“Ideas, in a free society, are not a crime — and neither can they serve as the justification of a crime.” (Ayn Rand)

So obviously yet profoundly true. Islam and Democrats beg to differ. Islam says anyone who disagrees with their ideology is an infidel, and should be put to death. Democrats say anyone who disagrees with them on anything stands guilty of “hate speech,” despite our First Amendment.

Only hateful, irrational and incredibly thin-skinned people feel any desire to silence dissenters. Only people who are WRONG can benefit from jailing or murdering their opponents. Democrats share this attitude with Muslims, and like Muslims they seek control of the apparatus of State to enforce their will on us all.–Michael J. Hurd, Daily Dose of Reason

A society that robs an individual of the product of his effort, or enslaves him, or attempts to limit the freedom of his mind, or compels him to act against his own rational judgment … is not, strictly speaking, a society, but a mob held together by institutionalized gang-rule.”

— Ayn Ran

The British Empire was the largest in history. With colonies on every continent, it covered more than a quarter of the earth’s land and governed over a fifth of the world’s population.

Besides dominating military, economic, diplomatic, and political affairs, it transformed the world by spreading Western values, customs, and culture, as well as ideas such as individualism, rationalism, capitalism, and modern scientific thought. That influence continues in the educational, legal, and parliamentary systems of many countries.

But Britain is now a shadow of its former self, having allowed its institutions, the media, academia, and the public to be heavily influenced by Islam, which the late Christopher Hitchens described as “the most toxic form that religion can take.” Fashionable deference to Islam—the government, for example, treats even the most innocuous criticism of Islam as “hate speech”—has caused a noticeable shift in power, identity, and influence, and it may not be long before Britain becomes an Islamic state.

The Muslim population is projected to exceed 8% by 2030. There are over 2,000 mosques, more than 85 sharia courts challenge British common law, sharia finance is growing in popularity, halal food is widespread, and the government recognizes Islamic holidays with an enthusiasm that would shame many Muslim countries.

Examples are plentiful of Britain’s decline into submission to Islam and the replacement of its Western culture by sharia. Guidance documents for schools from Labor-run city councils in northern England warn educators that drawing and music lessons could be considered blasphemous to Islam. The Green Party of England and Wales plans to change school curricula to teach children that it is their moral duty to welcome immigrants. In the name of raising awareness about a religion from another culture, children too young to question their teachers are being brainwashed.

While the authorities go out of their way to accommodate Islam, they have no hesitation about attacking Christianity or being lenient with those who criticize it.

• Hatun Tash, a Turkish-born British citizen and former Muslim, was arrested twice for preaching Christianity and criticizing the Quran at Hyde Park’s Speakers’ Corner, a stronghold of free speech. Ironically, she was the victim in these incidents and has been stabbed and beaten by Muslims more than once.
• Daniel Ayettey, a pastor, was pulled off a ladder and threatened with a knife by a Muslim asylum seeker from Sudan who had 29 previous convictions for 67 offenses. The attacker was spared jail by a judge.
• A police officer instructed a group of gospel-sharing Christians to stop their activities.
• A preacher was detained for questioning a Muslim woman about Quranic verses related to domestic violence.
• Christmas markets across the UK were canceled in 2025, with city councils claiming they lacked funds, while money was allocated for Ramadan and Eid celebrations nationwide.

Perhaps the most powerful symbolic statement by Muslims was a recent Iftar gathering in London’s Trafalgar Square. Over 3,000 Muslims assembled for evening prayers, which started with the adhan; London Mayor Sadiq Khan attended and distributed dinner packages. When senior conservative Nick Timothy objected to the event, describing a public call of Allahu akbar as “a declaration of domination,” Starmer called for his removal as shadow justice secretary.

Islamist influence is already evident in self-proclaimed “Muslim areas” of London, where the vigilante Muslim London Patrol confronts passersby and advises them not to drink alcohol or wear short dresses. A 2013 report details how its volunteers scold non-Muslims and tell them to stay away from mosques. Gay men are called “dirty” and asked to leave.

