Lazy Sunday CCCXXXII: The 1920s

It’s remarkable to me how history rhymes.  The 1920s and the 2020s have an awful lot in common:  a more socially permissive climate coupled with a growing immigration restrictionist mentality; a massive respiratory disease epidemic at the start; a growing economy; and a simultaneous sense that times were/are changing and that we should try to get back to “normal.”  I will note with some encouragement that, rather than sliding further into our depraved social progressivism, Americans seem to be experiencing something of religious revival, rippling just below the surface of our troubled cultural waters.

To quote myself from 4 January 2020:

In many ways, the 1920s presaged the coming social and cultural upheaval of the 1960s—also a peacetime, post-war boom period of rapid economic growth and social turbulence.  Indeed, it seems likely that it was only the catastrophe of the Great Depression, with the struggles of the Second World War following on its heels, that prevented 1960s-style social breakdown forty years “early.”

For context, when 1920 dawned, the United States was in the midst of a post-war (this being the First World War) recession, one that was so deep that around one million Americans voted for Eugene V. Debs, the Socialist candidate for president, in the 1920 election.  Americans had a profound sense that entering the Great War, as it was then called, was a serious mistake—an error the nation would not repeat (thus the feet-dragging when it came to entering the Second World War).  The rise of Italian Fascism in the 1920s only seemed to confirm America’s error:  the war to make the world safe for democracy, as Democratic President Woodrow Wilson framed it, demonstrated further the failed idealism of the war.

We are certainly rethinking years of open immigration and disastrous foreign wars of choice.  Socialists seem on the rise in the most progressive areas (like New York City), while everyone else is getting more conservative (I hope!).  Trump is a better president than Harding, but he shares Coolidge’s pro-business outlook, if not his stoic quietness.  Heck, even tariffs are back!

So I though it’d be worthwhile to look back at some posts on the 1920s:

