Below is a writeup--edited only at the end, with indication--I sent out in 2008 (Wikipedia article cited has since been edited), long before it was clear Barack Hussein Obama would ascend to the pResidency. It addresses a phenomenon I saw then on the conservative/Right, and one which, though taking a certain reprieve in 2016, had resurfaced. Twelve years have both refined and sharpened my own perspective, which will be discussed at the end.
Please read with all of that in consideration.
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Some of you might remember an ABC mini-series called, "AmeriKa", about a Soviet takeover of the U.S. Basically, the series is set 10 years after a combination of military defeat and internal Soviet-sponsored coup leads to Soviet control.
However, there is an additional component to the conquest of America (and one a bit surprising to hear coming in the mainstream media). Without going into boring detail, I would like each of you to read this little section from the Wikipedia article on the miniseries:
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Social criticism
Amerika criticized American society in the 1980s, implying that apathy and an unwillingness to defend freedom on the part of many citizens made the Soviet takeover rather easy. At one point, a key Soviet official observes that their plans for conquering the United States succeeded far beyond their wildest dreams, because once the nation had been defeated, Americans turned inward, not caring about national issues, seeking only to retain a piece of the prosperity that had once been theirs. "It (the Soviet coup) worked because you lost your country before we ever got here," says the Soviet leader. "You had political freedom, but you lost your passion ... How could we not win?"
This theme is echoed by another character later in the film:
Nobody wanted to risk anything for anybody else. Everybody was afraid they were going to lose what they had. They knew it was bad. They were just afraid it'd get worse. That's all they lived for - for things not to get worse.
Another speech, by politician Peter Bradford (see below), lashes out at apathetic American attitudes:
Damn, I'm so tired of this "I'm an American" bull! Where was all that patriotism when it counted? Where was that willingness to sacrifice? Nobody wanted to join the damn army to defend the country unless they got paid well! Nobody wanted to give any time to public service unless they could make a career out of it! And I didn't notice a lot of us giving up our lives in the last 10 years!
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Now, each of you, consider your own attitude toward the issues our country faces, and those things and causes each of us holds dear. Think about your how you respond to threats against those things--not the military threats to the country, but rather the domestic threats posed by forces opposed to what you hold dear, or to what secures what you hold dear.
Now, read that section again, noticing the emphasized parts:
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Social criticism
Amerika criticized American society in the 1980s, implying that apathy and an unwillingness to defend freedom on the part of many citizens made the Soviet takeover rather easy. At one point, a key Soviet official observes that their plans for conquering the United States succeeded far beyond their wildest dreams, because once the nation had been defeated, Americans turned inward, not caring about national issues, seeking only to retain a piece of the prosperity that had once been theirs. "It (the Soviet coup) worked because you lost your country before we ever got here," says the Soviet leader. "You had political freedom, but you lost your passion ... How could we not win?"
This theme is echoed by another character later in the film:
Nobody wanted to risk anything for anybody else. Everybody was afraid they were going to lose what they had. They knew it was bad. They were just afraid it'd get worse. That's all they lived for - for things not to get worse.
Another speech, by politician Peter Bradford (see below), lashes out at apathetic American attitudes:
Damn, I'm so tired of this "I'm an American" bull! Where was all that patriotism when it counted? Where was that willingness to sacrifice? Nobody wanted to join the damn army to defend the country unless they got paid well! Nobody wanted to give any time to public service unless they could make a career out of it! And I didn't notice a lot of us giving up our lives in the last 10 years!
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The issues facing America in this story are very similar to issues facing us today in real life. At one point, a character remarks the following:
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Totalitarianism doesn't need armies. It only needs to control a couple of things – the media, and the ability to dispense privilege to some, and to withhold it from others. Of course, a weak and divided people helps. – The last, unnamed, President of the United States
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And to the point: The two leading characters opposed to the Soviet occupation, though vaguely on the same side, exhibited at different points in the series some very different attitudes. Please read quotes from each of them:
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All the kids growing up now don't have any idea of the difference between the symbol of Abraham Lincoln and what he actually stood for. You can't look at those eyes and not think of what being an American has meant. Now there's an end to it. Soon, there will be no America. We'll be history, quickly lost and distorted, like Mr. Lincoln himself ... I suppose there will have to be new revolutions, with new generations who will have to discover the values which our forefathers handed down to us. If those truths stop being real, maybe it's better to let them go, to let some new generation discover, as though for the first time. Maybe freedom is just one of those things you can't inherit. – Peter Bradford, at the Lincoln Memorial
I'm not going to accept the breakup of America. I'll resist with my spirit, I'll resist with my life. I can resist because I've found the love of my children – the possibilities of their lives are more important than my own. I'll live through my children - through whatever good and true things I might have taught them, or the legacy of fear I might have left them. Each of us will find our best selves, or our worst selves – and in finding that, immortality. – Devin Milford, in the closing scenes
2020 CONCLUSION:
As mentioned before all that has happened since 2008--two pResidential terms and a years-long insurrection which our system has blocked from confronting--have both sharpened and refined my own perspective, particularly of those two "good guys." On the sharpened side, I can see more clearly the complete failure of some ostensibly conservative figures: NeverTrumpers, opportunists, fair-weather patriots, and turncoats desperate to save themselves from Cancellation. On the refined side, I can see both the strengths AND weaknesses of those two figures. Indeed, the more vehement character (Milford) was in fact a Massachusetts liberal Democrat played by Kris Kristofferson--which should tell you a lot about the liberal watering-down by ABC of the scenario. And the Bradford character--a rural Nebraska politician--might be seen as a collaborator comparable to that group of traitorous failures, OR as one simply acting AFTER the real fall to preserve SOMETHING of America, and make life better for his people.
But judgments of two fictional characters--similarity to actual persons living or dead being entirely coincidental--aside,* we face a time VERY comparable to that depicted in the miniseries. Points in red above go very much to the self-focus phenomenon among conservative-types of which I've been critical for years--demonstrably since 2008! (Indeed, before that, I would often describe myself as having a "Rightwing ideology, but a Leftwing mentality"--that latter point being that I was NOT so inclined toward self-focus at the expense of issues of community). Patriots--as opposed to the Globalists, per Marine LePen--need to learn the lessons the conservatives who pressed ABC to produce the miniseries managed to get out through it. Let us guard against those attitudes so easily adopted, and press our leading figures similarly. President Trump has set the lead for this in the current time. He calls the big shots.
We can win this.
*Milford was right but perhaps BY THEN too late (such actually referenced in the miniseries); Bradford collaborated, but perhaps as a means IN THAT TIME for a good agenda. [EDIT post 1-6-21.]
