have to believe in God to be willing to look in the mirror.
100% wholeheartedly agree. The lack of Judeo-Christian values & morals leads to crime, bad deeds against others, immoral behavior, carelessness, abuse, mistreatment of others and a cruel world. The Bible teaches good values & morals. I feel that we need to increase Evangelism, particularly of former Christians, atheists and secular people whose lives would greatly improve with a closer relationship to God.
Our sermon today focused on sharing His Word and finding someone who needs to hear and inviting them to attend church with us. Easter is fast approaching and a beautiful message can be shared knowing Jesus died for our salvation.
I can think of some that could benefit - the 500,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who were given legal status under Biden-era programs. They've just found out they have to leave America in 30 days. Well, no surprise really.
Talk about a cruel world, where the rules change AFTER you start the game! Clearly, compassion for these folks ain't something that'll be wasted on them by MAGA. Why, they're cheering! I'm surprised they were given 30 days. Just enough time to go under cover, because what do you have to lose.
Look, if most feel that they shouldn't be here regardless and that's what you kinda voted for, well... most places aren't easy to emigrate to. That's life. But you wonder... if Trump's tariff plans are to bring back manufacturers and there are few to no low paid immigrants to build at prices affordable and tariffs result in higher raw material costs, etc. won't stuff produced here be unaffordable for the rural America maga crowd? Do you not ponder where it looks like we're headed with the current trajectory?
I have yet to see reliable data that any of our industry sectors are entirely reliant on "low paid immigrants". Besides, if you haven't noticed, there are scores of towns/cities in rust belt areas where manufacturing USED to be, where people were quite happy to have the jobs, that would benefit from renewed investment and where one would find plenty of workers who want and desperately need a future. You all keep forgetting about them - why are they less deserving of our compassion than folks who came here illegally (albeit under the illegal blessing of the prior administration)? I'm not cheering. But I'd much rather we focus our efforts on our actual citizens.
You don't have to literally believe the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis in order to understand the lessons and Truth of the story, which is that denying the existence of God and putting your own pleasure above all else leads to immorality and a dysfunctional society. We are living it.
These sorts of responses make me cringe. And it kinda doesn't feel that sanity is a strong component either.
On one hand, you have folks who believe in and exhibit Judeo-Christian values & morals and on the other, the person who they are all in such unbelievable thrall to is a phoney baloney philandering financial fraudster that got caught and owed hundreds of millions. But that was a trumped up charge you say! because we all do it! (well not in the hundreds of millions we don't! and even if we did, cheating on taxes is an approved Judeo-Christian value & moral? Even his pastor, statuesque beautiful blond $30 million net worth Paula White screams THESE ARE CONS!
Ok🙄…first off, I’m not “in thrall” of Trump. Can’t you see that people liking Trump is about them being pushed into a corner, censored, and shamed for their opinions… not to mention being abused by a gov system through taxes and waste and corruption?
I don’t idolize politicians. I want freedom, small government, personal responsibility & self reliance. I believe a society that honors life will thrive. Taxation is theft as well as inflation. Safe communities are what most desire, but human nature and vices threaten to destroy that.
May God bless us in our fallen state! Love is the answer but it IS NOT always simple.
Well sed LisaG. After 4 yrs of Biden lawlessness, and now just a few weeks of DOGE revelation, it is more evident THAN EVER that us law abiding, hardworking, taxpaying citizens have been 'used' by the DemLeft...used for decades as slaves to 'fund' their lives, their wars, their immoral schemes. People that cannot see that now ...they are 'blinded' from the truth by their worship of false gods and unrepentant sin (per the Bible).
How so? The Jews Ezra and Nehemiah and Zerubbabel were allowed by the Persian Kings Cyrus and Darius to rebuild the Temple in post exilic Judea. Those Kings did not worship YHWH. Christians also worship YHWH
No evidence for faith, saith Dawkins? What is the Big Bang theory but evidence of a creator? If the universe, not just matter and energy but space-time itself, exploded from a dimensionless point, how can one deny a Creator? Same for the Second Law of Thermodynamics - if entropy constantly increases, there must have been a time when it was zero, one might say "in the beginning". What is the world around you - what are self-aware you, for that matter - evidence of if not a creation, and hence a Creator? It takes more faith than I posses to believe it all happened by absurd chance, emerging out of a remorselessly random chaos. Atheism is a denial of the senses, of the intellect, of reason. Of the soul.
Miracles are all around us, in God's beautiful world. Those who open their hearts and minds can see them but those who are closed-minded and refuse to see, won't see. God hears our prayers. We have to be willing to put our trust in God.
A beautiful description and awakening found in our Savior Jesus Christ. Yes, if the Holy Spirit is accepted into our lives, we live with peace and purpose. Thank you for sharing.
Beautiful story. I love how as a child you knew enough to know there was something very wrong about the atheism of your parents’ world view. How powerful God is to save a child in such a circumstance. There truly is no escaping the bright energy of God, only those so captured by the darker forces are blinded. It remains a mystery to me how the non-believers can be so blind, how God can allow them to be so powerful in our earthly realm and take over whole countries, whole cultures. Yet when I get frustrated by not understanding this I remind myself that we simply cannot know all the highest wisdom of God, indeed only God knows. We mere mortals can’t ever know it all, we must live by faith and healthy fear of God. Or, as I prefer to think of it “love of God.” I pray for the soul of America, that we win this latest battle against the dark forces of evil. I do believe President Trump is an anointed spirit and serving God. I don’t understand everything he’s doing, but I have faith it’s all serving God.
The 'blindness' was a mystery to me too Martha, for a long time, til I focused on IICorinthians 4:3-4 (and several other similar verses), which indicate that those who forfeit the one true God for false gods ( money, pleasure, power, self...), they will be 'blinded to the truth'. We all sin, but UNrepentent sin will blind us to the truth.
Well said Wilson, and me too...an undeniable salvation moment of supernatural origin.
Per my observations, if I could point to one thing that has undermined people's ability to connect with God and 'discern' truth, it was the 'sexual revolution' of the 1960s... a revolution that was completly won in about 10 yrs. Society became 'entitled' to casual sex, random sex, one nite stands, living together. Women were taught there were no consequences to casual sex and pregancy, and it all fueled the 'need' for unrestricted abortion (a follow-up sin). The divorce rate skyrocketed and society started unraveling.
Now think of todays 20 yr olds, born in 2005 -- they got NO idea that unmarried sex is a 'sin' or that it has bad spiritual consequences (just pregnancy or STDs).
Sex outside marriage is a sin, and for men, it becomes a selfish fever that damages them, damages society.
Agree. Have two beautiful young adults who know this well; one in a committed relationship. They will wait until marriage and I've no doubt their marriage will be very blessed.
L Wilson, your words remind me of my favorite chapter in the Book of Acts, chapter 10 , where (Simon) Peter has several ‘aha moments’ where the Holy Spirit first interrupts his speech to reveal that Lord is available to everyone (as he addresses Cornelius and his family as the 1st Gentiles to hear the Gospel). Then, immediately after, the offer of baptism to those Gentiles as the natural act once one has surrendered. Peter then stuck around a few days to BBQ with his new Gentile friends, which was also an extraordinary act due to the strict dietary laws separating Jews and Gentiles at the time.
Luke instructs that the Lord /Holy Spirit /Jesus is ‘impartial’ or ‘not partial’ in this chapter to Gentiles. In the Greek ‘partial’ translates as ‘face value’ or outward appearance. God being ‘impartial’ means He values what is not external (your prettiness or physical disability) but instead what is on the inside, your heart.
