Does real life now follow a storyline that readers of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy would recognize? In other words, does a rising power in the East pose a threat to our civilization?
Either way, our worst fears involve not that rising power but the fact that our own government either does not know or will not say.
According to the New York Post, Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, asserted on Tuesday that the wave of drones over New Jersey and elsewhere in recent weeks, particularly those sighted near U.S. military installations, most likely originated with Communist China.
To be sure, McCaul offered only circumstantial evidence.
"I believe they’re spy drones and the PRC, and Communist China is very good at this stuff. We know they bought land around military bases. This would be very consistent with their policy over the past couple years," the congressman added.
Admittedly, McCaul's guess regarding the drones' origin sounded as plausible as any yet advanced.
Others, for instance, have speculated that the drones originated in Iran, or that friendly actors have employed them in a frantic search for missing radioactive materials.
The only thing we know for certain is that President Joe Biden's administration has shed no light on the mystery.
Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump has insisted that the federal government knows far more than it has revealed to the public.
Thus, until we learn the truth, McCaul's assertion requires careful consideration.
On one hand, no one disputes that the Chinese people have suffered under an evil Communist regime since 1949. For sheer totalitarian madness, Communist dictator Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and early 1970s has few modern parallels.
Moreover, Communist regimes, by their very nature, operate according to globalist principles. In the old Soviet Union, the Communist International organization, or Comintern, openly advocated and tried to effect worldwide revolution.
Furthermore, one might reasonably deduce hostile intent from various Chinese activities inside the United States. These range from spy balloons to the purchase of American land.
On the other hand, Chinese civilization has existed in one form or another for thousands of years. In all that time, the Chinese people have shown almost no aggression beyond their own borders, let alone their region.
Likewise, when they have engaged with Western powers, the Chinese traditionally have opted for subtlety. During the Korean War, for instance, as the U.S. Eighth Army advanced toward the Yalu River -- the border between North Korea and China -- Chinese troops quietly slipped in behind the Americans and launched a surprise attack, triggering one of the worst defeats and the longest retreat in U.S. military history.
Conspicuous drones across New Jersey and elsewhere hardly qualify as subtle.
In sum, McCaul might have it right. China might indeed have the means and motive to carry out a drone operation on this scale.
The problem, however, is that the U.S. government has concealed everything and shared nothing.
In fact, Trump's victory in the 2024 election stemmed at least in part from Americans' mounting distrust of their government. That distrust dates at least to 1963. And the federal government's culture of secrecy -- a culture hostile to the Constitution and anathema to self-government -- dates at least to the early years of the Cold War.
All of that must change. Trump's return to the White House must signal the dawn of an era in which the federal government has no power to conceal important truths from the sovereign people, when government officials would never even dream of doing so.
That way, McCaul and others will have no cause to speculate.
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