Two Minutes To Midnight, by NC Scout

“The golden goose is on the loose and never out of season”

Recalling the memories of my interesting youth was Iron Maiden, a staple of the early-80s New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWBHM), alongside Judas Priest, Motorhead, Witchfinder General, Venom, and a mountain of others that have aged fairly well over time. Here I was listening to it in the late 90s with many of the references of the era going over my head, more concerned with the guitar riffs, incredible rhythm sections and a stage presence that cannot be matched in the modern age of garbage music.

But those teenage years would give way to chasing phantoms in the desert for good ol’ Uncle Sam, and here we are, two decades later, revisiting some of the same pieces and listening to them with a very, very different ear.

All of the rock of the era was a product of the cold war in one way or another, whether it served as a commentary on the futility of nuclear war or in protest to the social conditions leaving the respective societies of America and Great Britain unrecognizable. Looking back they were not wrong, and few have commented in the modern age just how right they were.

Songwriter and Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson wrote that song as a critique of the idea that war is a business, one played with numbers and the brunt borne by the poor. It was a warning, of sorts, that the proposition of war for profit, unchecked, would lead to catastrophic consequences for the world. Back then of course the conservative critique was that he was a Soviet sympathizer, a new contemporary face on the Marxist-leaning anti-war movement. And maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t. No one debated the obvious, however, that the arms race was a zero sum game at best, and ours to lose.

Now, forty years removed, we find ourselves in an interesting world revisiting that mood of the early 1980s. Amid the neocon cries of “fight them over there so we don’t fight them here” we sent hundreds of billions of dollars in money and munitions to Ukraine fighting a proxy war with the Russian Federation. Putting us in a severe manufacturing bind, we now have a decade lead time on re-armament of those very same precision munitions sent forward, now expended. And in that decade time the enemies of our nation will continue to adapt to our technology, reverse engineering it, overcoming it, and surpassing it with their own. The strategy was poorly thought out by any honest metric, even if leading to a zero sum game. Unlike the 80s, we’re not winning.

The neocons were not just wrong in their assessment on Ukraine. We have a southern border that is non-existent. The resulting invasion, now undeniably allowing in foreign subversives from enemy nations such as China, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and Russia, is an imminent national security threat going completely ignored. What are their cries to shut the border down? Their lips may move, but no sound is heard. And the skies are alight with the fires of substations and food processing plants seemingly destroying themselves.

Of course the Democrats seek to capitalize on the chaos, themselves the competing interest of capitalism juxtaposed to a Marxist base which is at war with them. The upper echelons of their own politburo is unaware, having turned a blind eye to their chaos for so long now that in their hubris they think they can maintain control. It is a golem they have created now seeking to kill its master, having cut its teeth on the battlefields of first Syria and now Ukraine.

Perhaps best of all is the Chinese balloon which captivated the attention of the world, floating ever so carefree across the US’ heartland. We were so hapless in a response, simply observing with childlike wonder a device that achieved far more than simply mapping signals or taking pictures. It showed the world we are very much the Potemkin Village our adversaries allege, incapable of even defending itself while having the wife of the supposed leader of the nation make bold statement in his stead. In our inaction, hollow words, and willful jeopardy in which the American populace was placed…no one in good faith can argue they are wrong no matter how much we wish it were not so.

Amid this, we have a completely unhinged political class that shirks any attempt at accountability for their own actions. A President who cannot account for the mountain of classified documents found at various residencies and UPenn, after receiving a large amount of Chinese money in their own pay for play schemes. That’s now forgotten in the public parlance, and nothing will come of it, because nothing ever does. There is however an enemy who’s taking every advantage afforded in the opportunity and looking to create more. China is at war with the US, and it would be a good assertion that Russia is now as well. America, look upon your leadership and ask yourself if they have your best interest at heart, let alone the ability to win. I personally doubt it.

Dickinson’s lyrics reflected the reality of such a scenario. The madness of an unhinged political class more than willing to sacrifice its own for nothing more than self enrichment. It is a world in which we have not yet realized the consequences. Nuclear exchange may be a result, but it is not an end state. Neither would a more likely domestic communist insurgency as a result of the open borders. The latter is not simply more likely, it may already be in the early stages now as whatever passes for American culture continues to experience a rapid decline. It has never been more apparent that we are on our own, turning our focus to local assets rather than attempting to fix the waning Empire of the Potomac.

Like living well, the decision lay with you. Last week demonstrated the inability of our most basic governmental duty – providing for the common defense – in vibrant fashion. The Chinese demonstrated the ability to launch an attack at seemingly anytime with little to no response. The defense then lay with the American people themselves. How best they organize in that task remains to be seen. Make no mistake, it is two minutes to midnight.

NC Scout is the author of The Guerrilla’s Guide to the Baofeng Radio and several more upcoming books.