At The American Conservative Robert Merry is stewing about the crumbling of the status quo:
When the status quo begins to crumble, the natural reaction of most people is denial. We cling to what we know, and the specter of the unknown often sends shivers down our spines. But eventually events overwhelm the denial and mock the shivers. That is going to happen in coming years with increasing frequency because the status quo is fraying in many realms of politics and geopolitics. Denial is rampant.
Perhaps the best prism through which to view this phenomenon is what we might call “sustainability.†What do we see happening in America and the world that is not sustainable and yet is not recognized as such? As it turns out, quite a lot.
Consider the recent report that Social Security costs will exceed the program’s income next year, which means Social Security will have to begin dipping into its $3 trillion trust fund to maintain benefit payments. And that trust fund, under current projections, will run out of money within 15 years.
He goes on to analyze the public debt, immigration, unipolarity as an objective of American foreign policy, and our policy with respect to Iran in a similar vein, characterizing all as “unsustainable”. I think he’s overly optimistic.
Social Security, the increase in the public debt, and our excessively truculent foreign policy can all maintain their present courses for quite a long time. Social Security may be reformed if the political heat rises enough. It’s hard to see how we limit the increase in the public debt. That has practically no constituency at this point. The preponderance of the evidence suggests that of itself it will retard economic growth but that will be dismissed as a systemic problem.
My toe in the water suggests that illegal immigration has reached a point at which pushback is beginning. How strident or determined that will be remains to be seen.
Unipolarity as an objective of American foreign policy and our policy with respect to Iran will be obviously increasingly absurd. How long we will hold onto them as their absurdity becomes more obvious remains to be seen.
There are other unsustainabilities. The concentration of wealth in the hands of the top .1% is nearing its highest level in American history, the greatest since the Great Depression. Political polarization is at its highest level certainly in my lifetime and probably since the end of the Civil War. Is that sustainable?
There is quite a bit of breastbeating in the media right now about the terrible murders in a synagogue in California. Not to rain on anyone’s parade but we’d best get used to it. There will always be crazy or just plain malicious people and there will always be means for them to act out their real or imagined grievances. There are no foreseeable measures that will completely eliminate such awful acts and, as the population grows, their incidence will increase.
Hope I am not the only one to appreciate the irony of a conservative worrying about our national debt. I guess I should be grateful that there are at least still a few who are concerned. Or we can just wait until a Democrat is in office again when it will become a big issue.
Have to agree that our foreign policy is stuck. It’s almost like we go looking for places to be at war. We may be having pushback on illegal immigration, but it started at a time when it was at low levels, and the efforts have been stupid, the kindest term I think I can use. The wealthy now control our top political offices, our media, our think tanks and our businesses. I dont really see that changing, just getting worse. Half the country thinks the tis actually good and the other half thinks it is bad but has no answer for it.
We just recently argued about whether the political polarity is sustainable. The next election will help make it clear if it is sustainable. I think it is for quite bit longer. I think we will just see each side going to more extreme measures to get back at the other side. I am sure there is something that will be the last straw, I just dont what that will be.
Steve
There are very, very few conservatives in American politics today. There are social conservatives. There are neo-conservatives. There are Trumpian Republicans about whom there is very little conservative. There are anarcho-capitalists, minarchists, and libertarians.
On the other side of the political spectrum there are very few liberals left, either. There are progressives, socialists, statist technocrats, interventionists, and left-libertarians but there isn’t much liberal about any of them.
I can’t see evidence that it is known what a conservative is. I’ll go out on a limb and offer my definition.
A conservative man marries the woman of his choice, and stands by her, and provides for her, and the children they produce, for better or for worse, till death do them part.
A conservative man keeps his word, pays his debts and bills, holds his own council within his conscience, and will be generous with what he has when need arises.
A conservative man knows his nation must be ready for the worst in war, and accept any sacrifice, to preserve freedom, which is hard won, and easily lost.
A conservative man puts his trust in God, at the same time knowing God requires him to prepare to protect.
A conservative man holds principles dear, pointing out sin where it occurs, but without judgement which comes only from God.
A conservative man sees all the “advances” in society in the last 20 years as the moral errors they are. Sin. Redeemable sin. And is patient with his fellow man, waiting and persevering, as sinful ways will in time reveal themselves as the secular humanist errors they are.
We are not the enemy of the Progressive, but more the the warm hearth to which you shall return.
That’s not a “conservative man”. That’s a man.