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

  1. Lazy Sunday – APR Pieces
  2. Lazy Sunday II – Lincoln Posts
  3. Lazy Sunday III – Historical Moments
  4. Lazy Sunday IV – Christianity
  5. Lazy Sunday V – Progressivism, Part I
  6. Lazy Sunday VI – Progressivism, Part II
  7. Lazy Sunday VII – Deep State
  8. Lazy Sunday VIII – Conservatism
  9. Lazy Sunday IX – Economics, Part I
  10. Lazy Sunday X – Economics, Part II
  11. Lazy Sunday XI – Walls
  12. Lazy Sunday XII – Space
  13. Lazy Sunday XIII – Immigration
  14. Lazy Sunday XIV – Gay Stuff
  15. Lazy Sunday XV – Work
  16. Lazy Sunday XVI – #MAGAWeek2018
  17. Lazy Sunday XVII – #MAGAWeek2019
  18. Lazy Sunday XVIII – SubscribeStar Posts
  19. Lazy Sunday XIX – Music
  20. Lazy Sunday XX – The Laziest Sunday
  21. Lazy Sunday XXI – Travel
  22. Lazy Sunday XXII – Reading
  23. Lazy Sunday XXIII – Richard Weaver
  24. Lazy Sunday XXIV – Education
  25. Lazy Sunday XXV – Techno-Weirdos
  26. Lazy Sunday XXVI – Small Town Living
  27. Lazy Sunday XXVII – Bric-a-Brac
  28. Lazy Sunday XXVIII – World History
  29. Lazy Sunday XXIX – The New Criterion
  30. Lazy Sunday XXX – Trump, Part I
  31. Lazy Sunday XXXI – Trump, Part II
  32. Lazy Sunday XXXII – Festivals
  33. Lazy Sunday XXXIII – Virtue Signalling
  34. Lazy Sunday XXXIV – The Desperate Search for Meaning Series
  35. Lazy Sunday XXXV – Corporate Grind
  36. Lazy Sunday XXXVI – Best of the Reblogs, Part I
  37. Lazy Sunday XXXVII – Best of the Reblogs, Part II
  38. Lazy Sunday XXXVIII – Best of the Reblogs, Part III
  39. Lazy Sunday XXXIX – A Very Dokken Christmas Series
  40. Lazy Sunday XL – Christmas Carols
  41. Lazy Sunday XLI – Food
  42. Lazy Sunday XLII – 2019’s Top Five Posts
  43. Lazy Sunday XLIII – Music, Part II: More Music
  44. Lazy Sunday XLIV – SubscribeStar Saturday Posts, Part II: The Search for More Money
  45. Lazy Sunday XLV – Techno-Weirdos II
  46. Lazy Sunday XLVI – Man Time
  47. Lazy Sunday XLVII – Winning
  48. Lazy Sunday XLVIII – Culture
  49. Lazy Sunday XLIX – Family
  50. Lazy Sunday L – The Best of Lazy Sunday
  51. Lazy Sunday LI – Just for Fun
  52. Lazy Sunday LII – Democratic Candidates, Part I
  53. Lazy Sunday LIII – Democratic Candidates, Part II
  54. Lazy Sunday LIV – Coronavirus
  55. Lazy Sunday LV – Animals
  56. Lazy Sunday LVI – Movies
  57. Lazy Sunday LVII – Christianity, Part II
  58. Lazy Sunday LVIII – Spring Break Short Story Recommendations Recap
  59. Lazy Sunday LIX – The God Pill Series
  60. Lazy Sunday LX – Music, Part II: Gigging
  61. Lazy Sunday LXI – The Tuck
  62. Lazy Sunday LXII – The South
  63. Lazy Sunday LXIII – Holidays
  64. Lazy Sunday LXIV – Grab Bag
  65. Lazy Sunday LXV – Rioting
  66. Lazy Sunday LXVI – Video Games
  67. Lazy Sunday LXVII – Phone it in Fridays, Part I
  68. Lazy Sunday LXVIII – Phone it in Fridays, Part II
  69. Lazy Sunday LXIX – Phone it in Fridays, Part III
  70. Lazy Sunday LXX – Phone it in Friday, Part IV
  71. Lazy Sunday LXXI – Road Trips
  72. Lazy Sunday LXXII – Forgotten Posts, Volume I
  73. Lazy Sunday LXXIII – Forgotten Posts, Volume II
  74. Lazy Sunday LXXIV – Forgotten Posts, Volume III
  75. Lazy Sunday LXXV – Forgotten Posts, Volume IV
  76. Lazy Sunday LXXVI – Forgotten Posts, Volume V
  77. Lazy Sunday LXXVII – Rural America
  78. Lazy Sunday LXXVIII – Space, Part II
  79. Lazy Sunday LXXXIX – SCOTUS
  80. Lazy Sunday LXXX – Big Ideas
  81. Lazy Sunday LXXXI – Education, Part II
  82. Lazy Sunday LXXXII – Universal Studios
  83. Lazy Sunday LXXXIII – The Mountains
  84. Lazy Sunday LXXXIV – Halloween Hijinks
  85. Lazy Sunday LXXXV – Elections
  86. Lazy Sunday LXXXVI – Questions, Part I
  87. Lazy Sunday LXXXVII – Questions, Part II
  88. Lazy Sunday LXXXVIII – Questions, Part III
  89. Lazy Sunday LXXXIX – 100 Week Review
  90. Lazy Sunday XC – Questions, Part IV
  91. Lazy Sunday XCI – Questions, Part V
  92. Lazy Sunday XCII – Christmas
  93. Lazy Sunday XCIII – 2020’s Top Five Posts
  94. Lazy Sunday XCIV – My Favorite Things
  95. Lazy Sunday XCV – The Best of Lazy Sunday
  96. Lazy Sunday XCVI – More Movies: Movie Reviews, Part I
  97. Lazy Sunday XCVII – More Movies II: Movie Reviews, Part II
  98. Lazy Sunday XCVIII – More Movies III: Movie Reviews, Part III
  99. Lazy Sunday XCIX – Romantic Music
  100. Lazy Sunday C – Valentine’s Day
  101. Lazy Sunday CI – Obituaries, Part I
  102. Lazy Sunday CII – Obituaries, Part II
  103. Lazy Sunday CIII – Begging
  104. Lazy Sunday CIV – Time
  105. Lazy Sunday CV – Grab Bag II
  106. Lazy Sunday CVI – Adventures
  107. Lazy Sunday CVII – Easter
  108. Lazy Sunday CVIII – Spring Break Short Story Recommendations 2021 Recap
  109. Lazy Sunday CIX – Pillow Talk
  110. Lazy Sunday CX – Inspector Gerard Reviews
  111. Lazy Sunday CXI – Bric-a-Brac II
  112. Lazy Sunday CXII – Responsibility
  113. Lazy Sunday CXIII – Short Stories
  114. Lazy Sunday CXIV – More Movies IV: Movie Reviews, Part IV
  115. Lazy Sunday CXV – Memorable Mondays
  116. Lazy Sunday CXVI – Delays
  117. Lazy Sunday CXVII – More Movies V – Movie Reviews, Part V
  118. Lazy Sunday CXVIII – More Movies VI – Movie Reviews, Part VI
