Chapter One: It's Here CHAPTER ONE IT'S HERE The counterrevolution to the American Revolution is in full force. And it can no longer be dismissed or ignored, for it is devouring our society and culture, swirling around our everyday lives, and ubiquitous in our politics, schools, media, and entertainment. Once a mostly unrelatable, fringe, and subterranean movement, it is here--it is everywhere. You, your children, and your grandchildren are now immersed in it, and it threatens to destroy the greatest nation ever established, along with your freedom, family, and security. Of course, the primary difference between the counterrevolution and the American Revolution is that the former seeks to destroy American society and impose autocratic rule, and the latter sought to protect American society and institute representative government. The counterrevolution or movement of which I speak is Marxism. I have written about Marxism at length in two earlier books-- Ameritopia and Rediscovering Americanism a nd the Tyranny of Progressivism --and discuss it regularly on my radio and television shows. There are also untold numbers of books written about Marxism. It is not my purpose to contribute yet another long treatise to the many that exist, nor is it possible given the focus and limitations of this book. But the application and adaption of core Marxist teachings to American society and culture--what I call American Marxism--must be addressed and confronted, lest we are smothered by its modern manifestations. And make no mistake, the situation today is dire. In America, many Marxists cloak themselves in phrases like "progressives," "Democratic Socialists," "social activists," "community activists," etc., as most Americans remain openly hostile to the name Marxism. They operate under myriad newly minted organizational or identifying nomenclatures, such as "Black Lives Matter" (BLM), "Antifa," "The Squad," etc. And they claim to promote "economic justice," "environmental justice," "racial equity," "gender equity," etc. They have invented new theories, like Critical Race Theory, and phrases and terminologies, linked to or fit into a Marxist construct. Moreover, they claim "the dominant culture" and capitalist system are unjust and inequitable, racist and sexist, colonialist and imperialist, materialistic and destructive of the environment. Of course, the purpose is to tear down and tear apart the nation for a thousand reasons and in a thousand ways, thereby dispiriting and demoralizing the public; undermining the citizenry's confidence in the nation's institutions, traditions, and customs; creating one calamity after another; weakening the nation from within; and ultimately, destroying what we know as American republicanism and capitalism. However, there should be no mistake that various leaders of this counterrevolution are increasingly outspoken and brazen about who they are, including bands of openly Marxist professors and activists, and they are supported by a core group of zombie-like "woke" followers. Whatever their labels and self-descriptions, the essential characteristics of their beliefs, statements, and policies exhibit core Marxist dogma. Moreover, they occupy our colleges and universities, newsrooms and social media, boardrooms, and entertainment, and their ideas are prominent within the Democratic Party, the Oval Office, and the halls of Congress. Their influence is seen and felt among the mostly witting as well as the unsuspecting, and in news reporting, movies, television shows and commercials, publishing, and sports, as well as teacher training and classroom curriculum throughout America's public school system. They use the tactics of propaganda and indoctrination, and demand conformity and compliance, silencing contrary voices through repressive tactics, such as "the cancel culture," which destroys reputations and careers, censoring and banning mostly patriotic and contrary viewpoints on social media, even including former president Donald Trump, and attacking academic freedom and intellectual interchange in higher education. Indeed, they take aim at all aspects of the culture--historical monuments (including memorials to Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and the 54th Massachusetts black Union regiment), Mark Twain, William Shakespeare, Mr. Potato Head, Dr. Seuss, Disney cartoons, ad infinitum. Pronouns are banned and replaced with nondescript words so as not to offend fifty-eight flavors of gender identification. Past social media posts are scrutinized for early indications of insufficient fealty to the present-day Marxist hegemony. Journalism and editorial pages are sanitized of nonbelievers. And yet, historical and present-day experience shows that Marxism and its supposed "worker's paradise" are responsible for the death of tens of millions of human beings, and the impoverishment and enslavement of over a billion more. Indeed, Marx was wrong about almost everything. The Industrial Revolution created a vast middle class unmatched at any time in world history, as opposed to an army of angry proletariat revolutionaries hell-bent on overthrowing the capitalist system. And despite the Marxist class warfare rhetoric of Democratic Party politicians and their surrogates, with technological and other advances capitalism has created unimaginable and unparalleled wealth for more people in all walks of life than any other economic system. Marx's insistence that labor alone creates value is also incorrect. If that were the case, the Third World would not be the Third World. It would be flourishing. Longer workdays do not ensure wealth creation or growth. Of course, labor is a very important part of economic value and production, but without capital investment, entrepreneurship and sensible risk taking, wise management, etc., businesses would fail--as many do. As any businessman