The ever-quotable British statesman Winston Churchill once described a battlefield thusly: “. . . a sea of mud mercifully veiled by the fog of war.” In the many decades that have followed, the fog of war has turned into the shorthand for all that combatants do not know during the heat of battle when a incomplete understanding of what is actually occurring and sheer ignorance of the consequences of each decision obscures the intentions and strategies of both sides in a conflict. Barbara Tuchman’s outstanding analysis of the many mistakes and miscues that led to the outbreak of the First World War, The Guns of August, is one of the best historical accounts I can think of to illustrate how our illusions of omniscience and our delusional reliance on “experts” to guide our decision making can lead to unforeseen and unimaginable catastrophe.

I feel like we need to respect and examine the fog of war that exists within our nation today and start to ask ourselves do we really understand what is happening around us—particularly as regards how we see one another. Our many cultural and moral differences, which are regularly weaponized as wedge issues to divide us, seem to be steering us precipitously close to a complete breakdown of faith in our institutions and one another, but this seems of little consequence to politicians and provocateurs who believe they can continue to treat America like a piñata instead of a gift we must cherish and nurture.

I suppose the norms of what is considered acceptable conduct and discourse have changed so dramatically over the past fifty years or so that it should be no surprise a recent reminder exhorting travelers go dress decently on airline flights, treat others with respect, and control your children on the plane and in the airport has been treated as an authoritarian intrusion on the freedom of the traveling public. I know many would be pleased if the least effort could be made to make the whole experience of flying a bit more pleasant by practicing basic courtesy. However, a lot of people are apparently convinced behaving and dressing appropriately in a public space is contrary to the spirit of the Constitution, so I guess we are supposed to remain silent while the person across the aisle is trimming their toenails mid-flight while yodeling. I am probably not the only one who feels being compelled to tolerate rudeness and stupidity is ridiculous, but apparently we are now required to respect the tender feelings of complete idiots.

I lived and worked in New York City for many years, and I still remember what a shocking pleasure it was to move away from the Big Apple and re-encounter “please” and “thank you” as a basic part of daily life. Although I will readily admit to still being easily frustrated by incompetent and uncaring customer service, which is a regular feature of so many of our lives today, I try very hard to act as courteously as is humanly possible. I do not expect anyone to have the patience of a saint in all circumstances, but habitually blowing up at others never leads to the results we want, a truth that is often ignored now that so many seem all too willing to spew venom for the least reason—while loudly insisting their rights are being trampled upon.

Of course, those who are terminally offended are typically those who are the least concerned with the feelings of anyone other than themselves. Our national epidemic of selfishness and callousness (often enhanced by drugs, alcohol, or an overpriced liberal arts degree) leads many to believe their needs and beliefs are the only ones that count, and this has coarsened our relationships and discourse to a point where it is sometimes remarkable we can speak civilly at all.

The fog of our daily interactions, which are many times impeded by misinterpretations, unresponsive bureaucracies, and bad moods carried over from unrelated matters, requires an extra effort at maintaining control that is often dormant or simply absent among the smugly censorious. It would be nice if our culture as a whole could model better behavior and help us all, but far too many of our leaders are habitual liars, our entertainment culture is downright demeaning and cruel, and social media buzzes with a thousand snarky and hurtful insults that scar many and enlighten few.

If the template for your daily interactions is the thoughtless viciousness of narcissistic high school girls, little will go well in your life or the lives of those around you. This is particularly true when you are obsessed with forcing your will upon others, which is the response of those who believe they are victimized by standards of behavior, speech, and personal responsibility that they mistake for tyranny.

Frankly, I am all for letting people live their lives as they wish—as long as I am not compelled to go along for the ride or endorse beliefs and actions I find disturbing. I suspect most Americans feel exactly the same, but we are often battered into compliance by those who equate personal or moral standards with bigotry, which is a neat Jedi mind trick but a very obvious sign of how besieged we are today by politically-correct nonsense.

