The awakening republic
A cosmic battle for the soul of the future
In my last three posts I talked about three major areas of changes we are going through:
I compared our attitudes toward them to sleepwalking, a subconscious activity with little connection to the reality around us. But sleepwalking is dangerous, as it can lead to a rude (and painful) awakening. We should face our future with our eyes open. We do not have to agree, but we MUST understand what is happening and what our options are.
The first thing we need to understand is that these aspects cannot possibly be separated as they are in many ways dependent on and feeding on each other.
The second thing to consider is that there is nothing new here. The battle over the direction of geopolitics, the welfare state and the new industrial revolution are just the latest manifestations of the cosmic battle between good and evil, the collectivists and the individualists, socialists and free-marketers; between centralized versus distributed decision making.
The third thing to keep in mind is that we can only talk about directions. The turmoil we are facing is the inevitable change of direction of a pendulum.
With a somewhat simplified formulation, there are two visions for our future:
The end of history
A globalized continuation of what we have with a benevolent hegemon overseeing peaceful cooperation of democratic countries.
Protecting democracy at home necessitates spreading it abroad.
Under its well-meaning leadership and protection, international organizations will help the little countries with their little people to get on and stay on the righteous path.
The US will always retain its power and position as a global hegemon. The US and NATO has a moral obligation to fight anyone opposed to their righteous aims.
The harmonization of policies, regulations and taxation is necessary to create equity and comparable standards of living in democratic countries.Domestically and economically, the assumption is that nothing will really change, we will just have to execute the plan until we reach the idealized manifestation of the vision. The fundamentals will be the same, the power structures will be the same. The budget will fix itself and there is no limit to what well-meaning technocrats and politicians can achieve. We just have to make the right investments in the future with the money collected from those who do not pay their fair share.
Doing the right things will create societies with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. A rainbow society where we will be all equal in our differences.
The only thing that stands in the way is the forces of evil. The unenlightened masses of deplorables, fascists, racists, sexists, homophobes, misogynist; antivaxxers, climate, science, gender diversity and election deniers; religious nuts, anti-abortionists, gun rights advocates, conspiracy theorists, dis-, mis-, and mal-information and hate-speech spreaders.
Any and all opponents or critics of the noble goals, or any details of its implementation.Any and all action against them is justified. They do not deserve constitutional protection. They do not deserve due process.
The essence of this vision is perfectly illustrated by the Obama election campaign slide-show about ‘The life of Julia’ that is entirely controlled by the government, in a benevolent, condescending way, of course. So does the WEF video of the future:
The end of insanity
The alternative vision starts with the recognition of the delusional nature of the above. As I pointed out in Sleepwalking into a new reality, the system is not only bankrupt politically, socially, economically and morally, but the vision and the attitudes described above are directly responsible for it.
Hanging on to ideology is responsible for it.
Lies, propaganda and narratives are responsible for it.
The political left in the West is irredeemably corrupt. Special interests corrupted the sciences, the media, politics and culture with the clear drive to exploit our weaknesses to profit from them.
The whole world is suffering from the corrupting power of dark forces:
Regulators, politicians and bureaucrats serving the rent-seeking interests of globalists, multinationals, philanthropaths, and a whole slew of industries and special interest groups.
The ultimate interest of all of these groups is the keep the system corruptible, and therefore, exploitable.
The most important lesson we should have learned from communism is that
A good future cannot be built on lies and empty promises
The alternative vision for the future is powered by the desire of returning to reality.
The recognition that:
Doubling down on insanity will not cure it.
Ignoring reality will not change it.
Believing that you can turn into a chipmunk will not make it happen.
Believing in the ‘free lunch’ will not make it free.
Eschewing responsibility will not make us free from it.
Kicking the can of reckoning down the road will not save us from it, it will only make it worse.
Pretending that we are not just the biggest but the only dog in the courtyard will not save us if the rest gangs up on us.
If you start a fight, YOU may end up with the bloody nose.
Virtue signaling is NOT morality.
This vision rests on the belief that constitutionally guaranteed freedoms should protect us from the ‘democratic’ dictatorship of the majority.
That any kind of tyranny, no matter how ‘benevolent’ should be resisted.
That the freedom of speech, bodily autonomy, the right to self-defense, equality before the law, due process should overrule any ‘democratic’ edict.
The vision for demokratcy is different:
titled her book “Democracy Awakening” The meme above illustrates perfectly her concept of democracy, and she is not alone. Just search Amazon for “awakening democracy” and you’ll find a dozen more.
The beginning of the future
The future should begin with the wisdom of Yogi Berra:
“Its is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.”
Today is the 4th of November 2024, and I don’t even know what will happen tomorrow.
All I know is that whatever happens, it will have far-reaching consequences.
We could end up with another US civil war or World War 3.
What I do know, is that this is a cosmic battle for the soul and future of Western civilization.
We will either go in the direction of a centralized, totalitarian tyranny, or in the direction of a seriously limited, checked and balanced republican democracy.
But I am keeping my expectations very low. I found the first Trump presidency disappointing. He is no libertarian, yet he is the man of the hour, the champion of the righteous cause
If he wins tomorrow, that will be a sign of the awakening of the republic.
I want to leave you with a simple question:
What is the gravest threat to our ‘democracies’: Our delusional expectations, corruption or oppression?
Let me know in the comments.
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More from here
You may also want to check out my political systems series:
(with further links in this post:
Notes
WEF by 2030 You’ll own nothing And you’ll be happy
As I was writing this, I came across a video providing a perfect example of the rot.
Watch to the end for the final point.
The Horrific Economy of Canada Explained
Amongst many incalculable variables influencing the future, two stand out to me as fairly well defined: the nature of state legitimacy and the path of fiscal deterioration.
The West has come to rely for legitimacy entirely on competence. All other possible sources (divine ordination, nation, race, class) have fallen by the wayside. ‚Experts‘ are going to guide us to a better life. This system lacks any nod towards transcendence and is preoccupied with positive outcomes. Even climate change and net zero are sold in terms of real-world improvements (cheaper energy, new green jobs). There is an eschatological element to the climate cult but it’s not its major driving force.
At the same time the fiscal path in all major Western economies is set for disaster due to unfunded liabilities. The unfunded aspect means that these obligations are off book for the most part but no less real. They amount to around 6 times GDP in the US and Germany, even more in England and France, Italy and Spain are failed states for all practical purposes. At the same time there is neither political will or even possibility for any reform as it would destroy the ‚Expert‘ ethos (the last realistic time for sound reforms was around 2005 anyway).
It is unlikely that the fiscal disaster will result in a visible shock but rather in a prolonged deterioration of living standards, caused mostly by inflating the liabilities away. In this scenario the United States are well placed to fare better in a last man standing sort of way. Since the raison d‘être of the expert class is the production of good outcomes, the contrast between (relatively) good USA and bad EU will over time undermine and then destroy the ethos of the expert. My model here is East Germany the population of which was keenly aware of the relative success of their West German compatriots since most East Germans could receive West German television and its product advertisements. Communist eschatology didn’t survive the contrast. Likewise the dominance of American entertainment will put the ever-widening gap in living standards in sharp relief.
As to a timeline, 2030 is the point of no return for unfunded liabilities; add 15 years for the truth to sink in and by 2045 ‚expert‘ will have become a dirty word.
Thanks Zork.