“Wait til November!  Let’s Go Brandon!  The red wave is coming!”

With record level inflation, dismal presidential approval ratings, high gas prices, the fading possibility that your children will own homes, and the evaporating middle class, even the average American should have known to vote Republican.  Right?  I mean, even the flighty Netflix binging “independent” voter has enough intelligence to reduce the election to “do I want the people who say they are going to take all my stuff to take all my stuff?”.  Right?!  The circumstances are dire and obvious enough that the bad actors couldn't have cheated hard enough to overcome the sheer number of votes for the party less connected to those who want you to eat bugs.  Right??!!  

Days later, no real “red wave” to speak of, and we are simply left asking, “What happened?”

As we all sat around lamenting the “broken tabulators” and all the fishy stench surrounding them, a buddy of mine offered the following take early Wednesday morning: "Here are 3 possibilities: 1) Some ‘unprovable’ fraud.  2)  The decline of the character of the nation.  3)  The Gen Z vote went largely for the democrats."

I think there is a little to be said for each of those possibilities.  The following is my satellite take and the consolation I see going forward.   It's a frustrating reality to live right now, but just as I argued in my last article,  this is a time for tremendous hope!

Fraud

Yeah.  They cheated.  Again.  

How does this much cheating happen?  First, we live in a nation where most people are addicted to “normalcy bias”.  This is the false sense of security that one clings to by retreating into the same normal television he watches, living the same normal routine he lives, and by insisting that things aren’t really that different than they were 20 years ago.

Heck, just think about how much our elections are still won and lost by the “squishy middle”; the large cohort who are pratically normalcy bias extremists.  I know, that there are tens of millions of  “independent voters”, people who aren’t sure if they want baby murder all the way up to birth, mandated jabs, and $8/gallon gas, versus some sort of alternative, is mind blowing to us critical thinkers.  Granted.  

But search your memory for people who vote one way or the other depending upon how they “feel” about a candidate.  Do you think they actually know much about the policies between candidates?  Millions of dollars are spent on quick cut, low information, slick campaign ads on the boob tube because such ads really influence elections.  Think of these same people, plus the Democrats, plus some Republicans who also love the boob tube and just want to get back to going along with the program.  These are enough people willing to accept the narrative that elections aren’t rigged, the state of the nation can’t be that much different than 10 or 20 years ago, and that their 401k will bounce back at the end of this “natural cycle”.  The alternative, that elections are rigged and bought by evil plutocrats looking to turn your children into asexual Maoist workers without rights, who live in Japanese hotel sized quarters and have microchips in their hands is WAY too much for them.

So yeah, headlines like “Lake continues to push debunked claim that election was stolen” will work.  Take it to the ballot bank.  

Second, consider the epistemological wreck America is currently in.  We live in a nation where we are expected to live under the violation of the law of non-contradiction.  Once a society has either accepted that men can have babies or has accepted that we all must live by that lie, then stealing elections while “clearly not stealing elections” is a manageable feat.  

Once we purge ourselves of our delusions about how free and fair our elections are, we can begin to make real progress on restoring a better future for our kids and grand kids.  The reality is that Covid (with all of its accompanying falsehoods) did irreversible damage to our nation’s republic.  Mail in ballots, ballot drop boxes, and third party ballot drops are the keys to ballot harvesting.  Ballot harvesting is how cheaters get big black trash bags full of ballots to show up in the middle of the night.  True, this doesn’t guarantee enough ballots to totally overcome the will of the people who show up to vote.  Just as brass knuckles in your boxing gloves don't necessarily ensure victory either.

If you remember correctly, the rules for voting were changed in multiple states in 2020 with little legislative decision making behind them (remember how much power public health officials and governors had during the “crisis”?).  And now opposing these measures is no longer just “anti-science”; it’s “racist”, “sexist”, and “transphobic”.  Again, we are up against obvious anti-reality arguments with little recourse.  The narratives that most boisterously trend in legacy and social media now guide the outcome accepted by most Americans.  And that trumps you and all the other average pissed off voters.  

Until we fix the societal undertones that allow for such narratives to be even slightly plausible in the average person’s mind, we cannot repair elections.  And until we overturn these dubious measures, more mules, such as the one’s documented by James O’Keefe and Dinesh D-Souza, will continue to dump hundreds to thousands of ill collected ballots into boxes decicding who we will be mis-represented by.

Finally, Arizona is too big of a prize not to be stolen.  Soros and his Open (Borders) Society Foundation are surely not okay with the securing of the Arizona/Meixco border.  Arizona's proximity to California also makes it an easy state to annex for the left.  While some conservaties move from there to here, plenty of footsoldiers also transplant here all the time.  Compound that with the economic gains to be made by stealing Arizona and it all becomes very enticing.  Some big deals have been done in recent years that practically make Phoenix the new Silicon Valley.  Bringing in Taiwan Semiconductor was one of them.  The 800 million dollar Facebook Data center in Mesa is another.  These are just a couple of examples.

