Collapsing Narratives

The invasion of Ukraine exposes the Left's delusions about guns and green energy.

Pity today's Left. Fresh off the monumental collapse of their Trump-Russia narrative, they now must countenance the destruction of two other progressive premises that have been gospel since they were first ideated, and they have that purported puppet master, Vladimir Putin, to thank.

Those are the delusion that carbon energy, in particular oil and gas, can be eliminated from the global stage with present-day wind, solar, and battery technology; and the dismissal of the premise of an armed citizenry as a necessary element of freedom and sovereignty.

First…

The WaSaBI (wind and solar and battery idiocy). Putin's belligerence is directly funded by exports of oil and gas. Worse, the WaSaBI obsession in Western Europe (and particularly in Germany, which is in the process of abandoning the greenest energy of all: nuclear) has given Putin enormous leverage by making Western Europe deeply dependent on Russian gas and oil, meaning that even as Putin commits war crimes in Ukraine, Russian gas and oil pipelines continue to carry Putin's black gold westward. And, of course, Russia needs to be paid for this gas and oil, which means that cutting Russia off from the international banking system is itself problematic.

Had America continued the fracking revolution, had Biden not declared for WaSaBI, we could be in a position (assuming enough political will to overcome some stupid rules) to ship natural gas to Europe to offset Putin's leverage, and more broadly, help keep the price down and thereby take money out of Putin's war chest.

The bigger picture:

States like Russia will not stop extracting and selling gas and oil in favor of WaSaBI. Not going to happen, no matter how much the greens scold them.

The developing world and the rest of the BRICS nations won't stop burning it, either. The net-zero-carbon approach to global warming requires near-total compliance to make any difference (assuming the alarmist warnings are true). Again, not going to happen, no matter how much the UN, Al Gore, John Kerry, and Greta Thunberg hector the world. All the West is doing in unilaterally embracing WaSaBI is ceding power and handing money (and economic might) to the rest of the world.

In short, global peace and security are directly threatened by the West's coercive green movement, with no benefit whatsoever to the climate. The math of this is irrefutably obvious to anyone who is willing to ponder it.

Second…

The Left's hatred for privately owned guns (but no problem with a massively over-armed domestic government) born of a dismissal that an armed citizenry can provide resistance to a tyrannical government, is pretty thoroughly debunked by the Ukrainians resisting the Russian invaders. There's more than a little schadenfreude in reading lefties trying to praise the Ukrainians while still clinging to their anti-gun beliefs.

The government there changed its laws to permit citizens to carry firearms, and has been handing out guns and teaching citizens how to use them.

Hmm....

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

"Well regulated" means proficient, and "Militia" refers to the citizenry (at the time, all able bodied men between the ages of 18 and 50, you get the idea). If Ukrainians weren't subject to firearms restrictions, they'd a - not need to be handed as many guns by the government, and b - not need as much instruction in their use. The whole point of the Second Amendment is to ensure that the People (not the government or any group it controls) have, by virtue of ownership, access and naturally-acquired proficiency in the sorts of arms that they might be called upon to use in defense of their nation from tyrants (foreign or domestic, by the way).

Ukrainians are playing catch-up because of prior restrictions, but at least they now are being allowed the tools of self- and national defense. Our Best-and-Brightest won’t say boo about that, because all but an insane few are critical of Putin's aggression, but they're certainly suffering massive dissonance over the blatantly obvious message herein.

It remains to be seen how they respond to the potentially landmark Supreme Court decision in NYSRPA v Bruen, expected this June. The Court might restore citizens' gun rights in the nine (blue) states that currently restrict them arbitrarily, including some of the loci of those Best-and-Brightest. If the Court rules as I hope and expect, there will be a great rending sky-scream from many of the people who admired and cheered the Ukrainians defending their homeland.

As is so often the case, the real world doesn't choose to play along with the insulated and isolated ivory tower elites who "know better" and, per some twisted noblesse-oblige, feel both entitled and obligated to cram their vision down our maws.

Pride, hubris, and the fear of cognitive dissonance, coupled with the fact that none of their bad ideas impact their lives in any appreciable manner (the rich can afford more expensive energy, their local police departments keep their neighborhoods safer than many, and loon-raging about the Right and Russiagate is normal behavior in their enclaves), mean that they're resistant to learning from these collapsing narratives. They'll keep on as they have, with their favorite contortionists in the media providing them with whatever pretzel logic they need to justify their obstinacy, and their ivory-tower types. John Kerry’s worried that the Ukraine invasion will produce ‘massive emissions consequences.’ Not that thousands might die and the world order might be upended.

Want more proof of obstinacy in the face of collapsing narratives? Just look at the COVID mandates. The only thing driving the Democrats to relax them is the approach of the mid-term election, not our growing understanding of the science or the widespread combination of vaccination and acquired immunity.

How about Nikole Hannah-Jones, she of the work of retcon alternate history known as the 1619 Project, making Ukraine all about race. That is to say, all about her.

We will continue to witness our liberties and living standards erode, as long as they remain in positions of power.