Those who believe, for example, that illegal immigrants are worthy of our unending support should be welcome to house and feed them in their own homes if they wish within the limits of the law, but it is unreasonable to ask everyone else to foot the bill through incredibly expensive public assistance programs of all sorts. Likewise, adults who believe their sexual characteristics do not conform to their gender identities should be allowed to take advantage of whatever hormones and surgeries their private health insurance is willing to cover but not to expect taxpayer assistance with these endeavors; moreover, definitely expect a swift kick in the pants if you try to foist your mental health problems off on impressionable children and adolescents who are incapable of fully understanding the life-long consequences of destroying their bodies because of what they see on TikTok or are told by their classroom teacher. Finally, if you hate the police, feel free to not call them if your house is burglarized or you are mugged—that’s your choice to make—but understand the vast majority of Americans are happy to have crimes investigated and laws enforced.

In other words, be crazy on your own time and dime—and leave the rest of us out of it.

Unfortunately, the brute truth is that when the powers of government are untethered from a common morality and a respect for the private values of citizens—as has increasingly been the situation over the past several decades of flagrantly egregious foolishness, increasingly totalitarian cultural controls, and performative virtue signaling—the desire to use official powers as a hammer is an irresistible temptation for those who believe utopia is possible if enough laws, regulations, and taxes are imposed on their fellow Americans.

As we race to bankrupt our country both financially and spiritually by electing a range of snake oil salesmen (and women) to public office who are anxious to force our obedience to a brave new world of immoral and un-American values, we need to start asking whether too many of our minds have become so befogged by our wholesale rejection of the wisdom and restraint of America’s past that we are doomed to dying of stupidity, which might be closer than we think if the dismal ignorance now rampant across our educational systems is any clue regarding the future of our nation. The prevalence of high school students who still cannot tie their shoes, read the clock on the classroom wall, or explain the basic principles of American government is a clear sign that our nation’s future might be dominated by the supremely incompetent.

Idiocy and hatred always live in the same neighborhood and mutually reinforce one another. The shocking numbers of young (and not so young) adults who are blithely ignorant of anything beyond the cell phone clutched in their hand, which renders them incapable of thoughtfully and resolutely fulfilling their duties as citizens, are often convinced they are preternaturally wise—when they are actually incredibly stupid. This stupidity manifests most visibly in ongoing moral turpitude, a fatal attraction to the siren song of socialism, a tendency to be swayed by fear mongers who take full advantage of their lack of basic knowledge, and a foggy belief that they are beset by injustice while living in the most free and fair country the world has ever known.

The end result is citizens who are clueless about the world around them, unaware of any needs but their own, and shockingly quick to condemn rather than taking the time to learn and understand. It is little wonder that clever and ruthless demagogues pretending to be leaders are able to lead this segment of Americans like dogs on short leashes, exhorting them to bark and snarl on command. Foggy and undisciplined minds that are animated by outrageous beliefs in their own intellectual infallibility and victimization are easily swayed to unthinking—and unthinkable—actions, which can make them the dangerous tools of those who have no scruples about how they gain and maintain power.

I do not believe we are anywhere near the verge of a Blue State/ Red State civil war, but we must be vigilant about the possibility that the weak and Woke can be bamboozled into electing leaders who have no interest in moderation or probity. We have already had a brutal taste of the chaos that can be caused by people whose ideology overrides their common sense in the form of upwards of 20 million (largely unvetted) illegal immigrants being allowed into our nation and elected officials cheering for riots, arson, and looting in 2020. During the past month two major American cities have decided to put Marxists in their mayoral offices, each determined to overturn capitalism in their thoroughly capitalist cities. The results are guaranteed to fall short of expectations while creating fiscal turmoil and driving out driving out businesses and jobs, but . . .

. . . deep disappointment among the true believers might mutate into actions that will be both nihilistic and a threat to others. Those who want to use violence to twist our political processes, institute censorship to suppress our free speech, and weaponize our academic and justice systems to crush dissent cannot win without supporters—and frustrated, angry extremists might be the useful idiots that they need to succeed.

We’re not yet out of the woods by any means.