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Watching a Slow-Moving Train Wreck
I’m surrendering. Well, I’m pretty close to surrendering. We had a lively discussion on my most recent post; I worked very hard to point out not only how unjustly the Republicans have been accused of the problems in this country, but also how feckless the Republicans have been in responding to the lies. And I was hoping that all of us could identify not only the glimmers of hope that we are already seeing, but also what positive outcomes could unfold in the future. To your credit, you were honest and direct with me.
There’s little to no hope.
The train wreck has been in process for many years, and for the most part, people shrugged their shoulders: it’s been bad before; we’ve always turned it around; we’ll take care of the problems once we’re back in power; and other assurances.
But the future looks pretty dark right now.
Republicans are still wringing their hands. When we make progress in some areas, we’re still playing a game of whack-a-mole—ban one CRT program and another appears. The Progressives have no reluctance about lying, whether they are describing inflation, the border, or crime. And when they run out of lies, they can always blame Donald Trump and his MAGA constituents.
So, here I sit after clearing my head by cleaning out my refrigerator. (That’s how desperate I was.) After over 1,500 posts, what else do I have to say about the state of our culture and country? Yes, I know I have other subjects I enjoy writing about (religion, personal experience and reflections, even a few fun posts), but I feel compelled to do something to make my tiny contribution to help my country.
But am I doing anything helpful?
My problem is that I can’t imagine not doing or writing anything about our state of affairs. But what’s the point? How does that make a difference?
* * * *
I’m assuming that most of you are interested in current affairs, in particular, the state of our country and our politics. For myself, I read the WSJ, glance at the Orlando Sentinel and am not on any online platforms except this one.
How do you “hold” all the news in your mind and in your heart? Have you stopped reading newspapers? Do you discipline yourself to create a “news-free” zone in your head? Have you found a way to maintain a balance in your outlook and attitudes?
Or have you simply given up on our country? Can you tell me how you do that?
I have had my sad moments these eight years on Ricochet. But I’m just about at my lowest. The next two months seem like forever; the next two years seem like an eternity.
Can you offer suggestions for me, or others like me, for coping with the potential disaster ahead?
[photo courtesy of unsplash.com]
Published in Politics
Wrecked train . . .
They conjured up 81+ million votes for Biden in 2020. What makes you think they haven’t already stacked the decks of votes to be counted in November, 2022? Obama received 65.9 million votes in 2012 and Hillary received 65.8 million votes in 2016. There is no way that senile Joe Biden supposedly received 81.3 million votes campaigning from his basement in 2020. They have perfected cheating and the useful idiots who self-identify as Republicans for Democrats are their willing collaborators.
Prove me wrong.
What a gift you gave to your friends and neighbors! It must have been lovely. Everything you say is true, and encourages me to look to myself and own resources for “the truth.” I will also look at your palantir article a little later. Thanks, Keith
And the pity is that none of us are surprised at anything that comes out of the Pentagon.
Do you live there or are you on holidays?
I believe the Catholics say that Despair is a Sin. They may mean this in a theological context that I don’t understand or share, but the broader point is a good one.
I often think of the words of the British general Edward Spears, describing his feelings in the aftermath of Munich:
Like most people, I have had my private sorrows, but there is no loss that can compare with the agony of losing one’s country, and that is what some of us felt when England accepted Munich. All we believed in seemed to have lost substance.
The life of each of us has roots without which it must wither; these derive sustenance from the soil of our native land, its thoughts, its way of life, its magnificent history; the lineage of the British race is our inspiration. The past tells us what the future should be. When we threw the Czechs to the Nazi wolves, it seemed to me as if the beacon lit centuries ago, and ever since lighting our way, had suddenly gone out, and I could not see ahead.
Yet it was only two years after Munich that Britain demonstrated its magnificent resistance to Nazi conquest. Perhaps the United States of America will similarly rediscover its spirit.
I think it is best to limit one’s political involvement to only part of the day….most cable news, on whatever channel, is highly repetitive and not very deep. But don’t drop out totally, and don’t give up.
There is plenty that one can do. Contribute to campaigns where there is a solid candidate who has some chance of winning; a very useful tool is the collection of surveys here. Try to engage with those people on the other side or on the fence who seem rational enough to be potentially persuadable. Try to recruit new participants in Ricochet and other worthwhile venues that are refreshingly different from social media.
