Ignoring the Elephant in the Room  

Contributed by Doug Ferguson

Except for a small, but very concerned and aware minority, most Americans who don’t live in cities like Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, and those on the Mexican border, are ignoring the early stages of a movement to promote conflict in society with the eventual goal of staging an actual modern Marxist style revolution. They ignore this in our own country, even though it is taking place in right before our very eyes, whether it be outside of our Valley, in Anchorage, or cities in the Lower 48.

They seem oblivious to the thousands of illegal immigrants crossing our southern boarder with the increase in violent crime, the doubling of drug smuggling, the abuse of children and the taxing of local resources that has resulted. Nor do they see in the centers of many of our once proud cities, the thousands of homeless tent camps lining the streets of large multi-ethnic and even commercial neighborhoods, those that haven’t already been physically destroyed or burned down by looting and rioting mobs. They ignore the majority of those few who did manage to be arrested for this wanton destruction having the charges against them dismissed by the current administration’s federal authorities.

They do not see the connection between these chaotic events and the conversely strict edicts and freedom robbing regulations now imposed affecting their own daily lives accelerated by the COVID crisis, plus new federal legislation that will make their lives even worse if passed.

Examples are: 1) Allowing mask edicts forever in public places; 2) Involuntary substandard remote schooling for our children; 3) New restrictive mandates dealing with travel and vaccinations; 4) Without public input, indoctrinating children in public schools and colleges that our country is based on racism; 5) Federal agencies like the FBI harassing those seen as political opponents as recently in our own Homer, Alaska; 6) House passed HR-5, the so-called “Equality Act”, allowing “transgender” males to compete in women’s sports;  7) Unconstitutional and also House passed HR-1 election law bill forcing our government into a one-party system if it passes in the Senate.

These destructive lawless events and their opposite, the draconian increase of regulations imposed on the average law-abiding citizen’s life around our nation, are too numerous to list even a fraction of them here. However, opposite extremes in the following two examples can give you the flavor of how this movement is working to try to divide our country and prepare it to submit to a Marxist, or at least a “One World” type modern takeover with a central, dictatorial government ruling our lives.

Last year, a number of small local restaurant owners in New York, Michigan, Connecticut, California and Minnesota were arrested as a result of defying their state’s draconian COVID “lockdown” restrictions while trying to save their businesses. Even as the COVID crisis is winding down, a most egregious cases of those owners is that of Lisa Hanson, who owns “The Interchange”, a breakfast and coffee bistro in Albert Lee, Minnesota, a small city of 17,000 near the Iowa state line. She was recently arrested and taken into custody for allegedly not responding to a court order. She is now out on bail and appealing her case along with 20 other counter-claims and lawsuits against over 30 individuals in the state of Minnesota alone.

At the opposite extreme, look at Portland, Oregon after the “George Floyd Peaceful Protests”. After over 100 nights of riots, looting and building burnings last summer, the cost to the city was an estimated $30,000,000, plus $2,300,000 more to federal property. The latter caused the Trump Administration to send in federal troops to protect it. At the time, 97 people were arrested with federal charges filed against them for the destruction. Since then, the Biden Administration has dismissed or deferred 58 of these cases with 32 pending without spending so much as a day behind bars. So far, only 7 have pleaded guilty, and only one of these is heading to prison, having been caught setting fire to the Justice Building in a video showing his name tattooed on his back!

Total riot costs across the country for the 2020-21 time period are estimated by insurance companies at over 2 billion dollars, the costliest in history with few rioters doing any jail time!

There are many groups besides our foreign enemies, including the “cancel culture” in our own media and big international companies, pushing for this radial change in our government. It doesn’t matter whether they want world-wide domination and power, or just believe in “Socialism” or “One World” government. They are all contributing to this divisiveness in our society. We should know from history that all previous attempts to achieve these ends, whether idealistic or not, have only resulted in cruel and deadly dictatorships. We have only to look at the tens of millions killed and imprisoned in China, Russia and other nations under communist rule during the past 100 years.  

We are at a turning point in our history as a country and as a civilization. If more citizens don’t start waking up and pushing back on these movements, we surely will see Orwell’s 1984 come to life. How? By getting involved and supporting politicians and leaders who promote legislation, lawsuits, education programs and demonstrations that counter these challenges to our democratic republic and freedoms in whatever legal ways we can, if it’s not too late already.

But first, we must see “The Elephant in the Room”!

Doug Ferguson is a retired engineer living in Palmer, Alaska who has had a lifelong interest in science, computer technology, history and, of course, American politics.