will tell you, there are many decisions that go into running a successful enterprise. Furthermore, all labor is not alike--that is, there are different specialties, backgrounds, and approaches both within the workforce and applicable to certain businesses that make references to " the proletariat" nonsensical. In addition, labor alone does not determine the value of a product or service. Obviously, it contributes to it. However, consumers play the major role. They create the demand. And depending on the demand, business and labor provide the supply. In other words, capitalism caters to desires and needs of "the masses." Also, profit does not create worker exploitation, as Marx insisted. On the contrary. It makes possible increased worker pay, benefits, security, and job opportunities. Nor was America's early economic success built on imperialism or colonialism. The very resources America is falsely accused of plundering from other countries have not, in and of themselves, made those countries wealthy, even though they are the repository of the resources. American know-how and ingenuity, born of freedom and capitalism, are the source of societal and economic development and advancement. What, then, is the appeal of Marxism? American Marxism has adapted the language and allure of utopianism , which I wrote about at length in my book Ameritopia. It is "tyranny disguised as a desirable, workable, and even paradisiacal governing ideology. There are... unlimited utopian constructs, for the mind is capable of infinite fantasies. But there are common themes. The fantasies take the form of grand social plans or experiments, the impracticability and impossibility of which, in small ways and large, lead to the individual's subjugation." 1 Indeed, the economic and cultural agenda driven by President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party provide ample examples of this ideology and behavior at work. They include massive deficit spending, confiscatory taxation, and the regulation of all things large and small--drenched in Marxist class-warfare propaganda--and a slew of executive orders claiming to end numerous historical and cultural injustices. So, too, does their demand for absolute one-party control over the body politic through various extra-constitutional schemes and other means, as Marxism does not tolerate the competition of ideas or political parties. These efforts include changing the voting system to ensure Democratic Party control for decades, which has as its purpose the eradication of the Republican Party and political competition; attempting to eliminate the Senate filibuster rule so all manner of laws can be imposed on the country without effective deliberation or challenge; threatening to breach separation of powers and judicial independence by plotting to pack the Supreme Court with like-minded ideologues; planning to add Democratic seats to the Senate to ensure its control over that body; using tens of billions in taxpayer funds to subsidize and strengthen core parts of the Democratic Party base (such as unions and political activists); and facilitating massive illegal immigration, the purpose of which is to, among other things, alter the nation's demographics and eventually add significantly to the pro-Democratic Party voting base. These actions and designs, among others, are evidence of an autocratic, power-hungry, ideological movement that rejects political and traditional comity and seeks to permanently crush its opposition--and emerge as the sole political and governmental power. The latter explains the true motivation of the obsessive and unremitting war against the candidacy and presidency of Donald Trump, and his tens of millions of supporters. The Democratic Party, aligned with its surrogates in the media, academia, and the bureaucratic Leviathan, colluded to discredit and cripple Trump's presidency, and destroy him personally, by unleashing an onslaught of slanders, conspiracy theories, criminal and congressional investigations, impeachments, and coup attempts, the likes of which this nation has never experienced. The unremitting, harmonized, and ferocious blitz was aimed not only at the former president, but his followers and voters. Their purpose was to break the back and spirit of the political opposition, and clear the field of obstacles to power and governance. Indeed, the Democratic Party continues to pursue now-private-citizen Trump, having gained access to his tax returns through the offices of elected Democratic officials, including the Manhattan district attorney, an aggressive partisan. The campaign to delegitimize and marginalize the Democratic Party's political opposition is further evidenced by Biden's reckless racial rhetoric in accusing Republicans in Georgia of instituting Jim Crow laws to prevent black citizens from voting, a contemptible lie intended to upset minorities and turn them against the Republican Party. Although weaponizing race is not new to the Democratic Party, given its historic pedigree--from supporting slavery to segregation--and Biden's vocal and active opposition to integration early in his Senate career, it is shocking to witness its grotesque rebirth as a political tool. And during the violent riots last summer and this spring, which involved looting, arson, and even murder in multiple cities over the course of several months, and where Antifa and BLM had prominent organizational roles, the Democratic Party's leadership mostly regurgitated the rhetoric and claims of the anarchist/Marxist groups and rioters, including the broad condemnation of law enforcement as "systemically racist," and were not only loath to denounce the violence, but, incredibly, declared the rioters as "mostly peaceful" and their demand to defund the police (later, changed to slash their budgets) as legitimate. In fact, a BLM cofounder declared in the summer of 2020 that one of their "goal[s] is to get Trump out now." 2 Democratic-controlled cities named streets after the group. And numerous Biden campaign staffers donated to a fund that paid the bail for the release of those who were arrested and jailed. 