The welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants. ~Albert Camus
Image Credit: Martin LaBar / CC
By James V. Ferguson, MD (contributor to the Tennessee Conservative) –
Anyone who has lived in the south knows about kudzu, although the invasive vine is now found in 32 states and Canada. Government geniuses in the 1930s encouraged farmers, through subsidies, to import and plant the vine to fight against soil erosion. The government program and subsidies ended in the 1950s and we are left with the results.
Interestingly, kudzu is a legume and, like soybeans and clover, is able to increase soil nitrogen “through a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria” on the roots. In Asian cultures the kudzu is used in basketry, in traditional Korean and Chinese medicine and in Japanese dishes. The purple flowers are lovely and the jelly is said to taste like grape jelly – but not like chicken!
Our Knoxville grandkids have learned about this invasive vine as we watch our neighbors struggle to prevent their property from being overrun by the “vile weed,” as Seinfeld’s George Costanza might say. The rented goats munch contentedly for two weeks twice each summer, but the kudzu is back within a fortnight. My research reveals that it takes ten years of expensive plowing of the deep roots and poisoning to get rid of kudzu. Be careful what your government tells you and advises.
Unfortunately, we also have political kudzu in America. Webster defines taxonomy as the science or technique of classification. I classify leftists, Progressive-Democrats, socialists and their clueless sycophants as anti-American kudzu, but this may be a disservice to the Asian vine. And as a result of subversive fifth column agents (the media, the deep state, RINOs, AOC leftists and uneducated quislings), we are in a new culture war.
I came of age during the last culture war of the turbulent 1960s. One of the most influential books I’ve read in the last 30+ years was Generations, The History of America’s Future. Understandably, I was intrigued by the title as it suggested prescience, the ability to predict the future. The authors Strauss and Howe studied the history of America and discovered recurring patterns of American cohorts, defined as a “group of people with shared characteristics.”
I’m not doing a review of this 400 page book, but the authors point out amazing similarities between the Founders and The Greatest Generation. There were also striking similarities between the Baby Boomer counterculture and, surprisingly, The Great Awakening generation of the early 1700s. The authors predicted in their 1991 book that America will enter a “Crisis Era” during the late 2010s and the early 2020s. Folks, we are there.
In this time of crisis, I am nonetheless comforted by reports that the “Silent Majority” is awakening and Millennial men are increasingly conservative. Strauss and Howe predicted that the Millennial cohort would have similarities with the Greatest Generation. The Sound of Freedom, chronicling the scourge of human trafficking, and The Chosen are great successes. Jason Aldean’s song, You Can’t Do That in a Small Town, and Oliver Anthony’s song, Rich Men North of Richmond, are further evidence of the “new” counter-culture that is pushing back against leftists and the destructive Progressive-Democrats.
It is my hope that people wise up that the Potemkin President and the Progressive-Democrats, driven by AOC leftists, are destroying the country. They have already destroyed the border and made Mexican cartels rich from drugs and human trafficking. The Democrats have damaged the economy, destroyed the big cities where they rule and promoted lawlessness, crime and drug culture through their ideologically insane policies. Their gender dysphoria lunacy has tragically spilled over into the medical community where gender reassignment for children is sanctioned by the AMA, American Academy of Family Practice, and the American Academy of Pediatric. (Incidentally, the AMA represents less than 10% of American physicians).
Biden and Democrats have even weaponized the FBI and the justice system against political opposition. Notably, the corrupted FBI has targeted parents at school board meetings, Catholics, pro-life advocates and has even showed up at people’s homes to intimidate those who speak out against tyranny. Biden and Democrats have also coerced social media to silence conservatives and to interfere with elections (example: suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop exposé).
The Democrats have no positive accomplishments and are running on the Trump-derangement syndrome. Hatred is a sickness and if this is your modus opprandi, you should see a psychiatrist.
President Trump has now been indicted by the corrupt justice system for the 4th time with a total of 91 indictments. This is all the Democrats have to run on and their election interference, whether you like President Trump or not, is real. Biden’s Secretary of State Tony Blinken even has the chutzpah (nerve) to criticize Russia for Putin’s prosecution of his political enemies. All the while, our government’s propaganda ministry (legacy media) virtually ignores the scandals of Biden who took millions of dollars from Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian, Romanian and Kazakhstan agents.
Make no mistake, if the government can destroy President Trump, they can come after you if you challenge the Washington DC system as President Trump did. Constitutional freedom of speech is on trial with President Trump. Although it is debatable whether Einstein said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,” the aphorism is nonetheless valid. If we continue to vote for Progressive-Democrats we are done.
The only person I know who is perhaps more conservative than me is my wife, the lovely Becky; she just has more grace than me. Recently, my passion was kindled when a dear friend of mine made the statement that both sides of the political spectrum are guilty of abuses. While that is undeniably true, the Democrats have taken this to a new level and are corrupting our country, all the institutions of government, our cities and communities, damaging families and even threatening our children. This next election is crucial, and if there is not a seismic shift in the direction of our country, I will quote Jesus who said, “It is finished.”
Join me in my pledge to vote against every Democrat at the national, state and local level. We must remove these people from power so that We The People can begin to repair the damage they have orchestrated.
*Adapted from an article that recently appeared in the Knoxville Focus. Printed here by permission from the Author.
About the Author: Jim is a native of Knoxville, practicing Internal Medicine for more than 40 years, prior to retiring in 2020. Along with learning to become a “gentleman farmer,” he has written essays for the conservative weekly Knoxville Focus since 2007.
