Things are pretty caught up on the research front for a change, so a brief political digression, which I would not blame you for skipping if you don’t want to read my ranting, or even more sober analysis. And once more, I want to take the opportunity to thank everyone for reading and for the many contributions from people sending in information and sharing comments. I appreciate it deeply.
Anyone who reads history knows that nations don’t always follow an upward trajectory; that in relatively short order their governmental and social lives can fall into disarray. We are at such a point in the United States. You cannot follow events over the last few decades in our country without having a real perception that the quality of our public life has deteriorated substantially. Social media contributes immensely to the decline in rational thought and policy, but the fundamental source is our supposed institutions of higher education, which are nothing but the detritus of foul and disproven ideologies, whose apostles have corrupted and polluted every aspect of American life.
The current administration represents a new acme in idiocracy or a new nadir in competence. Is there a single person in the country who actually believes these absolute buffoons are doing a good job of governing the country? We have no coherent foreign policy and we have alienated all of our natural partners. We have emboldened even further those who believe in governments of oppression and kleptocracy, which are eager to extend their domain over even more of the world’s people. We are no beacon of light guiding the huddled masses to freedom and opportunity; we are a broken-down back alley streetlight reflecting on a morass of wasted minds and lost souls.
We can’t protect our borders. We can’t deal with an epidemic that has obvious solutions. Criminal activity has spiked to previously unseen levels. There is no effective effort to constrain drug cartels and overdoses soar. Our economy lives on massive government handouts and debt, sparking inflation and hindering truly productive activity. We have replaced rewarding achievement with punishing achievers based on their skin color or gender. And on and on.
If you believe we can survive this without permanent dysfunction, you are wrong. Every single institution we rely on has been corrupted–the law, the media, education, government itself. How do you fix that? I won’t give up trying to change what is so obviously wrong, but let’s don’t be delusional about the depth of destruction to the values and structures that made this country great.
It seems to me that, as with an individual, the nation needs to hit “rock-bottom” before there can be a turnabout. Donald Trump tried, after a manner of speaking, his own personal intervention. However, as is sometimes the case, it was a catalyst to revealing just how desperate out circumstance is. Then, COVID-19 came along. I thought maybe this would be the event around which we would pull together. Yet, it has only exacerbated the ill feelings, the divisiveness, and ideological divide that permeates our society.
I don’t know what domestic nor foreign force which could so effect change for the better. Perhaps, should we reach a point whereupon we are on our knees before the Almighty there could be some hope of a turnaround. At present, though, it seems many continue to believe they can have goodness apart from the Lord. Is there a segment of society which isn’t “bankrupt,” and not just financially?
It’s a long, long arduous road ahead, with outcome most certainly unclear. Lord, help us!
Amen. You are right on the money as usual. Thank you for all you are doing to shine light on the truth.
Alas, I feel exactly the same way. The center cannot hold, so to speak. I used to think the pendulum would swing back, but America is too far gone. When I go into the hospital for my annual checkup, one of the forms I fill out asks: ‘what gender were you assigned at birth’? If we have reached the point where doctors can’t tell the difference between a boy and a girl, I say we’re done. In addition to the categories you cite, I would add medical institutions and organizations (e.g., AMA), who should stay the heck out of politics.
Thank you for this blog, a beacon of reason in a bad time.
You forgot to add the military to the list of failing institutions. It’s the current leadership, made up of careerists & sycophants above the O-5 level, who have squandered the legacy they were left. What our military needs is a figure like George Marshall to ruthlessly cut out the deadwood & incompetents and anyone not unswervingly committed to civilian control.
It’s quite depressing. It’s like there are no “adults” anymore. Everything is run by tribalists who care only about having power and exercising it on their enemies, even if that means repudiating the supposedly “untouchable” rules and customs and laws that our society is supposed to rest upon. Free speech? Freedom of assembly and travel? Rule of law? Those things don’t matter anymore. It’s all “Who? Whom?” now. As long as the “right” people are being punished, nothing else matters. They’ll tell lies (Walz) or they’ll just flat out do something and dare you to stop them (Biden, Brown, Newsom).