Muslims are heard saying that England is not a Christian country and that Islam is on the rise. Anjem Choudary, a prominent radical preacher and Sharia court judge now serving a life sentence for terrorist activities, once led the Islamic Emirates Project, aiming to turn 12 British cities into independent Islamic states outside of British law.

Meanwhile, ignoring widespread expressions of Jew-hatred by Muslims, the British government has taken steps to define anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia. Currently, hate crimes against Muslims are twice as likely to result in prosecution as hate crimes against Jews. Antisemitism is blatant and rampant: Muslim mobs chant “Death to Israel” and call for the murder of Jews; at anti-Israel rallies, protesters mention a historic 7th-century battle against Jewish tribes, shouting Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews, the army of Mohammad will return; and Muslim clerics promote Jew hatred and support terrorist groups like Hamas. Significant efforts are made—by the government as well as the liberal media—to downplay such antisemitism.

But even perceived offenses to Muslim sensibilities invoke the wrath of the law, as West London restaurateur Harnam Singh Kapoor learned. Kapoor, a Sikh, has a sign at his restaurant Rangrez that says, “Proudly Non Halal Restaurant.” For this, he faced threats and confrontations from Muslim groups, while he and his wife received phone calls warning that their daughter would be raped by grooming gangs. To protect himself and his family, he began carrying a kirpan, a Sikh ceremonial dagger. On March 14, after Kapoor called for a non-halal meet-up at his restaurant, over 100 people gathered around the premises, chanting slogans. When he contacted the police, they arrested him instead.

The extent to which the British government is willing to accommodate Muslim practices is clear in its choice to normalize cousin marriage, ignoring scientific evidence that shows it increases the risk of inheriting recessive disorders. According to a Bradford study, the rate of cousin or relative marriage among immigrant Muslims reaches as high as 46%. This practice is banned in Norway and most American states and is set to be banned in Sweden. Last year, Conservative MP Richard Holden proposed a bill for a similar ban in the U.K.

But the National Health Service (NHS) has directed its doctors and nurses to stop issuing blanket discouragements against the practice to Muslim families. They were informed that giving such advice is “unacceptable.” It even published a report—now withdrawn—praising the “benefits” of cousin marriage, and advertised for nurses to support families choosing close-relative marriages. Holden was outraged that public funds were being used to address a custom that should be banned outright.

As conservative commentator Patrick West writes in The Spectator: Should British culture be allowed to be diluted by a “self-abasing and cowardly coterie of white liberals,” all in the “dread names of multiculturalism, diversity, and inclusivity”? Can the British public genuinely support the idea that Muslims need special laws and protections in addition to those protecting other citizens?

How much longer before the once-greatest empire on earth is surpassed by Islam?

American Thinker

Trading Energy Threats

Iran War

Analysis and news.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed on Tuesday that “today will be, yet again, our most intense day of strikes inside Iran” at the same time that Iranian forces unleashed a new barrage of attacks on Israel and its Gulf neighbors. With both Washington and Tehran ruling out cease-fire talks, experts expect the global energy crisis to worsen as the war trudges on.

Fears of Iranian attacks coupled with high insurance costs have largely halted oil and gas tankers from traversing the Strait of Hormuz, where around 20 percent of the world’s crude normally passes. On Tuesday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that Tehran “will not allow the export of even a single liter of oil from the region to the hostile side and its partners until further notice,” adding that “we are the ones who will determine the end of the war.”

In response, U.S. President Donald Trump warned that “If Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far.”

Such threats have left global markets scrambling. The cost of a barrel of Brent crude hit around $90 on Tuesday, nearly 24 percent higher than when U.S.-Israeli strikes first targeted Iran on Feb. 28. That, however, is down from Monday’s spike, which saw Brent prices reach almost $120. West Texas Intermediate crude also recorded falling prices from Monday into Tuesday, though costs still hit around $85 per barrel.

“The Strait of Hormuz will either be a path of peace and prosperity for all, or a path of failure and suffering for warmongers,” Ali Larijani, Iran’s top national security official, wrote on X on Tuesday.

