Editor’s Note- As you know, Socotra LLC made a decision on covering the interesting rebellion here in our beloved America. In order to do so, I have taken a light-hearted approach to the coming chaos. There is a shared presumption of what may be coming. Arrias dipped into the well of ancient tales yesterday. He and Point Loma seem to have drank from the same wellspring. For my part, I will try to put the most jovial face on the madness I can, and dissect how the two narratives are playing as we advance to the “unrest” that will attend an election the like of which we have not seen in these United States. Marlow is warming up in the bullpen. Stand by for more thrills.

– Vic

Author’s Note – As I promised in my last screed on the legacy of Thomas Jefferson, I was going to originally do an Arrias-style deep dive on what I think are the bigger issues here, but then I had to wake up to the fact that I am just another cheap closet intellectual so why compete with a guy who can kick my ass if I piss him off? There are lanes in the intellectual roads of the Vic Socotra panoply of quasi-pundits, after all, and I have my own unique way of going about it. Besides, I didn’t want to think that hard; otherwise I would have slipped off the satin sheets of my quarantine chaise lounge while reaching for another Budweiser. However, let there be no doubt that I will both excoriate and seek to smash every whimper of anti-Americanism that I sniff from the lib-tards, who would otherwise fool us into willingly surrendering the rights that we secured and have fought for over the past 250 years. You ain’t going to take it away from me and my like-minded friends that easily.

Bill of Rights

Mount Rushmore

We’re going to get spiritual here, before I get nasty. I still love what Gutzon Borglum wrote about his quest to create this memorial in 1939 after decades of effort and political infighting involved in its creation, which ultimately claimed his life before it was considered completed in 1941 – which in reality it never was or has been yet. He wrote this in defiance of, and to spite naysayers – of which there were an endless, tireless supply:
“I want, somewhere in America on or near the Rockies, the backbone of the Continent, so far removed from succeeding, selfish, coveting civilizations, a few feet of stone that bears witness, carries the likenesses, the dates, a word or two of the great things we accomplished as a Nation, placed so high it won’t pay to pull down for lesser purposes. Hence, let us place there, carved high, as close to heaven as we can, the words of our leaders, their faces, to show posterity what manner of men they were. Then breathe a prayer that these records will endure until the wind and the rain alone shall wear them away.”[1]

Yet, the lib-tards are trying to portray Borglum as a racist, KKK member, and that since there are at least two slave owners carved in monumental stone on the top of that mountain range in South Dakota, we should blow it up and/or tear it down – YGTBFSM. Borglum, writing those prescient words 80 years ago, was right. This sounds just as stupid as the dumb shit Taliban assholes who managed to destroy a lot of ancient shrines in Afghanistan, and the Islamic fuckheads who want to tear down the Pyramids in Giza. There is no shortage of these stupid shits, I just wish we had the right ROE…or at least the one we used to have a few years ago.

Back in 1934, a young Nebraskan student William Andrew Burkett won a college-era competition to write an inscription for Mt. Rushmore, while he was a student at Omaha University Law School (I had to Google it since it sounded like a place where the Wizard of Oz alter ego Professor Marvel would have gotten his degree – it is now known as Creighton University, for which Warren Buffett is a key beneficial contributor):

“Almighty God, from this pulpit of stone the American people render thanksgiving and praise for the new era of civilization brought forth upon this continent. Centuries of tyrannical oppression sent to these shores, God-fearing men to seek in freedom the guidance of thy benevolent hand in the progress toward wisdom, goodness toward men, and piety toward God.”[2]

Here’s a few more cogent passages to ponder upon so I quote them completely since I can do no better; so lest we forget:

“On July 4, 1776, our forefathers promulgated a principle never before successfully asserted, that life, liberty, equality, and pursuit of happiness were the birthrights of all mankind. In this declaration of independence beat a heart for all humanity. It declared this country free from British rule and announced the inalienable sovereignty of the people. Freedom’s soldiers victoriously consecrated this land with their life’s blood to be free forever more.”[3]

If you haven’t been there to see it in person, put it on that bucket list. And even better, there is this short passage – the result of which we swear our lives and sacred honor:
“Then, in 1787 for the first time a government was formed that derived it’s just powers from the consent of the governed. General Washington and representatives from the 13 states formed this sacred Constitution, which embodies our faith in God and in mankind by giving equal participation in government to all citizens, distributing the powers of governing, three-fold securing freedoms of speech and of the press, establishing the right to worship the Infinite according to conscience, and assuring this nation’s general welfare against an embattled world. This chart of national guidance has for more than [then] 150 years weathered the ravages of time. Its supreme trial came under the pressure of Civil War, 1861-65. The deadly doctrines of secession and slavery were then purged away in blood. The seal of the Union’s finality set by President Lincoln, was accomplished like all our triumphs of law and humanity, through the wisdom and the power of an honest, Christian heart.”[4]

So, what is wrong with all of the above – who would disagree that the free choice of individuals is a good thing? Lincoln died for it. Hell, we have fought pretty goddamn hard to secure and ensure the endurance of those rights not only for ourselves, but also other peoples to live their lives as they choose. However, there are some people who object to the idea of pure intellectual freedom and the right to be whomever you aspire to be – and while we can understand different cultures, like the heathen Chinee, who don’t agree with our ideas, it is mostly jarring to see people whom we would otherwise consider to be sentient, responsible human beings to be weirdly motivated to control the lives of others, their fellow citizens, and waiting around to be told what to do and how to think. Well, I have two words for that: FUCK YOU.

