There Yet be Dragons

By Charlie Johnston

Front Royal, Virginia – I am very optimistic. I have said repeatedly that the power of darkness is broken – and that we will win every battle that we press forward with vigor on, under God going forward. I stand by that. But by no means do I mean it is all over but the shouting. In fact, the greatest trials lay ahead of us. Here I will lay out what I believe will be another of the biggest trials in the next few years.

Domestically, this is a story about the woke left trying to get the band back together for another coup. Alas for them, the four years of Joe Biden showed the American people what woke, leftist governance really means. Their promises are all fluff and no stuff – except for their threats to cancel or jail you if you do not wholly support their malicious lunacy. Election Day 2024 was when America decided whether it would become a police state ruled by one party for the self-appointed elite, of the elite, and by the elite or we would begin the long journey back to traditional American values and the sovereignty of the people. We came WAY too close to being a permanent one-party police state, closer than we ever have, but we did pull back at the edge of the abyss. Donald Trump’s pace may well slow a bit in his second month, but I expect it will pick up dramatically again as the judicial overreach is slapped down. There will be ups and downs, but as long as we keep the faith and keep pressing on, complete victory is certain.

While I am ecstatic over the moves Trump is taking with DOGE and with reducing the size and reach of government, I fear there is still significant danger of a global economic collapse. While I like the trajectory we are on now, the damage to economies throughout the globe from the woke leftist termites (with more than a little help from their feckless “conservative” friends over the years) is deep and extensive. Once you eat away enough of the sturdy wood, the rest is damaged enough that it starts deteriorating on its own through simple exposure to the elements around it. Progressively, it takes less and less of a shock to take it all down. Meanwhile the termites fight back – to keep burrowing.

The most basic problem in America is the amount of indebtedness. If the $36 trillion we owe was half – or even a quarter – of what it is, we would still be the most over-leveraged economy in the history of the world. Interest payments on that debt alone account for more than the entire military budget.

People often get a gauzy idea of what large numbers really mean. I like to translate it into seconds. It takes 11 days for a million seconds to pass. Most people answer wrongly when I give them that and then ask how long it takes a billion seconds to pass. The usual answer I get is anywhere from three months to a couple of years. It takes 32 years for a billion seconds to pass. For a trillion seconds to pass it takes right around 32,000 years. That means that if we did no new spending, paid all our national bills, including interest, each year – and in addition to that paid down the debt a dollar per second, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it would take us 32,000 years to pay it off. But, hey, if we pay $10 per second instead, it would only take 3,200 years to pay it off.

It is considered healthy growth in gross domestic product (GDP) if it rises 1.8 percent each year. Robust growth is seen as 2.8 percent. In fabulously robust times, growth can briefly climb as high as six or nine percent…but that usually only happens in countries that are vastly undeveloped in the first place and are helped along by other, more advanced economies…and it levels off as their economies get more complex. I estimate we would need, at the very least, sustainably consistent growth of 5 to 6% to have a chance to wither away this debt without significant collapse and restart. I know of no complex economy that has ever achieved that for more than a few years at a time. (Probably the greatest economic expansion ever in a large country occurred between 1700-1725 under Tsar Peter the Great of Russia, who expanded its economy by at least an order of magnitude in that time. BUT…that was because he started with a primitive, medieval economy and dragged it kicking and screaming into the mercantile and industrial age.)

For the last century, the United States has served, effectively, as the back-up plan when other major nations destroy their own economies. But, again, we have let the termites run free in our own economy for a long time. The world no longer has a back-up plan. There are some small and some primitive economies in the world that are reasonably healthy, but they have little effect on the global economy – kind of like how new wiper blades on your car will not prevent the engine from blowing if you abuse it. China’s economy is in worse shape than ours; Europe is a basket case; and the boulder of our economy is already ¾ of the way over the lip of the cliff while Trump and Elon frantically try to pull it back. Meanwhile congressional Dems and RINOs keep pushing. Ironically, after all the sanctions and condemnations against it, Russia has the strongest big-country economy right now.

During the Biden years, I consoled myself that the accelerating tyranny would have to crash once the economy collapsed – and the left’s policies made that inevitable as they accelerated towards it. We are no longer actively pushing for collapse, but so much damage has been done it may be unavoidable. In short, I have downgraded the risk of global economic collapse from certain to very likely.

If it comes, we will all very quickly be living a mid-1800’s lifestyle with a pampered 21^st century mindset and skillset. You will have to grow and gather your own food; your Bitcoin billions will be worth less than a confederate dollar; your actual dollars will be worth little more than that and you will have to scrabble for your daily existence. In a time where millions would starve if utilities were interrupted for any length of time and GrubHub wasn’t delivering, this would be one of the most stunning shocks to the system our globe has ever seen. What Trump is now doing would soften the blow – in the sense that wrapping a 10-ton boulder dropping on you with a layer of fluffy cotton would. We will know real hardship.