The Trump administration is pursuing several strategies to counter high oil prices. On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued a 30-day waiver for India to buy Russian crude already at sea in an effort to “enable oil to keep flowing into the global market.” The following day, Bessent revealed that Washington is considering lifting even more sanctions on Russian oil.

The U.S. Development Finance Corporation has also begun offering a backstop for maritime insurance to persuade tankers to make the risky trip through Hormuz, though experts say that the plan is likely inadequate to address the scale of the problem.

In addition, the White House has said that it is considering having the U.S. Navy escort tankers through the strait. And on Tuesday, oil prices dropped in response to a post on X by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright announcing that the U.S. Navy had “successfully” carried out such a mission; however, minutes later, the post was deleted without explanation.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a press briefing shortly after that “the U.S. Navy has not escorted a tanker or a vessel at this time,” though she noted that “that’s an option the president has said he will absolutely utilize if and when necessary at the appropriate time.”

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency (IEA) convened an emergency meeting on Tuesday to decide whether to release emergency oil stockpiles to help bring down costs; IEA member nations hold more than 1.2 billion barrels of public crude reserves.

17,000 TRUCKERS pulled OUT OF SERVICE for failing to pass our English language proficiency test. And we will continue to take dangerous foreign drivers OFF THE ROAD.

Making America’s highways SAFE for you is a TOP priority for @POTUS, @USDOT, and @FMCSA 🇺🇸

A Catholic bishop in Belgium has announced plans to ordain married men to the priesthood by 2028, despite the Roman Catholic Church’s requirement of clerical celibacy.

Bishop Johan Bonny of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Antwerp recently released a pastoral letter claiming that “the consensus on this question is almost total” among Church leaders.

“The question is no longer whether the Church can ordain married men as priests but when it will do so, and who will do it,” wrote Bonny. “Any delay comes across as an excuse.”

The bishop said he “will make every effort to ordain married men as priests for our diocese by 2028,” adding that the vetting process will be “transparent but discreet, away from the media spotlight.”

Bonny cited a shortage of priests as the reason for the proposal, saying “the number of unmarried men who want to become priests has fallen to just above zero” in many dioceses.

“I will approach them personally and ensure that by then they have the necessary theological training and pastoral experience, comparable to that of other priest candidates,” Bonny continued.

“For many a bishop, the ordination of married men has become a matter of conscience. At that level, too, transparency, accountability, and evaluation are important for the credibility of the Church.”

According to Canon 1042, a man cannot be ordained into the Catholic priesthood if he is “someone who has a wife, unless he is legitimately destined to the permanent diaconate.”

The celibacy requirement includes some exemptions. For example, Eastern Rite Catholic priests may marry if they do so before becoming ordained. Once ordained, however, if they are widowed, they cannot remarry.

Additionally, married Anglican clergy who convert to the Catholic Church may remain married. According to a 2017 Los Angeles Times report, there were approximately 120 such married priests in the United States.

In October 2017, Pope Francis convened a synod to address the shortage of priests in the Amazon region of Latin America. At the time, the then-pontiff expressed openness to permitting “viri probati,” or married men of proven moral character, to be ordained as priests for that specific area.

Ultimately, however, Pope Francis did not follow through with the idea. Instead, he implored bishops to pray for more vocations and send more missionaries to the Amazon region.

In 2022, Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich told the German publication Sueddeutsche Zeitung that he supported allowing priests to marry as part of efforts to address sexual abuse.

“For some priests, it would be better if they were married — not just for sexual reasons, but because it would be better for their life and they wouldn’t be lonely,” Marx stated. “We must hold this discussion.”

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Michael Gryboski, Christian Post

VICTORY!

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1

that the Department of Homeland Security CAN detain — without possibility of bond —

illegal aliens waiting to be deported.

This is a huge, massive win for President Trump & the American people.

