I live in paradise. World-class beaches are just a few minutes away; wild bananas and papayas grow in my backyard; and I can read in the hammock in the dead of winter as a gentle breeze blows through the palm trees. Living in Florida is amazing, but everything in this fallen world comes with a cost. Hurricanes are a regular part of life; you buy your supplies at the beginning of the season, keep an eye on the news, and start preparing if a storm heads your way. Riding out a tropical storm or a low-level hurricane is no big deal, but if you live in the state long enough, you will eventually experience a tempest that will rock your world.

When a real hurricane hits, you get a crash course on how thin and flimsy the veil of civilization is. When the last category 4 hit my town, it sat on top of us for over 12 hours, with 150-mile-an-hour winds pushing water deep into the mainland. The beaches were destroyed, flooding was severe, and bodies routinely washed up into backyards. My family and I had evacuated to my parents’ place further inland but, as we drove back to our neighborhood, almost stalling the car in chest-high water several times, we were shocked to find that our home was the only one that had not been flooded. Amazing how one more foot of elevation can change your life.

There was no water for days. Power would be out for three weeks, so propane and gasoline became the most critical resources. A grill, a camping stove, and a small generator meant that my household was better off than most. We had enough electricity to power the refrigerator and enough fire to cook what was inside.

I had managed to fill the propane tank before the storm hit, but every morning, I got up and spent the first few hours hunting for enough fuel to keep the generator running. While driving past downed power lines and abandoned vehicles, I was aware of how important it was to scan every intersection. No stopping or slowing down: that was how people were pulled out of their cars and beaten for everything they had on them.

The best-case scenario would be the election of a strong right-wing executive that could gut the rot from our critical institutions

The county sheriff caught flack for telling looters that local Floridians would shoot them on sight, but that earned him the love of his constituents on the spot. We chained the generator down but kept the shotgun and AR-15 close at hand. Cell phone towers were down, and landlines were destroyed. No calls or internet—the police simply would not make it to you in time—and leaving the house unarmed was not an option.

The good news for my family and our community was that the power would eventually come back on; law enforcement would take control; and, slowly but surely, life would return to normal. There was still enough competency left in the system to restore order.

Learned Helplessness

It is uncomfortable to talk about, but we have all noticed that the complex network of systems that holds our civilization together is starting to decay. Air travel is less reliable; power grids are less stable; supply chains are more brittle; and many sectors have lost the knowledge required to maintain infrastructure. There is a high likelihood that the system will soon be unable to provide the first world quality of life that most Americans expect. The ruling elite has demolished the meritocracy that made our complex society possible, mortgaging the inheritance of future generations for the cheap political power created by progressive dogma.

It would be nice to attribute our failing system to incompetence and greed, but malice is also clearly a factor. The rule of law shredded by a regime that now regularly spies on and imprisons its political opponents. In a perfect display of anarcho-tyranny, average law-abiding citizens with the wrong opinions are persecuted, while rampant theft and violent crime draw no attention from law enforcement.

The best-case scenario would be the election of a strong right-wing executive that could gut the rot from our critical institutions and return the United States to its former glory, but that is looking less and less likely. The Republican Party has betrayed its base at every turn. When rogue elites like Donald Trump manage to gain office, the entire system colludes to discredit and destroy their authority. The brutal truth is that no one is coming to save us, and Americans will need to dig deep and rediscover their community bonds if they are to weather this storm.

A Glimpse Into the Future

In South Africa, the ruling coalition under President Cyril Ramaphosa has proved profoundly inept and corrupt while showing open hostility to the country’s Dutch Afrikaner population. Unemployment is high; infrastructure is poorly maintained; and rolling blackouts are a regular part of life in what was once a First World nation. Communist politicians regularly blame Afrikaners for the nation’s problems, instituting racial quotas and threatening land seizure to please their heavily racialized voter base. Farm murders targeting Afrikaners are disturbingly frequent and often go unpunished. While this may feel like a scary glimpse into the future for many Americans, the good news is that it also comes with an inspiring example of the way forward.

The Afrikaners have not wallowed in self-pity over the decline of their country but have instead built AfriForum, the largest civil rights organization in the Southern Hemisphere. AfriForum has more than 155 branches that provide neighborhood watches, fill potholes, clean up communities, and plant vegetable gardens. AfriForum has sports leagues, garbage removal, legal assistance, and private universities all designed to provide for a parallel culture that cannot rely on a corrupt and malicious regime. Instead of waiting for the South African government to fix itself from the top down, AfriForum has decided to build stronger communities from the bottom up.

While South Africa provides a chilling glimpse of a possible future, the United States is still in a much better place. The deeply federal nature of the American system means that a sizable amount of authority is still vested in regional and local governments, allowing the creation of a firewall between a hostile national regime and the states.

Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas have already shown the critical need for governors to stand their ground and actively protect the citizens of their state from a Washington D.C. leviathan hell-bent on pushing destructive politics on every community. The battle for the future of the United States will increasingly rest on the shoulders of state executives and legislators willing to secure the well-being of their citizens in the face of a national government that can no longer maintain the country and instead actively seeks to do it harm.

State leaders will be essential, but they will only be half the story. Conservatives must once again weave themselves into communities capable of supporting each

GABRIEL GIGLIOTTI

other when the hard times come. Local organizations designed to lessen dependence on the federal government must be established; religious communities must retake their role as the central charitable providers; and close-knit families must be the building block on which everything else is organized. No one is coming to save us, but a better future can be forged by rediscovering our duty to make our own community a prosperous and secure place.

Auron MacIntyre is a columnist, lecturer, and author who focuses on the application of political theory. He hosts the Auron MacIntyre Show podcast at Blaze Media.