Here's a theory: If there was one state to toss some broken tabulators in and just accept the appearance of a fix, Arizona is a prize worth cheating for.  This state is the heart of a lot of bleeding edge market business deals, with stakeholders affected through many various avenues.  Kari Lake’s governorship would represent the transfer of billions of dollars from one potential set of hands to another.  Silicon Valley businessmen do not want a GOP governor to ever potentially get in the way of how they will do business in their new little sister state.   Those with a vested interest in the business that goes down here were never going to let details as trivially inconvenient as the will of the people or truth get in the way of their power grab.  I have a feeling more will develop on this in time.  When it does, it will be covered here.


America’s Character Decline

When praying in front of abortion clinics, there is a group of enthusiastic Protestants who often stand beside the guys I go with.  Of course, they don’t join in our rosaries, but they do emphatically state scripture, distribute literature, offer support to troubled mothers, and hold a variety of signs.  I have had some great conversations with these patriots, and I really admire their charisma.  I with I could muster that kind of zeal.

I recently saw one of them hold a sign that simply stated the words of St. Paul in Romans 6:23: “The wages of sin is death”.  Considering the setting, the quote is rather fitting.  Abortion isn’t chosen after people have engaged in something ordered according to God's law.  It is chosen after sin.  But considering the current state of the nation, the quote couldn’t be more apropos to the general circumstances we face now and the days ahead.  A nation that has murdered children for over 50 years is one deep on the path toward it's own ultimate death.

The sodomy, the abortion, the cheating, the constant violations of the law of non-contradiction with the “trans” agenda, etc…  all lead to what we have today.  A nation that would rather insist on baby murder for hire than getting back down below $3 a gallon is beyond repair.

Montana voted against a born alive act.  Yikes!  This basically means that the majority of Montana voters do not want doctors to provide medical care to babies born alive after a failed abortion attempt.  And ignorance of what the ballot measure actually meant is no excuse!  The failure of this initiative is a microcosm of a nation that is eager to die a slow and torturous suicide.  Is the destruction of Sodom underway?  Or are we headed for Babylonian captivity?  Or is the wrath of Ninevah upon us? Choose whatever metaphor you want, they are all fitting.  We don't need to wait for China’s imminent invasion of Taiwan before we accept that our status as lone “good guy” world superpower are long behind us.  The moral decline, and the corresponding destruction of this nation only accelerate.

 
Generation Z

Can America's common voter really be crass enough to choose baby murder over economic recovery and affordable housing?  Can it really be the case that almost 70% of single women voted democrat in this past election?

Consider how desensitized Americas youth really are today, and it should be easy to see how such a contingent of voters can indeed tip the nation's scales toward such violent anti-person amorality.  Study the prevailing statistics on porn consumption in the current age.  According to one study in 2016, “87% of college-age men—and around 30% of women—doubleclick for sex either weekly or every day.”  And these are outdated statistics. 

The positive attitudes and the social acceptability of porn consumption is an upward runaway trend.  Additionally, the content has become increasingly violent and extreme.  And the amount of women who consume and even casually make porn is skyrocketing.  There is an ever growing Only Fans account base of “cam girls” willing to sexually exploit themselves for social media fan bases.  It’s widely acceptable to the average Zoomer.  Yes, the radically cell phone and social media addicted, easily impressionable Zoomer is desperate enough to casually do porn in exchange for attention, pseudo "internet-fame", and a little bit of money.  It's a growing problem that most Gen X and Boomer parents are probably oblivious to.

The society you live in is indeed immoral and perverse enough to celebrate child murder.  Roe may have been overturned, but Moloch is an idol that escapes no generation.  The Boomer Zeitgeist of  “My body my choice” may be dead, but an even worse spirit of “You must celebrate violence against the female person!” has replaced it.  In essence, this is what the Zoomer is shouting when she "shouts her abortion." 

What preceeded the destruction of mighty, affluent, and frivolous Carthage was the increasing heat of the Moloch furnace accompanied by the amplifying voices of those singing death hymns at the idol's altar.  Take it from someone who watched thousands of Zoomers emphatically scream/sing their hymns of “Keep your rosaries off my ovaries!!” and “Keep your Theology off my Biology!!” on June 24th, and it should be obvious that this generation is high on the “right” to destroy themselves, their children, and this nation overall.