-+

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• Israel National News
• Opeds
• This war isn’t about Israel-it’s about America

This war isn’t about Israel-it’s about America

The United States does not need Israel to tell it that Iran is a threat. The evidence is written in blood-American blood-spilled over decades of unprovoked aggression. Opinion.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

• 2 minutes

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  Mar 24, 2026, 7:33 PM (GMT+2)

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The call that changed the decision on Iran

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One of the most persistent and dangerous lies circulating in today’s political discourse is the claim that any American confrontation with Iran-especially under President Donald Trump-is somehow a war “for Israel.” It is a falsehood repeated so often that it has begun to calcify into conventional wisdom, echoed by media figures and political commentators who should know better, and some who simply don’t care whether it is true.

Let’s say it plainly: this is not Israel’s war. It never was. It is America’s war-forced upon it by nearly half a century of Iranian aggression, bloodshed, hostage-taking, and ideological hatred directed first and foremost at the United States.

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The Islamic Republic of Iran did not begin its hostility toward America because of Israel. It began in 1979, the very moment the Ayatollahs seized power, long before any modern American president could be accused of acting at Israel’s behest. From day one, the regime defined itself through hatred of the United States, branding it “the Great Satan” and making confrontation with America a central pillar of its revolutionary identity.

The first act of this new regime was not against Israel. It was against America.

In November 1979, Iranian revolutionaries stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 52 American diplomats and citizens hostage for 444 days. This was not a minor incident. It was a declaration of war in all but name. American citizens were paraded blindfolded before cameras, humiliated, threatened, and used as bargaining chips by a regime that had barely come into existence.

That single act should have permanently dispelled any illusion about Iran’s intentions. But it was only the beginning.

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Throughout the 1980s, Iran orchestrated and supported attacks that directly targeted American lives. The 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, carried out by Iranian-backed Hezbollah, killed 241 American servicemen. That same year, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut was bombed, killing dozens more. These were not isolated events. They were part of a deliberate strategy by Tehran to drive America out of the Middle East through terror.

Iranian fingerprints are found on decades of bloodshed.

During the Iraq War, Iranian-backed militias supplied sophisticated roadside bombs-explosively formed penetrators-that killed and maimed hundreds of American soldiers. These weapons were not improvised in caves; they were engineered, funded, and distributed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. American families buried their sons and daughters because Tehran made a calculated decision to wage proxy war against the United States.

Even outside conventional battlefields, Iran has pursued Americans relentlessly. It has plotted assassinations on U.S. soil, including a brazen attempt to kill the Saudi ambassador in Washington, D.C., using a cartel hitman-an operation traced directly back to Iranian operatives. It has kidnapped Americans abroad, including journalists, academics, and tourists, holding them as leverage in geopolitical negotiations.

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This is not ancient history. This is a continuous pattern of behavior spanning more than four decades.

And yet, despite this overwhelming record, a chorus of voices insists on reframing any American response to Iran as somehow being done “for Israel.”

Among the loudest of these voices are media personalities like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, Nick Fuentes, and even Megyn Kelly, who have either directly or indirectly advanced the narrative that American policy toward Iran is driven by Israeli interests rather than American ones.

This is not just wrong. It is dangerously misleading.

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It suggests that the United States lacks agency, that its leaders are somehow manipulated into conflict by a foreign ally. It erases decades of Iranian aggression against Americans. And perhaps most insidiously, it echoes a deeply troubling historical trope-that Jews or Israel are secretly controlling global events for their own benefit.

But the facts are stubborn.

Iran does not chant “Death to Israel” alone. It chants “Death to America” with equal fervor, often placing America first. Its leaders have repeatedly declared their intention to bring about the collapse of the United States as a global power. This is not rhetorical flourish. It is ideological doctrine.

The Iranian regime’s ambitions extend far beyond Israel. It seeks regional dominance and, ultimately, global influence. It funds and arms terrorist organizations across the Middle East-Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen-all of which have targeted American interests directly or indirectly.

When American ships are attacked in the Persian Gulf, when U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria come under rocket fire, when American personnel are wounded or killed, these are not Israeli concerns. They are American ones.

And then there is the nuclear question.

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A nuclear-armed Iran is not merely an Israeli problem. It is a global catastrophe waiting to happen-but first and foremost, it is an existential threat to the United States.