This unique word of ‘partiality’ again shows up in Book of James. Where we are instructed to show no partiality w/ others (neither rich nor poor) as we hold faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm a former 60s semi radical doper, and i still don't understand how or why I became a Churchillian conservative. I will hazard a guess that the Leftist tendency is basically about power. When in the minority, the Left harbors a strong desire for power, but that desire masquerades as something else, like a pretended love for freedom or free speech. We know what happens all over the world when the Left gets power, sadly...
You became a conservative because you are intelligent and you grew up! When you are 20 if you are not a liberal, you have no heart...when you are 50 if you are still a liberal, you have no brain
The liberal left has never changed; it has always been about power/control/money while wearing the costume of a moral high ground. Their mask has fallen, din has gotten louder, and their last gasp, the shallow war cry to Build Back Better, will forever be the aging blurry, stretched, and wrinkled tattoo hidden by their disguise of the day. They should be pitied, shunned, and observed like zoo animals.
I grew up with two Liberal college professors, one of whom was also a Lutheran pastor. We protested the Viet Nam war in the 60's, were against racial prejudice, very middle class and hard working. The values that I learned as a child were: duty, responsibility, compassion, critical thinking, diligence, loyalty, and many more. My brother and I have both gone from Left to Right... he says he didn't leave the Democrat party, it left him. As I became more and more conscious of the Left's values (and now see its vile behavior), it became clear that they didn't comport with mine, especially after I came back to the Christian faith of my childhood. I would contend that conservatives are the only classic liberals left. We are all about freedom and responsibility, among other things.
Hi Sasha. You don't know me but I read as much of your material as I can fit into my schedule. Your question, What happened to the Left?, is a good one. I'm a guy who grew up during the 1960s and 1970s, so I saw the world as it was then as well as the world it turned into. Some areas of reference I've not done deep dives, like the 60s antiwar movement and its origins. Others, like race and affirmative action, I have (eventually wrote a book; it's here: https://www.amazon.com/Civil-Wrongs-Wrong-Affirmative-Action/dp/155815292X/ref=sr_1_4.
Essentially, the Left got hijacked. It turned from a movement the aim of which was to extend classical liberal ideals and constitutional protections to all citizens, working against racial discrimination and working for equal pay for equal work for women in the work place, to a victim-oriented movement in which academic-designated (government-designated) "victims" were offered favors at the expense of white men (eventually straight white Christian men).
The Frankfurt School was key here. I'd recommend "Repressive Tolerance," the 1965 essay by Herbert Marcuse, who rejected the free speech that the American Left was then defending on the grounds that it would "privilege" whites. LBJ's "shackled runner" analogy puts forth the same basic idea ... they both ignored the fact that no society in the world maintains that academic ideal, a perfectly level playing field for everyone to start in the same place.
Then came the Supreme Court's decision in Griggs v Duke Power (1971) which shifted the meaning of discrimination from actions taken by persons against other persons which we rightly condemned to lack of politically acceptable ratios and outcomes. This was soon extended to women, and this gave rise to the favoritism that soon took root in governmental institutions and academic, eventually spreading to corporations.
This also led to consolidation and centralization .... because it was easier to impose affirmative action preferences on a few leviathans than it was 50,000 mom and pop stores scattered everywhere. So this "new," cultural Left, dovetailed nicely with rising globalization which helped erase American employers who couldn't compete with cheap foreign labor.
Then, in the face of rising criticism (happening by the late 1980s), the need to protect this edifice of political favoritism. The result was called political correctness, a term we began seeing in the early 1990s.
There's a great deal more, of course. I've said nothing about how this new cultural left incorporated homosexuality and eventually transgenderism into its fold. Some of this involves borrowing freely from European postmodernists who basically abandoned truth as a concept: assertions of truth, they held, always "privilege" the point of view of the dominant group. In other words, there is no "objective truth" for these people.
A much longer story, obviously. But this should give you and your readers some food for thought. Perhaps others will want to elaborate. Or disagree. It happens.
Yes, completely agree. In addition, we can add moral relativism and “End of History” and “God is dead” thought leaders who pushed the intellectual acceptance of this current neo-communism, or communo-fascism of the 21st century since the 1960s. The global elites want the little people in a new model of feudalism, and by putting them against each other based on their race, sex, sexual habits, they can deploy the age old divide and conquer model. This worldview believes there’s not enough wealth and prosperity for everyone, it’s finite and must be carefully controlled and rationed. This is the same mindset as Lenin’s Soviet Union and Mao’s China, and very much alive today in a new costume and trying to subjugate Americans.
The left (Dems) officially removed God from their platform a decade or so ago. This was a move to social justice (actually involves no justice just political screaming) and their radical agenda including cancel culture, censorship, wokeness, gender identity politics, and racism. Everyone not in agreement was a racist or bigot. There was no argument but blind following. This created victim mentality and of course unhappiness. You can’t be a happy victim. The left will never be happy. They only care about power and greed. May they never regain power.
First, I was a 31 year Democrat from 1987 at 18 years old. I was a labor Democrat, from a union family from a union town. I was never much of a liberal, but could tolerate liberalism because that was the alliance: labor-liberal.
They started breaking down because of the end of the Cold War, specifically “the end of history”.
It was top down in both parties. Our ‘leaders’, from whatever field, became untethered from reality. They thought the end of the 20th century ideological struggle between liberal Western democracy and Central European authoritarianism (fascism, socialism)was the start of a new era where there were no monumental struggles. They thought we had won because we had won one battle.
They believed they could reset 5000 years of human history and 250,000 years of genetics because they were the prevailing ideology.
Both sides became (more)pompous and unhinged from social, economic, and geopolitical realities.
The left is just more radical and the colleges were full of radical professors still stuck in their 60s radical days.
We have spent the last 35 years in the unreality as two bickering sets of elites have tantrums over whose vision of the post-history world should prevail…and history just keeps on going without them. And they are holding back the rest of us.
Which leads to why the left has changed so much. They are younger, have spent their entire childhood being sheltered from danger of even the most minute sort, and are relentlessly targeted by propaganda in school, media, and online. They are caught up in the elite tantrum, the fight between the two popular girls in school, which seems like it is the most important world-ending thing ever. They’ve never actually had to work. They don’t understand life is unfair. They are children, and they are being led astray because that popular girl doesn’t care what happens to them, she only cares about winning the argument. They are permanently adolescent.
The Left has been gunning for America since late 1800s, soon after Marx & Engels published the Communist Manifesto. They’ve gotten close to success a number of times (1910-20, 1930-40s, 1950-60s) and then the “March through the Institutions” started in 1960s. They lost a lot of ground in 1980s under Reagan economic boom, and 1990s when Reagan’s policies were mostly extended under Clinton and the tech boom combined to make prosperity for tens of millions of Americans, rendering the lefts message irrelevant. They left were at deepest low in mid 1990s when they met in Berkeley and it was decided their best chance was to infiltrate and take control of the Democrat Party using identity politics since class based revolution wasn’t viable with too many prosperous Americans. Thus they embarked on DEI, Critical Race theory, infiltrated throughout Democrat party, universities, media, corporations, and of course this is when the multinational leftist NGOs were all set up. This produced Obama and Biden (a Obama team puppet). The NGO money laundering operation (take Trillions from US taxpayers and transfer to the leftist NGOs) was brilliant on their part. Now their gig is up, DOGE is exploding the leftist NGOs with the biggest neutron bomb ever detonated against the left. However, we the free thinkers, the free marketers, the live free or die Americans, can’t do a victory lap yet. It will take many years to root them out of our governments (Fed, State & local governments), our media, our education sector and other institutions. Americans must be aware that it only took very small % of population to take over Russia and China and other countries that fell to leftist dictatorships. It can happen to America if we don’t fight hard enough against their long march and their subversive ways. The left will never give up, every generation produces a new group that believes firmly in their mission to end all representative democracies. They are always subversive, devious and very clever in propaganda.