  119. Lazy Sunday CXIX – Summer Camps
  120. Lazy Sunday CXX – Animals, Part II
  121. Lazy Sunday CXXI – MAGAWeek2021 Posts
  122. Lazy Sunday CXXII – MAGAWeek2020 Posts
  123. Lazy Sunday CXXIII – Murphy
  124. Lazy Sunday CXXIV – Bible Posts
  125. Lazy Sunday CXXV – More Movies VII – Movie Reviews, Part VII
  126. Lazy Sunday CXXVI – Joy, Part I
  127. Lazy Sunday CXXVII – Joy, Part II – Music
  128. Lazy Sunday CXXVIII – Civilization
  129. Lazy Sunday CXXIX – Friends, Part I
  130. Lazy Sunday CXXX – Friends, Part II
  131. Lazy Sunday CXXXI – Friends, Part III
  132. Lazy Sunday CXXXII – Milestones
  133. Lazy Sunday CXXXIII – Inspector Gerard
  134. Lazy Sunday CXXXIV – Friends, Part IV
  135. Lazy Sunday CXXXV – More Movies VIII – Movie Reviews, Part VIII
  136. Lazy Sunday CXXXVI – More Movies IX – Movie Reviews, Part IX
  137. Lazy Sunday CXXXVII – More Halloween Hijinks
  138. Lazy Sunday CXXXVIII – Friends, Part V
  139. Lazy Sunday CXXXIX – More Movies, Part X – Movie Reviews, Part X
  140. Lazy Sunday CXL – More Movies, Part XI – Movie Reviews, Part XI
  141. Lazy Sunday CXLI – Thanksgiving Stuff(ing)
  142. Lazy Sunday CXLII – More Movies, Part XII – Movie Reviews, Part XII
  143. Lazy Sunday CXLIII – More Movies, Part XIII – Movie Reviews, Part XIII
  144. Lazy Sunday CXLIV – More Christmas Carols
  145. Lazy Sunday CXLV – Christmas Cheer
  146. Lazy Sunday CXLVI – 2021’s Top Five Posts
  147. Lazy Sunday CXLVII – More Movies, Part XIV – Movie Reviews, Part XIV
  148. Lazy Sunday CXLVIII – The Gemini Sonnets #1 and #2
  149. Lazy Sunday CXLIX – The Gemini Sonnets #3 and #4
  150. Lazy Sunday CL – The Gemini Sonnets #5 and #6
  151. Lazy Sunday CLI – More Movies, Part XV – Movies Reviews, Part XV
  152. Lazy Sunday CLII – Romance
  153. Lazy Sunday CLIII – Behind the Songs, Part I
  154. Lazy Sunday CLIV – Behind the Songs, Part II
  155. Lazy Sunday CLV – Péchés d’âge moyen Posts
  156. Lazy Sunday CLVI – More Son of Sonnet
  157. Lazy Sunday CLVII – Ponty’s Posts, Part I
  158. Lazy Sunday CLVIII – Ponty’s Posts, Part II
  159. Lazy Sunday CLIX – Scrambie Eggs
  160. Lazy Sunday CLX: Fine Arts Festival
  161. Lazy Sunday CLXI: Easter II
  162. Lazy Sunday CLXII: Spring Break Short Story Recommendations Recap 2022
  163. Lazy Sunday CLXIII: Friends, Part VI
  164. Lazy Sunday CLXIV: Friends, Part VII
  165. Lazy Sunday CLXV: Friends, Part VIII
  166. Lazy Sunday CLXVI: Friends, Part IX
  167. Lazy Sunday CLXVII: Friends, Part X
  168. Lazy Sunday CLXVIII: More Movies, Part XVI: Movie Reviews, Part XVI
  169. Lazy Sunday CLXIX: More Movies, Part XVII: Movie Reviews, Part XVII
  170. Lazy Sunday CLXX: More Movies, Part XVIII: Movie Reviews, Part XVIII
  171. Lazy Sunday CLXXI: Frederick Ingram, Part I
  172. Lazy Sunday CLXXII: Frederick Ingram, Part II
  173. Lazy Sunday CLXXIII: MAGAWeek2022
  174. Lazy Sunday CLXXIV: More Movies, Part XIX: Movie Reviews, Part XIX
  175. Lazy Sunday CLXXV: More Movies, Part XX: Movie Reviews, Part XX
  176. Lazy Sunday CLXXVI: More Movies, Part XXI: Movie Reviews, Part XXI
  177. Lazy Sunday CLXXVII: School, Part I
  178. Lazy Sunday CLXXVIII: School, Part II
  179. Lazy Sunday CLXXIX: More Movies, Part XXII: Ponty’s Worst Films, Part I
  180. Lazy Sunday CLXXX: More Movies, Part XXIII: Portly’s Worst Films, Part I
  181. Lazy Sunday CLXXXI: More Movies, Part XXIV: Ponty’s Worst Films, Part II
  182. Lazy Sunday CLXXXII: More Movies, Part XXV: Portly’s Worst Films, Part II
  183. Lazy Sunday CLXXXIII: More Movies, Part XXVII: Ponty’s Worst Films, Part III
  184. Lazy Sunday CLXXXIV: More Movies, Part XXVIII: Portly’s Worst Films, Part III
  185. Lazy Sunday CLXXXV: More Movies, Part XXIX: Ponty and Portly’s #1 Worst Films
  186. Lazy Sunday CLXXXVI: More Movies, Part XXX: Midweek Myers Movie Reviews, Part I
  187. Lazy Sunday CLXXXVII: More Movies, Part XXXI: Midweek Myers Movie Reviews, Part II
  188. Lazy Sunday CLXXXVIII: Video Games II: Ponty’s Picks
  189. Lazy Sunday CLXXXIX: Even More Halloween Hijinks: The Musical
  190. Lazy Sunday CXC: Cozy Time
  191. Lazy Sunday CXCI: Veterans Day Posts
  192. Lazy Sunday CXCII: Myersvision, Part I
  193. Lazy Sunday CXCIII: Thanksgiving Week Posts
  194. Lazy Sunday CXCIV: Solo Cover EP, Part I
  195. Lazy Sunday CXCV: Solo Cover EP, Part II
  196. Lazy Sunday CLXXVI: 2022’s Top Three
  197. Lazy Sunday CXCVII: Review[s] of A Christmas Carol (1951)
  198. Lazy Sunday CXCVIII: The Worst of 2022
  199. Lazy Sunday CXCIX: More Movies XXXII: Portly’s Best Films, Part I
  200. Lazy Sunday CC: More Movies XXXIII: Ponty’s Best Films, Part I
  201. Lazy Sunday CCI: More Movies XXXIV: Portly’s Best Films, Part II
  202. Lazy Sunday CCII: More Movies XXXV: Ponty’s Best Films, Part II
  203. Lazy Sunday CCIII: P​é​ch​é​s d​’​â​ge moyen Picks
  204. Lazy Sunday CCIV: Arizonan Sojourn, Part I
  205. Lazy Sunday CCV: Portly’s Best Films, Part III
  206. Lazy Sunday CCVI: Ponty’s Best Films, Part III
  207. Lazy Sunday CCVII: The Beach
  208. Lazy Sunday CCVIII: Walks
  209. Lazy Sunday CCXIX: Paintings
  210. Lazy Sunday CCX: Arizonan Sojourn, Part II
