Site Mission Statement

 

Time for the ‘Editorial We.’ Not to be high and mighty but to be more big picture oriented than is customary with a blog or social network page. This publication had a precursor for a time in 2019 but was discontinued when it became clear that the coming months and years would not be about thoughtful essays on the issues or provoking debates on matters of political and governance philosophy. These had become luxuries. The nation had been plunged into a state of existential combat, a nearly pure circumstance of life-and-death combat. The executive and legislative branches of the government, as well as their accomplices in the mass media, hated Trump and they hated us, the flyover people who supported him. They were engaged in an all-out war to destroy Trump, politically, legally, financially, and personally. If they could destroy Trump they could silence us for good, and no national election would ever be close again.

‘We’ joined the day-to-day fight for survival, maintaining a defense against an encircling enemy who seemed to elevate the mission of destroying above the mission of protecting and defending the United States of America. We had to use the weapons at hand, which were not the ten dollar words of so-called conservative thought leaders but whatever edge could be found and used to win the 2024 presidential and congressional elections. That has been accomplished.

Now is the time to recover our emotional and intellectual footing. Hate does not belong in the process of regaining our balance. But neither does amnesia. Illegal, immoral actions have been committed by people who really do live in a nether world of hate, and they show no signs of stopping. They must be brought to Justice under the law. That is not vengeance. It is not even retribution. It is merely necessary to preserve the republic and the Constitution that is our common foundation. It is therefore, once again, a time for thought, reason, and self-discipline.

During the combat phase, Instapunk Returns posted a warning essay no one saw fit to comment on or share elsewhere. The essay’s principal point was to learn from the precedent of Oliver Cromwell, who overthrew a corrupt government and replaced it with an equally arbitrary autocracy called “The Protectorate.” Trump has won the office of President without overthrowing the government. There will be temptations for him to make Cromwellian mistakes. He must not become Cromwell. Which means it’s time for thinking again by all of us who support his common sense platform of restoring the nation to greatness and leadership by example.

In short, we are all walking a tightrope. We must use our heads to detect real dangers and navigate around them or, if and when necessary, through them or over them. We must accept that the mass media are still an agent of infection, unscrupulous opposition, and provocation to violence. Many of the political operators they support are similarly dyed in the wool enemies mired in hatred and greed. But we must not be.

There is still plenty of harmless fun to be had trading barbs and memes and talking points with the gang on the other side of the Great Divide that has so polarized the nation. But there must also be a space, multiple spaces really, where it’s possible to focus on the handful of issues thst matter most, inform ourselves about what is known (and isn’t) and consider the best ways of working our way through the chaos to positive end results. The Instapunk Times is meant to be that kind of a space. We will be trying to track the news like grownups, without namecalling, cheap shots, or oversimplifications. Humor and satire are fine; the Babylon Bee is not in the business of promoting hard-labor chain gangs for Biden voters. What isn’t fine with us is getting too caught up in the back and forth accusations and the cherry-picked grievances that are so hard to forget.

We want, above all, to be a place where you can drop in every day or two to read news and commentary that are worth thinking about and commenting on, even discussing with one another, reader to reader.

We know that Blogger is not especially helpful in promoting Comment activity. But we can assure you that we have checked all the boxes required to eliminate any obstructions to your commenting ability and your ability to see your comments here. We have also provided pages for your perusal that add the context of time and different anglesmof perspective on what is being published today. These are intended to inform and entertain without intruding on the day to day tasks at hand.

Helping us all to lead with our heads rather than our hearts is what the Instapunk Times is all about. Why our motto is:

All the News that’s Worth Thinking About