Victor Davis Hanson surveys the condition of the world and concludes that it is regressing to a previous condition. He sees that as a good thing, believing that the institutions, customs and traditions that held sway then will return. While I generally find it difficult to disagree with Mr. Hanson, I cannot be as optimistic as he.
His assessment regarding the US is that we are going counter to the worldwide trend:
As European socialism implodes, for some reason a new statist U.S. government wants to copy failure by taking over ever more of the economy and borrowing trillions more to provide additional entitlements.
As panicky old allies look for American protection, we talk of slashing our defense budget. In apologetic fashion, we spend more time appeasing confident enemies than buttressing worried friends.
Instead of finishing our border fence and closing the southern border, we are suing a state that is trying to enforce immigration laws that the federal government will not apply. And as sectarianism spreads abroad, we at home still pursue the failed salad bowl and caricature the once-successful American melting pot.
On this assessment, we agree. When, whether or how we reverse this situation is unknowable today.
The world, at least the westernized world, has lived beyond its means too long. The bills are coming due and they cannot be paid. While the profligacy has been both public and private, it is the public sector that is unsustainable. It is hard to see how the entitlement culture that has been created and encouraged will allow their lives to be made harder without resistance. The very word “entitlement” must have been created by a government marketing guru. After years of “branding,” recipients of these programs believe they have the right to be supported by others.
Mr. Hanson’s long-term assessment may be correct, however the short-term may represent a hell rarely experienced. In the US, the transition from where we are to where we should be could approximate the a period like the Revolution or Civil War. I hope not, but the dismantling of the welfare state, if indeed politicians have the courage to tackle the job, will be ugly.
If the government chooses not to engage, and they show no signs of it in the US, markets will do the job for them. The economy will eventually collapse, ensuring greater ugliness than if the change were politically managed.
I wish I could have Mr. Hanson’s optimism in the short-term. I am not sure I have it in the long term, unless that is defined as many decades ahead.
Business as Usual
Signs of A Dying Country
Capital Flows to Where It is Treated Best
Time Can and Is "Running Back"
The New Hell of ObamaCare
Teaparty Sentiment
At its most fundamental level, the problem is not how to pay for the needed changes, the problem isn’t even the entitlement mentality, difficult as those obstacles will be to surmount, at heart the problem is the post-modern paradigm of the left.
See: POSTMODERNISM AND THE LEFT: A PERFECT STORM (scroll down to fifth post)
Until that paradigm and Weltanschauung (world-view) is completely discredited, those who ascribe to that view, whether consciously or unconsciously, will do their utmost to block any needed changes from being successfully implemented. It’s a virtual certainty that the Obama Administration, Democrats in Congress, the MSM, George Soros, public and private labor unions, liberal/leftist organizations such as NOW, etc., etc. will, after the mid-terms, wage political war to prevent a return to the memes that once fully animated this nation.
What factor could discredit such an entrenched paradigm? Can anyone or anything overcome the societal inertia and adamant defense sure to be waged by post-modernism’s adherents?
Yes, but there is only one thing that could suffice…reality itself.
Reality, as we all know, can be a harsh taskmaster and the ‘cure’ (of which economic collapse is but one factor) may well kill the patient but any other ‘solution’ attempted, shall prove ultimately futile.
When considering the left and its post modernistic Weltanschauung, one fundamental factor must be kept uppermost in mind to maintain a proper perspective. Post-modernism is a nihilistic philosophy of failure, this is so because it is literally opposed to reality. Post modernism’s child, socialism, contends with reality as well but in the end, reality always wins…
As Margaret Thatcher famously observed,
“The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money to spend”
Europe is about to do so and as Monty has pointed out, virtually every western nation is now insolvent.
Monty is also correct when he observes that, “Mr Hanson’s long-term assessment may be correct, however the short-term may represent a hell rarely experienced.”
Unfortunately, the sicker the patient, the more extreme the cure needed. The danger, of course is social upheaval and the threat of demagogues.
I read Mr. Hanson’s column. I did not perceive any real optimism…merely a realistic accounting of our dismal situation.
The optimism, in my opinion, is in his close:
“But just as old problems return, so do equally old solutions. Once-stodgy ideas like a free-market economy, strong defense, secure borders, and national unity are suddenly appearing fresh and wise.”
If these solutions were able to be applied, I agree that the world would change quickly. However, the current regime appears to be against every one of these “solutions.”
I recognize that the current regime may shortly be referred to as the “prior” regime. However, the ability to do some of these things is dependent upon the ability to pay for them. A new cast of characters must still dismantle the welfare state in order to save the economy and country. That I do not see happening, at least via the traditional political process.