  211. Lazy Sunday CCXI: Hono[u]rable Mentions
  212. Lazy Sunday CCXII: Easter III
  213. Lazy Sunday CCXIII: Spring Break Short Story Recommendations 2023
  214. Lazy Sunday CCXIV: Ponty and Portly’s #1 Picks
  215. Lazy Sunday CCXV: Myersvision, Part II
  216. Lazy Sunday CCXVI: Myersvision, Part III
  217. Lazy Sunday CCXVII: Myersvision, Part IV
  218. Lazy Sunday CCXVIII: Myersvision, Part V
  219. Lazy Sunday CCXIX: Myersvision, Part VI
  220. Lazy Sunday CCXX: Myersvision, Part VII
  221. Lazy Sunday CCXXI: Intergalactic Nonsense
  222. Lazy Sunday CCXXII: Stories
  223. Lazy Sunday CCXXIII: Original Music, Part I
  224. Lazy Sunday CCXXIV: Original Music, Part II
  225. Lazy Sunday CCXXV: MAGAWeek2023 Posts
  226. Lazy Sunday CCXXVI: Greatest Hits Recap
  227. Lazy Sunday CCXXVII: Ponty Week 2023
  228. Lazy Sunday CCXXVIII: D.C., Part I
  229. Lazy Sunday CCXXIX: D.C., Part II
  230. Lazy Sunday CCXXX: TJC Deep Cuts
  231. Lazy Sunday CCXXXI: Weird Piano Music
  232. Lazy Sunday CCXXXII: Cinema
  233. Lazy Sunday CCXXXIII: Monarchy
  234. Lazy Sunday CCXXXIV: Sandwiches
  235. Lazy Sunday CCXXXV: Skeletons
  236. Lazy Sunday CCXXXVI: Myersvision, Part VIII
  237. Lazy Sunday CCXXXVII: Myersvision, Part IX
  238. Lazy Sunday CCXXXVIII: Festivals II
  239. Lazy Sunday CCXXXIX: Two Cryptid Tunes
  240. Lazy Sunday CCXL: Ghostly Doings
  241. Lazy Sunday CCXLI: Veterans Day Posts II
  242. Lazy Sunday CCXLII: Indie Musician Rants
  243. Lazy Sunday CCXLIII: 2023 Releases
  244. Lazy Sunday CCXLIV: Civilization Series
  245. Lazy Sunday CCXLV: Chapel Lessons, Part I
  246. Lazy Sunday CCXLVI: Chapel Lessons, Part II
  247. Lazy Sunday CCXLVII: Christmas Concert Reviews
  248. Lazy Sunday CCXLVIII: The Best of 2023
  249. Lazy Sunday CCXLIX: Best Ponty Posts of 2023
  250. Lazy Sunday CCL: Best Myersvision Posts of 2023
  251. Lazy Sunday CCLI: YouTube Roundup Roundup I
  252. Lazy Sunday CCLII: YouTube Roundup Roundup II
  253. Lazy Sunday CCLIII: Firefly Dance Tracks, Part I
  254. Lazy Sunday CCLIV: Firefly Dance Tracks, Part II
  255. Lazy Sunday CCLV: Firefly Dance Tracks, Part III
  256. Lazy Sunday CCLVI: Days Off
  257. Lazy Sunday CCLVII: Murphy Vids, Part I
  258. Lazy Sunday CCLVIII: Food II
  259. Lazy Sunday CCLIX: Four Mages, Part I
  260. Lazy Sunday CCLX: Murphy Vids, Part II
  261. Lazy Sunday CCLXI: Ultra Laziness
  262. Lazy Sunday CCLXII: Mothers
  263. Lazy Sunday CCLXIII: Four Mages, Part II
  264. Lazy Sunday CCLXIV: End of School Events
  265. Lazy Sunday CCLXV: Disco Elysium Reviews
  266. Lazy Sunday CCLXVI: Political Stuff, Part I
  267. Lazy Sunday CCLXVII: Political Stuff, Part II
  268. Lazy Sunday CCLXVIII: Milestones II
  269. Lazy Sunday CCLXIX: Cryptid Epistemology Mini-Series
  270. Lazy Sunday CCLXX: TJC Deep Cuts II
  271. Lazy Sunday CCLXXI: Trump Stuff
  272. Lazy Sunday CCLXXII: Harris Stuff
  273. Lazy Sunday CCLXXIII: Heptadic Structure Tracks, Part I
  274. Lazy Sunday CCLXXIV: More Movies XXXVI: Movie Reviews, Part XXII: Reviews for Audre
  275. Lazy Sunday CCLXXV: Singing to Murphy
  276. Lazy Sunday CCLXXVI: Music Stuff
  277. Lazy Sunday CCLXXVII: Reviews of Video Games After Only Playing a Tiny Bit of Them
  278. Lazy Sunday CCLXXVIII: Composing Antiquity
  279. Lazy Sunday CCLXXIX: Ancient History
  280. Lazy Sunday CCLXXX: Mel Brooks Films
  281. Lazy Sunday CCLXXXI: Smooth Brass Tunes
  282. Lazy Sunday CCLXXXII: Spooky Season Prep
  283. Lazy Sunday CCLXXXIII: Spooky Season Prep II
  284. Lazy Sunday CCLXXXIV: Spooky Season Prep III
  285. Lazy Sunday CCLXXXV: Post-Spooky Season Blues
  286. Lazy Sunday CCLXXXVI: GEOTUS
  287. Lazy Sunday CCLXXXVII: Vague Updates
  288. Lazy Sunday CCLXXXVIII: Thanksgiving Follies
  289. Lazy Sunday CCLXXXIX: Christmas Cheer
  290. Lazy Sunday CCXC: Christmas Cheer II
  291. Lazy Sunday CCXCI: Christmas Cheer III
  292. Lazy Sunday CCXCII: The Best of 2024
  293. Lazy Sunday CCXCIII: Life Stuff
  294. Lazy Sunday CCXCIV: Stop Motion Animation
  295. Lazy Sunday CCXCV: The Bitter, Wretched Cold
  296. Lazy Sunday CCXCVI: Golden Age
  297. Lazy Sunday CCXCVII: Golden Age II
  298. Lazy Sunday CCXCVIII: Civilization VII Posts
  299. Lazy Sunday CCXCIX: Civilization VII Posts II
  300. Lazy Sunday CCC: Cosmic Critters
  301. Lazy Sunday CCCI: Saxophone Sunday
  302. Lazy Sunday CCCII: Culture II
  303. Lazy Sunday CCCIII: Cold Stuff
  304. Lazy Sunday CCCIV: Springtime Musical Follies
  305. Lazy Sunday CCCV: Mostly Mediocre Horror Movies
  306. Lazy Sunday CCCVI: Old Tech
  307. Lazy Sunday CCCVII: Churchy Vibes
  308. Lazy Sunday CCCVIII: Clarinets!
  309. Lazy Sunday CCCIX: Analog Horror
  310. Lazy Sunday CCCX: MP3 Players
  311. Lazy Sunday CCCXI: Retro Games
  312. Lazy Sunday CCCXII: Scandinavians
  313. Lazy Sunday CCCXIII: The French
  314. Lazy Sunday CCCXIV: More Murphy
  315. Lazy Sunday CCCXV: LEGO Craft
  316. Lazy Sunday CCCXVI: Australians
  317. Lazy Sunday CCCXVII: Musical Reflections
  318. Lazy Sunday CCCXVIII: Jeffrey Epstein
  319. Lazy Sunday CCCXIX: July 2018 Deep Cuts
  320. Lazy Sunday CCCXXX: Minor Inconveniences
  321. Lazy Sunday CCCXXXI: Food III

