Generational Dynamics Forum - New Site

I was flipping though old files when I bumped into "For Thou Art With Us", an account of the towers collapse from someone who was near them on September 11. It seems that we have compartmentalized the events of that day. The emotional content has been put away, subverted by a ton of stuff that has happened since.

It is worth remembering.

https://tomatonation.com/stories-true-and-otherwise/for-thou-art-with-us/

Back can college, I took a an intro to philosophy course. On the first day, the young professor started out with a non philosophical problem. A man was looking for a squirrel on a tree. The squirrel did not want to be seen, and kept the on the far side of the tree as the man circled it. The question? Did the man go around the squirrel?

My response? “Define around.” He never did. His strategy had been however one defined around to use another definition. Didn’t work if you went to the heart of the problem. To him, philosophy consisted about an argument about definitions. Their meaning, the actual philosophy, was unimportant.

Much later he gave an assignment on duty. His readings included a German who emphasized duty to one’s country, a Frenchman who centered on duty to God, and an American who was into what one owed to family. I answered that the three were much the same. The most important aspect of their life and culture was emphasized. The professor objected firmly. They were the three most diverse approaches he could come up with. The same? Yes, if you wanted to explore the nature of duty.

I view politics much the same way. In an urban community, people are close together. It makes sense that the specialize on specific tasks. Rural folk are more spread out, more independent. They do stuff themselves. One’s cultural and environmental differences can affect one’s practical choices.

Ideally, federalism could reflect that. States or local governments could provide services wanted and needed. Dream on? The problem is a federal government which wants to implement one true policy universally. Buzz. Wrong. The urban and rural populations will always want something different, will be in constant conflict.

Problem easily seen. What should be done about it?

Hmm... The major power that anchored the West since the Greatest Generation has been the US. With Trump's tariff obsession, he is a least temporary organizing a new international order excluding the US and much of its advanced industrial base. I'm really confident that this is short term, that domestically the lessons learned are to reject MAGA.

Putin has lost. It is only a matter of time.

China? They are near economic collapse. If they go after Taiwan, they will lose their new economic place in the tariff world order. In addition, while I would hardly want to fight a land war with China, a sea war with the US is highly problematic. The CCP would have to be pretty desperate to initiate that.

That leaves the Middle East as a mess. Israel and Trump are into seizing land on a racist basis, the very excuse for creating Israel. Still, the Arabs are reluctant to rebel against their autocratic governments. As long as that remains true, their people and those who rule end up at odds. That will be a mess indefinitely.. Domestically, it comes down tw there is twice the Jewish population in the US as Arab. Both US parties follow the votes. It is that simple. I'd say that puts us on the same side as the racists, but both sides are racists. It is hard for me to root for either side. Violence costs, and racist violence is a senseless cost. Whether anyone is capable of learning that is doubtful. If one basic theme of Generational Dynamics is to persecute, hate and kill the different, look to the Middle East as the cost.

Basically, conquest, racism and economic wildness have been catastrophic. While a rejection of MAGA might be the shortcut, internationally those three lessons learned are the resolution to the crisis. I think they will be well and truly learned.

[quote="Bob Butler" post_id=91472 time=1752577716 user_id=3010]
[quote=FullMoon post_id=91466 time=1752548479 user_id=3072]Maybe the worst part is that there's far too many who overestimate our own power and ability and underestimate the position that we're in.
[/quote]

I sympathize with FullMoon here.

I see Trump going through the same mental deterioration as his father, with overt loyalty to him combined with quiet agendas being rampant. MAGA seems to be a personality cult. The lesson learned from this crisis might be reasonably summarized as no more MAGA, even among the rural population.

But we'll see.
[/quote]

Domestic issues are small and not a big part of the crisis period because it's a global crisis involving most of the major power centers of the world. Everything is falling apart quite spectacularly, everything that wa built by the hero generation who won WW2. It quite sad how degenerated it all became but it is following the theory of degeneration and dissolution of the existing social order. Bob should get himself familiar with the theory and vernacular of the 4th turning. We're facing an EXISTENTIAL crisis and although it is partially a domestic squabble, we're already in WW3! Russia has already admitted to that effect because they're at that point in Europe. The ME war is only on a short term pause and China is ready for Taiwan.
Trump's problem is that he's surrounded by and heavily influenced by people who don't understand the complexity, difficulty and danger of the situation. They overestimate the value of our military strengths. Our government and society have been on an unsustainable path for a long time and everyone knew that it couldn't last. The detriment of Trump in office is that he might not make the best decisions when only the best decisions will prevent our defeat. The benefit of Trump is that he has shown the ability to make independent decisions and it could be very helpful for when those critical times arise and he's getting lots of different (and bad) advice.

[quote=FullMoon post_id=91466 time=1752548479 user_id=3072]Maybe the worst part is that there's far too many who overestimate our own power and ability and underestimate the position that we're in.
[/quote]

I sympathize with FullMoon here.

I see Trump going through the same mental deterioration as his father, with overt loyalty to him combined with quiet agendas being rampant. MAGA seems to be a personality cult. The lesson learned from this crisis might be reasonably summarized as no more MAGA, even among the rural population.

But we'll see.

[quote=spottybrowncow post_id=91445 time=1752279081 user_id=3064]
Trying to please everyone is a fool's errand.
Trying to please the people who voted you into office is the best way to stay in control.
He's doing a pretty damned spectacular job of that.
[/quote]

How about the Epstein fiasco still in progress? and the start of a ME war together with an escalation in the Russian war coming from a platform that loudly proclaimed himself to be a President of peace? I'm sure there's plenty of details that could lessen the severity of these horrible sounding betrayals but they are what they are. I personally am not sure there's a master plan and that's why I doubted his ability to be the Grey Champion. The future of our country is surely at stake and the decisions being made and the people making them should make any rational person fill with a sense of dread. Because we know that what we're very close to is something quite horrible indeed and the worst outcome can only be avoided by making the best of decisions on probably multiple occasions. Maybe the worst part is that there's far too many who overestimate our own power and ability and underestimate the position that we're in.

Well, wrong. His obsession with tariff based economics is rewriting world economics to eliminate America and American jobs. His racist attitute towards latinos and jews is getting him into legal and conflict trouble. His popularity is tanking.

Belief in a political ideology can divorce one's relationship with reality. If a fact doesn't mesh with reality, it gets discarded. You might want to check yourself.

Trying to please everyone is a fool's errand.
Trying to please the people who voted you into office is the best way to stay in control.
He's doing a pretty damned spectacular job of that.

It seems that a lot of Americans get some form of benefit from the federal government, be it weather prediction, medicare, tax breaks or whatever. Many of the recent money saving service reducing actions make somebody mad, shifting votes for the future. Trump is going to be leaving politics, between the two term limit and senility. How long the Republicans will put up with his alienating voters is the question. His administration seems built on loyalty rather than competence, but even then folks like Musk are jumping ship.

We’ll see,

Technically, 'Congress shall make no law' does not cover the current situation. Congress allocated the funds. The executive just reallocated them. Yet, Congress is supposed to spend money, the executive just supervise the execution.

Still, it rubs me wrong.

I do see Liberty University, Notre Dame and Boston College subtly (or not so subtly) slanting their teachings to reflect various religious points of view. Should the government try to control their agendas and teachings, or is this a conservative one way street?

Anyway...