The idea that Iran would reserve its most devastating weapon for Israel while sparing America defies both logic and history. The regime has consistently demonstrated that its hatred of America is foundational, not incidental. If given the capability, there is every reason to believe that Iran would view an attack on a major American city-New York, Washington, or Los Angeles-as the ultimate act of revolutionary triumph.

This is not alarmism. It is a sober assessment of a regime that has spent decades declaring its intentions openly.

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The Ayatollahs are not rational actors in the Western sense. They are driven by a messianic ideology that glorifies martyrdom and envisions a world reordered under their interpretation of Islamic governance. Their pursuit of nuclear weapons is not simply about deterrence. It is about power, prestige, and the ability to reshape the global order.

To pretend otherwise is to ignore everything they have said and done since 1979.

Critics who claim that confronting Iran is about protecting Israel miss the central point: America is protecting itself.

No sovereign nation can tolerate a regime that has repeatedly killed its citizens, attacked its interests, taken its people hostage, and openly calls for its destruction-while simultaneously racing toward nuclear capability.

If anything, the real question is not why America confronts Iran, but why it has taken so long to do so decisively.

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The narrative that this is “Israel’s war” serves only one purpose: to delegitimize American action and to shift blame away from the true aggressor. It allows commentators to posture as anti-war while ignoring the war that Iran has already been waging against the United States for decades.

It also has a corrosive domestic effect. By framing U.S. policy as being driven by Israel, it feeds suspicion, division, and, ultimately, antisemitism. It suggests that American Jews or the State of Israel are dragging the United States into conflicts that are not its own.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The United States does not need Israel to tell it that Iran is a threat. The evidence is written in blood-American blood-spilled over decades of unprovoked aggression.

This is not about foreign entanglements or misplaced loyalties. It is about national security in its most fundamental sense.

Iran has been at war with America since 1979. It has simply been a war fought in shadows-through proxies, terror attacks, cyber operations, and ideological warfare. The question now is whether America is willing to recognize that reality and respond accordingly.

History teaches a clear lesson: regimes that declare their intentions and act on them should be taken at their word. The cost of ignoring them is measured not in abstract policy debates, but in human lives.

The biggest lie, then, is not just that this is Israel’s war. It is that America has a choice about whether to be involved.

Iran made that choice for us nearly half a century ago. It’s time for America to finally neutralize the threat.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, widely known as “America’s Rabbi”, is one of the world’s most recognized and influential Jewish voices. A bestselling author, award-winning columnist, global human rights advocate, and dynamic public speaker, he has dedicated his life to spreading Jewish values, defending the Jewish people, and championing universal human dignity. The international bestselling author of 36 books that have been translated into multiple languages and sold millions of copies worldwide, his writings are known for their boldness, accessibility, and unapologetic defense of morality in the modern age. In 2000, Rabbi Shmuley became the only rabbi to win The Times of London’s prestigious “Preacher of the Year” competition, and remains the record-holder to this day. He has also been honored with the American Jewish Press Association’s highest award for excellence in commentary, cementing his reputation as one of the foremost Jewish communicators in the world. Follow him on Instagram and X @RabbiShmuley.

The Rocky Mountain High state is heading for the rocks.

Mike McDaniel | March 24, 2026

Rocky Mountain high, Colorado,” sang John Denver, AKA Henry Duetschendorf Jr. in 1972. Those were heady days for Colorado. Ski resorts, the Rockies, natural beauty aplenty and the promise of new beginnings enticed many, including me, to move to Colorado. My stay on the west slope was brief, and over the years, Colorado has descended from a more-or-less business-friendly and affordable state to a Democrat People’s Republic, increasingly crowded and hostile to civil liberties and prosperity.

I occasionally travel to Colorado Springs for service on my recumbent trike and bike at the best recumbent shop in this part of the country. The traffic on I-35 is always horrific, driving through Denver is a nightmare and road construction and delays are eternal. I yet have friends and family in Colorado. My family worries about entrusting their still-infant kids to Colorado schools when the time comes. They also worry about Colorado’s increasingly draconian anti-liberty/gun laws.

