When Americans understand that the Russian word “pravda” translates to “truth” in English, and that the Russian word “isvestia” translates to “news,” they will understand and appreciate what Russian friends whispered to me in Moscow in the days before the Soviet Union disintegrated. They would say, conspiratorially, “There is no Pravda in Isvestia, and no Isvestia in Pravda.” Never quite sure of who might be listening, this was always followed by nervous laughter and a furtive glance over their shoulders.
But one wonders how much “pravda” there is in a November 2008 Isvestia interview with Igor Panarin, a professor at Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In that interview, Panarin predicted that, sometime around the year 2011, the United States would experience economic collapse, followed by massive civil unrest… He predicted that the United States would then split into six “rump” states and that Russia and China would become the “backbone” of a new world order.
Panarin cited the decline in major stock indexes, the decline in U.S. gross domestic product, and Washington’s bailout of giant Wall Street banking institutions as evidence that U.S. dominance of the global economy has collapsed. What he failed to mention was the underlying reason for the decline of the American culture: the relentless chipping away by liberals and Democrats, for the better part of a century, at the social, political, and economic foundations that have made the United States the greatest, most prosperous nation in all of recorded history.
And now, as Republicans sit across the bargaining table from Obama, Reid, and Pelosi… all of whom insist upon increased wasteful spending and increased job-killing taxes… it becomes ever more clear that their priority list, as always, contains just one item: the next election. While they are aware that the very existence of the United States as a viable economic entity is in jeopardy, and that a bill containing tax increases has no chance whatsoever of passing the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, they continue to make it clear that none of this matters. The only thing that matters to them is that, as the U.S. economy spirals out of control and the social order devolves into chaos, they insist upon being at the helm of the sinking ship of state.
In the wake of U.S. economic collapse, Panarin sees the United States dividing into six “rump” states, as follows: 1) The Pacific Coast states [Oregon and Washington], 2) The Hispanic South [Arizona, California, and New Mexico], 3) Texas, 4) The Atlantic Coast states, 5) The Central and Plains states, and 6) The New England states. Prof. Panarin may know a thing or two about the geography and cultures of the former Soviet republics, but he apparently knows little about American geography and American culture. If he understood a thing or two about the American people and their political and economic value systems, his six “rump” states would more likely be as follows:
1) The Western States – California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington. In 2008, 63 of their counties voted for Obama-Biden and, surprisingly, 75 counties voted for McCain-Palin.
2) The Mountain States – Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. In the 2008 elections, 67 counties voted for Obama-Biden while 214 counties voted for McCain-Palin.
3) The Central States – Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas. In the 2008 elections, 78 of their counties voted for Obama-Biden and 736 counties voted for McCain-Palin.
4) The Old South – Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. In the 2008 elections, 179 of their counties voted for Obama-Biden and 768 counties voted for McCain-Palin.
5) The Midwest – Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin. In the 2008 elections, 283 counties voted for Obama-Biden and 455 counties voted for McCain-Palin.
6) The Northeast – Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. In the 2008 elections, 126 of their counties voted for Obama-Biden and 94 counties voted for McCain-Palin.
Contrary to what Mr. Panarin might think, the most logical division of the fifty U.S. states would likely result in just three separate and distinct nations.
The four western states, to be known as Meximerica, would survive briefly as an entity but would quickly devolve into a Mexican satellite ruled by warring factions… drug lords in the south and unrepentant leftist ideologues in the north. It would not be a place where any law-abiding, freedom-loving person would want to live and most non-Hispanics would soon emigrate… the hard-working middle and upper-middle class people eastward to the Rocky Mountain region and beyond, and the wealthy liberal elites to Hawaii. All four of these states have a history of being unfriendly to business and none have passed Right-to-Work legislation. They currently have a total of 24 Republicans and 53 Democrats in the U.S. Congress.
Combining the twenty states of the Midwest, the East, and the Northeast into a European-style socialist state, to be called the Peoples Republic of East America, would likely require the erection of an Iron Curtain-style frontier fence to prevent its residents from escaping to the south and west. These twenty states currently have a combined representation of 99 Republicans and 128 Democrats in the U.S. Congress. And with only one Right-to-Work state among them, the politically-schizophrenic State of Iowa, manufacturers could be expected to move their operations to the business-friendly states south and west of their borders.
The most important state emerging from the division, the Republic of Free America, would combine the Mountain States, the Central States, and the states of the Old South, sans Maryland and West Virginia. The new nation, with current representation of 164 Republicans and 67 Democrats in the U.S. Congress, would contain twenty-six of the current fifty states… twenty-one of which have passed Right-to-Work laws.
The Republic of Free America would quickly become an economic powerhouse, surpassing China, India, Japan, and Germany in world markets. The new nation would be self-sufficient in energy and could be expected to seek membership in OPEC, exporting coal, natural gas, crude oil, refined petroleum products, electric power, and water to Meximerica and to the Peoples Republic of East America. Manufacturers such as Boeing, after closing manufacturing facilities in Meximerica, would likely move all of their manufacturing operations to existing aerospace manufacturing centers in Florida, Kansas, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.
Unthinkable? In a period in history in which the nations of old Europe have joined together to form the European Union, and the Soviet Empire, one of two major superpowers during most of the twentieth century, has splintered into at least twenty-five independent states, can we say conclusively that the once-great United States of America is immune to political dissolution? Abraham Lincoln waged a devastating civil war to preserve the Union, a war in which more than 646,000 Americans were killed or wounded. But would any American president in this century command sufficient loyalty among our military commanders to enforce political union, at the point of a bayonet, among people who are as irrevocably divided as Americans are today?
What is clear is that Barack Obama and the leadership of the Democrat Party, given the choice between: a) a free and prosperous America with a Republican in the White House, Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, and a conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, and b) a mean and despotic nation, it’s people cold, hungry, and economically destitute, but with liberals and Democrats in charge of all three branches of government, would, without a second thought, choose the latter. Instead of allowing money to circulate in the private economy where it can be used to build homes, purchase automobiles, or start new business ventures, Democrats would rather see those assets taxed away so that government bureaucrats can finance a cowboy poetry festival in Nevada, or give research money to a pinheaded college professor who wants to measure how much energy can be generated by shrimp running on treadmills.
As matters now stand, the choices that Obama, Reid, and Pelosi face are these: 1) An increase in the debt limit, at least $4 trillion in targeted debt reductions and entitlement reforms, and no tax increases, or 2) No increase in the debt ceiling; continued payments to military personnel and to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid recipients; a shutdown of non-essential government services; no increase in taxes; and the loss of the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.
Which will they choose? Given their past history, it is all but certain that they will choose the latter… even though that alternative is all but certain to result in violence and severe economic dislocation.
For more than 150 years, Democrats have never hesitated to use the KKK and union thugs to gain political or economic advantage… as recently demonstrated in Madison, Wisconsin… and the sooner they can be separated from decent people by a very tall fence, the better. Our Founding Fathers proclaimed that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were our unalienable rights, and that, “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government…” As for me, since it is impossible to live with Democrats, I choose to be a citizen of the Republic of Free America.