The consequences of failure are almost unimaginably bleak. (continued)
(continued from prior comment) Several years ago, I ran across an Iroquois Indian poem, which I found…unsettling..because of its possible parallels with our present situation. Read it again recently, and it gave me cold chills, for the same reason.
This is a memorial ode for Chief Red Jacket, but it is really a mourning song for much more.
Now listen, ye who established the Great League
Now it has become old
Now there is nothing but wilderness
Ye are in your graves who established it
Ye have taken it with you and you have placed it under you
And there is nothing left but desert
There you have taken your great minds
That which you established, you have taken with you
Ye have placed under your heads what ye have established
The Great League.
Woe, Woe! Hearken ye!
We are diminished
Woe, Woe!
The land has become a thicket
Woe, Woe!
The clear places are deserted
They are in their graves who established it
Woe, the Great League!
Yet they declared that it should endure!
The Great League, Woe!
Their work has grown old
We are become wretched. Woe!
(Chief John Buck, 1884)
Susan, here is what I suggest:
Get to know your neighbors, local food producers, and liberty minded members of your community. Talk to them face to face and get a group together who “gets it” and get coordinated to prepare for whatever fury is unleashed on us next. You can’t hang your hopes on a mid-term election, on a national or local leader, and certainly not on the news as others would have you believe it. Get out and get the info on what’s going on from individuals who’re living it and prepare accordingly. Grow a garden, get to the range and pop off a few rounds, and begin studying history more than current events because none of this is new (it never is) and the history can instruct us about how to live in the present.
For classified tattoos, be sure to find a parlor with the appropriate security clearance, and request that the tats be completely redacted. A good nerdy outdoor type tatoo would be an array of your merit badges for outdoorsmanship. (I never qualified for Boy Scouts , or Webelos, to be candid, so I just had them do a large tat of my cub scout troop number, in Morse Code, across my chest. I have gotten several compliments on it from elderly women who had washed out of Brownie Scouts.)
The feelings you have are exactly what the so-called progressives want you to have.
I want to deny them the pleasure of seeing me defeated or even watching me withdraw from the battle.
Palantir is not only an imaginary magical device in Tolkien, it is also a real company.
So much wisdom, David. I was especially inspired by the phrase I highlighted. Our Founders inspire me, too. Thanks.
Oh my. It is like reading our story, too.
Here you go:
Susan, count your multifarious blessings, starting with Jerry. Lean on iWe, and continue to publish your Torah essays-those help everyone, including non-Jews. Ignore “Bad Gary” by never reading, liking, or commenting on his posts. Look at how your personal and immediate community life has remained good for you. Especially, thank G-d that you live in Florida, one of the freest states in America! I like this song.
And remember that your Ricochet Family is one of the best blessings to have. We are always here for our family members.
Lastly, you might consider signing up for a free WordPress blog. You can publish your Ricochet essays there for the wider world to see, and post photos of places you visit. I helped Philo with his blog, and I’d be happy to help you with yours, too if you want. I find blog posts quite cathartic, and I publish often, now that I am not working.
And continue to support Hillsdale, which is the bright beacon of hope in a dark world. They are making a big difference, starting with their classical charter schools.
Susan, I suspect that I’m probably more dejected about the state of our country than you are. I’m more concerned about issues of morality and family, in which the news over the past 50 years or so has been the worst.
On the economic side, things aren’t so bad. People seem to think that things are much worse than they are. I can give you a couple of examples — you can look at the real GDP per capita chart (here) or the annual rate of inflation (CPI, here).
If you don’t want to click on the charts, the summary is that real GDP per capita is consistently up for the past 60+ years, with a few minor setbacks for recessions (including Covid). It has recovered from Covid. These are inflation-adjusted figures, and to pick a few years, real GDP per capita was:
The annual figures on inflation have been below 5% for every year since 1983 but one — 1990 — and have generally averaged around 2-3% for the last 20 years, since 1992. Last year — 2021 — was up a bit at 4.7%.
