America’s anguish - the real reason for the riot on Capitol Hill
Why did so many Americans storm Capitol Hill this week? And why do they now have so little faith in democracy?
By Robert J Davies
Telling the truth about the reasons for the “insurrection” if we must call it that, on Capitol Hill this week is painful and possibly personally damaging. That is why most commentators and politicians will not do it. And I know that as I seek to tell the truth as best I can in this article I will find the process painful and stressful.
There is almost a comfort to be had in misinterpreting the malaise now striking at the heart of America and the churning out of propagandist lies to back that misinterpretation up. That and the censorious belief that snuffing out President Trump’s favoured channels of communication (Twitter and Facebook) is somehow striking a blow for, er, democracy and free speech. The most obvious lie is that this is all about the failure of Donald Trump’s hardline supporters to accept a democratic outcome not in their favour.
“If only these dreadful low-life racist Trump supporters would accept democracy,” wail the Democrats and their acolytes in the media, “everything would be all right.”
Except it won’t be all right. And it isn’t lack of respect for “democracy” as such that is motivating these protestors. Democracy is not the bogey man here but demographics. Whatever President Trump says, it now appears likely that Joe Biden did win the presidential election fairly and indeed, with a majority of the popular vote. As a Trump supporter myself, I say that with no satisfaction whatsoever.
Here’s what’s potentially very unfair about it: The population of America has changed massively over the last few decades and continues to do so. Thanks to a combination of remorseless immigration, higher immigrant birthrates and falling white birthrates, the proportion of white people has steadily dwindled from around 90% of the population post-war and is currently hurtling towards minority status. It’s likely that whites will be a minority in America by 2042, if not sooner.
President Trump would have romped home in 2020 had only white people voted. And with the population mix as it stood two decades ago, he would still have succeeded. White people overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump in 2020 as they did in 2016. Meanwhile, around 90% of blacks vote Democrat and a substantial, although smaller, majority of Hispanics do also. Such is the demographic transformation of America, that even rock solid red states like Texas are now vulnerable to being taken by the Democrats. So the actual reason why Donald Trump lost in last year’s election was probably not due to voter fraud – although the massive take-up in postal votes will have made fraud far more likely – it was simply down to this seismic demographic shift.
Many parts of white America, particularly in rural states, are scared and with justification. The influx of newcomers from Latin America, Asia and Africa is radically altering their land. These newcomers arrive, not only as canon fodder for the Democrats, but with their own beliefs, world view and value system. They come, not to be part of the American dream but for purely economic reasons, bringing with them dreams of their own.
Thus we arrive at a situation where the majority white population of America – descendants of the folk who shaped the United States into the world’s most successful, free and prosperous country – must look on as ownership of their country transfers to those with no such claim. The country built on the values of the Founding Fathers is ceasing to exist and it is all happening democratically, through the ballot box.
We are schooled to believe that democracy is a wonderful thing but it is a numbers game. The majority rules. That is fine when the majority is derived from our own people but when our own people are elbowed aside in their own territories, democracy is not our friend any more, it is our enemy. That is why elements of white America are so angry right now and taking out their anger on the symbols of democracy at Capitol Hill. They do so because democracy is failing them, and may from this point on, fail them forever more.
You might optimistically say that none of this matters and we’re all members of one race – the human race. There’s some merit in that and it’s certainly a well-intentioned perspective, but it is the lesson of history that most of us like to associate with those who are similar to us and people of colour fall into this category as much if not more than anyone. As the white population share continues to fall, the angry voices denouncing the mirage of “white privilege” and demanding that whites relinquish prestigious positions in society will grow louder. It will be a uniquely painful and unpleasant experience.
There is much more to say on this subject but for now, I will end on this sobering note: The Republicans may never, ever win the Presidency again. They may never win either house of Congress again. Democrats, for now at least, are poised to rule as far into the future as the eye can see. Possibly forever, or at least until the country goes bankrupt. There you have it: that’s “democracy” for you.
Author and associate editor of the Spectator, Douglas Murray, writes in today’s Daily Telegraph that American democracy “is close to broken, if not smashed apart.” He is right but he did not go on to explain why, maybe he felt it was too controversial. But I vowed to tell the truth in this article, uncomfortable reading though it may be. Democracy is indeed nearly broken if not smashed apart because in an era of uncontrolled Third World immigration, it is failing the very people who built America; made it great, and want it to be great again – with potentially unimaginable consequences.
Murray is an excellent writer and political thinker but he ends his piece with the following lame conclusion: “The job of Americans from both sides of the aisle – is not just to work out what has gone wrong, but to work together to try to make things right.”
I’ll end with a lame conclusion too, if I may: I haven’t got a bloody clue either how America gets itself out of this mess. It is certainly a sobering warning to every other Western nation, including Britain, of the fate which lies in store for us if we keep treading the same ruinous path.
