Prophecy is a difficult profession at the best of times. And in the midst of an avalanche of societal dislocations such as we are experiencing currently it becomes impossible to realistically predict what will happen next. I mean, you know certain trends are heading in a direction that leads to a certain end. But with so many moving parts it’s very difficult to know which trend will lead to which catastrophe first. Think about it. Will hyperinflation ignite first or will massive unemployment precede it? Will severe food shortages happen before severe energy shortages? Will civil unrest in the United States reach a crisis level or will a foreign war pre-empt it? I think it’s very difficult to claim that all of these factors can be predicted in a particular way and with a particular set of outcomes. Anyway, that’s what seems to be the case to me.
But what is certain is that the stable system that we lived in for decades is no longer a viable option for the future. Going back to what I said a few days ago, an important, but invisible part of the American way of life was the trust of the people in the system. And by system, I mean the underlying myths of how our country worked. We believed that the courts were fair and that the law was administered equally for all and that the rights that we were told we had under the constitution were inviolable. We never thought about how this trust influenced everything around us. We never thought about how our belief in the courts and the federal government allowed us to live our lives without fear or suspicion. We knew that the government would make sure that medicines would be monitored for safety and efficacy. Banks would be regulated to prevent our life-savings from being stolen. The IRS would never weaponize the tax information of a politician based on partisan considerations. The FBI would never collude with partisan judges to set up a gulag for political enemies. The media companies would never partner with the federal government to silence dissenting voices or even blackout a news story that revealed government wrongdoing.
All these things were unthinkable. And because we couldn’t imagine such things happening in the freest country on Earth we lived contentedly and allowed our elected and appointed officials enormous power and free reign over our society.
So, we all know how that’s turned out.
My point is that, even in the face of the myriad of unknown factors and interactions that will determine the future, the one future that will not happen is returning to what was here before. The possibility of a population with that level of naivete no longer exists. Our stupidity has been beaten out of us by decades of unmistakable dishonesty and malice aimed directly at the citizens of this country. Trusting the bureaucrats, politicians, business leaders, law enforcement agencies, judges and generals who have lied to us and victimized us at every turn is an impossibility.
And this lack of trust means certain things will not work the same. Can you imagine trusting your eighteen-year-old sons to Joe Biden to fight a war? I hear the recruiting efforts for the military branches have been terrible. The quantity and more importantly the quality of the volunteers has plummeted. And the number of people willing to be vaccinated for the COVID virus has also plummeted. Likewise the number of people taking their kids out of the public schools is greatly increasing. Whether home-schooling or going to private or religious schools these parents don’t trust their kids to the state. And the number of people fleeing blue states to find refuge in relatively freer red states is at an all-time high.
And this will only get worse. As the dysfunction of the federal government worsens people will be looking for other things to trust and depend on. Possibly one or more of the red states will try to fill this gap. But it’s a certainty that the old high trust environment we once knew will not be back. We’ll put our trust in ourselves.
“Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.”
“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” -JFK, 20 January 1961 Inaugural Address Great words. Inspiring even. However, we are a long way from the America of six decades ago. Some refer to it as a different time but the truth of it is that it was a different country entirely. By all metrics of demographics, culture and traditions, mid-20th century America should be thought of as a foreign nation. This commentary is not one that refers to the past as a golden age,… Read more »
A different world. A lost world. Moving on.
Exactly, time to move on. That is the pitfall too many Traditionals and Conservatives fall into. The mistaken belief that we can somehow rewind the country to a more high-trust model from the past. There is no American Caesar coming to right the entire ship. Moving on and building anew is the way forward. As you’ve pointed out, it starts with more focus on local and regional control. Communities engaging and taking stock of what is important to them. As the GAE stumbles and begins to break down, this will be more important than ever.
Now all we have to do is make a whole new world from scratch.
Not so rosy back then, either. JFK put his brother in charge then weaponized the Justice Department. The failed Bay of Pigs invasion debacle. The expansion of the Vietnam War by JFK then immensely expanded under the warmonger LBJ. Kennedy played the civil rights champion while secretly the FBI was surveilling MLK. Kennedy’s assassination was a setup. How did Oswald know Kennedy’s exact route? How did he know it far enough in advance to set up his sniper’s nest in the repository? How did he know the “bubble” would not be attached to the Presidential limo? Why was Kennedy allowed… Read more »
True, but most of them didn’t know a thing. So they believed. Now, not so much. The Deep State has killed the goose that laid the golden eggs.
Meant to rate the at 5 stars!
No problem Rick.
Yes, there were still plenty of problems and malfeasance at the highest levels for America in the 20th century. No denying that at all. The difference is that the public held a collective faith and belief in the institutions and government officials at the time. (once again, not all but a high majority) Once the scales fall from the eyes they do not go back on. This is where more and more of the population is at.