3 Obviously, the Democratic Party and Biden campaign perceived an overlap or synergy of political interests and objectives with the rioters. The Democratic Party seeks to empower itself by breaching constitutional firewalls; skirting if not eradicating rules, traditions, and customs; adopting Marx's language of class warfare; and aligning with certain avowedly Marxist groups and ideological causes, among other things. Moreover, it is using the instrumentalities of the government for its political empowerment and purposes. The truth is that the interests of the Democratic Party come before those of the country. And allegiance to the party is more important than fidelity to the country. It holds these characteristics in common with other autocratic and communist parties throughout the world. Marxism is especially alluring to, and actively supported by, individuals who find Marxism's oppressor-oppressed class warfare construct appealing for several reasons. First, the fact is people want to belong to groups, including ethnic, racial, religious, and economic groups. People find identity, commonality, purpose, and even self-worth with such attachments. Indeed, I believe this to be the most potent of Marx's paradigms, because he exploits this instinctively human and psychologically emotional appeal to create passionate and even fanatical adherents and revolutionaries. This is another characteristic of American Marxism and the Democratic Party. This brings me to my second point. Within this class warfare construct, Marxism's adherents and would-be followers are encouraged to view themselves and the groups with which they identify as the oppressed--that is, the victims. And their oppressors are found in the existing society, culture, and economic system, from which the oppressed must liberate themselves and their fellow travelers, meaning those victims who identify with or are also members of the same group. This is a primary reason why Marxism stresses classism over individualism. The individual is dehumanized and is nothing unless he identifies with a group--the oppressed and victimized group. And the individuals who make up opposing or nonconforming groups are collectively dehumanized, condemned, and loathed as the enemy. Again, this is a trait of American Marxism and the Democratic Party. Of course, this formulation is especially seductive to the malcontented, disenchanted, disaffected, and dissatisfied. For them, individual liberty and capitalism expose their own shortcomings and failings, and their difficulty and perhaps inability to function in an open society. Marxism provides a theoretical and institutional framework through which they can project their own limitations and weaknesses onto "the system" and their "oppressors" rather than take responsibility for their own real or perceived plight. Again, as I wrote in Ameritopia , these individuals are "lured by the false hopes and promises of the utopian transformation and the criticisms of the existing society, to which their connection is tentative or nonexistent. Improving the malcontents' lot becomes linked to the utopian cause." 4 Many in this population are susceptible to manipulation, especially by demagogues and propagandists, and the lure of revolutionary transformation. Importantly, whether one identifies with or is among the class of oppressed or victimized is a matter of self-determination and self-actualization. In other words, there are no hard and fast rules. Furthermore, they and their group can also define and identify what and whom, for them, are their oppressors. In the end, Marx and his modern-day surrogates direct their wrath at the existing society and culture, which must be toppled if life is to have meaning and start over in the newly minted egalitarian paradise. Thus, those in the existing society who are successful, content, and happy are tormented and targeted, for they are either among the oppressors or oppressor groups, and therefore support and sustain the status quo. Moreover, those who sanction the existing society, or refuse to support or acquiesce to the agenda and demands of the oppressed, are also subjected to damaging and destructive pressures and conduct. Either you are part of the righteous revolution for liberation and transformation or you are not. Hence, the allegedly oppressed become the real oppressors, and wield substantial power throughout society and the culture despite their limited appeal and smaller numbers. And they become more belligerent, demanding, and even violent as their appetite for control and revolution grows and must be constantly satiated. This also explains, but only in part, the cowardice of corporatists, professional athletes, broadcasters, artists, actors, writers, and journalists who, in the face of such tumult, buckle under the pressure, seek to avoid the mob's notice through various forms of appeasement and capitulation, and in some cases participate in their own transfiguration and even disembowelment. For others, their boardrooms, management, and workforce are sympathetic and "down for the revolution," populated from the ranks of ideologically indoctrinated college and university students, particularly among the Ivy School elite, teachers' unions, or the increasingly radicalized Democratic Party, of which they are members, sympathizers, and/or supporters. And, of course, many corporatists have simply abandoned capitalism for statism and government/economic centralization, and support groups like BLM and various radical causes, as a way to curry favor if not partner with political and bureaucratic