They have other worries too. Colorado is facing a $1.5+ billion dollar budget shortfall, a half-billion more than expected. Republicans blame Democrat overspending. Democrats blame Republicans for noticing.

Coloradans are also noticing increasing power outages. Colorado currently is 26^th in the nation for power outages and is 27^th for the number of power customers affected. At Complete Colorado, Jon Caldera has noticed—when his lights have been on. He’s noticed that Colorado can be windy.

But only in the last few months have I witnessed our power utilities preemptively turning off electricity during high winds to “prevent fires.”

Caldera is suspicious:

Is Colorado suddenly windier than it has been during my entire life? Unless our eyes have been lying to us, the answer is comfortably: no.

Yet, I type this under an official warning that my power might be turned off because of another rather normal day of high winds.

Is it too tinfoil-hat to wonder if this is really about preventing fires?

Is it too “QAnon” to think they might be conditioning us for Colorado’s future of intermittent electricity?

But why would the state do that?

But why would the state do that?

They know sizable power disruptions are in our future — because they ordered them. So, they’d better start getting YOU used to it.

Currently about two-thirds of Colorado’s electricity comes from fossil fuels. And already our power is becoming less reliable and more intermittent.

Thanks to state mandates, by 2050 — and the legislature is already flirting with moving that deadline up to 2040 — none of our power can come from fossil fuels. [skip]

Our leaders — and the corporate energy leeches who feed off them — know they need to prepare you for wildly intermittent, Third World energyCaldera reasonably notes Colorado’s energy consumption is expected to triple in the near future in part due to the proliferation of energy intensive data centers. He also notes that all-renewable energy sources—wind and solar—coming remotely close to meeting Colorado’s energy needs is fantasy. That’s true for the nation. But when a state’s rulers live in their own fantasy world and try to force everyone else to live in it too, that’s the kind of policy you get.

However, real reality may intrude due to power outages at Denver International Airport, one of America’s five busiest:

A power outage on Wednesday morning impacted operations at Denver International Airport.

“The airport experienced a power incident around 9:20 a.m. Certain areas of the airport are still experiencing an outage, including DEN’s train to the gates,” the airport said on social media.

“Technicians are working as quickly as possible to restore power. We will share updates as soon as we have them,” it added.

Denver International Airport officials said power was restored at 11:04 a.m., nearly two hours after the initial outage. They said that operations would return to normal and asked for patience.

According to witness accounts from inside the airport, passengers were not allowed to board waiting planes, and power outages were impacting bathroom services.

I’d rather not imagine what impacted bathroom services looked and smelled like.

Around 11 a.m., users said that power was on, though there were still large crowds of people, and bathrooms were hit or miss. [skip]

According to flight tracking tool FlightAware, there were 96 flights delayed and 6 canceled as of 10 a.m. That increased to 258 delays by 11 a.m., and is up to 474 delays as of 1:30 p.m.

I’ve flown into and out of Denver. It’s hellish even when the power is on. 

Now the question is whether even those kinds of inconveniences will be sufficient to convince Colorado’s People’s Assembly to realize renewable energy isn’t remotely realistic. 

Become a subscriber and get our weekly, Friday newsletter with unique content from our editors. These essays alone are worth the cost of the subscription. 

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor. 

Related Topics: Energy

Psychology May Explain Socialim’s Allure for Youth, Big Cities 

During his first term, President Donald Trump promised, “America will never be a socialist country.” Maybe not. But New York is now a socialist city.

The Big Apple was once the heart of American capitalism.

Zohran Mamdan’s rise to power is thanks to the votes of young people in their 20s.

Do they have one iota of a clue what they’re asking for?

Imagine if all of America became socialist tomorrow, as these young voters undoubtedly want. Some of us ask, “How long would the typical American today last during a prolonged power or internet outage?”

Millions of people would have to put down their phones and find something else to do.

Far worse, however, is the brand of poverty that socialism brings.

—Grocery store shelves wouldn’t have the things you expect.

—Hospitals would be disaster areas, far worse than the frustrations people experience now.

Roads would be in ruins.

Why?

Because when there’s no money, nothing happens.

