***chuckles***Well this is off the OT but since everyone wants to blame somebody vs figuring out what to do
To be honest, I don't see you getting into the weeds of specifics about how to change the current trajectory, either.
To put a not too fine point on my argument, I see a resentment-filled, perennially enraged White conservative majority blindly lashing out against whatever and whoever, and throwing their still considerable electoral weight behind Trump exactly because of his vulgarity and resentful language. PC, women, minorities, immigrants, whatever non-white groups he points to, they hate upon. That is the main marker of the current downward trajectory. It is extensible, as the thieving Chinese, the mooching Europeans, the immigrant-sending Central and South Americans, not to mention Muslims, can just as easily be made into scapegoats for what is, essentially, a White majority soon reduced to plurality status, and an empire in decline, to be superseded by the up and coming Chinese. So, those who understood themselves to be the rulers of both society at home and the world at large are facing a dethroning, which many seem to interpret, vaguely, as some sort of personal status loss. The reaction to that is somewhat understandable anger, particularly if coupled with, mostly among White working men, a severe decline in prospects and purchasing power, in conjunction with even worse prospects for their kids.
That, I am convinced, is the situation we're facing. There is next to nothing that can be done about the rise of the Chinese, there is next to be done about demographic changes, the only aspect that might be changed is a restoration of workers' bargaining power so as to increase their size of the economic pie, and guess who is most strenuously opposed to that...
"I see a resentment-filled, perennially enraged White conservative majority"
What a difference a word makes! Where you say 'majority" I say "minority." I agree with most everything else in that context. There is a whole country full of white people who are disgusted with the whole thing...but feel that they keep getting poor choices..and I agree with them.
I would point out that the single data point of Race does not define the entirety of the economic story. White people own the vast majority of wealth in this country...and most of the political apparatus..just sayin'.....and if you consider substituting "Mainstream" For "White"----not nearly as much is going to change as some might think...nor as quickly.
This is why I'm not so panicked as the OP is...I see transformation where he see's dissolution. But is still true...that if we don't solve our problems regarding population and resource the point could be moot...I'll grant you that--but I think tech is the only viable answer to that..and tech requires a high functioning society. So I don't want stupid/and or crazy running my govt..
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