Add the Zoomers who take $20+ dollars an hour to canvas professionally for politically far left agendas, and the answer is “YES”, Zoomers majorly impacted the election for the worse.  


Fighting back: the “And/Both” short game

I have noticed an “either/or” attitude that many patriotic and God-fearing men have taken to over the past two years.  Specifically, I am referring to the attitude that one must either be involved in politics or just focus on spiritual hygiene and participate in a lot of things at church.  It doesn’t need to be an either/or proposition.  

In multiple east coast cities, there are statues of General George Washington wearing a Roman Toga and handing over a gladius sword.  This is an allusion to the Roman general, Cincinnatus, who was found working in his field when the Roman Senate asked him to temporarily serve as dictator.  He was asked to do this in order to defend Rome against the invading Aequi in 458 BC.  The moment the crisis was fully averted, Cinncinatus eagerly surrendered his powers back to the Senate.  The connection between Washington and Cinncinatus resides in their shared willingness to do their political duties coupled with their eagerness to return to their common duties once they were finished. 

You don’t have to be the president or the dictator of Rome to aspire toward the character. When you simply let your light shine to the fullest in the broadest sphere of influence you are capable of, you too are being heroic.  By all means, work your own field, but find some time to spread your influence in your community.  If we truly have the sacraments, grace, and the light of Christ on our side, then even some political involvement can go a long way. 

In the ancient times of democracy, the idea of political involvement was a citizen’s responsibility.  If you live in the city (polis), then you ought to actively influence the pursuit of the common good with the other citizens of the polis.  This is real political involvement.  This can partially be executed today by building a big family living robust sacramental lives that are attractive to the wrecked common citizen you meet at the work place, the hardware store, or any club you might join.  Join a board, knock on doors for Susan B. Anthony, coach a local youth sports team, or teach a parenting class at a women's care center.  Whatever you do, just do it in a state of grace and with a purpose to advance the common good in your larger community. 

What about more direct and explicit political involvement?  Can one really have an impact anymore?  Consider this: If there is one race where your vote has the most impact, what race would that be?  It would be the one where the fewest amount of people vote in it.  I am talking, of course, about school boad.  Every election, it’s the same:  “I skipped all the down ballot items, including school board, because I don’t know who these people are.  They don’t mark them as either republican or democrat!”  

For one, shame on us who are derelict in our duties in the grassroots.  I will count myself.  Making a donation and pounding some signs for a buddy of mine wasn’t enough.  I should have done more to educate the average voter on the school board candidates committed to keeping boys out of girls restrooms at schools.  It's that simple.  

Additionally, can we all commit, even after we conclude that the elections are clearly fraudulent, to attending a couple of Republican meetings a year?  And once we find out which candidates are going to fight the Marxist takeover of future voters’ minds, let’s shout those names in the streets!  No person, willing to take the arrows that come with serving on school board, should be strapped for money.  Let's give them the resources they need to put up more signs next election.  Let's buy and proudly wear t-shirts with their names.  Let's send literature in the mail to all the houses in town! 

These are the races we can win. These are candidates we can actually get to know and who are valuable additions to our networks!  These are the candidates that can move up to greater positions in time.  These are the candidates who can protect the God given minds of the voting base and workforce that will stand beside your children some day.

Another thing to consider: we have to stop feeding the enemy.  Are you one of the thousands of homeschooling parents excited about universal ESA money?  Every time you use that money to buy curriculum related material, on Amazon, you feed a company that finances the campaigns of those eager to shut down the program.  Democrats spent record money on elections this year.  That should have been obvious whenever you heard slick ad after slick ad for abortion up to birth supporting, gun grabbing, child gender reassigning Mark Kelly.  Ads that surely mesmerized tens of thousands of low info voters into concluding that Kelly is a “moderate”.  It’s truly amazing what all the data in the world and millions of dollars in focus study driven ad research can do.  I don’t have all of the answers for how to totally de-FANG, but we can’t ever expect different results if we keep feeding that beast.  That much I know.  

Finally, don’t wait for permission to be an active influence in the polis.  It’s almost like some people are waiting for permission from their priests or their bishop to be more active influencers in their community.  Or maybe some clergy are actively discouraging men (well, Republican men) from significant political involvement.  If you are waiting for encouragement from clergy, I got a post Covid news flash for you: most of the clergy are totally unwilling to lead us in our mission to take God and his laws into the public square.  Let it be enough to follow the advice of a bishop who was once told us to “step into the breach!”

The democrat party uses Catholic churches all over the country to recruit Hispanic voters.  Just check your weekly bulletin and see if there are any active ministries within your parish that direct immigrants to agencies that support immigrant amnesty and granting voting right to people here illegally.  Do a little digging.  By correlation, this article from the Lepanto Institute may give you some insight.  If you get kickback for buying ad space in the bulletin to endorse a school board candidate who is against litter boxes for furries in public schools, ask your parish Susan, "Why the double standard?"