Something else I’ve noticed lately is, in addition to the rampant price inflation that we see for most goods, that more and more frequently some goods simply aren’t available at all. Go to Home Depot or your local grocery store (or a car dealership) and there will be bare shelves in places, like some 3rd world country. I would expect to see that in Mexico or Costa Rica or Turkey. I don’t expect that in Lubbock, Texas. And it’s all directly attributable to the quality of our government and the management of our economy. The “Who? Whom?” management of the economy where it doesn’t matter whether decisions are bad for the nation in the long term as long as they benefit donors and/or voters.
We give imaginary money away to buy votes, we keep interest rates artificially low to benefit big banks (and to keep up the payments for votes), and we let manufacturers outsource everything to save a few bucks. None of those things are good in the long run, but they’re great politically in the short run.
Well said
This is not a comment on the content of the current posting but a belated sincere thank you for all the content you have shared on the Covid situation. I found it to be very informative and very helpful in understanding the facts on this pandemic. Thanks also to DD for the great work with the graphs he provides. I’m a Canadian from the Toronto area but found your content to be equally as applicable here as in Minnesota and the US in general.
Much appreciated.
Ron Sinclair
It is scary no doubt. I do think social media is a big part of the problem. When you actually go out in public and speak to average people of whatever persuasion, you discover that 99% of them are nothing like the fanatics online. I firmly believe there are foreign adversaries sparking online outrage and it feeds on itself and gives casual observers the impression that most people are extremists.
That said, the country is in deep financial trouble and I don’t see how it can do anything but get worse. I assume China will be taking over the world at some point and I hope it will be a peaceful transition but that seems unlikely too. Or watch some videos of Elon Musk talking about the frightening future of AI. Or wait for a crazy person in a Wuhan-like lab to let loose a far more deadly virus. Without supernatural help I don’t see how this experiment can go on. I try not to stress about it and just live life as though everything is ok.
I don’t know what to do, too many people welcome it.
“ We have no coherent foreign policy and we have alienated all of our natural partners.”. If you mean our European allies I can only laugh every time the complain about King Biden. They complained about Trump too but I don’t remember anyone recalling their ambassador on his watch.
Well said. I am not a good writer but if I were I would have said that.
Hear here!
I wish I could disagree with your assessment of the situation, but I can’t. There are examples in history of how this ends. It is not pleasant history.
Back in March I mailed a family status letter to my 3 cousins in Seattle.
One of the things I wrote is that ‘The US is experiencing a dismantling of our civilization.’
I observed that the process predates Biden and Trump by decades.
Government malpractice during the Covid epidemic provided dramatic acceleration.
Recall the Rahm Emanuel statement, ‘Never let a crisis go to waste.’
NPR was on my wife’s clock radio this AM- their Corona panic report was as if it emanated from another universe- I guess at NPR it’s still late March of 2020, when we didn’t quite know what we were dealing with. The main problem, Covid-wise is that a significant number of people still believe that this is the black death. Here in my part of New England it’s a majority. I fully expect the teachers’ unions to push for a return to remote schooling. Amherst College is requiring masks for their OUTDOOR football games. And on and on
And that’s just Coronadoom news! 10000 Haitians just walking over the border… the whole trans thing, which is indicative that our public culture is completely disconnected with reality. Very pessimistic about the future my kids and grandkids are inheriting.
We’re a complete mess. Over the last several decades, we’ve voted in incompetent, unpatriotic Marxists into many key roles within all levels of the government (which includes the education systems). They have in turn appointed subordinates that share and support they’re ideologies, allowing their twisted filthy visions of human existence in our country to metastasize into a cancerous culture.
As with any cancer, it has to be completely eliminated if you want high odds of survival. There’s no negotiating with cancer cells to lessen their deadly affect on you, the same is true for these people. They’re lynch pin is HB1 to federalize our voting. If this gets through he system and voted into law, we are finished. There will be no further chance of regaining our wonderful country by peaceful, legal and constitutional methods.
Everyone MUST call their Congressional and Senatorial representation and let them know that if they support HB1, they’re political career is over !