This essay is the hard, bitter truth. But there is a kind of 'psychological momentum', which means that many Americans, both Left and Right and Center, still see social reality as it was 20 years ago, when America bestrode the world like a collossus.
They're like someone who was blessed with a good physique, and was very fit in his youth, and even in his middle age, who is now entering a period of inevitable physical decline -- ameliorated, to be sure, by the accumulated capital of past achievements, but decline nonetheless -- but who refuses to recognize the new, growing, reality.
The author concludes, "It is up to us American patriots to realize what is going on, and to make our country change course, and change course fast." Clearly, this is the only sane conclusion for anyone who values liberal democracy (and not just Americans).
In fact, a large number of patriots already realize, at one level or another, what is going on. The problem we face is, how do we make our country change course? Most of the patriots who see what is happening have entrusted Donald Trump with this job -- a terrible mistake.
Patriots who know that such trust is misplaced have the problem of (1) convincing the Trump supporters that their faith is misplaced, and (2) proposing an alternative course.
There is probably little we can do to carry out the first task. Perhaps events will be the great educator.
We need to put all our intellectual energy into thinking about the second task: what would 'changing course' involve? To be concrete: suppose we won veto-proof majorities in many state governments, and in the national government: what should we do -- that would remain within the rule of law and constitutional limits?
The measures taken in Florida, and proposed nationally, by Ron DeSantis are a step in the right direction. We should demand similar committments from every politician who solicits our vote.
You're right about too many Americans being stuck in the past and taking their country's stability for granted. As for what changing course would take in practice, and which political program we should get behind - I've given money to Vivek Ramaswamy and I plan on voting him in the Republican primary, but I see this mainly as a gesture, since I expect Trump to be nominated. Some of the things DeSantis has done in Florida are good, but some are half-measures, and a few are just face-plants (i.e. school curricula that downplay the evils of slavery). I think Vivek is savvier than DeSantis, and he doesn't strike me as a political chamaleon.
A discussion of what we should do if we get veto-proof majorities (Restore the gold standard? Abolish NATO? Replace the regressive and anti-natal payroll tax with some other kind of tax? Punish shoplifters and bike thieves with a public flogging, before they even think about getting into bigger crimes? Make it a criminal offense to give a child unsupervised access to internet porn?) could fill several books. But for reasons I've made clear before, I'm not optimistic about our chances of getting those majorities!
In the meantime, I'm in favor of pretty-much anything that relocalizes politics and increases the power of state and local governments (even liberal governments, like when California won its pig case at SCOTUS). I'm also in favor of a cautious withdrawal from most of America's foreign policy commitments (our "allies" in both Europe and Asia are capable of shouldering a LOT more of the burden of their own defense, but they're not going to unless they really, really feel like it's necessary). And I think the Fed should allow the dollar to weaken so that it's easier for domestic industries to compete with imports; the social benefits of a strong manufacturing sector will outweigh the short-term costs of cutting back on cheap foreign goods.
Those things would all, I think, make the coming denouement for manageable. But one way or other the way of life that we've known for the last 70 years is going to end, and individual preparedness is still, to my mind, the most important thing for most people to think about.
This essay is the hard, bitter truth. But there is a kind of 'psychological momentum', which means that many Americans, both Left and Right and Center, still see social reality as it was 20 years ago, when America bestrode the world like a collossus.
They're like someone who was blessed with a good physique, and was very fit in his youth, and even in his middle age, who is now entering a period of inevitable physical decline -- ameliorated, to be sure, by the accumulated capital of past achievements, but decline nonetheless -- but who refuses to recognize the new, growing, reality.
The author concludes, "It is up to us American patriots to realize what is going on, and to make our country change course, and change course fast." Clearly, this is the only sane conclusion for anyone who values liberal democracy (and not just Americans).
In fact, a large number of patriots already realize, at one level or another, what is going on. The problem we face is, how do we make our country change course? Most of the patriots who see what is happening have entrusted Donald Trump with this job -- a terrible mistake.
Patriots who know that such trust is misplaced have the problem of (1) convincing the Trump supporters that their faith is misplaced, and (2) proposing an alternative course.
There is probably little we can do to carry out the first task. Perhaps events will be the great educator.
We need to put all our intellectual energy into thinking about the second task: what would 'changing course' involve? To be concrete: suppose we won veto-proof majorities in many state governments, and in the national government: what should we do -- that would remain within the rule of law and constitutional limits?
The measures taken in Florida, and proposed nationally, by Ron DeSantis are a step in the right direction. We should demand similar committments from every politician who solicits our vote.
Doug,
You're right about too many Americans being stuck in the past and taking their country's stability for granted. As for what changing course would take in practice, and which political program we should get behind - I've given money to Vivek Ramaswamy and I plan on voting him in the Republican primary, but I see this mainly as a gesture, since I expect Trump to be nominated. Some of the things DeSantis has done in Florida are good, but some are half-measures, and a few are just face-plants (i.e. school curricula that downplay the evils of slavery). I think Vivek is savvier than DeSantis, and he doesn't strike me as a political chamaleon.
A discussion of what we should do if we get veto-proof majorities (Restore the gold standard? Abolish NATO? Replace the regressive and anti-natal payroll tax with some other kind of tax? Punish shoplifters and bike thieves with a public flogging, before they even think about getting into bigger crimes? Make it a criminal offense to give a child unsupervised access to internet porn?) could fill several books. But for reasons I've made clear before, I'm not optimistic about our chances of getting those majorities!
In the meantime, I'm in favor of pretty-much anything that relocalizes politics and increases the power of state and local governments (even liberal governments, like when California won its pig case at SCOTUS). I'm also in favor of a cautious withdrawal from most of America's foreign policy commitments (our "allies" in both Europe and Asia are capable of shouldering a LOT more of the burden of their own defense, but they're not going to unless they really, really feel like it's necessary). And I think the Fed should allow the dollar to weaken so that it's easier for domestic industries to compete with imports; the social benefits of a strong manufacturing sector will outweigh the short-term costs of cutting back on cheap foreign goods.
Those things would all, I think, make the coming denouement for manageable. But one way or other the way of life that we've known for the last 70 years is going to end, and individual preparedness is still, to my mind, the most important thing for most people to think about.