autocrats to destroy their competition and improve their financial positions. Ted McAllister, professor of public policy at Pepperdine University, makes a persuasive case that today's ruling class or elites disdain our country. In a 2021 essay titled "Thus Always to Bad Elites," he writes: Today, we have a very different elite than America did as recently as the 1980s in terms of their nature, goals, ambitions, style, and ways of exercising power. The deepest fact of our time is that America has a bad elite, a mendacious one whose skills, values, goals, tastes, and types of knowledge are hostile to our nation's inherited cultures and plural people. The new elite that has emerged in the last generation or two has no interest in preserving anything but perhaps their own power. They lack historical knowledge and vision, which they supplant by, or exchange for, the powers of transformation and change. Intoxicated by the power possible with emerging technologies, inspired by visions that only a deracinated globalist perspective could make attractive, this elite thinks of creative destruction as applied to culture. As winners in what they imagine to be a meritocratic struggle, they can see nothing of an inherited world worth preserving for their very success. The peculiar characteristics of their evolving power have given to our new elite the soul of adolescent art applied to a global canvas. They lack any experiential or historical ballast to weigh them down, to slow them in remaking everything according to their desires. For them, streamlining power is key to creation and the annoying obstacles to their new creations are not really checks to prevent tyranny but, rather, limitations--unnecessary friction in the headlong rush to transform. For this new elite, for instance, the good of free speech has become invisible because, for them, free speech is simply friction, resistance to their goals. The elimination of hate speech is the goal, the unimpeachable good, that the openness of free speech prevents. In half a generation, the work of centuries is undone and the levers of tyranny put in place. 5 Actually, this is the best that can be said of the contemporary elite. Unfortunately, too many among us take false comfort in the belief that there could never be a Marxist-based or oriented revolution in America, and what they are witnessing is just another in a cycle of liberal movements, which contribute to the evolution of American society and culture and, therefore, are worthy of approval and passive support. Collectively, these are America's "useful idiots" on whom Marxists rely--that is, individuals and organizations that are unserious and unaroused by the ominous clouds of tyranny, and even worse, are participants in their own demise and that of the country. For many, Marxism has a way of sneaking up on them. They are not yet personally threatened and, at least for now, are unmolested or personally unaffected by it; or there are those who are too busy in their everyday lives to realize what is transpiring, or may dismiss these threats as amorphous, distant, or passing events; and there are still more who cannot believe their country would succumb to Marxist influences and despotism. The purpose of this book is to awaken the millions of patriotic Americans, who love their country, freedom, and family, to the reality of Marxism's rapidly spreading influence throughout our nation. What is occurring in our country is not a temporary fad or passing event. American Marxism exists, it is here and now, and indeed it is pervasive, and its multitude of hybrid but often interlocking movements are actively working to destroy our society and culture, and overthrow the country as we know it. Many of the individuals and groups who collectively make up this movement are unknown to most Americans, or operate in ways in which most Americans are unaware. Thus, this book is written to introduce you to a representative sample of them, some perhaps more familiar than others, and to provide you with specific examples of their writings, ideas, and activities, so you can know of them and hear from them. Of course, I provide commentary and analysis throughout. I also provide some thoughts about tactical actions that might be taken to help stem the nation's slide and reverse course. Although this is the longest book I have written, there is much more to be said about this subject. Therefore, I anticipate writing a second volume. American Marxism has made great progress toward instituting its goals over the last several years. If it is to be defeated, as it must--albeit a daunting and complex mission--its existence must first be acknowledged and labeled for what it is, the urgency of the moment must be realized, and the emergence of a unified, patriotic front of previously docile, divergent, and/or disputatious societal, cultural, and political factions and forces, which have in common their belief that America is worth defending, must immediately galvanize around and rally to the cause. We must rise to the challenge, as did our Founding Fathers, when they confronted the most powerful force on earth, the British Empire, and defeated it. Admittedly, in numerous ways today's threat is more byzantine, as it now inhabits most of our institutions and menaces from within, making engagement difficult and complicated. Nonetheless, I fervently believe America as we know it will be forever lost if we do not prevail. I closed my book Liberty and Tyranny , which was published a short twelve years ago, with President Ronald Reagan's fateful and prescient observation, which compels our attention especially now for it is more imperative than ever: "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." 6 PATRIOTS OF AMERICA, UNITE! Excerpted from American Marxism by Mark R. Levin All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