I was one of the Vietnam war protesters and the similarity between MAGA is that the war was unconstitutional. War was never declared by Congress. Standing for the Constitution is something we have in common.
“But I would also like to invite you to write to me about what you think happened to the Left and why.”
Thank you for all you do, Sasha, and for the invitation above.
I believe the simplest answer is to point to the ‘root’ of all that is wrong in this world; what the Bible means by ‘Sin’.
At it’s essence, sin is a condition; a state of being, in which the individual seeks, above all else, to satisfy its own self-will, regardless of God’s desires, will, authority, or claims.
From the Biblical perspective, we are all ‘born in sin’; we inherit the essential nature of our original ‘parents’, Adam and Eve, who both chose self-will over God’s will, and ‘fell’ from the grace and glory of their original being. As this condition; this ‘state of being’, applies to every person, it doesn’t directly address the focal point of your questions regarding ‘the Left’. But it is the single most important factor at the end of all other considerations.
I’m well aware that many of your subscribers may be atheists, agnostics, or adherents of some other religious belief system which would disagree with my statements above, and I don’t expect to change anyone’s minds by what I say here. I am simply sharing with you what I believe the Bible reveals about the ‘root cause’ underlying anyone, anything, and everything that is wrong, screwed-up, dysfunctional, warped, twisted, corrupted, evil, etc.
Now, specifically in regard to the Left, it is helpful to distinguish between those who are the ‘leaders’; the strategists and others who form the principal ‘command structures’ on the Left, and those who are ‘followers’. Both are under the grip and power of ‘sin’, but the leadership is far more aware of what is being done and why, whereas the followers simply respond as directed, commanded, or expected, regardless of any logic or rationale.
So, it seems to me that your question might be refined as follows: “What do you think has happened to the leadership within the Left and why.”
Now, exactly when, where, and how it happened in America, I can’t say for certain. But my best guess would be that the genesis lay in the latter half of the 19th century, as Secular Humanism and Communist Theory and Ideology began to spread amongst, and be embraced by, the intelligentsia within the elite classes. This ‘movement’ grew more focused in the aftermath of WW1, in large part through the Fabian Society in Briton, which formed the strategy to bring down the West and usher in Communism through ‘the long march through the institutions’.
That strategy had to be cloaked as it progressed from one stage to another, which is why their original logo, or symbol, was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The ‘sheep’s clothing’ was the covering of enlightened, progressive, liberating, beneficial, values and goals that were proclaimed to be the ‘heart and soul’ of the Left. And that, naturally and quite understandably, drew many people in as supporters, defenders, and activists. But, the true heart of the movement was that of rapacious wolves.
A second logo, or symbol, was a tortoise, with the words, “When we strike, we strike hard!” emblazoned below. This, of course, illustrated the slow but steady progression of infiltration and undermining within the social, civic, and political institutions, to the point at which they were sufficiently weakened for a decisive strike to occur.
I submit to you that the moment at which that strike was made, due to the potential threat of a second Trump Administration, was at the advent of COVID, in late 2019.
In the aftermath of the rigged and stolen 2020 election, a lot of sheep skins began to take on transparency, or were thrown off due to the sense that they were no longer necessary. But still, many of the players involved continued to speak in ways that betrayed a cautious approach, and the true nature of things could only be clearly seen when a bloodlust led to abandon, which occurred throughout the J6 trials and Trump’s persecution via law fare.
But, through a series of Divine Interventions, Trump emerged alive and stronger than ever from that maelstrom of corrupt, evil, persecution, as well as (at least) two assassination attempts, won the election, was safely inaugurated, formed and adjourned a tremendously talented Administration, and began to use the powers invested by the Constitution to ‘drain the Swamp’, with all that is involved in such an endeavor. The Trump team has clearly begun executing a brilliantly designed strategy, using well thought out tactics, in a blitzkrieg campaign of ‘shock and awe’.
This has all caught ‘The Powers that Be’ (TPTB) by surprise, and ‘the Resistance’ has scrambled to reorganize and mount effective counter-attacks. Tragically, in truth, ‘the Resistance’ is comprised of Left, Center, Right, and ‘Demonic’ - the main thing they have in common is ‘SELF’, and either disdain for, or ignorance of, the God of the Bible. But the element that has been most open and aggressive thus far has been ‘the Left’ and its divisions of ‘Useful Idiots’.
With Trump’s Administration coming closer and closer to pulling back the curtains on the Wizard(s), the leadership within ‘the Resistance’ is becoming completely unhinged, and is dangerously close to executing a ‘Broken Arrow’ scenario, whereby the whole house is burned down to save their skins - and salvage the work that has gone towards establishment of a totalitarian One World Government.
At this point, we could draw back into the Biblical prophesies related to all these things, and consider what they reveal about where all this is headed, how it will progress, and what God is going to do about it. But I’ll leave my views on what happened and why as written, and move on for now.
God bless, guide, and keep us all - because He is our only Hope. And, that Hope, is centered in His Son, Jesus Christ, born a Jew of the Virgin Mary, who became SIN to make possible our salvation, died, rose again, and will return (in the near future) to rule and reign on the Earth, subsequently fulfilling all of the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - in exquisite detail.
And, how fitting it is, that we will soon celebrate Easter, in commemoration of His Resurrection!
Sasha, freedom is not just an American thing. It is a God thing. Christianity promotes freedom from slavery (we are truly free in Jesus Christ), freedom from eternal punishment for our sins (but not the consequences), freedom from oppression (since we belong to King Jesus).
Our Founding Fathers were almost all Christians. Yes, there were Deists such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Our founding documents, the Federalist Papers, the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, were strongly informed by Mosaic law, the Holy Scriptures, the English Common Law, Greek philosophy, and 18th century Enlightenment philosophy.
We are still striving to form a more perfect union in our Judeo Christian heritage. True freedom comes from a relationship with the living God, YHWH, and His Son Jesus Christ.
Beginning at the turn of the 20th century, different philosophies were introduced into American polity based on atheistic Marxism and Darwinian philosophy with evolution, Nietzsche denial of our Creator YHWH, and secular rationalism with no acknowledgment of a Creator. These philosophies deny the basic dignity of human beings and reduce us to mere blobs of meat, blood, and bones. The basic premise is that people are no different than squirrels or rocks or trees or dirt and that the only thing that matters is raw power. In this worldview, violence and deception are normal tools used to subjugate formerly free people to slavery to the state. True Christians will never be subjects to anything other than Jesus Christ our King. We experience freedom every day.
This is why Christians are focused on maintaining our freedoms. Freedoms without responsibility lead to disintegration of law and order, a form of slavery to chaos. Atheistic rule always leads to tyranny by the state and concentrated wealth and power by a few. Not everyone who claims to be a Christian is one. Their fruits will define them. By definition, rule by atheists will lead to destruction and perdition of the guilty.
I mean that Marxists love to refer to "black bodies" when decrying supposedly racist actions against black people. Normal people find this construction to be an utterly dehumanizing reduction to being nothing more than meat. I'm very surprised you haven't heard of this phrase as it was widely used during BLM protests, ie alleging systemic police brutality against "black bodies."