I do realize that we’ve had a year-over-year inflation spike this summer, with annual inflation in the 8-9% range. It really looks like this was primarily driven by a modest oil crisis relating to the Russo-Ukrainian War. I say “modest” in comparison to the big ones in 1973 and 1979, which coincided with the two big inflations spikes in the past 60 years. Notice that the only calendar year since 1983 in which inflation exceeded 5% (barely, that year, at 5.4%) was 1990, the year of the first Gulf War which caused a modest oil crisis.
So the economy seems pretty much OK. We could have a terrible depression that drove down our GDP by, say, 20%, and that would put us back to the living standards that we had in 2004, a prosperous time.
I don’t like the CRT, but this is just the latest rhetoric for the pro-black, anti-white racial discrimination policies that have been in place for our country for about 50 years now. Had you not noticed before? It is disappointing that there was some modest progress in rolling back this agenda, as with the state initiatives banning Black Privilege, oops, I mean “affirmative action” in higher education in some states, including California. Though in practice, the schools seemed to keep on giving race preferences in disguise, even when it was outlawed.
So, I think that the CRT thing is bad, but it’s nothing new.
What about crime? Well, you can see a graph of the violent crime rate here. (You can select back to 1985 as the start year for the graph, and it will show 1985-2020.)
Violent crime is up moderately since the recent low, which was in 2014 at 361.1 per 100,000. In 2020, it was 398.5, which was lower than 2010 (404.5). The recent peak was in 1991, when it was 758.2. Even in 1985, it was 558.1, about 40% higher than today.
Homicide was up more than overall violent crime, from 4.4 in 2014 to 6.5 in 2020. It’s probably up a bit more since then. However, it was higher — 6.8 — in 1997, and even higher before that, with a peak of 9.8 in 1991. In 1985, it was 8.0.
So, the crime situation is still much better than it was in the 1980s and 1990s. The trend is bad, but we’re already seeing political change from this.
Moving on to the next issue, immigration is bad, especially illegal immigration. But this has been uniformly bad for as long as I can remember, back to and including the Reagan years. Trump was the first President to make a serious effort to control illegal immigration in my lifetime. This does seem to be pretty popular. Even with control of both houses of Congress and the Presidency, the Democrats haven’t even passed the “Dreamer” legislation that they wanted.
My main concern is morality and family. Here, I think that the news is very bad. Our total fertility rate (TFR, here) is down to 1.6375 in 2020, the lowest ever (I think). At least, it’s the lowest in the linked graph, which starts in 1960 when the rate was far above replacement at 3.6540. (Replacement is about 2.1.) This was one of the main subjects of Nicholas Eberstadt’s recent podcasts here at Ricochet — he was on the flagship podcast, and Peter posted an Uncommon Knowledge interview.
If you look at the TFR graph, you see a precipitous decline from 1960 to 1976, part of which was probably abortion. It stayed below replacement from 1972 to 1990, when it recovered through 2008. I think that Eberstadt’s explanation for this first drop was not true below-replacement fertility, but rather a shift to women having their children later in life. The recent downturn, below replacement since 2009, seems to be more permanent.
This is bad news, in my view. It’s hardly a new problem. I think that it’s the natural consequence of what you aptly call a “slow-motion train wreck,” specifically in the family.
Marriage is way down. Sexual immorality and perversion, though, are way up. This seems to correlate to the counterfactual view that such people are just “born that way,” coupled with the bizarre moral premise that if a person is “born” inclined toward certain behavior, then that behavior must be OK.
Human “evolution” — or maybe devolution — in this area has been extraordinary. The latest Gallup poll result, earlier in 2022 (here), reports that LGBP identification “tick[ed] up to 7.1%,” but this is almost entirely among the younger generations. The figures are:
Somehow, the prevalence of a supposedly inborn characteristic increased almost 10-fold in three generations. Weird, isn’t it? Unless they’re not “born that way.”
There’s drug use and the deaths of despair.
There’s a serious decline in religiosity. I’m not going to explain this one in as much detail. I think that there is a feedback loop between family breakdown and loss of religiosity, which has been functioning for several generations now. Since God was driven out of the public schools by the Supreme Court, in my view.
So overall, things seem to be a mixed bag. It seems to me that overall, the Libertarian-minded ought to be pretty satisfied. (If they’re ever satisfied.)
