Ayn Rand referred to the “malevolent universe” metaphysics, the theory (in her words) that man, by his very nature, is helpless and doomed—that success, happiness, achievement are impossible to him—that emergencies, disasters, catastrophes are the norm of his life and that his primary goal is to combat them.
This, actually, is the psychology of the welfare state, of socialism and of Communism. When enough people become afflicted with this depressing view of life, they’re more vulnerable to things like socialism, Communism, or (same thing) a Harris-Biden presidency. That’s what happened in America, in 2020. Honest historians, if any exist, will record it that way. At the start of 2020, America was buoyant and expanding as never before. Trump was headed toward a possibly landslide victory and a probable flipping of Congress away from Nancy Pelosi. Reforms were needed (e.g., privatization of health care, privatization of education, further tax and regulation cuts), but for the most part things were quite good and had the capacity to get better. First COVID fascism and then the dark absurdity of defunding the police so left-wing, sociopathic maniacs could run wild had the effect of breaking enough spirits that Biden — with the help of more than a little fraud — could eke out a victory. I know it’s not over until it’s over, but we’re only in this predicament now because of the faulty thinking and depressing emotions that have literally driven most people crazy over the past year.
American history has known some pretty difficult times, but the nation of the Enlightenment has always come out on top in the end. This current situation has the scent of something that could go either way. I suppose crisis is always like that, while you’re in the middle of the crisis. It’s certainly the gravest period of American history in my lifetime, which goes back (in adult years) to around 1980. I must admit that this unspeakably unjust and insane election fiasco does have the feel of a vigil over a terminally ill patient, where the “patient” is literally our freedom. If we don’t get through all this with a good outcome, we’ll enter a “darker winter” than anything Joe Biden talked about, and with more sobering consequences than even a much worse virus could have inflicted on all of civilization. Pray, hope, fight … do whatever you have to do. As anyone who has fled a dictatorship will tell you, the stakes are bigger than you or I could even imagine.
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