Now the World Has Changed
but what does it all mean?
I was reading a piece by Scott Pinsker this morning about how the political parties in the US have changed their spots over the last couple of decades.
Up until the early 2010s, the emotional appeal of being a good, loyal Democrat was twofold: It signaled to your peers how much you cared about the poor, the environment, and the disadvantaged; and — if you were white — it was “proof” you weren’t a racist.
Meanwhile, the GOP was the party of old white dudes, business tycoons, and religious weirdos.
Obviously, Dorothy, we’re not in Kansas any more.
When the Democratic Party swung to the far left, it created an opening for an outsider like Trump to champion the plight of all the Americans left behind. This became the backbone of the MAGA movement, and if the Democrats had half a brain, they would’ve realized this a helluva lot sooner.
Yes. I get it, dear Tin Man. If you only had a brain.
Of course, the Democratic Party has always been far left, at least since the accession to power of FDR’s Brain Trust. Most of the time they were polite about it. Political power has been the whole point of the left since the Enlightenment. Only put the right people in power with the right ideas and legislate a fundamental transformation of America, and the world will change. But, as we might say echoing Edmund Burke,
All the pleasing illusions which made power gentle and obedience liberal… are to be dissolved.. All the decent drapery of life is to be rudely torn off.
And the result is not pretty.
Of course, that is exactly what Crane Brinton argues in The Anatomy of Revolution. When the revolution fails, as revolutions typically do because human existence and life and culture cannot be reduced to a political program, then it’s time to bring out the knives and string the aristos from the nearest lanterne in the mostly peaceful protest of a Reign of Terror. I first reacted to Crane Brinton back in 2015! Here’s how I described our liberal friends:
They want the purity, the excitement of revolution! A battle against evil! They want to humble the bigots and the hypocrites, and teach them a lesson! And above all, they want to be relevant.
In reality, our liberal friends are cosplaying revolution.
They are not radicals; they are not revolutionaries. They are the little darlings of the ruling class. They are doing exactly what they have been taught by their government teachers, their government professors, and government-paid activists.
I’m sorry if you feel insulted, George & Alex Soros, that I used the phrase “government-paid activists.” I admit that I cruelly ignored the vital importance of Soros Open Society Foundation grants in funding the activist scene.
But I want to inject another notion into the current frenzy. We are all going to die.
Homo sapiens emerged about 300,000 years ago. I wonder if we’ll get to a million.
In Charles Mann’s 1491 it is shocking how this or that American regime emerged, built some monuments, fought with the neighbors, and then after 100 to 300 years, collapsed. And we don’t know why.
Soviet Communism lasted for about 60 years. Now Russia is ruled by Putin the Terrible.
The average Chinese dynasty lasted for about 60 years.
Our current Great Enrichment has been going on for about 200-300 years, and has increased real per-capita income by 30-50 times. At some point, it will all collapse, and it won’t be because CO2 rises a little from its current lowest point in 160 million years.
The current Big Government era is about 100 years old, as governments increased spending after World War I. Sooner or later you “run out of other peoples’ money.”
I wonder why Elon Musk wants to Occupy Mars.
All over the world, populist nationalists are rising to oppose the Big Governments run by the educated class. The result could be a new era of peace and prosperity. Or it could be the End of the West. Anyway, the world has changed.
Stay tuned for next week’s exciting episode.