I think a Frank Herbert quote is helpful here. In Children of Dune he writes: “When I am weaker than you, I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles.” This applies to any power hungry totalitarian group; Islamists, communists, WEF globalists, the American Left …but I repeat myself.😂
In light of the unfolding understanding that the liberation we thought we created in the 1960's turns out to be CIA created, it puts a harder question into who and what we were then. I remember everyone (we "middle" class) subscribed to Life magazine, Time or Newsweek, and truly did believe the evening broadcast news. We were thoroughly directed by the official narrative, the propaganda that we were oblivious to. Back then, I lived in So. Cal and there were many Republicans, John Birch, etc. We thought they were stuffy, controlling, disapproving old country-club denizens, and so we beatniks and hippies thought we were smarter, cooler, more sophisticated, aware, and just better. Way back then, we Democrats already firmly believed we were better and smarter than the Republicans. And then, further into the 60's we all questioned authority, rejected that terrible war and the draft, and fell into love with sex and drugs and rock and roll. And we still thought we were smarter and better than those who did not claim all that hedonism and rebellion. And, from this current vantage point, we can now see that the liberation and freedom movements were all controlled and directed, but we really didn't know. At least most of us, we small-potato foot soldiers; I think some folks were suspicious.
And then came the settling down with jobs and family time, when ordinary workers just don't pay very much attention to politics; there is too much going on in the home, with family and jobs and relationships and money. Don't forget the control through money: how did home loans and mortgages come to take literally all the money a person could earn? And in the 1980's, we saw the R. team still old and fussy and controlling: "just say no" to drugs; Anita Bryant and orange juice and rejection of gay folks. We jumped onto the gay bandwagon; after the anti-war thing that seems legitimate, our embrace and acceptance of gays feels like an early marker of the theft of our compassion. Women, blacks, elders all wanted "liberation", the opportunity to create their own lives, and we Dems felt good, proper, right, virtuous in our acceptance of every persons' rights to live.
We conspirators know the JFK killing was an important marker in the unfolding of thinking for ourselves rather than what we were fed through media. This in 1963, but most of us questioners didn't get on board until many years later. And don't forget the role of birth control pills; we forget how culturally shaming it was to be pregnant and unmarried: seems like more than just a couple of generations. And the monumental Roe v. Wade. These cultural markers controlled and changed us, but we thought they were good, for our benefit, and quite thoroughly Democratic in popularity. We were the good and superior people, who supported all these ways to live more freely.
Well, and then there was 2001, Sept 11 and the astonishing attack on our freedoms. I think that was a time when R. and D. identities wavered and wobbled, and it seems the pivotal question was, do you believe the authorities, or not? Here is were the camps switched sides: R more and more questioned the official narrative, and D more and more followed the narrative as presented. So when we landed at C times, the roles were fully reversed.
Sasha, I have absolutely loved your posts, and feel that you bring insight and context far beyond most of the journalists. Thank you so very much.
Great comment! Full of information and insight. Loved it.
The only thing I might add, is something to do with "righteousness," which I would attribute to the Right, and "self righteousness," which I would attribute to the Left.
I'll have to think on this because I am not a religious man, but my thinking is that "righteousness" stems from believing in something bigger than oneself, whereas "self righteousness," stems from believing in one self as the superior being.
Intolerance comes from self righteousness. How can one, of free thinking mind, so superior in intellect and moral substance, tolerate these deplorable servants of a god.
It is a form of snobary.
There is more to say on this vein of thought, but it is late and I'll need to think on it some more in the morning.
Sasha Stone is awesome. I am new to her substack, but love people who make me think, and really make me want to think.
Not sure how someone made the jump from comparing MAGA to the anti war pro free speech let me live my life how I please leftists of the 60's and 70's to "they're just like the Weather Underground." Pretty sure the WU was a very fringe aspect of that culture. The many many many leftists promoting Mangione and the bombing of teslas now are more like the WU then anyone in MAGA ever will be.
As a former leftist as well, not because I've changed but that the left went so far away that I'm more of a right of center person now, I would say one shift that occurred was that when Obama was elected most of the white leftists said "we just solved racism!" patted themselves on the back and moved on to what they really cared about in climate change, then when the Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown protests/riots happened they came so hard back into the cause (like castigating themselves in front of random black people, "silence = violence, etc...) that it's given them permanent whiplash and their brain's have turned to mush. Trump and their TDS was just the natural progression of that. They need an "existential cause" to give their lives meaning now, they can't just live and enjoy the world for all it's flaws and great things. They need to fix it to make themselves feel better.
So sad these folks did this to themselves. Meaning in life comes from an acknowledgment and true belief in our Creator YHWH and His son, Jesus the Christ. And in our daily actions that promote the Kingdom of God. We can rest in the assurance of His return on the Day of the Lord. In this current time we can experience daily life through the means of Grace, loving our friends and family, and worshiping the Living God every Lord’s Day. All these other necessary things shall be added to us. Peace. Shalom.
Here are my thoughts on how the Left went from being in control of most institutions to a group in disarray.
(1) They came to believe that their grasp on power was nearly complete. They controlled the federal administrative state, most colleges, many corporate boardrooms, and most entertainment venues. They came to regard themselves as elite and to see the working class as uneducated, boorish, and increasingly irrelevant. They came to believe they could simply overwhelm the working class and ignore their concerns. This has not been the case. The pushback has been powerful and consistent.
(2) The left has been using US taxpayer dollars to fund their political agenda. This was a revelation of DOGE auditing USAID and other federal institutions. Although this had definite advantages, it further disconnected the Democratic Party from the citizens, since it no longer needed the citizens to fund the party. What started out as a strength became a liability as funding was used more and more for fringe ideas such as transgender rights which was of great importance to a small number of leftists, but of little or no importance to most Americans. As the government has been canceling these arrangements, there are serious questions as to how the Democrats will secure funding.
(3) The left demands complete fealty to their platform. As a nation, we're far beyond the stage of having "conservative Democrats" and "liberal Republicans," but the left has taken this far beyond this point by the adoption of "cancel culture." People who accept the majority of the leftist political philosophy but reject - or even simply question - parts of it are treated as enemies. The cancellation of J K Rowling over transgender rights is a prime example. People who have been loyal Democrats for decades, even throughout their lives, are unable to accept the idea that they must embrace even the smallest details of the leftist agenda or expect to be treated as the enemy.
The only question remaining is, how do they recover? They will, but I do not believe it will be before they rid themselves of the current leadership of the Clintons, Obama, Pelosi, Schumer, Sanders, Warren, Durbin, and other old white rich people.
The AOC's of their party will be banished when they reinvent themselves.
Indoctrination- this was just revealed- “Explosive documents reveal a shocking, government-backed censorship operation.
USAID and the Global Engagement Center colluded with the UK government and media firms to manipulate public discourse and censor Americans.”
Even now the majority of stories are negative toward America and the administration. The left are miserably misinformed, and it makes them miserable. The hate is beyond, and the media encourages that hate also.
Well the obvious thing to me seems to be that the farther you get from God, the more you can be convinced of crazy things, like people aren't born either male or female and you can have all the free sex you want and it won't do anything to your spirit, because you don't have one, and all cultures are equal and if you aren't happy you can blame someone else for it, and that'll do the trick. My parents were WWII kids who went to Cal Berkley (my dad on the new GI bill) and learned there to reject the religions of their youth so I was raised to be an atheist. If I had been a hippie they would have been happy with that. But I always knew there was a God and I just had to find him. I read all the books at the library in the "Why I am a (Catholic, Methodist, etc.....)" series. There had to be a purpose, there had to be a creator, even though my parents taught me that evolution was the answer and we came out of Darwin's warm pond because of a lucky lighting strike. And I did find Him. I went to whatever church was within walking distance when I was a kid. I prayed, "God, if you're there and you can hear me....." And finally he decided to answer and I had an experience I can't deny and that I know didn't come from me. I found God. People like Richard Dawkins say that all I have is faith and no evidence. But that's not true. What I have is experience My own experience. All these crazy people who are keying their neighbors cars and screaming on TikTok, they haven't found Him. They haven't had their own experience. with him. Once you do you can't deny it. And when you do find Him, he teaches you by his Spirit to stop blaming other people for what's wrong and start trusting him. This works. I wish more Democrats would start praying and then they could stop screaming and hating and destroying people's businesses and claiming that Trump is a monster who is destroying things. Maybe you have to believe in God to be willing to look in the mirror.