SubscribeStar Saturday: Reject a Dictator’s Peace

Today’s post is a SubscribeStar Saturday exclusive.  To read the full post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.  For a full rundown of everything your subscription gets, click here.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s State of the Union Address for 1941 has come down to us as “The Four Freedoms” speech.  In it, Roosevelt envisioned a world in which all people would enjoy freedom of worship, freedom of speech, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

In the context of the Second World War, which had already been raging in Europe for two years (and much longer in Asia), these freedoms may have seemed like a distant dream for anyone outside of the United States.  Indeed, many Americans took the attitude (one with which I am broadly sympathetic) that Europe’s problems were for Europeans to handle, not Americans.  After all, we’d gotten embroiled in the First World War—ostensibly because “the world must be made safe for democracy,” as President Woodrow Wilson put it in his address to Congress requesting war with Germany in 1917—only to see authoritarian regimes rise throughout Europe and Asia.  Why should we get involved in another mess on a continent an ocean away?

Even with Hitler and Stalin sweeping through Poland, and with the former on the cusp of invading France, Americans were reluctant to get involved in another of Europe’s conflicts.  Roosevelt knew that Americans had little appetite for war, but he made a compelling point in his speech:

No realistic American can expect from a dictator’s peace international generosity, or return of true independence, or world disarmament, or freedom of expression, or freedom of religion–or even good business.

Such a peace would bring no security for us or for our neighbors. “Those, who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

As a nation, we may take pride in the fact that we are softhearted; but we cannot afford to be soft-headed.

We must always be wary of those who with sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal preach the “ism” of appeasement.

In other words, a Europe—not to mention Africa and Asia—in which Hitler reigned supreme would provide no real peace for Americans.  It would be “a dictator’s peace,” one in which Americans, while ostensibly independent, would constantly have to negotiate—and even bend the knee—to a powerful Old World hegemon.  Our own peace and liberties would be forever contingent on Hitler’s mercurial whims.

So it is that the United States today once again faces those who yearn for “a dictator’s peace.”  The enemy is not abroad—not North Korea, not Russia, not even China (although the Chinese are certainly a threat)—but at home.  Our national government, many of our State governments, our universities, our museums, our most important cultural and economic institutions:  all have been infiltrated and co-opted by an enemy within our gates, the enemy of Cultural Marxism, or “progressivism.”

A regular, albeit whispered, refrain in 2020 was, “maybe if Biden wins, we’ll finally have peace.”  These were words uttered by conservatives as much as progressives.  The relentless attacks on President Trump—easily the best President of the twenty-first century so far—were wearying.  Apparently, many of his supporters grew “tired of winning,” as candidate Trump cheekily predicted.  Even when people knew they were shams—like the two ludicrous impeachments—they secretly wished for some return to normalcy, which presented itself in the form of a geriatric octogenarian with a penchant for sniffing little girls’ hair.

Mind you, most of the people wanting “peace”—no more cities burned down by Antifa and BLM, they hoped—weren’t enduring even a fraction of what President Trump endured—still endures!—on a daily basis.  Mostly, their feathers were ruffled by a few cheeky Tweets and a great deal of hostile press coverage.  Oh, my, what a hardship—we have to hear Rachel Maddow squawk boyishly about how bad we Republicans are!  The terror!  Never mind that as their feathers ruffled, they feathered their retirement accounts with 20%-plus annual returns for their 401(k)s.

Now, here we are facing down 2024.  Markets are frothy at best.  Inflation is still through the roof, albeit it cooling slightly.  Grown men are increasingly emboldened—in no small part by our institutions and our own “President”—to espouse sexual relationships with minors.  Young people are mutilating themselves permanently in a vain quest for meaning.