I guess that I should mention foreign policy, too. We seem to be in a strange time, when a number of conservatives — myself included — are coming to prefer a more isolationist approach. This causes conflict within the conservative ranks, and even stranger to me, there seem to be some people who would like to see less foreign intervention and involvement, but get very upset when something doesn’t go very well overseas (like Afghanistan or Ukraine).
It is a bit of a mess.
We’ve been through a lot of contentious times before. The 60s and the Nixon years were pretty bad, it seems to me, though they were before my conscious memory. I do recall how much the Democrats hated Reagan, and how much we Republicans hated the Clintons, and how much the Democrats hated Bush 43. So the acrimony doesn’t seem particularly new.
The decline in Christianity is creating a major new fault line, I think, with the continued advance of the cult-like Wokeist ideology, but Wokeism seems to be essentially what’s been taught in our schools since the 1990s. Again, few conservatives seemed to notice. (My wife and I were a bit prescient about this, and started homeschooling about 22 years ago.)
So here I’ve written a long, long comment, and I’m not sure if I even have a point. :)
Maybe my point is that the economic and crime situations aren’t as bad as they may seem, but there are other serious problems.
The worst part is that I’m starting to dislike the country. The Democrats seem much worse than before, morally speaking, and this shift has been very sudden. Remember that in 2008, Obama ran on a platform opposing SSM, and in that year, California outlawed SSM by referendum.
This does seem to be what 50% or more of the country wants. They want sanctified sodomy, they want transsexual castration and mastectomy, they want abortion, they have no interest in promoting marriage (well, except among sodomites). So if this is what my fellow Americans believe, how am I supposed to like them?
I notice that they don’t like me, either.
As Eberstadt pointed out, this confluence of circumstances is leading our country to have an insufficient number of children. I suspect that much of it traces all the way back to first-wave feminism, which is so deeply rooted that there are hardly any who question its premises, even among conservatives. It sure seems to be a long-term societal suicide pact.
Yea, you are probably right, but he is not considering the “cool” factor when Brandon sends out his goon G-Men to knock on your door in the wee hours of the morning, and you answer it looking that – with twin IMI Desert Eagles chambered in .50 Action Express. We all got to leave this world at sometime, might as well do in style like Butch and Sundance.
It’s so sweet to have input from those who know me pretty darn well, RB. Excellent suggestions. The only exception is the personal blog; it feels like “work” to me, even if I used my Rico posts. But your specific input is great! Thanks so much!
Hahahahaha !
Doc, I fully expect that we will drag ourselves out of this hole – I don’t know how long it will take, or what it will entails or how much it will cost, but it will get done with God’s help. Whether some of us like it or not.
I haven’t read any of the comments except I skimmed through Jerry’s long #76 comment and I generally agree.
I have some food for thought. It seems to me that deeply political people on both sides of the aisle feel the way you do, Susan. I think the politically active democrats are just as alarmed that the country is going all to Heck and they are just as disturbed. It’s hard to tell which side is more miserable.
I may be wrong, but I attribute all this political misery to the advent of the 24 hour news cycle and the instant access to information on the Internet. These two technological advances act as high octane fuel for stoking the the outrage engines in our brains. We’ve known for years that the news business in general only gives you troubling and incendiary stories and pretty much bypasses anything that is uplifting and wholesome. Just as I learned in my English classes that a novel (or story) must have conflict (man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs.himself) in order to interest the reader, news broadcasts thrive off the same principle – drama. I’ve always considered news to be a form of entertainment and I take it with a grain of salt.
I’m a relative newcomer to the Internet (close to ten years now because I never before had a computer). One thing I’ve noticed is that perhaps more than half of political coverage and commentary is devoted to being outraged over what some pundit or politician “said” as opposed to actual events. We have whole posts on Ricochet devoted to “can you believe what this guy said?” I even had fun posting one.
But I think this dwelling on outrage does little good and just makes everybody constantly miserable. We never had so many opportunities to be outraged when I was growing up because we had no cell phones or computers. We mostly dealt with people who were physically near us, and people are much less apt to give you their unsolicited and unfiltered opinions to your face. That is probably a good thing. It causes fewer people on the edge to “go postal.”
