Rose,
Your letter does indeed find me well. Despite some trials, I confess this to truly be one of the highest moments of my life. It makes reflection on 2016 rather strange since that was a much darker period for me.
Anyway, your point is well made and true - these candidates being bandied about are largely just window-dressing. One of the great utilities of democracy is the horse race or entertainment aspect of it, and it appears at least the GOP side is promising that in spades. But it has about as much effect on our lives as the Kentucky Derby.
Back in 2016, Donald Trump was singularly critical in that he totally upset the political equilibrium. Issues that had previously been taboo were suddenly back on the table. His election victory was an electrifying shock. Contrary to many of the explanations for his failure to really change anything, I do genuinely believe the man was just sabotaged at every turn. Hank Olso made a great point on an old episode of Myth of the 20th Century when he said the only way for Trump to actually accomplish his goals was to order 66 nearly the entire executive branch, to install anyone who would swear allegiance to him.
We on the right do not have decades of a march through the institutions behind us, so we need some creative way of putting together networks that make real change possible. I think there is still a chance Trump is capable of keeping the political equilibrium unbalanced, and this does give us a unique ability to push for things in the mainstream we had not previously been able to. But it is absolutely critical we begin to build these networks, for it is these networks that mean the difference between righting the ship of America or another several decades of impotence.
It is worth pointing out too, that the best way to do this is innocuously, or as innocuously as possible. Charlottesville was not the making, but the breaking of a network, and there’s a lesson there too. Ultimately though, this isn’t about Trump or any dear leader.
It is my conviction the lesson of 2016 is that what we need (to borrow an analogy from war) is not better generals. Our generals have been bad for quite some time, but 2016 laid bare that they are actually not the make-or-break part of retaking the country. What we need is way more Lieutenants, NCOs, and officers in our war to retake the country. Our great question is where to find them, how to prepare them, and how to organize them into these positions.
What are your thoughts on this? I eagerly await your reply, and I hope my letter finds you as well as yours found me.
Sincerely,
Grant