Yet, the same voices yearning for “peace” are back at it, cooing over anyone but the one man who is equipped—and hardened—to take on the system.  Indeed, I was distraught to read this analysis from one of this site’s major contributors:

I don’t think I could vote for [Trump] were he to win the nomination. Another four years of the crap we endured in his first term? Count me out. “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” (Matt 6:34) 2025 will have its own evils and I want those evils to be faced with a singular determination and not as an item amongst many items that are causing charges to be brought against a sitting president. You know they’ll never stop – they will hound him to the grave and then put up a neon hate sign where a headstone should be.

It is precisely because “they’ll never stop” that we must support President Trump.  Anything else is a dictator’s peace, which we must reject.

To read the rest of this post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.

TBT^2: The Morning After

I’ve been pretty salty—in the parlance of the kiddos these days—about the midterm election results, a level of disappointment I haven’t experienced since the 2020 presidential election.

It brought me back to this post, in which I opine about Trump’s loss and the stolen election.  My hope was that the Republican Party would embrace the working-class voters that helped Trump win in 2016, lest they simply “return to being the party of agreeable losers.”

Looks like—ironically—the “agreeable losers” won, and have made losers of us all.

With that, here is 4 November 2021’s “TBT: The Morning After“:

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TBT: The Worst of 2020

2021 has been a far more enjoyable year than 2020, although 2020 wasn’t nearly as apocalyptic in retrospect as it seemed at the time.  Regardless, I’ve written a lot of stuff over the past three years.  A great deal of it, whether good or bad, hasn’t been read by many people (with some notable exceptions).

2021 was the year that I stopped having posts with single-digit (or even just single!) views, but I know I’ve got some that flew under the radar—and probably for the better!

But we’ll look back at those posts tomorrow.  Today, it’s time for the fifty-five (!) posts of “The Worst of 2020“:

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TBT: The Morning After

It was one year ago today that The Z Man wrote that “America died” on 3 November 2020.  I don’t think he meant it melodramatically, and it certainly encapsulated what a lot of us were feeling as we watched the fraudulent votes magically appear in the middle of the night.

The 2020 election woke a lot of people up, but even blatant fraud across multiple States has, sadly, gone largely ignored.  The silver lining is that folks seem to have abandoned national politics and are focusing on what’s happening at the local and State levels.  Indeed, there seems to be a general disengagement from politics, something that in the past I would have decried, but that now I think might actually be healthy—provided people are willing to make tough decisions for themselves.

Regardless, it’s hard to think about the 2020 election.  Since then, we’ve been stuck with a old man who is essentially a corpse dangling from the strings of invisible hands.  I thought a year ago that The Usurper Biden would be tossed from office at the first opportunity, but it’s occurred to me that he is too perfect a patsy for the radical elitists performing the marionette.  For one, Kamala Harris somehow manages to be less likeable and more phony than Hillary Clinton, and progressives don’t like her.  For another, it’s better to have a hollow man like Biden than a strident floozy like Harris, who might occasionally make a decision on her own.

Well, this topic is depressing.  You can see why I’ve switched over to writing about music and the weather.

With that, here is 4 November 2020’s “The Morning After“:

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TBT: Populists and Elites

One of the blessings of the Trump administration was that Trump reminded us how fun regular people are.  Sure, I love the symphony and all that stuff, but a representative government should be basically populist—it should care about the people it governs, and look out for their interests.  Leaders should reflect the people, not set themselves against the people.  At most, our officials should strive to set examples for how a good life can be lived.

The thrust of this piece—written one year ago today—is that elitism is shockingly ignorant:  it presumes that anything that does not interest the elitist is somehow barbaric and simplistic.  That our own elites embrace the vulgar and raise up vice as a virtue suggests their elitism is supremely misguided—or lacking entirely.

Few remember now Michael Bloomberg’s disastrous run for the Democratic primary last year—it was so long ago!—but it was the political embodiment of clueless elitism against Trumpian populism.  Bloomberg had the resources and the softly center-Left stance to buy himself into the White House, or at least the Democratic nomination, but he bungled it so badly, even his supporters were in awe of his ineptitude.

Well, now we have a senile, fraudulent feebster leading a puppet regime, so it seems gross incompetence is no longer a barrier to entry to the highest office in the land.  Perhaps a healthy dose of elitism is needed after all.

Regardless, here is 18 February 2021’s “Populists and Elites“:

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Fleeing to (and Preserving) Freedom

Monday’s edition of Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day on Ballotpedia listed the sixteen States that lost population in 2020.  That’s significant as it will likely affect the apportionment of congressional districts in a number of States, depending on how rapidly other States’ populations grew relative to these States’ shrinkage.

Seven of the States were in New England of the Mid-Atlantic:  Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.  The other nine were California, Michigan, Ohio, Alaska, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, and West Virginia.

While I certainly don’t like seeing Southern States in that list (I’ll consider West Virginia “honorarily Southern”), their inclusion makes sense.  Mississippi is a great State, as I imagine West Virginia is, too, but they’re not exactly hotbeds of opportunity.  Similarly, Louisiana is so corrupt, it’s little wonder that it’s shedding inhabitants.

The rest of these States make perfect sense:  New England and the Mid-Atlantic are hotbeds of failed progressive policies and social justice insanity.  Reading photog’s posts at Orion’s Cold Fire gives a good sense for the besieged nature of conservatives in his State, Massachusetts.  I once spoke with a pharmacist who relocated his family from either Connecticut or Vermont—I can’t quite remember now—who said he had to move South because he was run out of his job for not supporting abortion.

