I'm not really an alarmist. I find most apocalyptical claims to be specious. However, I would keep my eye on the convergence of three things that COULD prove to be a powder-keg: 1.) The rising frustration and anger with the bureaucratic/administrative state - its rise and unaccountable nature and unchecked powers are alarming; 2.) The "t…
I'm not really an alarmist. I find most apocalyptical claims to be specious. However, I would keep my eye on the convergence of three things that COULD prove to be a powder-keg: 1.) The rising frustration and anger with the bureaucratic/administrative state - its rise and unaccountable nature and unchecked powers are alarming; 2.) The "total state" - as Auron McIntyre calls it - has become exhausting to many. Not a week goes by that I don't hear of someone seemingly at their wits end about why everything in the world must be politicized; 3.) The ping-pong game of legislation between red and blues states and the associated re-sorting of the population into ideological groups. This 3rd area is the most troubling. We literally have states going to legislative war with one another, passing legislation that can effectively criminalize a person once they've crossed state lines.
A common theme in books on the origins of World War I is how few people anticipated the coming war. Chronicles has a good article this month on the disputed 1876 Presidential Election. Essentially, the Democrats agreed to overlook Republican cheating in exchange for the removal of all Federal troops in the South. The Federal government played a much smaller role in people's lives back then. Today, people have no faith in institutions and a very low opinion of elites. It wouldn't take that much to trigger another upheaval.
I'm not really an alarmist. I find most apocalyptical claims to be specious. However, I would keep my eye on the convergence of three things that COULD prove to be a powder-keg: 1.) The rising frustration and anger with the bureaucratic/administrative state - its rise and unaccountable nature and unchecked powers are alarming; 2.) The "total state" - as Auron McIntyre calls it - has become exhausting to many. Not a week goes by that I don't hear of someone seemingly at their wits end about why everything in the world must be politicized; 3.) The ping-pong game of legislation between red and blues states and the associated re-sorting of the population into ideological groups. This 3rd area is the most troubling. We literally have states going to legislative war with one another, passing legislation that can effectively criminalize a person once they've crossed state lines.
A common theme in books on the origins of World War I is how few people anticipated the coming war. Chronicles has a good article this month on the disputed 1876 Presidential Election. Essentially, the Democrats agreed to overlook Republican cheating in exchange for the removal of all Federal troops in the South. The Federal government played a much smaller role in people's lives back then. Today, people have no faith in institutions and a very low opinion of elites. It wouldn't take that much to trigger another upheaval.
https://chroniclesmagazine.org/view/as-american-as-a-stolen-election/