And so, the final blows fall around us, in our institutions and on our streets, and we can say as God Himself once said, “It is finished.” He said it of His great work of redemption, but we can now say it of the noblest experiment of government ever attempted by man—the “united” States of America.

As in all things, we today witness only the end of a long train of evils that has led to these final blows. It actually began in 1787 when the convention called to amend the weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation was hijacked by men—including many so-called “Founding Fathers”—to accomplish what was in fact illegal under the terms of the Articles—that is, to revoke that light yoke of union and create a far more restrictive and dangerous ruling document that came to be known, paradoxically, as “the glorious Constitution.” In a way, it is almost amusing to hear so many “modern patriots” call loudly for a “return” to the Constitution when, in fact, what we have 225 years after that document’s ratification is the very result predicted by those who rejected it at the time.

But the Constitution was only the beginning of the effort to destroy a representative republic and replace it with an Empire ruled by a central authority. The destructive nature of the so-called “federal government” became more and more obvious as the union that President George Washington prayed would be “the first love and guiding duty of Americans,” became a matter of sectional self-interest, political corruption and economic despotism. Quickly (by historical standards), the former free association of (formerly) sovereign States became a contest of power and money based upon section. One section, the South, read the handwriting on the wall and tried to make use of the much vaunted Constitution to withdraw from what had become for them political impotence and economic bondage. Former United States Senator and the first—and only—President of the nation that those Southern States constitutionally created, Jefferson Davis, said many years after the bloodiest war ever fought by Americans,

“It is a satisfaction to know that the calamities which have befallen the Southern States were the result of their credulous reliance on the power of the Constitution, that if it failed to protect their rights, it would at least suffice to prevent an attempt at coercion, if, in the last resort, they peacefully withdrew from the Union.”

One cannot but wonder if we listen carefully enough, the ghost of that great Virginia patriot, Patrick Henry, can be heard calling from his tomb, “Ego me dixi vobis!” (I told you so!)

Lincoln’s war of conquest and consolidation put the final nail in the coffin of the already dying republic, replacing it with an empire eager for conquest and consolidation. Nonetheless, for all of their suffering and death, the Southern people were fortunate. Unlike the American Indian, they were permitted to continue to live in a state of quasi-freedom. Many today believe that they eventually acquired actual freedom with the end of reconstruction, but, in fact, by that time the rest of America’s liberties had been eroded away until there was little or no difference between the South after reconstruction and the rest of the nation without it. The only thing that grew stronger was the central government–and this is how it has continued. For a while, a sort of equilibrium remained because the nation retained its Christian moral heritage, most strongly in the South. But the communist/socialist philosophy of Marx’s American statist disciple, Abraham Lincoln, was not to be denied. Slowly, over the years, “progressives” like Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and others worked to grow the power of the central state to encompass ever-wider areas within the lives of the People. Of course, this was often done with the best of intentions and, at the time, some of these efforts did achieve the desired good (such as TR’s efforts to provide Americans with healthy food and drugs). The problem, however, was that such “good intentions” were not and have never been amenable to limits! Since the concept of states’ rights had been destroyed in the misnamed “Civil War” that had reduced the formerly sovereign states to nothing more than bureaucratic entities within that central government, there simply was no logical or legitimate way to curb Washington’s growing power.

The major stumbling block to the creation of an all-powerful State was, as noted, America’s “Christian culture.” This was well known and efforts to undermine the morality of the People in order to create the “New World Order” began even before the end of the 19th Century. Educators and philosophers such as John Dewey brought their atheism and humanism into the American educational system with the understanding that America would never be free of Christian influence until it was destroyed in the young. In time, that branch of the central government most feared by Thomas Jefferson, the judiciary, moved not only to increase the power of government—and especially that of the judiciary—but to strike down Christian influences in the culture as well as in government. It was a deliberately slow process because the People were still feared if not respected—and politicians are generally more venal and self-serving than idealistic.

But it does not take a brilliant scholar to realize that if such judicial rulings by the courts as abortion on demand and “gay marriage” had been attempted before 1950, the outcry from the American People would have quickly ended such unholy and perverted policies, Supreme Court or no Supreme Court! But little by little, America’s values were worn away and little by little, Americans themselves became as corrupt, venal and wicked as their rulers. Churches in the name of “social justice” embraced policies that directly contradicted the teachings of Christ and their own doctrines. What we see today was best expressed by British poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744) who wrote,

“Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As to be hated needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
we first endure, then pity, then embrace.”

