It’s been quite some time since my last blog post, and as I’ve told many of you who have written to ask: Even though you haven’t heard from me, I’ve thought of you often. Lest you fear I’m about to break into a song from Aida, let me quickly dispel any concerns about my personal welfare; I’m doing fine. The country, unfortunately, is not.
I doubt this is news to you – like me, I’m sure you see the evidence around you every day. Crime so rampant in our city streets that companies and businesses are simply packing up and leaving town. Major chains can afford to relocate; small businesses just board up the windows and die.
“Sanctuary” cities are now so overwhelmed by illegal immigrants, who have flooded across our borders in mind-numbing numbers, that the mayors are variously: putting them up in the hotels so that no sane traveler will visit, bemoaning the explosion of homelessness on their streets, or shipping them back to the towns ruined by our insane open-borders policies in the first place.
Criminals are so completely unconcerned about the laws that they push little old ladies down stairs in broad daylight. (Remember those ads that warned Bush Sr. would shove senior citizens in wheelchairs off a cliff? I believe the Left might be using those as instruction manuals.)
The worst part is not the breakdown of the rule of law, it’s our active role in causing it. We fire employees who chase shoplifters. We watched while rioters burned down police stations and yet we still elect mayors and governors who promise to solve all our problems by defunding the police. We refuse to prosecute criminals once they are caught – instead we just release them to terrorize yet another victim. The only “criminals” we seem intent on prosecuting are the people who defend themselves or, heaven forbid, defend a stranger. Shout-outs to Kyle Rittenhouse, Daniel Penny, and Min Sik Kim (look it up).
Clare Boothe Luce coined a memorable phrase I used to hate, but have sadly embraced: No good deed goes unpunished. The progressive Left has become rabid in hunting down anyone who takes personal responsibility for the utter anarchy sweeping across our cities. I’m not talking about vigilantes, I’m just talking about people who refuse to be run over by criminals like a mack truck.
Selective prosecution is not just reserved for regular citizens, of course. Our entire justice department has become a frightening parody of justice, unapologetically going after political opponents while ignoring the outright crimes of their political cronies. Boxes of presidential records in a locked storage room? Guilty as charged. Boxes of presidential records in your garage next to the sports car? No problem. Nonexistent phone call to enlist Russian meddling in our elections? Impeachable offense! (Don’t bother me with the facts.) 20 phone calls selling political influence to foreign businesses? Just harmless chitchat.
As John Adams predicted, we don’t have to worry about foreign attackers killing our country, we will have committed national suicide long before they get a chance.
The collapse of the rule of law is just one of the reasons I haven’t written lately. Everywhere I look, literally every single day, there is another reason to despair about the future of our country. And on every issue destroying this country, the media is riding shotgun — burying truth, fabricating facts, ignoring evidence, promoting a narrative with the singlemindedness of a feline predator. Woe to you if you fall within her sights.
But that’s not why I’ve been sitting here in the tall grass. It’s really because the news has become so discouraging, and the drumbeat so persistent, that I couldn’t find an entry point. The longer I waited, the harder it got.
Perhaps you feel the same way. Each time you start to speak up, or object, or contradict when you hear a lie, you pause and think … Maybe I didn’t quite understand what they meant. Maybe they’re having a bad day. There are two sides to every story. Maybe I don’t have all the information.
And so we keep quiet. We keep the peace. We are nothing if not polite.
And pretty soon, we are overrun. The other day, I was working on a book manuscript, and researching a program President Trump had proposed in 2020 to encourage economic recovery. (Yes, the Trump administration was already looking ahead to rebuilding the economy after the initial lockdowns of 2020.) Strangely, I could not find any mention of the program. I know it existed, but my search came up empty. I had a sinking feeling as I thought: Has Google actually scrubbed all information about this program?
Thought experiment: If you can’t find it in a Google search, does it exist?
The longer you wait, the harder it gets. True. Also true: The best time to start saving the country is today. So I invite you to join me in the following resolutions: Speak up when you hear a lie. Stop spending money on brands that attack your values. Donate money to candidates who are committed to the rule of law. And say a prayer that we are not too late.