The Long Game: Cultural Leadership

Make no doubt about it, things are going to get worse before they get worse.  But there is a long game that we must get behind.  It will be won by those who keep on keeping on.  Those who keep on in witness and holiness.  The men and women who refuse to be broken by the errors of our time will be the ones to lead the charge.  The ones who gracefully endure the chaos, poverty, debauchery, and atheistic communism to come will be the cultural leaders of this generation and future ones.

We need to rethink what it means to “fight” this battle.  Our reflexive response is to mock the blue haired screamers and to call a “snowflake” a "snowflake" when we see one.  Cut it out!  This tack is as countercultural as it is counterproductive.  We will continue to lose the battle for hearts and minds this way. 

Our job is to convince Generation Z (the biggest target of the New World Order) that happiness is not found in the tiny government project apartments that are prepared for them.  Our mere example of living full and happy lives with our heterosexual marriage partners and functioning holy children might attract some of Gen Z away from the lives of Metaverse, masturbation, idiocracy, Godlessness, and bug eating that the social engineers offer them.  Man up and put your masculinity on full display.  And don’t be an ass about it.  Rather, be firm in defending what is sacred and true, but be charitable and likable while you do it.  

Even if there was a “red wave”, it would have ultimately changed very little in the long run.  We are at a spot in the civilization cycle where destruction is inevitable.  It’s what happens to nations that divorce sex from consequence, followed by decades of Moloch worship.  But that doesn’t mean you can’t start preparing your children and your grandchildren to live the hard times ahead with dignity and grace.  Someday, there will be good times again.  How will we get there?

Now is the time to embrace our call to “Cultural Leadership.”  What is cultural leadership?  It’s actually quite simple.  As I mentioned in my last article, there is an ideal form of culture.  Calls to be “countercultural”, in attempt to change society for the better, do not make sense.   An authentic culture is one whereby most people have a reasonable sense of justice and seek it.  An authentic culture is one whereby people engage in honest trade with one another, worship the same God together, and promote together the intellectual pursuit of what is true, good, and beautiful.

We might not have as much control over our earthly futures as we had hoped.  We have many saints throughout the ages to share that disappointment with.  But we all have control over our spiritual well being and the headship we have over our respective domestic churches.  To men reading this article, you are called, in imitation of St. Joseph, to be the pillar of virtue and the terror of demons for your family.  The last 72 hours have put my personal financial and residential locale five year plans in jeopardy.  It sucks.  Perhaps it’s time to focus on a spiritual five year plan instead.  As I’m doing that, I can grow my ability to guide others through the misery that the Great Resetters have in store for the world.  If you are a spiritually upright person, who also seeks to promote the true, good, and beautiful, then you have a tremendous part to play in setting up future generations for the dark age to come!

As a friend of mine reflected after Tuesday night, “It’s a greater honor to be part of the generation that started the construction of a cathedral than the generation that finishes it.”  Now that’s some perspective!  Notre Dame Cathedral took 182 years to complete.  Over multiple generations, men who constructed it learned their respective trades from their fathers, knowing that they were never going to see the finished product.  That’s the attitude we must embrace at this time.  Believing that everything can turn around for this country on a dime at this point is ludicrous.  Civilization cycles don’t work that way.  We are early in the “hard times” phase.  We will get through them while teaching our apprentice children to be the strong men who come out of hard times.  

Only after our nation fully lives the dark age ahead will we be able to enter the rising "Phoenix age" of this land.  But preparing for that age beings with real cultural leadership now.  We must begin constructing our own cathedral.  

Resist the illusion that we can all fix this mess right now.  Further, resist the countercultural standards and rally cries of our day that have proven illusory.  “Let’s go Brandon” was destined to fail.  It’s the cry of a countercultural Viking warrior enraged with a spirit of vengeance and angst, not the cry of medieval knight defending honor, his church, and his hearth.  Don’t expect to win the long game looking for “liberal tears to drink” or “snowflakes to trigger” anymore.  Embrace the cultural leadership role that God put you here to live in this time. 

This is what it means to grow your influence and to be a light in the darkness.   This is what it means to positively impact your polis.  This is how we are going to come out of the ashes of the coming destruction; as hopeful and joyful Christians who are ready to be cultural leaders.  We will help as many people as we can to live happy and fulfilled lives that lead to heaven.  Afterall, it has literally been the evangelical vocation of all Christian men for 2,000 years. 

Throw out all your idols and your self-pity right now, and let’s do it!

God bless,

Gadfly