The result of this “embrace” is that fewer and fewer Americans identify themselves today as “Christians” which is absolutely correct. Even many of those who continue to use that description believe and live in such a way as to make their claims ridiculous. Indeed, the only “religion” today that can boast of serious adherents is itself more bloody and blasphemous than the worst of humanism’s canons as the Crescent once more threatens to turn the world into one bloody 12th century caliphate. Ah, where are King Richard of the Lion’s Heart and Prince Eugen today? Instead, we have a conglomeration of pathetic capons who fear offending the wicked more than they wish to protect the good. In truth, we have the “leaders” we deserve.

But the killing blow to “the great experiment” was not delivered by a communist-Muslim mulatto homosexual foreigner whose ineligibility for his office both in talent and credentials was well known—and ignored—neither was it the result of the machinations of an atheist Jew whose vast fortune is the product of destroying nations and betraying his own people to their exterminators, nor of a Muslim prince who, four years before Barack Hussein Obama was foisted upon the nation confidently predicted that a Muslim would be in the White House—in four years. No, the killing blow came from none other than “We the People.” No longer able to resist corruption or maintain our morals because our once great Christian ethic had been replaced by the utilitarian creed of atheistic Secular Humanism, Americans have chosen what Milton once described as “…bondage with ease rather than strenuous liberty.” Of course, what Americans don’t realize is that “bondage with ease” is impossible. As fewer and fewer of the productive struggle to bear the burden of more and more of the unproductive and of the cost of the ruling class, the time must surely come—and soon—when that “bondage” will make of antebellum slavery a light and easy yoke.

No, we cannot blame our enemies. God knows, they made their intentions very well known throughout the years from Hamilton to Obama. Sadly, we have proven that nothing of value lasts and eventually, the greater is supplanted by the lesser. Thus, as of today, we no longer have the shoulders of giants upon which to stand but instead must watch the spectacle of our demise from the sewer of a culture we ourselves have allowed to be created.


Valerie Protopapas

Valerie Protopapas is an independent historian and the former editor of The Southern Cavalry Review, the journal of The Stuart-Mosby Historical Society.

7 Comments

  • Silver Beard says:

    When I talk to people about how our Republic was replaced by a tyrannical federal govt I point to the Civil War as a serious tipping point. If they don’t get that then the rest of the material you presented would fly over their heads for sure. The best the recent mid-term elections can do is alter the speed with which the damage continues as to continue it will. The folks I debate point out all the “freedoms” we have though clearly, they have short-term memory loss and a poor understanding of our history. Yeah, it’s still the country I prefer to live in but I see my freedom being chipped away on a regular basis. Oregon just voted to make 2A a privilege, not a right. I guess they prefer to be less free than they already are. Other states voted or somehow ended up with the very “leaders” who clearly want govt to control everyone and everything. The loss of real standards of morality will continue to destroy what we have left. It amazes me how many people prefer to be told how to live rather than take responsibility for their own lives. They prefer “peaceful” slavery to “dangerous” freedom.

    • Baron says:

      Oregon was a decent firearms state not 4 years ago. It’s gone from no hassle to worst out of the 50 States in that short of a time. Sales are de facto banned for at least the short term, and if/when they can proceed again the taxes will be probably no less than 300 dollars to buy and conceal.

      I do think that the decades of mail-in voting is to blame for OR’s horrible government…

  • Kenneth Robbins says:

    Well spoken Lady.

  • William Quinton Platt III says:

    Or we could turn off the tv and go talk to our neighbors…next door, at church, at school, at the grocery.

    After the covid scam, our job is much easier, but it will not be easy. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy.

    Thank you for your efforts.

  • Baron says:

    Christian culture in the 1900s was only a veneer. This is why the degeneracy dominos keep falling over; America wasn’t Christian anymore but still looked like it on the surface because nothing had yet taken that culture’s place. Late 1800s saw the sexual revolution for men – essentially removing the commitment to wives. Then putting women in men’s workplace (really bad, but nobody wants to talk about it). Women’s suffrage gave responsibility to women that they didn’t want even if they won’t admit it. The sexual revolution, homosexuality, now child-molesting and mutilation.

    It’s predictable (I don’t like comparisons to Rome’s fall because Rome was never Christian). This is more devastating that most other nations’ collapse but I won’t complain if we felt Wrath like sodom did.

Leave a Reply