Based on my RedState diary for that day, it is safe to say that I was not at all optimistic about the future of the good old U S or A on this date half a decade ago. I suspect that comes through quite clear just from the title:

On Considering a Deliberate March into the Abyss

For a little context, that was just over a year since the “deep party” of the Republican Machine had shown us mere masses what they really thought of us in Mississippi (Never Forget Mississippi 2014!) and just over a month since one Donald J. Trump entered the Republican presidential primary. The former event had, after a long list of abuses dating back to the Bush-Frist years, finally driven me from the party. Therefore, the latter was nothing more than added amusement for me to watch from the sidelines. (As a former Fred Head, I will admit that I was rooting for Mr. Cruz…and did right up until the convention.)

Further context comes with the two Erik Erickson quotes in the diary:

“AMERICAN SOCIETY HAS LOST ITS MIND.”

“CRAZY RULES THE DAY. IT WILL PROBABLY GET WORSE. BUT THE MADNESS WILL RECEDE.”

A wise man, more so in his youth, but obviously we are still waiting on peak crazy. Buy I digress.

Similarly, the two EXHIBITS presented for my pessimism held true at the time and are probably a stronger case today:

Exhibit A: “A significant and growing portion of the American population [has lost] the virtues required to be functioning members of a free society.”

Exhibit B: A significant and growing portion of the administrative “branch” of this government sees its mission as separating We the People from our liberties.

The title and overarching thesis of the diary are explained with this near the end of the rambling mess:

CHOOSING HOW TO GO INTO THE ABYSS

For decades now America has been wading into an abyss of grotesque societal degradation and growing governmental tyranny. For those willing to see it, this has clearly been a carefully choreographed charade pulled off with the persistent leftward forces of the Democrat Party doing the bulk of the work and with the right side of the Ruling Class offering token resistance … and [ensuring] working majorities when required from the malleable center-right. The pace has certainly quickened in recent years but even the relatively increased momentum of these post-constitutional times is really only sufficient (by design, no doubt) to carry us out to the wickedest depths. Once stalled, the Ruling Class and the tyrannical bureaucratic superstructure will complete the consumption of the host…We the People. Only at that point can something new emerge…but history strongly hints that “liberty” will not likely be part of that new solution. And the longer it takes to the get to “rock bottom” the less “muscle memory” for rugged individualism and freedom will remain in the population. And that, my friends, is the lifeblood of American exceptionalism.

I posit that it is our duty to American posterity to either demand to stop the decline and turn back now or march on in with a deliberateness that intends on facing the worst as soon as possible and emerging on the other side.

The “feel good” piece for the day this was not.

I provide this quick review not only in the hopes that you go back and read that piece on this anniversary of it being posted but to point you to the 104 comments.  In these days (on some platforms like this) where “our” history is so unimportant that these comments and questions tend to disappear, I have managed to keep this one alive (while no longer being an active member) as a history of important (to me) markers along the way to the abyss. (Is there any doubt that this is no longer at some distant horizon but that we have been driven right into the murky shallows. But, again, I digress.) While very selective in content, I think this periodic commentary provides an interesting walk through this leg of the journey. I thought that you may wish to spend part of this Sunday making a pass through and maybe enjoying an “ntrepid” retrospective on this (near) closing chapter of the American Experiment.

If you do, enjoy.

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On a personal note, I realize that many of you will not know (or remember) this “ntrepid” character but, I assure you, I am an old timer around here.  I trace my “life story” back to following some of the RedState Founders at a prior entity called “Tacitus.” A member here since about 2006, I have witnessed the destructive format “upgrades” of 2008 and 2012, a member purge or two along the way, and was bloodied quite badly during the era of Susan Wright and her pocket (name calling) moderator. If you search through the comments of the diary discussed above, you will find my six-month banishment documented upon my return:

A point of reference: On or about December 3, 2017 this account was disabled. It was reactivated on April 27, 2018.

My diaries and comment history seem to be intact except for the last two comments made; both were disappeared at the time of the disablement. (I did save the text from them and just may address that at some future point. Or not.) Somewhat ironically, given recent events in the neighborhood, those were made under a member diary by AceInTX titled: “Does ANYONE Give A Tinker’s Damn About RedState Anymore?” (Also disappeared.) It may not be a complete answer but it is clear that someone did and does. Thanks streiff.

Ntrepid

May 3, 2018 (7:39 PM CDT)

For the record, while my energies are devoted elsewhere (a place that preserves its history, clearly that is important to me), I assure you I still lurk here. While I see many familiar names, it is hard to gage the turnover in membership but I hope you all appreciate the dark years that preceded the clear and impressive revival you are now witnessing. I hope you also appreciate how much of the credit for that lies buried with a lot of “dead soldiers” along the way…but more so and very specifically with the shear determination of a man called streiff. Be sure to thank him often.