As some of the sorry ramifications of situational morality play out before our very eyes in the post-election debacle, many of us wonder where this all came from. With no hard edges on ANY concept these days, let alone good and evil, we observe the seeming paradox that with endless shades of gray comes not compromise, but more division!

Of course, there is one thing on which we can all agree: money and debt. If I owed you $1000, you would consider yourself cheated unless I paid back every penny. There is a clear standard here. It's the economy, stupid!

Now throw into the mix the forces that seek to destroy our American Constitutional system. In their present incarnation, they are those Leftists intent on replacing our republic with a sort of totalitarian collectivist oligarchy, in the guise of an egalitarian utopia. They can succeed only by dividing us, and divide us they have.

Meet the guy who wrote the playbook: Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)

Cursed with ill health, an ugly personal appearance, poverty, and a bad attitude, Gramsci was bright and earned a scholarship to the University of Turin. Unwilling to pursue what would have probably been a comfortable and successful career as an academic, Gramsci turned radical. (And you thought it started in Berkeley.)

He became a full-fledged Commie in 1921--a founder no less of the Italian Communist Party. But, the problem was getting people to join up. Even then, there were few takers.

Gramsci soon concluded that the average Joe six-pack (or Giuseppe bottiglia di vino) would never reject his Western faith and culture for Communism. The best way to implement a Marxist government would be to use an intellectual elite to dismantle traditional Christian values. He proposed a three-phase strategy.

His "cultural hegemony" would destroy ideals. Anti-heroes, not heroes are celebrated. Marriage and family are continuously attacked and subverted. Genuine education is imbued with permissiveness, gutted curricula, and lowered standards. News organizations become little more than propaganda machines.

20 or 30 years later, we have Phase Two: A power struggle emerges between the "progressive" collectivist forces, and those trying to uphold the stabilizing traditions of the West. Crime explodes, disorder becomes rampant, and financial markets grow unstable.

Destabilization gives rise to anarchy and internal terrorism. Markets may collapse. Cities are overrun with drug addiction and criminal gangs. Disgruntled individuals, largely unaware of the source of the problem, commit senseless, undirected violent acts against their own government. The organs manipulated by the cultural elite defame all efforts toward traditional common sense, and promote amelioration by federal collectivism. Citizens cry out for order and stability.

In phase three, totalitarian federal collectivism IS introduced to solve our problems. It seizes power and sets into place a repressive system Gramsci called "normalization." People clamor for strict centralized government intervention, and willingly sacrifice their liberty, in order to end the social and political chaos.

If a lot of this sounds familiar, it should. We're well into Phase Two, and moving ahead at breakneck speed.

As for Antonio Gramsci, he died a prisoner, somehow unappreciated by Mussolini. At least, he didn't give up HIS freedom willingly.

Will we?