American Free News Network | Political Commentary
Well, America survived another election. Judging by social media, however, half the country thinks civilization just collapsed and the other half is celebrating like they captured Berlin in 1945.
Republicans took a beating. Democrats are celebrating. And somewhere, a keyboard commando is polishing his AR-15 because his preferred political circus lost a few clowns.
Good grief, America. Get a grip.
Our political pendulum swings left and right. Always has. Always will. Sometimes the voters want conservatives. Sometimes liberals. Sometimes they apparently want whoever promises the most free stuff without explaining who’s paying for it.
That’s not the failure of our Republic. That’s the beauty of it.
Years ago, during senior military education at the National Defense University, a professor made a statement I’ve never forgotten. He claimed our American government was designed to be 97% inefficient.
Ninety-seven percent! WTF?
As a military officer trained to accomplish missions efficiently, I thought the man had lost his marbles. Who deliberately builds something that inefficient? Besides the Pentagon acquisition system, obviously.
But eventually I understood his point.
Our Founders weren’t designing a government capable of changing direction every time somebody got emotional. They were designing one that couldn’t easily become a dictatorship.
The 97% figure was a teaching analogy, not a verified statistic. But the principle was constitutional genius.
Three branches of government. Checks and balances. Federalism. Staggered elections. A difficult amendment process.
James Madison understood that concentrated power was dangerous. In Federalist No. 51, he explained that government must possess the means to restrain itself.
Translation: Never give one bunch of idiots enough power to permanently screw things up before the other bunch can stop them.
Political scientist Erica Chenoweth’s research produced another fascinating observation: historically, nonviolent resistance movements mobilizing roughly 3.5% of a population have often achieved major political change.
It’s not a mathematical guarantee, nor a formula for civil war. Organization, public support, and circumstances matter enormously.
But think about the underlying lesson. A relatively small, determined minority can exert tremendous pressure on a society.
That’s precisely why constitutional safeguards matter.
Our system doesn’t make political upheaval impossible. History proves that. But it establishes competing institutions, legal processes, and regular elections so angry minorities cannot simply declare themselves sovereign because they accumulated enough followers and purchased matching headscarfs.
America is a battleship, not a jet ski.
You don’t spin the wheel and instantly reverse course because 3% of the passengers started screaming.
And thank God for that.
The problem today isn’t the pendulum. It’s that Americans have developed the emotional maturity of caffeinated seventh graders.
Lose an election? Revolution!
Disagree with a policy? Tyranny!
Your candidate gets defeated? Democracy is dead!
Meanwhile, social media algorithms are pouring gasoline on the stupidity because outrage generates clicks, clicks generate advertising revenue, and apparently common sense doesn’t monetize particularly well.
Here’s a revolutionary concept: Sometimes your side loses.
That doesn’t mean surrender your principles. It means exercise some discipline.
Organize. Debate. Challenge unconstitutional actions. Persuade your neighbors. Build a better argument. Find better candidates.
Then vote the rascals out.
Peaceful protest is patriotic. Lawful self-defense remains a right. But political disappointment doesn’t authorize violence against your fellow Americans.
And before somebody starts quoting the Founders about revolution, remember they also gave us a constitutional mechanism for replacing political leadership without shooting each other.
Pretty remarkable invention.
Our government is deliberately difficult to change rapidly, although not incapable of making terrible decisions. Bureaucratic stupidity isn’t a constitutional virtue. Divided power and institutional restraint are.
There’s a difference.
The pendulum will swing again. It always does.
So to my fellow Americans currently contemplating the collapse of Western civilization because Tuesday didn’t go your way: put down the pitchfork, turn off the outrage merchants, and remember what country you live in.
The Republic doesn’t require your candidate to win. It requires you to respect the constitutional process when he loses.
Our Founders didn’t create a perfect government.
They created one that allows imperfect people to correct their mistakes without another bloody revolution.
And that, my fellow Americans, is worth defending.
With patience, discipline, and a ballot.
Since 1997, I’ve made guest appearances in four civil wars. Trust me, nobody wins. The country gets destroyed, the people suffer, and whatever replaces the old regime is usually an even bigger disaster. Civil war sounds romantic to keyboard revolutionaries who’ve never seen one. I have. Be careful what you wish for. Not a civil war.
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