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SubscribeStar Saturday: The Spirit of 1776

Today’s post is a SubscribeStar Saturday exclusive.  To read the full post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.  For a full rundown of everything your subscription gets, click here.

Disclaimer:  I do not endorse violence as a means to achieving political ends in normal circumstances.  That said, I reject the claim that “violence never solves anything.”  The vast annals of human history suggest the opposite is largely the case—violence has been the resort—sometimes final, sometimes not—to resolve any number of problems.  Our entire political system rests on the implicit use of violent force towards upholding the common good—and protecting those unable to protect themselves.  Jesus Christ died—quite violently!—for our sins, offering us ultimate salvation forever.

Further, our entire nation is founded on a last-resort to violence to secure American liberty:  the American Revolution.  Brave men pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honors to secure liberty and to defend their rights.  Over 4000 did make the ultimate sacrifice—and many, many more since then—to win and secure our freedom.  Sometimes some turbulence is necessary—as the Left has told us all of last year as BLM destroyed cities—to secure liberty.

That’s an uncomfortable concept—I don’t necessarily like it, and I am sad to see it has come to that—but it’s the foundation of our Republic.  I sincerely pray for reconciliation and healing, as did John Dickinson prior to the American Revolution, but I am not optimistic given Democratic control of the organs of power.  The storming of the Capitol will be used as a pretext—it already is—to oppress and imprison conservatives.  At such a point, the remaining options begin to vanish.

I am not calling for or advocating violence in any form—but I’m afraid it’s coming nevertheless.  Please pray with me for reconciliation—true reconciliation, not the dictator’s peace of bending the knee to Leftist insanity—and prepare for troubled times ahead.

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TBT: Dawn of a Decade

It’s the first Thursday of 2021, so here we are with the first TBT of the year!  Fittingly, I’m looking back to the first post of 2020, “Dawn of Decade.”  As I noted at the time, the decade really began on 1 January 2021, so I suppose this throwback post works even better now.

In looking back at this post, it’s sobering to consider how much difference a year can make.  At the end of this post, I wrote, “Predictions being what they are—extremely unreliable—I’ll make a bold one:  2020 is going to be a great year.”

Yikes!  Talk about missing the mark big time.  Of course, on 1 January 2020, everything was going pretty well, at least for yours portly.  Sure, Trump was facing a sham impeachment, but the economy was swingin’.  I’d just come off my best year financially in terms of musical proceeds—enough to pay cash for my plucky 2017 Nissan Versa Note (a fitting model for a music teacher), and was booking some gigs at fun new venues.

Then, of course, The Virus changed everything, possibly forever.  Despite that, I still had a great year—reconnecting with friends and family; traveling far more extensively than normal; and diving more into my love of music.  It was just a very different year than I anticipated.

At the end of least year’s post, I included a word total for the year 2019 (which now WordPress tells me is slightly higher than I reported originally:  232,348 words total for 2019), so I’ll do the same for 2020.  In 2020, I wrote 253,377 words.  Assuming a page of double-text, size-12, Times New Roman font typing is roughly 300 words per page, that comes out to a whopping 844.59 pages of writing.

Granted, some of that is from TBT posts like this one, but the takeaway for me is that it’s time to compile some essays into ebooks.  Cha-ching!

With that, here is 1 January 2020’s “Dawn of a Decade“:

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The Worst of 2020

In the spirit of last year’s “The Worst of 2019,” I’m dedicating today’s post to looking back at the posts with the least views in 2020 (and maybe you could do me a solid and turn off your ad-blocker while reading through these neglected posts).

However, there’s a bit of a wrinkle—in 2019, I just featured posts that had only one view.  The problem:  I didn’t have any posts with a single view this year!  That’s a good problem to have, but it presents a bit of a conundrum.

I do, however, have a TON of posts with four views, which is my new minimum threshold.  So, for your enjoyment, here are the worst posts (in terms of pageviews) for 2020 (as of 23 December 2020):

1.) “SubscribeStar Saturday: Independence Day 2020” – Apparently, patriotism is on the ropes.  Or maybe people just don’t want to pay a dollar to read quality content.

2.) “Lazy Sunday III: Historical Moments” – This one is one of the early Lazy Sundays, so I’m not surprised it’s not fallen from the heights of glory.  Or maybe people hate history.

3.) “Lazy Sunday LXVIII: Phone it in Fridays, Part II” – Talk about the ultimate in lazy in-phoning—a Lazy Sunday dedicated to various Phone it in Fridays, and this one is a lame sequel at that!

4.) “TBT: Election Day 2018” – Not any people in 2020 were interested in reading about an election from 2018.

5.) “TBT: Remembering 1519” – The Aztecs were horrible, so much so that no one cares to think about it too much.

6.) “TBT: High-Tech Agrarianism” – This essay was legitimately good, which is why I did a TBT to it within the same calendar year.  Apparently, readers disagreed.

7.) “Catching Up” – It’s little wonder this post did poorly:  it’s basically me making excuses for why I wasn’t writing something good that day.

8.) “A Very Dokken Christmas, Part II: Tooth and Nail” – This post goes back to December 2018, so it makes sense it’s fallen down the memory hole in 2020.  Still, it’s a good album!

9.) “SubscribeStar Saturday: Festival Circuit: Ridge Spring Harvest Festival and Clinton Scots & Brats” – Again, the cheapskates are missing out on some quality content here.  Who doesn’t want to read about western South Carolina harvest festivals?

10.) “Lazy Sunday XCVI: Questions, Part V” – Another lazy premise:  the fifth part in a tired series of Lazy Sundays looking at posts that ask question in their titles.