So, how do they go about doing it? The first thing is to try to delegitimize our history and the heritage of our forebears so that whatever they came up with and said doesn’t really matter, since they were all racist criminals. Call everyone who disagrees with you a cheap and superficial racist, and that everything that they/we stand for needs to be destroyed. That’s why the idiocy of tearing down Mt. Rushmore which Borglum foresaw 80 years before, demolishing the Washington monument (and don’t get me started on the penis envy part of that), and dumping the Jefferson Memorial into the Tidal Basin, ad nauseum, based on the momentum of a mob mentality that must be resisted as strongly as the COVID-19 virus makes me want to vomit, or go get a Jell-O enema. Getting rid of the Confederate monuments, which I don’t totally agree with – since they are part of our history, flawed as it may be, and it is important to understand the past, whether you venerate it or not, is also mis-guided PC for PC’s sake. But the urge to purge and the fleeting feel-good movements today must outweigh the historical significance for future generations, effectively eliminating any chance for them to reflect on the past and come to their own conclusions – as flawed as it may be construed,. It is no doubt mis-guided and dripping with conceit.

What lesson does that teach? If you don’t like something that occurred in the past, then eradicate it like you would excise a cancerous malignant tumor? It’s not that easy since you have no clue what was really going on back then but the memory of a dimly recorded history remains, and may even make it more poignant and awarded with more significance than it otherwise would have had. Just as an example, if you live in DC and have driven down Jeff Davis Highway through Old Town Alexandria and sitting in traffic there at the light at King Street, I’ll bet you didn’t feel any burning sensation of moral outrage caused by the Confederate statue who’s ass you were looking at in the middle of the street, and that it meant anything to you more than dodging the yuppies cutting through traffic in their deadly killer Land Rovers. I’d like to know who is going to compensate all of those businesses in Alexandria that now have to change their addresses, business cards, stationery, etc. But it is part and parcel of the new narrative; nothing to see here, so move along.

So, how does it work? First, you destroy the past, so you can control the future, as Orwell prophesized; thereby, you delegitimatize those who came before as illegitimate for whatever moral reasons you can cook up, while not having to prove any allegations against dead men – nice. Everything from here is now easy.

The Bill of Rights – Your Contract with America

I was going to take apart all of the myriad attacks on all of the amendments and the Bill of Rights, but that would take too long and it makes my head hurt, so I will leave that heavy-lifting for Arrias. However, it is useful to remember that the majority of the 13 states refused to ratify the original Constitution until the Bill of Rights was appended – hard lessons learned were involved. The Constitution is engaged in bigger things about the nation – the Bill of Rights is about you. And if you don’t understand that, then you are a fool.

So, now that the miscreants have done their best to discredit our ancestors and distort their intentions and vision of the future of the U.S. as enshrined in both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, they will now take on the Bill of Rights, and most importantly, the 1st, and 2nd Amendments. Yeah, as Obama said and Hilary echoed, we deplorables do cling to our guns and religion, both of which the left hate and fear. Otherwise, why would they try to shame us out of them? Well, who are we to argue against the smart guys and gals in the room right now; those who live in gated communities and have paid security guards packing cold steel and malice aforethought?
The 1st Amendment is the most important. If we can’t speak our minds and worship whomever and wherever we want, then why do we have brains? Yet, we see people trying to limit what we can and cannot say, on social media and in print, and more chilling is more and more about trying to figure out ways to control what we think. Trust me, you don’t really know what I really think – I delete more of these pieces (or actually save them for later) than I do send. Dark are many of my thoughts, so you only get to see the funny stuff.

But now my spidey senses are tingling, as the surveillance state is ramping up its efforts – we are not China, but it seems to me that we may be getting dragged there into that orbit. And, you have all the fact checkers and scolds out there to snatch you up by the shorthairs for even the most minor mental transgression.