Although I only skimmed, Jerry’s statistics, they seem reasonable that the actual situation is not as dire as one might think, and is a mixed bag. Crime really was much worse in the 1980’s. Riots and bombings were more deadly in the 1960’s and 70’s. (And how about that actual Civil War in 1860?) But it never seemed like it because we never had it broadcast in front of our faces 24 hours a day.
Try staying away from any news, commentary, or Internet current events for a week. Even stay away from Ricochet. I’d be curious if it makes a difference or not.
I may be wrong, but I attribute all this political misery to the advent of the 24 hour news cycle and the instant access to information on the Internet. These two technological advances act as high octane fuel for stoking the the outrage engines in our brains. We’ve known for years that the news business in general only gives you troubling and incendiary stories and pretty much bypasses anything that is uplifting and wholesome. Just as I learned in my English classes that a novel (or story) must have conflict (man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs.himself) in order to interest the reader, news broadcasts thrive off the same principle – drama. I’ve always considered news to be a form of entertainment and I take it with a grain of salt.
The politically active progressives are alarmed that they haven’t won already.
This was supposed to be a cakewalk.
The post used the metaphor of a Train Wreck. Reminiscent of a poem remembered by Churchill during the era of Appeasement. Here is the portion that Churchill quoted in his memoirs:
Who is in charge of the clattering train?
The axles creak and the couplings strain;
And the pace is hot, and the points are near
And Sleep has deadened the driver’s ear;
And the signals flash through the night in vain,
For Death is in charge of the clattering train.
The complete poem can be found here.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Steve. I probably would be better off taking some time away. I’m not on any of the platforms, so I just visit Ricochet. And your comment about outrage is especially apt; I try to limit my own outrage to items I find truly intolerable. Fortunately, those stories are much fewer in number.
After all is said and done, there’s a lot more said than done.
— Aesop
You are hitting homeruns today, David. What a powerful poem! And speaks to our times as well. Thanks.
My suggestion? Put not your faith in princes. Actually, that’s not original to me. ;-)
We expend too much time and energy on politics. That’s the Left’s religion, not ours.
I suppose I’m one of those “Eeyores” here on Ricochet, but I really think that’s the hazard of written expression. I do not live my life in gloom. My therapist calls what I do “productive distraction.” I’m involved in the music ministry at church (choir), I’m a long-time participant in our Small Catholic Community Bible study, I try to serve others and take some of the load off my boss at work, I’m active in the gardening community and on the committee that plans the annual local garden tour, I have kids to care for, a household to maintain, dogs to walk, piano to play, beauty to create in the landscape and with some amateur photography. . .
I don’t believe we’ll come out of this as a country/society. I’m not going to let that diminish my life or become ungrateful for “winning the lottery” as my sister Trink says by having the good fortune to be born into my family in these United States. We’re so blessed.
Now, there’s a whole different comment to be made about the sanctifying value of suffering, but I’ll try to finish on a positive note. Maybe we’ll get lucky and experience a eucatastrophe.
If you really think that elections are rigged and that the FBI and the CIA and a host of other government agencies are out to get you, in that case pessimism is the correct response. Panic would be the correct response.
Not only that. If elections in the US are rigged and the Deep State of the federal government are out to get you, then the smart thing to do is to leave the country as soon as possible.
Think of people who left Vietnam after the Communists took over. Think of the people who left Cuba after Castro took over.
If things are as bad as some people think they are, then volunteering for a presidential campaign in 2024 isn’t a response in line with the situation.
It’s just that I don’t think that American elections are rigged and I don’t think that the FBI and the CIA are trying to put me six feet under.
In fact, I think of myself as pretty darned lucky to be living in the USA and not a multitude of other countries around the globe. I am glad I don’t live in Congo or Somalia or El Salvador or Honduras.
I do think that if we participate in election contests, we can have a positive impact. If we talk to our friends and neighbors about the public policy issues they care about, we can persuade people that we have solutions to the problems that concern them. All is not lost. Not by a long shot.
You are one talented and busy woman! I’m familiar with many of the things you do, and how demanding they are. We share some of the same kinds of activities. But you’ve brought to mind my debilitating habit of getting ahead of myself, instead of being with “what is.” Although life calls on us to plan ahead, if we do that too often, we miss this moment. That moment is too precious to throw away. Thanks for sharing , WC.
What’s the over/under that they will be followed/enforced?