The Deep Snows of a Dark Winter

During the period leading up to the election of 2020 and beyond, President Biden warned of a “dark winter” on the horizon. Tragically, he was correct, but he did not warn that the winter of death and disillusion would endure for years to come. Further, he failed to predict that the deep snows that would accompany this tragedy would bury the country in an avalanche of icy dissatisfaction.

Less than a year and a half into this “unifying revival” known as the Biden era, our circumstances are dire. Crime is out of control, inflation threatens to impoverish the most vulnerable, drug overdoses are escalating at precipitous rates, and supply chain failures threaten our ability to feed our families. Many ideologies claim that all of this was inevitable in the post pandemic world. Blinded by orthodoxy, they spout misleading or downright dishonest talking points that have been spoon fed to them by their puppeteers.

When we examine the predicament in which we are currently embroiled we see that the answer is quite clear. Poor decision making, fomented by misguided idealism, cast us into this winter of discontent. While there is a veritable cornucopia of bad decisions made in the past year and a half, three seem to rise to the top of the list.

The decision to attack the use of fossil fuels is without a doubt the most impactful. What I find most incredible is the current administration attempts to pretend that there is no such attack. It’s such an outrageous claim that if it wasn’t such a dire matter the claims would be the stuff of a blockbuster comedy.

The world thrives on and is addicted to energy. We need it for even the most basic elements of life. Without it there is no sustainable food supply, there is no scalable shelter, and there is no tenable ability to clothe the masses. These are the most basic of needs and rendered unable to meet the demand without a sustainable and economical source of energy.

The day will come when the world will be faced with the reality that our fossil fuel supplies are finite, and alternatives will need to be discovered. That day is far into the future. In fact, there appears to be ample fossil fuel supply available that everyone living today will have passed on to their eternal reward before the supplies are exhausted. I strongly support the development of alternative energy sources, but not to the detriment of our populace who relies on fossil fuels for almost every element of their existence, and not to the detriment of our vital national security.

The second disastrous folly was the decision to print an additional $2T and inject it into the economy with a populace that had been forced to endure over a year of shut down. It’s a basic economic principle that when money, that is not backed by true wealth, is injected into the economy unsubstantiated demand will follow. Think of it like this, a huge bag of cocaine is dumped into a room of people who have been forced into an untenable environment. They are assured that this is not an addictive drug, but rather a bridge to a brighter future as their handlers hand out straws. For an instant there is euphoria, and it lasts until the last line is cut. Now an addicted populace screams in horror as the realities sink in.

Supply demand principles are basic at the core. When demand increases and supply is hindered, prices increase. It’s very basic. This is true in every good and service available. This principle has stood for as long as commerce has existed. Read your Bible, the Old Testament is full of stories about supply shortages.

The third in this triumvirate of disaster was the decision to refuse to complete the work needed to secure the border. In my lifetime, I do not recall a more childish and short-sighted decision. Admittedly, the fossil fuel war described previously is a close second. With the money appropriated and much of the hardware on site, a partisan team decided that a ‘cease and desist’ moratorium was required.

As I reflect on this matter, I can find no rational reason for this having been so ordered other than the fact that they did not like it and appeared hell-bent on undoing anything the previous administration has accomplished. The result, a meteoric rise in illegal drugs on our streets and a nearly 50% increase in overdose deaths year over year. The result, more young girls trafficked into our country to satiate the illicit desires of an unknown and unseen customer base, who apparently have the financial wherewithal to feed their debauchery.

While unknown evil pores over our unprotected border, we are assured that Jim Crow is back in Georgia, and anyone who questions any decision of those in power is either a racist or a bigot and likely both. Fear of being tarnished with a vile moniker has many cower in silence.

While we install wind farms that are not visible or audible from the homes of the elitists who mandate them, we are assured that the electric car is the panacea for all things fossil fuel. The fact that the destruction of the exhausted batteries creates the potential for a far more dangerous environmental disaster is pawned off as fear mongering. I suspect we can find a home for them with the countless birds who succumb through their interaction with those virtuous purveyors of energy that would make Don Quixote blush.

Now we shiver through the consequences of what I call “the winter of our own doing”. I suspect we will emerge from this self-inflicted ice age, and I believe our nation is so strong and resilient we will recover quickly, but the question of financial and character cost is indeed in question. How do we put a price on a person’s reputation that has been besmirched by a cadre of ideologs who falsely call citizens with who they disagree domestic terrorists? How did we even get to this place?

- Elliott