America Is in Denial
Too many Americans are blithely dismissing threats that could prove cataclysmic.

Even as we watch the reservoirs and lakes of the West go dry, we keep watering our lawns, soaking our golf courses, and growing water-thirsty crops.

[OCS: Knowing that much of the West is actually desert and subject to cyclical weather patterns, who didn’t build the requisite water catchment and distribution systems, destroyed agricultural production while pumping billions of gallons of drinkable water into the ocean, and blindly allowed communist-infiltrated environmental groups to destroy our country from within using coerced sue-and-settle tactics?]

As inflation mounts and the national debt balloons, progressive politicians vote for ever more spending.

[OCS: Who sits back and watches while the corrupt progressives loot our public treasury and create unfathomable debt, content that they are getting their share, content that they have something to yell about, and content that they do not have to craft legislation of their own? Yes, RINOs like Mitt Romney who, when not advancing the progressive agenda, do little or nothing to curtail it,]

As the ice caps melt and record temperatures make the evening news, we figure that buying a Prius and recycling the boxes from our daily Amazon deliveries will suffice.

[OCS: Who buys into the extreme climate scenarios that keep failing to manifest, decade after decade? Who confuses long-term global climate over eons with short-term weather effects over a standardized 30-year period? Ignoring that our climate is relatively stable and slightly warming? Ignoring that the little-understood and uncontrollable El Niño and La Niña (El Niño-Southern Oscillation -- ENSO) cycle exerts global impacts on weather, wildfires, ecosystems, and economies – all without significant influence from greenhouse gases? Who trumpets the dire warnings of scenarios created by profoundly flawed computer models and dodgy data while ignoring the benefits of a slightly warming environment?]

When TV news outlets broadcast video after video of people illegally crossing the nation’s southern border, many of us change the channel.

[OCS: Which political party supports open borders and which political party offers little or no pushback in the legislature or in the courts?]

And when a renowned conservative former federal appellate judge testifies that we are already in a war for our democracy and that January 6, 2021, was a genuine constitutional crisis, MAGA loyalists snicker that he speaks slowly and celebrate that most people weren’t watching.

[OCS: The truth is that January 6 was not a constitutional crisis, but a political one manufactured by progressives and their media propagandists. Truth be told, it was far less damaging than the actual riots that trained Marxist agitators across the nation instigated in an attempt to create divisions along racial lines. Note the pejorative use of the phrase "MAGA loyalists," as if there was something wrong with those who want to Make America Great Again.]

What accounts for the blithe dismissal of potentially cataclysmic threats? The left thinks the right is at fault for ignoring climate change and the attacks on our political system. The right thinks the left is the problem for ignoring illegal immigration and the national debt. But wishful thinking happens across the political spectrum. More and more, we are a nation in denial.

[OCS: Yes, there are potential cataclysmic threats. Diminished by the overt sensationalism of our politicians and media as they concentrate on short-term gains and refuse to look beyond the next election or quarterly report. Nobody can cure wishful thinking as it is human nature to wish for the best. That is unless you are a psychopathic politician capitalizing on pain and suffering to advance your candidacy and causes. We are not a nation in denial – we are a nation suffering from artificially-induced fatigue. Whether the topic is the weather or turning little boys into little girls.]

I have witnessed time and again—in myself and in others—a powerful impulse to believe what we hope to be the case. We don’t need to cut back on watering, because the drought is just part of a cycle that will reverse. With economic growth, the debt will take care of itself. January 6 was a false-flag operation. A classic example of denial comes from Donald Trump: “I won in a landslide.” Perhaps this is a branch of the same delusion that leads people to feed money into slot machines: Because I really want to win, I believe that I will win.

[OCS: With all of the unconstitutional changes to election laws and evidence yet to be tested in courts unwilling to hear election matters, there is the possibility that a man who hid in his basement while refusing to vigorously campaign did not win more votes than the more popular Barack Obama. That the documentary 2000 mules provides probable cause for a real investigation. And that the electoral corruption appears to be coordinated and widespread. Trump has every right to his opinion, as does Hillary Clinton, who has spent years claiming the “her election was stolen.”]

Bolstering our natural inclination toward wishful thinking are the carefully constructed, prejudice-confirming arguments from the usual gang of sophists, grifters, and truth-deniers. Watching angry commentators on cable news, I’m reminded of H. L. Mencken’s observation: “For every complex problem, there is a solution that is clear, simple, and wrong.”

[OCS: “Carefully constructed, prejudice-confirming arguments from the usual gang of sophists, grifters, and truth-deniers” – what an excellent description of today’s politicians, on both sides of the aisle. Commentators are not preternaturally angry – they are incentivized to behave in that manner to attract an audience and earn their outsize salaries. As for Mencken’s observation, he is wrong; behind all complex political and societal problems lie corrupt politicians using artificial complexity to hide their dastardly deeds.]

When entire countries fail to confront serious challenges, it doesn’t end well. During the past half-century, we Americans have lived in a very forgiving time, and seeing the world through rose-colored glasses had limited consequences. The climate was stable, our economy dwarfed the competition, democracy was on the rise, and our military strength made the U.S. the sole global hyperpower. Today, every one of those things has changed. If we continue to ignore the real threats we face, America will inevitably suffer serious consequences.

[OCS: Our climate was not stable and was constantly changing. Yes, our economy dwarfed the competition, democracy was on the rise, and our military strength made the U.S. the sole global hyperpower. And, yes, every one of those things has changed under the progressive communist democrats and their media propagandists – primarily attributable to the communist-in-chief Barack Obama and corrupt actors like Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.]

President Joe Biden is a genuinely good man, but he has yet been unable to break through our national malady of denial, deceit, and distrust. A return of Donald Trump would feed the sickness, probably rendering it incurable. Congress is particularly disappointing: Our elected officials put a finger in the wind more frequently than they show backbone against it. Too often, Washington demonstrates the maxim that for evil to thrive only requires good men to do nothing.

[OCS: To even suggest that “President Joe Biden is a genuinely good man, but he has yet been unable to break through our national malady of denial, deceit, and distrust” is proof positive that Mitt Romney is, indeed, corrupt, blind and, stupid. To suggest that the return of Trump would be problematic proves that Romney is also vengeful.

Regardless of what you think about his boorish behavior and mean tweets, Trump did more for America than any modern president – and accomplished it while under massive opposition attack from the day of his announced candidacy. As for evil flourishing, ciphers like Mitt Romney give aid and comfort to the evildoers while trying to carve out their own niche.]

I hope for a president who can rise above the din to unite us behind the truth. Several contenders with experience and smarts stand in the wings; we intently watch to see if they also possess the requisite character and ability to bring the nation together in confronting our common reality. While we wait, leadership must come from fathers and mothers, teachers and nurses, priests and rabbis, businessmen and businesswomen, journalists and pundits. That will require us all to rise above ourselves—above our grievances and resentments—and grasp the mantle of leadership our country so badly needs.

[OCS: I, too, hope for a president who is an uniter instead of a divider. Confronting our everyday reality may be the last thing that Romney wants as we recognize him and his fellow politicians as charlatans. Teachers as indoctrinators, not educators. Journalists and pundits are indistinguishable from each other and manifestly corrupt and biased. Billionaire businessmen have become a clear and present danger. And, worst of all, the Democrat Party has become the Communist Party of America and the GOP the old-fashion leftist Democrats.]