The assault on the 2nd Amendment is even more insidious. An armed population is one thing, and a well-armed one is another. Well, it is heartening to see that we are well-armed – gun shop stock for both firearms and ammunition are running low, so now we get to see what happens. My point on this is that the attempts to control personal ownership of firearms for self-defense will be accompanied with soothing messages such as – “it’s a matter of your safety, as if.” I’m sure those were the same reassurances the Jews heard standing in line for their showers in Auschwitz or Dachau. Or “don’t worry, your local law enforcement professionals will be right there to rescue you” just like they show up every night in Portland. What they really mean is that we are going to be further and further robbed of our accumulated wealth and treasure to support those who somehow can’t or won’t; and we will be told that there is no way you can fight it, it’s just the way things are so shut the fuck up and get along. Just get in line and march cheerily towards meeting the fate we have contrived for you. And this is not just limited to the left although they have a clearer track record over the years – our current administration will just as willingly sacrifice you for the greater good if it serves their purposes. The famous philosopher Josef Stalin once observed that “a single death is a tragedy – a million deaths is a statistic.” What I keep telling my kids is that the only people who truly give a shit about them and their lives are living in the same house – everyone else will shitcan you at the first inkling that there is a threat to their own lives and livelihood. I can’t fault the perfidy and fickleness of human beings – I’d do the same. The world is a ghetto.[5]

Ayn Rand – Bring it on Lib-tards

Like many college-aged quasi-intellectuals, I discovered Ayn Rand one bright day, and inhaled the Fountainhead in a marathon reading session – something like 16hrs straight; and later it was Atlas Shrugged, but taken in smaller doses. Rand was an iconoclast, but as a survivor who had fled the Bolshevik Revolution, she did have a definite, and credible point of view, which she parlayed into a literary and cult-like religious empire – hell, I’m a member although I identify for voting purposes as a GDI, since Objectivist is not an option. If you put her on the air today on Fox, CNN, MSNBC, etc., she would demolish all liberal shibboleths,[6] and leave her unwary interviewers as quivering masses of oozing protoplasm trying to resurrect their now blasted apart psyches and shattered personal narratives.

Ayn’s been gone for a while, but she doesn’t lack for nostalgic groupies like me, and her still-living older disciples. One fine day at Reagan National, I looked up from my laptop in surprise to discover this man sitting across from me, sharing a communal table at the end of Terminal D while we were waiting for our respective flights to wherever. He is someone who saw way back when the coming disasters while studying at Ayn’s feet when he was a student at NYU – the potential failure of societal norms, a fragile economy, and what we are now collectively facing as individuals:

Alan Greenspan

This man’s back story is pretty damn interesting for his longevity, and his subsequent impact on the economic aspects of the American Century is indelible, even though quietly accomplished. He was an acolyte of Ayn Rand’s back in the 50s, which undoubtedly shaped his viewpoints when determining our financial fate while he was Chairman of the Fed. Maybe one day I will get further into Atlas Shrugged and what it means today – like who is John Galt? Unfortunately, I didn’t get to really talk with him for the 10 minutes or so we shared the table except to exchange pleasantries – and he also had a personal goon body guard with the signature pig tail ear plug of a private or even government security apparatchik who was giving me some particularly dirty looks, so a close approach was not in the cards that day.

Like many Americans who have gotten on the clue bus and woken up to the fact that our most basic rights are in peril, I have chosen to sharpen my wits, and I also bought my guns and ammo before it’s too late. Now, I am relatively well-armed, and prepared for the Zombie Apocalypse or whatever is coming. Those of you who didn’t do so when it first dawned on me about what my eyes were then and now telling me now about what I have seen at my local gun shop is ground truth – the good stuff is sold out. And try to find some handgun ammo, like 9mm – scarce as hen’s teeth it is.

First, we will be told that since COVID-19 things have changed, and that everything that we believed about our country was a lie, Jesus is dead, and then be careful what you say and think since now we are monitoring your social media and thoughts. There’s no reason for you have arms since you are under the protection of the state, and now we’re going to take your money because someone else needs it more than you – all of that is pure BS straight Communist dogma. I think a better idea would be to go out and attempt to vaccinate every American against COVID-19 – you’ll have better luck doing that than trying to confiscate our guns as a pretense for taking our hard-earned cash, and probably burning our churches just to rub it in.

I am still not afraid to think what I think, say what I want to say, and write what I write, and defend what is mine and my family’s safety. I curse like the sailor that I am and will forever be, but unafraid to get down on my knees and confess my sins. I now have the option of legally carrying a firearm to defend those basic rights – free speech, religion, and self-defense. And if you are not of the same mindset or even understand what’s at stake, then you are not fully exercising your privileges as an American citizen which were granted to us under the Bill of Rights, and paid for in blood over and over these many past years.
I remain your faithful servant.

Copyright 2020 Point Loma
www.vicsocotra.com

[1] Source: https://blackhillsvisitor.com/learn/gutzon-borglum/
[2] Source: https://www.nps.gov/moru/learn/historyculture/the-entablature-idea.htm
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Hot Damn! Got some rock-n-roll inference in here – just took a while.
[6] I’ve always wanted to use that word – just had to find the right place and context.