11.) “Memorable Monday IV: Happy Labor Day [2020]!” – It seems this Labor Day wasn’t all that memorable after all.

12.) “Halloween Week!” – Considering I wrote this post in 2019, I’m only mildly disappointed that it didn’t do better in 2020, but Halloween deserves the best!

13.) “SubscribeStar Saturday Delayed: Family Birthday” – Another post giving a lame excuse for why I wouldn’t be posting that day’s SubscribeStar Saturday on time.

14.) “Americans Oppose Illegal Immigration” – I guess not as much as I thought—that, or the observation is so obvious, no one needed to read the post.

15.) “SubscribeStar Saturday: 9-11” – May we never forget.  And yet, for readers of this blog, it seems we have (that was actually the thesis of the post!).

16.) “America’s Roman Roots” – Perhaps the parallels between the United States and Rome are too unsettling to contemplate.

17.) “SubscribeStar Saturday: River and Stone” – A post about Roger Stones’s pardon—and floating down the Saluda River in a tube.

18.) “Breaking: Biden Picks Harris as Running Mate” – The beginning of Kamala’s thousand-year reign.

19.) “TBT: Lazy Sunday XXIV: Education” – Looking back at posts about education on a Thursday afternoon is not going to fill the seats.

20.) “SubscribeStar Saturday: Returning to School in The Age of The Virus” – My reflections on going back to school after a summer of fun.

21.) “SubscribeStar Saturday: Reflections on Distance Learning: First Month Review” – My reflections on teaching online during the Quarantine Spring.

22.) “Saturday Reading: Communist Infiltration is Real” – An older post, one that was a shocking revelation at the time I wrote it, but now is just an assumed fact.

23.) “Lazy Sunday LV: Animals” – I like animals.  My readers, it seems, do not.

24.) “SubscribeStar Saturday: Social Peace Requires Social Capital” – This might be a 2019 post (I’m too lazy to check again—I have to write a lot of these little summaries), but it’s a really good essay.  Please read it.

25.) “SubscribeStar Saturday: Distance Learning Reflections, Week One Review” – These posts about distance learning didn’t really catch on, did they?

26.) “TBT: Nehemiah and National Renewal” – A throwback to a really excellent post—one of the more popular ones on the site.

27.) “The Joy of Hymnals” – One of my favorite posts, which I believe I wrote in 2019, or earlier this year.  It deserves to be read!

28.) “Lazy Sunday XXXI: Trump, Part II” – Some posts about GEOTUS.

29.) “TBT: Transformers 2: Conservatives in Disguise?” – A throwback to a very old post I wrote in 2009.

30.) “Another Monday Morning Appeal” – A sales pitch.  It didn’t work.

31.) “SubscribeStar Saturday: Hammer Films” – I love the old horror movies of Hammer Films.  You’d like them, too, if you read this post!

32.) “Reblog: Quintus Curtius, ‘On Living Near the Ocean’” – This essay from Quintus Curtius was really good.  I think my commentary on his essay is solid, too.

33.) “Portly Movie Review: Teacher (2019)” – One of my earliest movie reviews.  I dropped the “Portly” from the title of future film reviews, but it has a nice ring to it.

34.) “TBT: Conservatives and Country Music” – Another throwback from the old 2009 site.

35.) “TBT: End the Income Tax” – From my keyboard to God’s web browser.

36.) “Happy Labor Day 2019!” – Labor Day is not a good day for pageviews.

37.) “SubscribeStar Saturday: Coronavirus Prepping” – Most of this advice could be adapted for The Boogaloo.

38.) “Lazy Sunday LI: Just for Fun” – Sounds fun to me.

39.) “SubscribeStar Saturday: Liberty and Safety” – Why do we trade liberty for the illusion of safety?

40.) “Lazy Sunday XXII: Reading” – I love to read.  Read my thoughts about reading.

41.) “Lazy Sunday XX: The Laziest Sunday” – I thought reaching twenty Lazy Sundays was a big deal.

42.) “Teachers Quitting in Record Numbers – Reflections on Education” – Teachers are quitting in record numbers, and no one seems to care.

43.) “Deluge” – My old apartment flooded.  Thank goodness I don’t live there anymore!

44.) “North Korea Reflections” – It looks like Kim Jong Un never made it over here for a visit, but notice how no one talks about North Korea these days?  Thank you, Trump!

45.) “TBT: Rustics Have Opinions, Too” – Yet another post from the old Blogspot page.

46.) “#MAGAWeek2019: Alexander Hamilton” – Perhaps Hamilton fever has broken.

47.) “The Impermanence of Knowledge and Culture: The Great Library and Notre Dame” – Just like the Great Library and Notre Dame, this post is a prime example of impermanence.

48.) “First They Came for Crowder” – Now everyone is getting cancelled, and Crowder seems annoying and compromised.

49.) “The Left’s Cluelessness on Gun Control” – Again, another post with a premise so obvious, no one needed to read it.

50.) “Deportemal” – Still a good prescription for America.

51.) “The State of the Right, Part II: Dissident Right and Civic Nationalists” – Another one y’all need to read!

52.) “TBT: Family Matters” – A throwback from the Blogspot site during its revival in 2016.  One of my best essays.

53.) “Bland and Gay” – Remember Pete Buttigieg?  Neither do I.

54.) “They Live Analysis and Review” – You really should see They Live.  John Carpenter is a legend!

55.) “Lazy Sunday XLI: Food” – C’mon, people.  Who doesn’t want to read about food?

Shew!  That took a long time to compile that list.  Make my effort worth it and give these forgotten posts some love.

Bologna

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