By Edward Sperry, Col USAF (ret), Stevensville
I’m 92; an old veteran. Occasionally it is natural to look back and look at current events through the lens of experience. This letter reflects sincere concerns about our forthcoming national election and the choices our republic faces. I keep thinking that I’ve read this book or saw this movie before. The song with the lyrics “when will they ever learn” comes to mind. Let me explain what seems apparent to me.
Is it 1946? That’s when Churchill expressed his concerns about the Soviet Union. He said an iron curtain had descended across Europe. I heard that speech while playing nickle poker in college. We didn’t understand; but knew it was not good news. How true! Churchill’s speech at Fullerton, Missouri which was followed in a couple of years by Truman’s cold war declaration affected my whole adult life and that of all the free world. Has an equivalent event just reoccurred? President Trump has made essentially the same declaration regarding the Chinese Communist State. Unfortunately, they are an even more formidable enemy and we now are entering a multigenerational conflict. Have our two political parties found any common ground upon which to engage the Commies? Hell no! One party didn’t even discuss it in their recent National Convention. A house divided cannot stand. This refusal to recognize and learn from the past is frightening.
Are we having a cultural revolution? I’d say yes, we are experiencing our unique American version of what happened in Communist China in 1966-77. At that time, in order to cement control by the Mao Tse-tung Communists, all previous culture was attacked. Just what we are witnessing in our major cities today. Poor old Confucius was erased. Professors with conservative/democratic ideas were purged if not murdered. It raged nationwide. I studied the events when a student at the USAF Air War College. The purge reached throughout the entire Chinese society and was a major step in Communist Party control of the Chinese population.
The final step in gaining total communist control was to follow up with the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. Voices of democracy were then finally silenced. They had finally got rid of the population they deemed “deplorable.” Could this happen here? “Of course not,” said the good, now enslaved people of Venezuela some 20 years ago. Portland, just one of many examples, has had over 90 nights of riots and destruction. Riot leaders admit being trained Marxists. Yet these events have not until just recently warranted one iota of recognition by one party’s candidates for President and Vice President. Are we so naive that we believe such conduct will stay in the big cities and not touch our streets? God! I hope we know better. Remember one has to erase the old to implant the new. The chaos is predictable and organized.
One presidential candidate has joined with a self proclaimed socialist in a manifesto to implement a socialist change in America. This is predictable in view of the influence of a group called The Squad which is dedicated to anti-Semitism and the total control of our lives through carbon/water control and socialism. They have even predicted the end of civilization if we don’t conform to their environmental extremes. Hey, surely some of you remember the seventies when the coming ice age was the boogeyman to fear. It seems much science nowadays has become ‘political science’. This is a real concern as fear is a tool of population control. As a tool, fear was finely honed in the last century.
Socialists want to control production. But, all things are connected so they must also control consumption. But that requires control of education and finally total control of speech and police. It results in control of every facet of a citizen’s life. The exception being the small, all wise, ruling faction (maybe 6% in the Soviet example). It is the final success of slavery!
Finally, let’s consider the Chinese Virus. It is a terrible worldwide plague, courtesy of the Chinese Communist Party. It is the current plague which follows polio, ebola, swine flu, the 1918 flu, bubonic and so on through history. It is hell; but it too will pass. On the other hand, loss of our republic will not be a passing event. With the technology available today for population control, any form of socialist regime will most likely be permanent. The proverbial camel’s nose in the tent door is always ‘Democratic Socialism’. Democratic Socialism has always been either rejected early on by the citizens or allowed to evolve into communism. This unpleasant evolution is certain as the retention of power while the political system fails depends upon it.
The election facing us is not a publicity contest. Let’s not swat flies by arguing about face masks and social distancing while under alligator attack. Earthshaking events are involved. Think hard about the policy choices you make. Your progeny will either enjoy or suffer from it. I conclude as I started—when will they ever learn?