[Ask the Gulch] When the dirt hits the fan will you be covered up or will you be digging out? There are only two sides to this fight, Those who are willing to fight and defend America (and the world) or you will be on the side trying to hit the Re Set Button.
Posted by N316Jobs 3 years, 1 month ago to Ask the Gulch
Are we headed toward a dystopian situation, as you observe? There are indications that we are once again backsliding into a romance with authoritarian government as the solution to all life's problems. Combine that with a refusal to acknowledge the hard rules of economics (Modern Monetary Theory, cryptocurrency), and you have the prime elements for societal collapse, so yes, a dystopian situation could be developing.
Is a dose of reality pending, and could the path to recovery be a violent one? One has to happen, and the second is a possibility, as humanity tends to reach for desperate solutions when a conflict of ideals occurs.
Once again, much hinges on the behavior of superpowers. Unfortunately both China and the current US administration are not on positive paths. Xi Jinping is acting more like an emperor, threatening the nations around China and making the PLA unhappy at the thought of violent confrontation. The Biden administration is exercising the usual craziness of trying to make the US internationally inoffensive, which inevitably leads to other nations trying to grab power. Either nation could invite a blowup, which could be big (nuclear) or small (local, myriad grinding conflicts).
We don't have much influence over China's internal situation, except to send the message to Emperor Xi that military conquest is not acceptable in the modern world. However, for that message to be delivered carefully and surgically, the US has to be perceived as responsible and credible, neither of which is believable under the Biden administration, which is overflowing with incompetence.
Hopefully, the path to sanity remains, with enough mentally stable voters this next election to place competent, credible government civil servants in place to restore internal balance. I believe in the original vision of our Founders, which is that the people have to hold elected officials accountable and constrained, and I hope that vision can be restored.
http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/1dxf...
A few good centuries can be undone VERY quickly.
I really want that, but ewv convinced me that it must come from the people accepting the vision of a constitutionally-constrained liberal democracy. A Constitution can't force people to follow it. More than ever in my life, mainstream candidates for office don't even give lip service to limited government; it won't happen through voting. I'll keep contributing to reasonable candidates, but I have no faith it will make a difference in these long-term trends. As soon as polls start saying people are concerned about liberty and the framework that constrains government, that's when there will be change.
Fundamental, radical change doesn't happen when people are destitute, but when they're too comfortable. Humans tend to be a reactive species, which is what made us strong survivors, and when there's a lack of stressors, even minor disturbances become magnified. When "microaggressions" become perceived as big a problem as starvation, things get seriously tilted in the direction of artificial crisis, demanding leadership that offers even more comfort for the already comfortable. We're inviting dictatorship, seeking a national "parent" to tell us everything will be fine if we're obedient children.
I think this a very real risk, a huge risk. I think part of it comes from as an indirect consequence of handheld video devices. You can give them to kids in places like the grocery store, and it will entertain them so they don't wave their hands and knock things over or hit people by accident. But then they never get the lesson that they can take action (waving their hands) and actions have consequences, so you have take action responsibly. I think this trend continues throughout childhood development. There aren't as many kids out playing in the neighborhood, and many of them would be scared to do anything without supervision, so if parents want them off handheld video, they put them in structured activities where someone tells them what to do. Adulthood is terrifying when it arrives because they've never taken the baby steps that come before it. As you say, people want a parent. I think this is one of the biggest problems the world faces.
My old thought on the Constitution was it was to limit what people could vote for. If someone shoots up a school, people might vote to take away everyone's guns and allow the police to inspect everyone's home at will to prevent further crimes. The Constitution forbids that, even if it's the will of the majority. I used to think the Constitution needed to establish structures to prevent people from voting for those government powers. Now I think people must accept the philosophy of the Constitution or they'll just find a way around it.
"a Godless people"
The Constitution forbids establishing a state religion, and I'm completely godless.
I would like it to be true that if you just dismantled a corrupt system set up by and for scoundrels, the people would insist on a more limited government.
Unfortunately I think most people are for government spending and intrusiveness and are socially conservative.
I definitely would like to be wrong and find out expansion of government was actually a plot by a small group, not something popularly supported.
One of the passages in Atlas Shrugged that is often overlooked is how producers have to plan in terms of decades. This requires a stability that no country on the planet has any more, and will not have for decades.
It could be reasonably argued that it has been a very long time indeed since we have been progressing toward reason. History does not progress slowly. It moves in great surges of disruption, with technology usually leading toward positive disruption and authoritarianism always leading toward negative disruption.
The environment for invention is like a recessive gene. When mixed with a dominant gene of authoritarianism, it gets dominated.
North Korea and China try hard to have full freedom for invention but authoritarianism for questioning the government. I think you're right that such a plan can't work well, and that's a good thing.
I'm glad if my thoughts were helpful, but I don't agree with the bigotry and name-calling in your comment. I'm against religious bigtory, for pluralism, mostly supportive of President Obama, and I'm for increased immigration.
I'm for making it easy for people who are not criminals and not looking for a handout to come legally. I'm for a path to legal residency or citizenship for people who've been here under the radar. But I think we should be serious about enforcing the laws against people staying here under the radar and people interacting with them and treating them like an underclass.
I think of America as an idea, not a nation, something for all humankind.