I long ago reluctantly reconciled myself to the reality that many, particularly in the cities and among those who smugly consider themselves the most “advanced,” will not survive. While all will suffer a great shock, farmers, tradesmen, folks who work with their hands – you know, the type of folks who live in flyover country, will painfully adapt and adjust to the new circumstances. Ironically, most who call themselves “survivalists,” won’t. They will persist for a time, but the single most important factor for long-time survival and growth in primitive circumstances is the ability – and eagerness – to collaborate with others. That, in large measure, is why I have worked so frenetically to form a great network of people, committed to working together out of love for God and neighbor, to weather whatever comes. Yes, if communications technology failed, things would get much tougher, despite our establishing a nationwide network of ham radio communications. But I have been assured by my friends from on high that if it comes to that, God will open up a way of communication for those who serve Him and keep their shoulders diligently to the plow. So, doing what my little mind prudently can to prepare people, I don’t obsess over it and just keep going. It is vital to remember that you may not know what to do or even where you are if comprehensive disaster strikes – but God does. Do what you can where you are at with fortitude and trust and God will use you to save the world.

As hard as all that would be, there are great benefits to it, as well. We would have to, by necessity, get back to basics. There could be no more boutique issues for small minds with vast, self-absorbed pretensions to obsess over. Those who tried to impose their boutique obsessions onto others by force would be forcibly exiled from collaborative small communities – as the dangers they are to those communities, while contributing nothing of substance. While we have become technological wizards, we have regressed spiritually and philosophically into helpless, crabbed mutants. By necessity, we will have to learn to work, cry and laugh together in genuine brotherly solidarity to survive.

I am no great fan of Voltaire, but one of my favorite closing lines of all time comes from his story, Candide. Candide starts as a wealthy young man. He suffers disaster after disaster until, finally, he is reduced to trying to scrabble subsistence from a little patch of ground in brutal hardship. Throughout, he is accompanied by his friend, Professor Pangloss, a man he deeply admires. Pangloss is a pseudo-intellectual, constantly spouting inane puffery and calling it philosophy. At every turn, Pangloss cheerily and cluelessly insists that, whatever disaster befalls them, it is the best that could have been accomplished under the circumstances (“the best of all possible worlds”). At no time does Pangloss ever do anything that could actually help matters along. It is Candide’s immaturity that initially makes him admire Pangloss. But as the complete uselessness of Pangloss’ pretentious and vapid rhetoric becomes more obvious with each successive catastrophe, the scales fall from Candide’s eyes. At the end, in their blasted existence, Pangloss goes off on another of his airy perorations as Candide and his maimed lover are struggling to keep things going. Candide, to his credit, does not abandon his friend, but with a sigh of exaggeration, looks at him and says, “Cela est bien dite, mais il faut cultivar notre jardin.” I have never been able to translate that in a way that captures the full nuance and mood of that statement, but basically it is, “That is well said. But now we must hoe our garden.”

He who will be saved will be he who endures. And he who endures will be he who resolutely hoes his garden and chops his wood.

It is now decades ago that my angel seemed to tell me, “What you desire most is most effective against you. Desire God and all shall be added unto you.” That is more consoling with each passing year.

*********

There is one more article I need to produce on the subject of the major challenges we face going forward. It will be a geo-political threat assessment. I am very optimistic – but also very clear-eyed – about what we yet face. Trump’s ascendancy and his policies are great correctives to the battering and injuries we have suffered. But the road back to good health and sanity is a hard one, indeed. As that unfolds, keep in mind that the alternative was utter destruction. I give thanks to God for the hardships we have endured and the threats and depravities we have faced. It has impressed on many the magnitude of the stakes involved. It is good to have an ally at the top, but I am content that people have begun to sufficiently awaken to the reality that each of us must make our stand and publicly proclaim who we will serve to build and sustain any sort of revival.

Good, prudent policy is a start – kind of a pre-requisite to build a healthy, vibrant culture. But it is culture that is the key. The magnificent Anthony Esolen, an underappreciated modern philosopher, gives intriguing hints of what we aim for in his marvelous, mournful latest piece. I strongly encourage you to read it.

*********

If you missed our latest CORAC Newsletter, you might not know that Bishop Strickland WILL attend our National Conference in Atchison, Kansas from July 11 to July 13. If you miss a CORAC Newsletter, you miss a lot.

We are close to adding a former J6 political prisoner to our lineup of speakers. The conference will highlight people who have lived courage and prudence under fire. These people are the tip of the spear in inspiring us all to work with God in His plan to renew the face and faith of the earth.

Intrinsically entwined with the major speakers will be our seven national teams showing what they are doing – and what you can do – to bring us, and the whole world to that renewal. Do the little you can right where you are at out of love and then our God, in His incredibly abundant generosity, will not just multiply your efforts ten-fold, but ten-thousand fold. Our God, faced with a multitude of 5,000 people, took a couple of fish and a few loaves and fed them all. Do you think He is any less generous now? But first, you have to hand Him the little fish you have.

We plan to put full details up and start taking registrations on April second. I hope to see you in Kansas in July. We have a lot of wood to chop…and with the dramatic change in America, we may well be moved to whistle while we work.

If communication goes out for any length of time, meet outside your local Church at 9 a.m. on Saturday mornings. Tell friends at Church now in case you can’t then. CORAC teams will be out looking for people to gather in and work with.

Find me on X at @JohnstonPilgrim

Donate to CORAC!

Join the Conversation!

The Corps of Renewal and Charity (CORAC)

18208 Preston Rd., Ste. D9-552

Dallas, Texas 75252