100% wholeheartedly agree. The lack of Judeo-Christian values & morals leads to crime, bad deeds against others, immoral behavior, carelessness, abuse, mistreatment of others and a cruel world. The Bible teaches good values & morals. I feel that we need to increase Evangelism, particularly of former Christians, atheists and secular people whose lives would greatly improve with a closer relationship to God.
Our sermon today focused on sharing His Word and finding someone who needs to hear and inviting them to attend church with us. Easter is fast approaching and a beautiful message can be shared knowing Jesus died for our salvation.
I can think of some that could benefit - the 500,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who were given legal status under Biden-era programs. They've just found out they have to leave America in 30 days. Well, no surprise really.
Talk about a cruel world, where the rules change AFTER you start the game! Clearly, compassion for these folks ain't something that'll be wasted on them by MAGA. Why, they're cheering! I'm surprised they were given 30 days. Just enough time to go under cover, because what do you have to lose.
Look, if most feel that they shouldn't be here regardless and that's what you kinda voted for, well... most places aren't easy to emigrate to. That's life. But you wonder... if Trump's tariff plans are to bring back manufacturers and there are few to no low paid immigrants to build at prices affordable and tariffs result in higher raw material costs, etc. won't stuff produced here be unaffordable for the rural America maga crowd? Do you not ponder where it looks like we're headed with the current trajectory?
I have yet to see reliable data that any of our industry sectors are entirely reliant on "low paid immigrants". Besides, if you haven't noticed, there are scores of towns/cities in rust belt areas where manufacturing USED to be, where people were quite happy to have the jobs, that would benefit from renewed investment and where one would find plenty of workers who want and desperately need a future. You all keep forgetting about them - why are they less deserving of our compassion than folks who came here illegally (albeit under the illegal blessing of the prior administration)? I'm not cheering. But I'd much rather we focus our efforts on our actual citizens.
“… if there are few to no low paid immigrants to build at prices affordable…”
This is the same argument the U.S. slave owners used in the 1700’s and 1800’s.
Causing a devastating Civil War.
You don't have to literally believe the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis in order to understand the lessons and Truth of the story, which is that denying the existence of God and putting your own pleasure above all else leads to immorality and a dysfunctional society. We are living it.
...some people are living it. Some of us are fighting it.
These sorts of responses make me cringe. And it kinda doesn't feel that sanity is a strong component either.
On one hand, you have folks who believe in and exhibit Judeo-Christian values & morals and on the other, the person who they are all in such unbelievable thrall to is a phoney baloney philandering financial fraudster that got caught and owed hundreds of millions. But that was a trumped up charge you say! because we all do it! (well not in the hundreds of millions we don't! and even if we did, cheating on taxes is an approved Judeo-Christian value & moral? Even his pastor, statuesque beautiful blond $30 million net worth Paula White screams THESE ARE CONS!
The hypocrisy writ large! You guys crack me up!
Ok🙄…first off, I’m not “in thrall” of Trump. Can’t you see that people liking Trump is about them being pushed into a corner, censored, and shamed for their opinions… not to mention being abused by a gov system through taxes and waste and corruption?
I don’t idolize politicians. I want freedom, small government, personal responsibility & self reliance. I believe a society that honors life will thrive. Taxation is theft as well as inflation. Safe communities are what most desire, but human nature and vices threaten to destroy that.
May God bless us in our fallen state! Love is the answer but it IS NOT always simple.
Well sed LisaG. After 4 yrs of Biden lawlessness, and now just a few weeks of DOGE revelation, it is more evident THAN EVER that us law abiding, hardworking, taxpaying citizens have been 'used' by the DemLeft...used for decades as slaves to 'fund' their lives, their wars, their immoral schemes. People that cannot see that now ...they are 'blinded' from the truth by their worship of false gods and unrepentant sin (per the Bible).
How so? The Jews Ezra and Nehemiah and Zerubbabel were allowed by the Persian Kings Cyrus and Darius to rebuild the Temple in post exilic Judea. Those Kings did not worship YHWH. Christians also worship YHWH
No evidence for faith, saith Dawkins? What is the Big Bang theory but evidence of a creator? If the universe, not just matter and energy but space-time itself, exploded from a dimensionless point, how can one deny a Creator? Same for the Second Law of Thermodynamics - if entropy constantly increases, there must have been a time when it was zero, one might say "in the beginning". What is the world around you - what are self-aware you, for that matter - evidence of if not a creation, and hence a Creator? It takes more faith than I posses to believe it all happened by absurd chance, emerging out of a remorselessly random chaos. Atheism is a denial of the senses, of the intellect, of reason. Of the soul.
Like. A lot.
Miracles are all around us, in God's beautiful world. Those who open their hearts and minds can see them but those who are closed-minded and refuse to see, won't see. God hears our prayers. We have to be willing to put our trust in God.
A beautiful description and awakening found in our Savior Jesus Christ. Yes, if the Holy Spirit is accepted into our lives, we live with peace and purpose. Thank you for sharing.
Beautiful story. I love how as a child you knew enough to know there was something very wrong about the atheism of your parents’ world view. How powerful God is to save a child in such a circumstance. There truly is no escaping the bright energy of God, only those so captured by the darker forces are blinded. It remains a mystery to me how the non-believers can be so blind, how God can allow them to be so powerful in our earthly realm and take over whole countries, whole cultures. Yet when I get frustrated by not understanding this I remind myself that we simply cannot know all the highest wisdom of God, indeed only God knows. We mere mortals can’t ever know it all, we must live by faith and healthy fear of God. Or, as I prefer to think of it “love of God.” I pray for the soul of America, that we win this latest battle against the dark forces of evil. I do believe President Trump is an anointed spirit and serving God. I don’t understand everything he’s doing, but I have faith it’s all serving God.
The 'blindness' was a mystery to me too Martha, for a long time, til I focused on IICorinthians 4:3-4 (and several other similar verses), which indicate that those who forfeit the one true God for false gods ( money, pleasure, power, self...), they will be 'blinded to the truth'. We all sin, but UNrepentent sin will blind us to the truth.
Well said Wilson, and me too...an undeniable salvation moment of supernatural origin.
Per my observations, if I could point to one thing that has undermined people's ability to connect with God and 'discern' truth, it was the 'sexual revolution' of the 1960s... a revolution that was completly won in about 10 yrs. Society became 'entitled' to casual sex, random sex, one nite stands, living together. Women were taught there were no consequences to casual sex and pregancy, and it all fueled the 'need' for unrestricted abortion (a follow-up sin). The divorce rate skyrocketed and society started unraveling.
Now think of todays 20 yr olds, born in 2005 -- they got NO idea that unmarried sex is a 'sin' or that it has bad spiritual consequences (just pregnancy or STDs).
Sex outside marriage is a sin, and for men, it becomes a selfish fever that damages them, damages society.
Agree. Have two beautiful young adults who know this well; one in a committed relationship. They will wait until marriage and I've no doubt their marriage will be very blessed.
L Wilson, your words remind me of my favorite chapter in the Book of Acts, chapter 10 , where (Simon) Peter has several ‘aha moments’ where the Holy Spirit first interrupts his speech to reveal that Lord is available to everyone (as he addresses Cornelius and his family as the 1st Gentiles to hear the Gospel). Then, immediately after, the offer of baptism to those Gentiles as the natural act once one has surrendered. Peter then stuck around a few days to BBQ with his new Gentile friends, which was also an extraordinary act due to the strict dietary laws separating Jews and Gentiles at the time.
