“For the left, belief equals (or is greater than) reality.” – Beyond Woke
For the second presidential election cycle in a row, the Democrat Party’s slam dunk fell short. In 2016, Hillary Clinton famously campaigned between Manhattan cocktail parties and Hollywood fundraisers, before going down in defeat to underdog Donald Trump. Election 2020 was sure to be different. After an extensive search for a diverse and dynamic progressive, the Democrats found their next savior in JOE FRICKEN BIDEN, a 47-year political lifer and poster child for white patriarchal privilege. And although we may not know the final outcome of the presidential election for weeks to come, there’s one call we can make: the Democrat Party’s 2020 social justice identity politics agenda not only sailed but sank.
Even as it appears more and more likely that Biden may secure his bid for President, the Democrat Party’s bungling of the lower-hanging fruit nationwide, can’t be ignored. The Democrats failed to take outright control of the Senate, lost significant seats in the House, and dropped a Governorship to a Republican. But the most significant defeat was in the down ballots, in the state legislatures where the redistricting of the electoral map, following the 2020 census, will occur. Here, Republicans retain a majority and are certain to benefit in upcoming elections. Yet, even more damaging, the Republicans expanded support from several minority groups including blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Muslims, and gays. In some categories, support more than doubled, a shift one would not expect after four years of insufferable Democrat rhetoric begging the contrary.
Despite their dismal showing, the Democrat Party politics still control every institution in America, from academia, K-12 education, corporate media, entertainment, Big Tech, and Big Business. And as the Democrat Party drifts further to the left, the doctrine of social justice has increasingly expanded across the party platform and culture. Here, the privileged atone for their perceived advantage in life, while the rest commiserate about their perceived barriers. The solution to any injustice, real or imagined, is achieved by the taking down of the successful, rather than the building up of the demoralized. Every policy is implemented with this vision in mind. Conform or be canceled. Egalitarianism is the face they show, totalitarianism is the agenda they hide.
2020 saw a heightened degree of social justice warrioring. Throughout the nation, Democrat governors ignored their own COVID-19 lockdown orders to march in the WOKE parades, as the media called republican rallies super spreaders while cheering democrat marches for their virtue. Forcing the country to battle COVID-19 and Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) at the same time made it difficult to know which one was claiming more victims. The sporting world went into extreme activist mode following the murder of George Floyd, creating a black anthem, while transforming their games into political rallies for their favorite team blue. The public responded with the silent treatment, as viewership hit record lows. Big business was quick to link hands by virtue signaling their undying support. To atone for America’s past sins, the powers that be forced a guilty nation to its groveling knees. Or so they thought.
In Michael Rectenwald’s 2020 book, “Beyond Woke”, Rectenwald, a reformed Marxist, calls out woke culture with its social justice politicking that began in academia and is now prevalent in culture from social media to entertainment to corporate activism. Wokeness is the awakening of one’s consciousness to the injustice that exists in a society and then advocates for a strict set of preset solutions to overcome them. Rectenwald makes an appeal for the re-secularizing of academia and culture, from their religious fanaticism of demanding atonement from some over their professed sins of the past while insisting on carte blanche for everyone else. Finding one’s way beyond wokeness is the act of leaving the herd mentality behind, thinking independently, and choosing freedom over conformity. For this, Rectenwald, cheers.
The Democrat Party’s perception of America is wrong. Fortunately, it didn’t take long for woke society to wake the sleeping giant. Finally pushing back on claims of being too white, too privileged, and too successful, many are equally fed up with the open disdain for their middle-class values, working-class status, and belief in God. What some lack in formal higher education, they gain in competence and know-how. Through their cooperation and collaboration with others, they celebrate the things that make people unique. They believe in merit, their own self-importance, and value, not victimhood. They will not remain silent, they will not watch their every word, and they will not conform.
Win, lose, or draw, Trump survived the demonization of his character as a racist, homophobe, xenophobe, and misogynist. There’s always a silver lining.
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