In a recent Rasmussen Reports poll, 39 percent of Americans consider other Americans to be America’s greatest threat. That’s more people than consider China our greatest threat (25 percent). It’s almost twice as many as those that consider Russia our greatest threat (20 percent).
Of those polled, 22 percent say Democrats are our greatest threat. That would include people like myself, who believe the Dems have become the American communists – determined to destroy everything that makes us exceptional – as a necessary measure to marshal in a socialist utopia.
Another 17 percent say that Republicans are the greatest threat. Those would be our fellow citizens who have bought Biden’s semi-fascist baloney and Merrick Garland’s “white supremacist” propaganda. So much for returning comity and normalcy to the American conversation.
Meanwhile, the world is full of threats. Russia wants to reconstitute the Soviet empire, and is chipping away at eastern Europe to do it.
Islamic fundamentalists want to create a caliphate, and seem to think that enough murder and mayhem will convince the world’s population to join the “religion of peace.” Or maybe they just want to kill the non-believers for the fun of it. It’s hard to tell.
China just wants everything. But they aren’t resorting (yet) to the grotesque methods of Russia or the Islamic fundamentalists. They’re simply trying to buy it all with their Belt and Road initiative. They seem to think that world domination is a simple real estate deal. Hopefully they’re wrong – but who knows?
Regardless of those external threats, if we think internal threats are a greater danger, they are. We are experiencing a national identity crisis, and our distrust of one another is one of its manifestations. The Right wants a country of maximum freedom and minimal government control. The Left wants a country of collective security, with centralized control by elites, and citizens serving the needs of the hive.
We are in no position to respond to global threats while that conflict is ongoing. Our polarization is indeed the greatest threat we face currently. Just like an ER doctor, we have to triage our national security. The doctor doesn’t treat the cancer, until he stops the arterial bleeding. Similarly, we can’t respond to the world’s bad actors, while we’re fighting with each other. A divided nation cannot respond effectively to a global threat.
If you doubt that statement, consider how the war on terror turned out. We were united for about a nanosecond after 9/11. Then our unity turned into “Bush lied people died.” Our war against the terrorists ended when a president of the Left surrendered to a bunch of 7th century thugs, simply because a president of the Right wouldn’t. We’ll never know if the war could have been won by a united country, because it was waged by a divided one.
We’ll have only limited influence internationally until we resolve that internal conflict. It isn’t going to happen quickly due to the nature of the conflict. The Right wants to debate and make its case to individual citizens. The Left is uninterested in debate. Their worldview renders the wishes of individuals irrelevant. Only the collective matters – and they’re the voice of the collective. The Left stifles debate with phrases like:
- The science is settled
- Words are violence
- Freedom of speech is not freedom to spread disinformation
The American contest of ideas has devolved to: personal freedom advocated by the Right; vs statism advocated by the Left. Open dialog advocated by the Right; vs no dialog commanded by the Left. There will be no quick compromise or resolution.
It’s no exaggeration to point out that unless there’s a sudden outbreak of sanity and reason, we are approaching a national breakup. Americans are already beginning to sort themselves between red and blue states on the basis of ideology. If this trend continues there will eventually be a winner and a loser, and the breakup will not be pretty. Hopefully we’ll find a peaceful resolution, but achieving ideological alignment will take years.
In the meantime, the global rot festers and America struggles. China is flooding America with spies to steal our technology, and money to keep our politicians compliant. Vlad the Mad Russian is laughing his butt off as he tests the resolve of neighboring countries and we abandon our weapons and run – while imposing LGBTQ+ pronoun discipline on our troops. Through it all, the left is more concerned about the climate than advancing global tyranny.
The left wanted to weaken America – and they have. We lack the political will for a strategic (long-term) campaign, and the military strength for credible deterrence.
Peaceful countries the world over have come to take America for granted. They’ve pursued their commercial and social interests – confident that America would maintain world order. They’re going to get a painful lesson in what a world without America looks like – at least for a while.
There is a slight glimmer of hope. A year ago, 54 percent of citizens considered their fellow Americans to be our greatest threat. Perhaps we’re slowly deciding what kind of country we want to live in. But we have a long way to go before we approach anything resembling consensus.
This article appeared previously on American Thinker.
Author Bio: John Green is a political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho. He has written for American Thinker, and American Free News Network. His work has been featured on The Dan Bongino Show, World View Weekend Broadcast with Brannon House, and Steel on Steel with John Loeffler. He can be followed on Facebook or reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.
If you enjoyed this article, then please REPOST or SHARE with others; encourage them to follow AFNN. If you’d like to become a citizen contributor for AFNN, contact us at managingeditor@afnn.us
Truth Social: https://truthsocial.com/@AFNN_USA
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/afnnusa
Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/2_-GAzcXmIRjODNh
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfnnUsa
GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/AFNN_USA
Parler: https://parler.com/AFNNUSA
CloutHub: @AFNN_USA