Luke instructs that the Lord /Holy Spirit /Jesus is ‘impartial’ or ‘not partial’ in this chapter to Gentiles. In the Greek ‘partial’ translates as ‘face value’ or outward appearance. God being ‘impartial’ means He values what is not external (your prettiness or physical disability) but instead what is on the inside, your heart.
This unique word of ‘partiality’ again shows up in Book of James. Where we are instructed to show no partiality w/ others (neither rich nor poor) as we hold faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
O’ May Christ be Magnified.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%202&version=ESV
Amen
I'm a former 60s semi radical doper, and i still don't understand how or why I became a Churchillian conservative. I will hazard a guess that the Leftist tendency is basically about power. When in the minority, the Left harbors a strong desire for power, but that desire masquerades as something else, like a pretended love for freedom or free speech. We know what happens all over the world when the Left gets power, sadly...
You became a conservative because you are intelligent and you grew up! When you are 20 if you are not a liberal, you have no heart...when you are 50 if you are still a liberal, you have no brain
The liberal left has never changed; it has always been about power/control/money while wearing the costume of a moral high ground. Their mask has fallen, din has gotten louder, and their last gasp, the shallow war cry to Build Back Better, will forever be the aging blurry, stretched, and wrinkled tattoo hidden by their disguise of the day. They should be pitied, shunned, and observed like zoo animals.
If I could only remember who said that.
You are absolutely correct. The Left is all about power, not principle. Too few understand this.
I grew up with two Liberal college professors, one of whom was also a Lutheran pastor. We protested the Viet Nam war in the 60's, were against racial prejudice, very middle class and hard working. The values that I learned as a child were: duty, responsibility, compassion, critical thinking, diligence, loyalty, and many more. My brother and I have both gone from Left to Right... he says he didn't leave the Democrat party, it left him. As I became more and more conscious of the Left's values (and now see its vile behavior), it became clear that they didn't comport with mine, especially after I came back to the Christian faith of my childhood. I would contend that conservatives are the only classic liberals left. We are all about freedom and responsibility, among other things.
Hi Sasha. You don't know me but I read as much of your material as I can fit into my schedule. Your question, What happened to the Left?, is a good one. I'm a guy who grew up during the 1960s and 1970s, so I saw the world as it was then as well as the world it turned into. Some areas of reference I've not done deep dives, like the 60s antiwar movement and its origins. Others, like race and affirmative action, I have (eventually wrote a book; it's here: https://www.amazon.com/Civil-Wrongs-Wrong-Affirmative-Action/dp/155815292X/ref=sr_1_4.
Essentially, the Left got hijacked. It turned from a movement the aim of which was to extend classical liberal ideals and constitutional protections to all citizens, working against racial discrimination and working for equal pay for equal work for women in the work place, to a victim-oriented movement in which academic-designated (government-designated) "victims" were offered favors at the expense of white men (eventually straight white Christian men).
The Frankfurt School was key here. I'd recommend "Repressive Tolerance," the 1965 essay by Herbert Marcuse, who rejected the free speech that the American Left was then defending on the grounds that it would "privilege" whites. LBJ's "shackled runner" analogy puts forth the same basic idea ... they both ignored the fact that no society in the world maintains that academic ideal, a perfectly level playing field for everyone to start in the same place.
Then came the Supreme Court's decision in Griggs v Duke Power (1971) which shifted the meaning of discrimination from actions taken by persons against other persons which we rightly condemned to lack of politically acceptable ratios and outcomes. This was soon extended to women, and this gave rise to the favoritism that soon took root in governmental institutions and academic, eventually spreading to corporations.
This also led to consolidation and centralization .... because it was easier to impose affirmative action preferences on a few leviathans than it was 50,000 mom and pop stores scattered everywhere. So this "new," cultural Left, dovetailed nicely with rising globalization which helped erase American employers who couldn't compete with cheap foreign labor.
Then, in the face of rising criticism (happening by the late 1980s), the need to protect this edifice of political favoritism. The result was called political correctness, a term we began seeing in the early 1990s.
There's a great deal more, of course. I've said nothing about how this new cultural left incorporated homosexuality and eventually transgenderism into its fold. Some of this involves borrowing freely from European postmodernists who basically abandoned truth as a concept: assertions of truth, they held, always "privilege" the point of view of the dominant group. In other words, there is no "objective truth" for these people.
A much longer story, obviously. But this should give you and your readers some food for thought. Perhaps others will want to elaborate. Or disagree. It happens.
Yes, completely agree. In addition, we can add moral relativism and “End of History” and “God is dead” thought leaders who pushed the intellectual acceptance of this current neo-communism, or communo-fascism of the 21st century since the 1960s. The global elites want the little people in a new model of feudalism, and by putting them against each other based on their race, sex, sexual habits, they can deploy the age old divide and conquer model. This worldview believes there’s not enough wealth and prosperity for everyone, it’s finite and must be carefully controlled and rationed. This is the same mindset as Lenin’s Soviet Union and Mao’s China, and very much alive today in a new costume and trying to subjugate Americans.
The left (Dems) officially removed God from their platform a decade or so ago. This was a move to social justice (actually involves no justice just political screaming) and their radical agenda including cancel culture, censorship, wokeness, gender identity politics, and racism. Everyone not in agreement was a racist or bigot. There was no argument but blind following. This created victim mentality and of course unhappiness. You can’t be a happy victim. The left will never be happy. They only care about power and greed. May they never regain power.
Social Justice is Orwellian language, as justice can only be carried out at the individual level.
Nothing has happened to the left. They are no different today than they were post Civil War when the were lynching blacks for fun.
Neither their attitudes or behavior has changed.
First, I was a 31 year Democrat from 1987 at 18 years old. I was a labor Democrat, from a union family from a union town. I was never much of a liberal, but could tolerate liberalism because that was the alliance: labor-liberal.
They started breaking down because of the end of the Cold War, specifically “the end of history”.
It was top down in both parties. Our ‘leaders’, from whatever field, became untethered from reality. They thought the end of the 20th century ideological struggle between liberal Western democracy and Central European authoritarianism (fascism, socialism)was the start of a new era where there were no monumental struggles. They thought we had won because we had won one battle.
They believed they could reset 5000 years of human history and 250,000 years of genetics because they were the prevailing ideology.
Both sides became (more)pompous and unhinged from social, economic, and geopolitical realities.
The left is just more radical and the colleges were full of radical professors still stuck in their 60s radical days.
We have spent the last 35 years in the unreality as two bickering sets of elites have tantrums over whose vision of the post-history world should prevail…and history just keeps on going without them. And they are holding back the rest of us.
Which leads to why the left has changed so much. They are younger, have spent their entire childhood being sheltered from danger of even the most minute sort, and are relentlessly targeted by propaganda in school, media, and online. They are caught up in the elite tantrum, the fight between the two popular girls in school, which seems like it is the most important world-ending thing ever. They’ve never actually had to work. They don’t understand life is unfair. They are children, and they are being led astray because that popular girl doesn’t care what happens to them, she only cares about winning the argument. They are permanently adolescent.
The Left has been gunning for America since late 1800s, soon after Marx & Engels published the Communist Manifesto. They’ve gotten close to success a number of times (1910-20, 1930-40s, 1950-60s) and then the “March through the Institutions” started in 1960s. They lost a lot of ground in 1980s under Reagan economic boom, and 1990s when Reagan’s policies were mostly extended under Clinton and the tech boom combined to make prosperity for tens of millions of Americans, rendering the lefts message irrelevant. They left were at deepest low in mid 1990s when they met in Berkeley and it was decided their best chance was to infiltrate and take control of the Democrat Party using identity politics since class based revolution wasn’t viable with too many prosperous Americans. Thus they embarked on DEI, Critical Race theory, infiltrated throughout Democrat party, universities, media, corporations, and of course this is when the multinational leftist NGOs were all set up. This produced Obama and Biden (a Obama team puppet). The NGO money laundering operation (take Trillions from US taxpayers and transfer to the leftist NGOs) was brilliant on their part. Now their gig is up, DOGE is exploding the leftist NGOs with the biggest neutron bomb ever detonated against the left. However, we the free thinkers, the free marketers, the live free or die Americans, can’t do a victory lap yet. It will take many years to root them out of our governments (Fed, State & local governments), our media, our education sector and other institutions. Americans must be aware that it only took very small % of population to take over Russia and China and other countries that fell to leftist dictatorships. It can happen to America if we don’t fight hard enough against their long march and their subversive ways. The left will never give up, every generation produces a new group that believes firmly in their mission to end all representative democracies. They are always subversive, devious and very clever in propaganda.