When there’s nobody to innovate, create, and sustain the wealth we all take for granted — everything fails.

The Mamdani election shows just how divided America is.

Yes, Manhattan is deeply blue.

But not terribly long ago Giuliani was Gotham’s mayor.

Now, Democrats like Andrew Cuomo seem like Ronald Reagan compared to what’s coming. But America is hopelessly divided. Not by race so much as by where you live — urban versus rural.

In Thomas Jefferson’s letters, one of his biggest concerns for the survival of our republic involved the development of cities over rural life.

Jefferson felt that cities would foster a support for tyranny while the rural life fostered the self-accountability and self-reliance a free country requires.

Clearly, one of our nation’s Founders was on to something.

The catastrophic election of not just a Communist but an open terrorist to such a high position reinforces my view that the ruptures in America cannot be repaired.

At a minimum, even without a civil war, our states will have to split up.

You can’t reconcile Mamdani and the Bill of Rights.

And lovers of liberty and civilization can’t and will never coexist with the ignorant fools who voted for him, as well as the evil totalitarians who funded him.

And now, are we witness to a chilling emergent trend?

One emanating from the Pacific Northwest? 

Now comes news that Katie Wilson, a 43-year socialist, living off her parents money, has been elected mayor of Seattle, Washington. 

At this stage, we need to be crystal clear, there’s no miracle behind capitalism.

It’s all very real, logical, and tangible.

In fact, it’s beauty is in its simplicity.

When human beings are accountable for their actions, and are permitted to keep all (or even most) of what they earn, they perform far, far better than when only permitted to work for the government.

Only in the United States do we call it “progressive” to move toward an economic and social system where — using a very real example — nail polish is in such short supply that young girls are not permitted to use it, lest they hurt the feelings of other little girls.

It’s not merely that everyone is poor under socialism.

It’s that no wealth can be created.

Because people will not create things like Amazon, American Airlines, Uber, Nike, eBay, Apple, your favorite clothing lines, your favorite cars, your favorite sports and entertainment, and all the rest when they’re not allowed to make a profit.

Would you?

The level of ignorance among the left-wing and left-wing-by-default, i.e., millions of young people who will vote for totalitarian blockheads like Mamdani, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., s staggering.

If they hated all material wealth, it would be one thing. It would make sense for them to embrace socialism.

But the socialism we find in America comes from two places.

Both are psychological. One is envy, and the other is neurotic guilt.

In America, there are two types of people who embrace socialism.

First are the types who don’t have a lot, and who feel they never will have a lot, or who perhaps (deep down) don’t want to do the work required to gain a lot.

They’re envious, they’re bitter, and they want others to suffer their fate.

The others are the already wealthy who, regardless of how they attained their wealth, feel it’s not fair they have more than others.

Rather than giving their money away, they demand a social system that prevents others from ever having what they have, or even from ever having anything at all.

It’s a neurotic form of psychological atonement.

“I’m bad for having all this. If I support redistribution of wealth, that makes me feel better.”

We’re not ridding ourselves of socialism until we challenge the unearned guilt and envy of millions of citizens who suffer from these problems.

The problem is psychological and ultimately ideological, since human emotions are based upon ideas. We are stuck at the ballot box until we first get to the subconscious. I see no other way out of this mess.

It would be stunningly sad if America, the most moral and successful society in all of human history, went down in a frenzy of psychological neurosis and disorder which never had to be. America was not preordained.

It happened because people wanted it.

Yes, it can rise again — but only if people want it.

And therein lies the problem.

(Related opinion columns may be found here, and here.) 

Michael J. Hurd, Ph.D. is a psychotherapist with a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Psychology. He’s the author of “Grow Up America” and “Bad Therapy, Good Therapy,” (see: www.DrHurd.com). Dr. Hurd has been quoted in and/or appeared on over 30 radio shows/podcasts (including Rush Limbaugh and Larry Elder), and on Newsmax TV. He also authors two self-help columns weekly. Dr. Hurd resides in Charleston, South Carolina. Read More Dr. Hurd’s Reports — More Here.