Unforeseen Contingencies

Unforeseen contingencies are states of affairs or events that one never imagined, possibilities or realizations that catch one totally off guard.  There's an element of surprise about them.

A current example is the current state of the Democrat Party and its basket (case) of presidential candidates and other leaders.  I've never been a supporter of the Democrats, but as recently as thirteen years ago I thought them a viable alternative to conservative Republicans.  I certainly didn't foresee the asylum of evil and insanity the Democrat party was becoming.  Consider some of their current positions:

1. Socialism is a viable economic and political system that we should consider adopting.
2. America is a genocidal and colonial country.
3. Israel is a genocidal and colonial country.
4. It's reasonable to give billions of dollars to the Iranian regime even when we know it will be used to finance terrorism around the world.
5. Traditional Christian and Jewish beliefs are bigotry and adherents must be punished by the state.
6. There are more genders and sexes than we can count, and it's bigotry to disagree.  Such bigotry may well be a criminal offense.
7. Privately owned firearms should be confiscated, and military force, up to and including nuclear weapons, should be used against those who disagree.
8. Fossil fuels, automobiles, and airplanes must be abolished as quickly as possible.
9. White people are inherently evil.
10. Terrorists, foreigners,  children, and criminals should vote.  (Now that one makes sense, given the rest.)
11. The fact that a hostile Special Prosecutor could not find anything with which to charge President Trump proves Trump is guilty.
12. Post-birth "abortion" should be legal.

All of this is evil and insane.  It's hard to fathom how crazy the Dems have become.  The party can't bring itself to condemn the hatred of Jews spewed by Ilhan Omar or Rashida Tlaib, or the love of communism professed by Comrades Ocasio Cortez and Sanders.  They are more aligned with Maduro's Marxist-Leninist-Chavista regime than with the U.S. Constitution.  They've adopted every crazy idea of the most radical of the left.  And it's quite a bad thing, for several reasons.

First, there's the obvious matter that these lunatics must never obtain power.  Pol Pot-ism is waiting in the wings.  Utopians cannot tolerate Deplorables.

Second, a one-party system is a bad idea.  The Dems are removing themselves as reasonable challengers to the Republican Party.  Even though I've always disagreed with the Democrats, I supposed they were an important counterweight to the Republicans.  That's no longer true.  The Dems' positions are so dangerous and destructive that I hope to see their party entirely eliminated.  But then what party would check the GOP?  One-party rule is a terrible idea.  But the Dems have become an existential threat to America.

Third, the Republican Party is not good.  The GOP isn't an existential threat to the country, but there's nothing great about it, either.  The Republican establishment is devoid of any real principle, it's hard to imagine them pledging their "Lives, Fortunes, and Sacred Honor" to a declaration of individual liberty.  They seem hapless.  They seem disconcerted that Trump hands them victories they never imagined they'd obtain.  They might well be happier losing.  Maybe they will.

Because of our perpetual optimism, "we" at Unforeseen Contingencies predict doom ahead (in 2020) for the Democrats.  Given what we know, we suspect Trump will win re-election.  The more important point, though, is that the American political spectrum is a mess.  It is made up of utterly incompatible worldviews, some of which (those on the left) are also incompatible with advanced civilization.  Winning elections isn't enough to resolve the conflict of visions.  Something more fundamental must occur.  We hope it will be an intellectual revolution, and not a civil war.