I was one of the Vietnam war protesters and the similarity between MAGA is that the war was unconstitutional. War was never declared by Congress. Standing for the Constitution is something we have in common.
“But I would also like to invite you to write to me about what you think happened to the Left and why.”
Thank you for all you do, Sasha, and for the invitation above.
I believe the simplest answer is to point to the ‘root’ of all that is wrong in this world; what the Bible means by ‘Sin’.
At it’s essence, sin is a condition; a state of being, in which the individual seeks, above all else, to satisfy its own self-will, regardless of God’s desires, will, authority, or claims.
From the Biblical perspective, we are all ‘born in sin’; we inherit the essential nature of our original ‘parents’, Adam and Eve, who both chose self-will over God’s will, and ‘fell’ from the grace and glory of their original being. As this condition; this ‘state of being’, applies to every person, it doesn’t directly address the focal point of your questions regarding ‘the Left’. But it is the single most important factor at the end of all other considerations.
I’m well aware that many of your subscribers may be atheists, agnostics, or adherents of some other religious belief system which would disagree with my statements above, and I don’t expect to change anyone’s minds by what I say here. I am simply sharing with you what I believe the Bible reveals about the ‘root cause’ underlying anyone, anything, and everything that is wrong, screwed-up, dysfunctional, warped, twisted, corrupted, evil, etc.
Now, specifically in regard to the Left, it is helpful to distinguish between those who are the ‘leaders’; the strategists and others who form the principal ‘command structures’ on the Left, and those who are ‘followers’. Both are under the grip and power of ‘sin’, but the leadership is far more aware of what is being done and why, whereas the followers simply respond as directed, commanded, or expected, regardless of any logic or rationale.
So, it seems to me that your question might be refined as follows: “What do you think has happened to the leadership within the Left and why.”
Now, exactly when, where, and how it happened in America, I can’t say for certain. But my best guess would be that the genesis lay in the latter half of the 19th century, as Secular Humanism and Communist Theory and Ideology began to spread amongst, and be embraced by, the intelligentsia within the elite classes. This ‘movement’ grew more focused in the aftermath of WW1, in large part through the Fabian Society in Briton, which formed the strategy to bring down the West and usher in Communism through ‘the long march through the institutions’.
That strategy had to be cloaked as it progressed from one stage to another, which is why their original logo, or symbol, was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The ‘sheep’s clothing’ was the covering of enlightened, progressive, liberating, beneficial, values and goals that were proclaimed to be the ‘heart and soul’ of the Left. And that, naturally and quite understandably, drew many people in as supporters, defenders, and activists. But, the true heart of the movement was that of rapacious wolves.
A second logo, or symbol, was a tortoise, with the words, “When we strike, we strike hard!” emblazoned below. This, of course, illustrated the slow but steady progression of infiltration and undermining within the social, civic, and political institutions, to the point at which they were sufficiently weakened for a decisive strike to occur.
I submit to you that the moment at which that strike was made, due to the potential threat of a second Trump Administration, was at the advent of COVID, in late 2019.
In the aftermath of the rigged and stolen 2020 election, a lot of sheep skins began to take on transparency, or were thrown off due to the sense that they were no longer necessary. But still, many of the players involved continued to speak in ways that betrayed a cautious approach, and the true nature of things could only be clearly seen when a bloodlust led to abandon, which occurred throughout the J6 trials and Trump’s persecution via law fare.
But, through a series of Divine Interventions, Trump emerged alive and stronger than ever from that maelstrom of corrupt, evil, persecution, as well as (at least) two assassination attempts, won the election, was safely inaugurated, formed and adjourned a tremendously talented Administration, and began to use the powers invested by the Constitution to ‘drain the Swamp’, with all that is involved in such an endeavor. The Trump team has clearly begun executing a brilliantly designed strategy, using well thought out tactics, in a blitzkrieg campaign of ‘shock and awe’.
This has all caught ‘The Powers that Be’ (TPTB) by surprise, and ‘the Resistance’ has scrambled to reorganize and mount effective counter-attacks. Tragically, in truth, ‘the Resistance’ is comprised of Left, Center, Right, and ‘Demonic’ - the main thing they have in common is ‘SELF’, and either disdain for, or ignorance of, the God of the Bible. But the element that has been most open and aggressive thus far has been ‘the Left’ and its divisions of ‘Useful Idiots’.
With Trump’s Administration coming closer and closer to pulling back the curtains on the Wizard(s), the leadership within ‘the Resistance’ is becoming completely unhinged, and is dangerously close to executing a ‘Broken Arrow’ scenario, whereby the whole house is burned down to save their skins - and salvage the work that has gone towards establishment of a totalitarian One World Government.
At this point, we could draw back into the Biblical prophesies related to all these things, and consider what they reveal about where all this is headed, how it will progress, and what God is going to do about it. But I’ll leave my views on what happened and why as written, and move on for now.
God bless, guide, and keep us all - because He is our only Hope. And, that Hope, is centered in His Son, Jesus Christ, born a Jew of the Virgin Mary, who became SIN to make possible our salvation, died, rose again, and will return (in the near future) to rule and reign on the Earth, subsequently fulfilling all of the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - in exquisite detail.
And, how fitting it is, that we will soon celebrate Easter, in commemoration of His Resurrection!
Love, Mike
Christ is risen indeed ✝️
Sasha, freedom is not just an American thing. It is a God thing. Christianity promotes freedom from slavery (we are truly free in Jesus Christ), freedom from eternal punishment for our sins (but not the consequences), freedom from oppression (since we belong to King Jesus).
Our Founding Fathers were almost all Christians. Yes, there were Deists such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Our founding documents, the Federalist Papers, the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, were strongly informed by Mosaic law, the Holy Scriptures, the English Common Law, Greek philosophy, and 18th century Enlightenment philosophy.
We are still striving to form a more perfect union in our Judeo Christian heritage. True freedom comes from a relationship with the living God, YHWH, and His Son Jesus Christ.
Beginning at the turn of the 20th century, different philosophies were introduced into American polity based on atheistic Marxism and Darwinian philosophy with evolution, Nietzsche denial of our Creator YHWH, and secular rationalism with no acknowledgment of a Creator. These philosophies deny the basic dignity of human beings and reduce us to mere blobs of meat, blood, and bones. The basic premise is that people are no different than squirrels or rocks or trees or dirt and that the only thing that matters is raw power. In this worldview, violence and deception are normal tools used to subjugate formerly free people to slavery to the state. True Christians will never be subjects to anything other than Jesus Christ our King. We experience freedom every day.
This is why Christians are focused on maintaining our freedoms. Freedoms without responsibility lead to disintegration of law and order, a form of slavery to chaos. Atheistic rule always leads to tyranny by the state and concentrated wealth and power by a few. Not everyone who claims to be a Christian is one. Their fruits will define them. By definition, rule by atheists will lead to destruction and perdition of the guilty.
Thx Potts. Yes, I went to a big state university where the Main Bldg in the center of campus had chisled on it in big block letters:
"You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free."
