Are We Entering a Time of Greater Repression,

Or, Are We Nearing the End?

I’m generally considering this the latter.

The thing is, after a LOT of pushback about lockdowns, forced maskings and vaxxing, the Entitled Elite let up the restrictions.

Sure, maybe they were concerned about the imminent collapse of the consumer and freight transportation industries. And, the near-monopoly of the consumer market Behemoth Amazon. And, the fact that the numbers of Covid Dead were beginning to catch the attention of regular people (who were concluding, rightly, that they were largely hype and blowing smoke).

Perhaps they were trying to pry the proles out of their homes, get them back to school (Can’t have the kids out for TOO long - the Mindless Masses might wonder why the hell they’re paying taxes!), TRY to stem the bleeding of out-migration from Blue to Red, and do it all before the Normals figure out that they don’t need to pay inflated taxes for LESS services.

Some of you are probably too young to remember, but, in the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - note that - the Communists NEVER call themselves Communists. It’s the People’s Republic, a Socialist Republic, or some other disguising name), there was a policy called Glasnost.

Glasnost, which was used to give a jump start to the failing economy, ‘allowed’ favored citizens to start businesses, travel a little more freely, and - occasionally - even publish a dissident thought or two.

Not THAT dissident, mind you. But, mildly critical of a few government actions. The idea was to give the perception that the government was being more transparent and open.

Glasnost lasted only 6 years, and was mostly used by a less favored faction of government to grab more power, and by connected Russians to cut themselves into some business deals.

The person most pushing Glasnost was Gorbachev, in some ways the Russian counterpart to Jimmy Carter - in many ways an idealist. He did end the Soviet-Afghanistan War, which made him hugely popular with the Russian people. He’d born a peasant, with mixed Russian and Ukrainian heritage.

Despite - or perhaps, in part, because - of his efforts, the USSR broke up. It had rotted out many years earlier, but the iron-fisted control of the central government had kept it from collapse. What the USSR couldn’t survive was transparency and openness - well, that, and Ronald Reagan, who was determined to bring the Iron Curtain down.

In an effort to stop the breakup, government became even MORE restrictive and oppressive than ever before. Unlike previous experience, the clampdowns did NOT lead to the USSR’s citizens giving up and accepting their defeat - they re-doubled their efforts to bring the USSR to the breaking point.

Which it reached in 1989 (although the final collapse occurred during the term of his successor, George Herbert Walker Bush (Bush I), not Reagan). Some guys are just ‘lucky’.

What does that have to do with us today?

The effort to return to iron control of its citizens was a failure for the Soviets. Ironically, trying to reimpose stricter rule, rather than reducing dissent, tends to increase it. In repressive country after repressive country, this has been the experience - maintaining cruel repression works. What kills it is loosening that control, then trying to re-take it.

Which, I maintain, is where we are now.

TPTB had choked off all points of dissent. They had essentially taken complete control.

Then, perhaps in a misguided idea that loosening the shackles would be a good move, they returned to open schools - without masks. And stopped the hospital restrictions. And began relaxing the heavy hand of government.

What did they find?

That the common people, far from being cringingly grateful for no longer being beaten, renewed and increased their complaints. They mocked their leaders, challenged them, in the streets and in the courts. They fueled the growth of Twitter/X and Substack. Independent media creation skyrocketed - both on cable, independent movies, videocasts, and podcasts.

My younger brother watches videocasts of the news, by a variety of quirky and independent thinkers. And, he is generally on the Left. Doesn’t matter - the independent voices are being heard.

I don’t personally watch Instagram or TikTok, but the few times I’ve been forwarded a link, I’ve found them to be a rich connection to dissident thinkers - admittedly tatted, pierced, vulgar, odd-colored hair and UNbusinesslike clothing - but strong opinions, independent thought, and disinclined to believe TPTB.

The under 40 crowd is taking over the entertainment world. They aren’t selling their product through the standard media gatekeepers. They are exercising editorial control, putting their own stamp on their product, and creating their own non-State-Media-controlled culture.

These ‘kids’ are NOT going to buckle under to directives from our Overlords.

Now, this upheaval in media culture, coupled with experiences in non-traditional schooling (many homeschooled or used virtual schools during the Covid shutdowns), may lead to further changes in political affiliation. Or not.

There just hasn’t been sufficient time to determine whether the societal changes are going to continue, or be a blip. I know the Left would prefer to see the Dissident Trump Faction be a passing phase. But, no one really knows whether that change will continue. Here is a fascinating roundtable discussion of political affiliation and the connection to homeschooling.

The one thing that IS clear is that further efforts to impose the Leftist Agenda will be increasingly resisted. The example of pushback against Drag Queens around young people, Gay-Evangelical books and media, and refusal to let Female spaces be, you know, FEMALE-ONLY will only get worse. These are popular issues for dissidents.