It was built pre-WWII, and I love that the scripture cannot be removed.
"These philosophies deny the basic dignity of human beings and reduce us to mere blobs of meat, blood, and bones."
Hence the phrase "black bodies"
Not sure I understand what you mean by “black bodies “.
If you mean “black hearts full of hate”. Then I would agree.
I mean that Marxists love to refer to "black bodies" when decrying supposedly racist actions against black people. Normal people find this construction to be an utterly dehumanizing reduction to being nothing more than meat. I'm very surprised you haven't heard of this phrase as it was widely used during BLM protests, ie alleging systemic police brutality against "black bodies."
I think a Frank Herbert quote is helpful here. In Children of Dune he writes: “When I am weaker than you, I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles.” This applies to any power hungry totalitarian group; Islamists, communists, WEF globalists, the American Left …but I repeat myself.😂
In light of the unfolding understanding that the liberation we thought we created in the 1960's turns out to be CIA created, it puts a harder question into who and what we were then. I remember everyone (we "middle" class) subscribed to Life magazine, Time or Newsweek, and truly did believe the evening broadcast news. We were thoroughly directed by the official narrative, the propaganda that we were oblivious to. Back then, I lived in So. Cal and there were many Republicans, John Birch, etc. We thought they were stuffy, controlling, disapproving old country-club denizens, and so we beatniks and hippies thought we were smarter, cooler, more sophisticated, aware, and just better. Way back then, we Democrats already firmly believed we were better and smarter than the Republicans. And then, further into the 60's we all questioned authority, rejected that terrible war and the draft, and fell into love with sex and drugs and rock and roll. And we still thought we were smarter and better than those who did not claim all that hedonism and rebellion. And, from this current vantage point, we can now see that the liberation and freedom movements were all controlled and directed, but we really didn't know. At least most of us, we small-potato foot soldiers; I think some folks were suspicious.
And then came the settling down with jobs and family time, when ordinary workers just don't pay very much attention to politics; there is too much going on in the home, with family and jobs and relationships and money. Don't forget the control through money: how did home loans and mortgages come to take literally all the money a person could earn? And in the 1980's, we saw the R. team still old and fussy and controlling: "just say no" to drugs; Anita Bryant and orange juice and rejection of gay folks. We jumped onto the gay bandwagon; after the anti-war thing that seems legitimate, our embrace and acceptance of gays feels like an early marker of the theft of our compassion. Women, blacks, elders all wanted "liberation", the opportunity to create their own lives, and we Dems felt good, proper, right, virtuous in our acceptance of every persons' rights to live.
We conspirators know the JFK killing was an important marker in the unfolding of thinking for ourselves rather than what we were fed through media. This in 1963, but most of us questioners didn't get on board until many years later. And don't forget the role of birth control pills; we forget how culturally shaming it was to be pregnant and unmarried: seems like more than just a couple of generations. And the monumental Roe v. Wade. These cultural markers controlled and changed us, but we thought they were good, for our benefit, and quite thoroughly Democratic in popularity. We were the good and superior people, who supported all these ways to live more freely.
Well, and then there was 2001, Sept 11 and the astonishing attack on our freedoms. I think that was a time when R. and D. identities wavered and wobbled, and it seems the pivotal question was, do you believe the authorities, or not? Here is were the camps switched sides: R more and more questioned the official narrative, and D more and more followed the narrative as presented. So when we landed at C times, the roles were fully reversed.
Sasha, I have absolutely loved your posts, and feel that you bring insight and context far beyond most of the journalists. Thank you so very much.
Great comment! Full of information and insight. Loved it.
The only thing I might add, is something to do with "righteousness," which I would attribute to the Right, and "self righteousness," which I would attribute to the Left.
I'll have to think on this because I am not a religious man, but my thinking is that "righteousness" stems from believing in something bigger than oneself, whereas "self righteousness," stems from believing in one self as the superior being.
Intolerance comes from self righteousness. How can one, of free thinking mind, so superior in intellect and moral substance, tolerate these deplorable servants of a god.
It is a form of snobary.
There is more to say on this vein of thought, but it is late and I'll need to think on it some more in the morning.
Sasha Stone is awesome. I am new to her substack, but love people who make me think, and really make me want to think.
Thanks for this fine distinction. I agree, righteousness and self-righteousness are at the heart of the differences of these political identities.
Not sure how someone made the jump from comparing MAGA to the anti war pro free speech let me live my life how I please leftists of the 60's and 70's to "they're just like the Weather Underground." Pretty sure the WU was a very fringe aspect of that culture. The many many many leftists promoting Mangione and the bombing of teslas now are more like the WU then anyone in MAGA ever will be.
As a former leftist as well, not because I've changed but that the left went so far away that I'm more of a right of center person now, I would say one shift that occurred was that when Obama was elected most of the white leftists said "we just solved racism!" patted themselves on the back and moved on to what they really cared about in climate change, then when the Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown protests/riots happened they came so hard back into the cause (like castigating themselves in front of random black people, "silence = violence, etc...) that it's given them permanent whiplash and their brain's have turned to mush. Trump and their TDS was just the natural progression of that. They need an "existential cause" to give their lives meaning now, they can't just live and enjoy the world for all it's flaws and great things. They need to fix it to make themselves feel better.
So sad these folks did this to themselves. Meaning in life comes from an acknowledgment and true belief in our Creator YHWH and His son, Jesus the Christ. And in our daily actions that promote the Kingdom of God. We can rest in the assurance of His return on the Day of the Lord. In this current time we can experience daily life through the means of Grace, loving our friends and family, and worshiping the Living God every Lord’s Day. All these other necessary things shall be added to us. Peace. Shalom.
Here are my thoughts on how the Left went from being in control of most institutions to a group in disarray.
(1) They came to believe that their grasp on power was nearly complete. They controlled the federal administrative state, most colleges, many corporate boardrooms, and most entertainment venues. They came to regard themselves as elite and to see the working class as uneducated, boorish, and increasingly irrelevant. They came to believe they could simply overwhelm the working class and ignore their concerns. This has not been the case. The pushback has been powerful and consistent.
(2) The left has been using US taxpayer dollars to fund their political agenda. This was a revelation of DOGE auditing USAID and other federal institutions. Although this had definite advantages, it further disconnected the Democratic Party from the citizens, since it no longer needed the citizens to fund the party. What started out as a strength became a liability as funding was used more and more for fringe ideas such as transgender rights which was of great importance to a small number of leftists, but of little or no importance to most Americans. As the government has been canceling these arrangements, there are serious questions as to how the Democrats will secure funding.
(3) The left demands complete fealty to their platform. As a nation, we're far beyond the stage of having "conservative Democrats" and "liberal Republicans," but the left has taken this far beyond this point by the adoption of "cancel culture." People who accept the majority of the leftist political philosophy but reject - or even simply question - parts of it are treated as enemies. The cancellation of J K Rowling over transgender rights is a prime example. People who have been loyal Democrats for decades, even throughout their lives, are unable to accept the idea that they must embrace even the smallest details of the leftist agenda or expect to be treated as the enemy.
The only question remaining is, how do they recover? They will, but I do not believe it will be before they rid themselves of the current leadership of the Clintons, Obama, Pelosi, Schumer, Sanders, Warren, Durbin, and other old white rich people.
The AOC's of their party will be banished when they reinvent themselves.
Mad Dog : Good analysis, several obvious truths. Well said.
Indoctrination- this was just revealed- “Explosive documents reveal a shocking, government-backed censorship operation.
USAID and the Global Engagement Center colluded with the UK government and media firms to manipulate public discourse and censor Americans.”
Even now the majority of stories are negative toward America and the administration. The left are miserably misinformed, and it makes them miserable. The hate is beyond, and the media encourages that hate also.
So bizarre.