 |
| Silverfiddle Rant! |
Ed West has made the provocative claim that the United States is coming to resemble the old Soviet Union in its last days, and that America is becoming its own worst enemy.
West explores many similarities, including...
West explores many similarities, including...
* Declining life expectancy
* Demographic decline caused by substance abuse
* Decline of wages, religion and childbirth
He also blames neo-progressivism, which brings with it a hostility to free speech and free thought, along with a Soviet-style rigid adherence to dogma...
Indeed, in its hostility to freedom of speech, its Manichean worldview, its suspicion that its opponents are fascists, and the belief that politics should be inserted into everything — from science to children’s books — it is closer to the totalitarian tradition. American progressivism is not communism, obviously, anymore than its opponents are Nazis; the market is perfectly capable of achieving most progressive goals, and America has become more culturally Left-wing as Right-wing economic policies have dominated, globalisation being the common theme that links the two.
Add in a failed Afghanistan invasion and social tribal warfare in the US, where some tribes enjoy official government favor, and it doesn't look good.
Please read the essay and tell us, what say you?
...in what is probably history’s least ever white supremacist country...
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if the author is only considering a narrow band of time, but this statement seems to utterly ignore the history of policing in this nation, as well as how we administered fellow 'sovereign' nations such as Panama....
Otherwise, it was an interesting read, but I don't really find comparisons to the demise of the Soviet Union comparable, outside of a thought exercise.
I must echo CI’s observation. It is an interesting read, but one that attempts to explain our national malaise as a shift toward Soviet Marxism, and I don’t see it. The problem is that political labels are too often confusing and too easily manipulated.
DeleteLiberalism is how we might define the efforts of those embracing enlightened philosophies to create a new nation. Somehow, liberalism became “far left,” and we had to redefine it for that to happen. There was nothing liberal about Soviet totalitarianism or Maoism.
But then we decided that the word liberalism wasn’t a sufficient description of leftist thought, so the leftists began calling themselves “progressives.” The label is recent, but the ideology has been with us now for well over 100 years. Wrapped in that cocoon were such issues as separate but equal, eugenics, the right to choose, equity, and more recently, reverse racism. Note that we have miraculously returned to “racially separate” as an unwritten Democratic Party platform by those very people who were its victims under earlier Democratic policies/agendas.
A political philosophy that transforms minority views as the only acceptable view or restricts our freedom to disagree is not progressive; it is regressive. Are we now marching toward a totalitarian regime such as existed in the Soviet Union? I don’t see that, but I do see an effort to silence the views of some of us simply because they are not views shared by all of us.
No, I think American leftism is a critter unique to our own culture, and I find much of it nonsensical. For example, the same guarantee of free speech that provided a pathway for bizarre leftist rhetoric is now under assault by the very people who benefitted from it.
To the author, I would say that while we have (too) many issues on our plates, we will not resolve them if we cannot render an adequately contextualized diagnosis. I am always wary of those who can expound upon our many problems without actually offering any meaningful (realistic) solutions. In this, I must accuse both sides of being all hat and no horse. On a positive note, the recent backlash concerning the adoption of Critical Race Theory in our classrooms seems (to me) an appropriate response. Let those who disagree voice their differing opinions. We’ll eventually work it all out without a gunshot to the back of the head, which is how the Soviets reacted to dissenting views.
Marxism is but one flavor of stupid. America's decline may be due to a different flavor of stupid. I think America's fault is an outsized sense of hubris that we can do anything, even make communism work.
DeleteUpon a bit more reflection, if you replace 'alcohol' with 'social media'....I can see more comparative aspects.
ReplyDeleteSocial media ... the modern version of opiate of the masses.
DeleteIt is addictive and influences opinion.
DeleteI don't think if influences opinion so much as it solidifies and reinforces it, makes thinking more rigid.
DeleteThere are a few more parallels between the collapsing Russia and today's America, including:
ReplyDelete• Our disregard for life and acceptance of abortion as a means of family planning
• Our dependence on foreign substances to avoid the pressures of the day
• The use of schools as a point of indoctrination rather than education
And, of course, the list can go on.
I'd say the last two at least, have been with us since the beginning of the nation. Difficult to say that they foretell our collapse...unless from the extremely slow-rolling perspective.
DeleteDoes anyone have a good definition of the term "white supremacy" these days?
ReplyDeleteYes.
ReplyDeleteEverything.
Quite a long read, but I took the time because you asked.
ReplyDeleteI found myself saying, "Yep. Yep. Yep. Knew that. Yep.
And when I got to the end I thought it was abrupt. I don't think he made the case.
The difference between Russia and us is that they had some national leaders to make the call.
We don't.
Agree on all points. I don't think he made the case either, but it was, as CI put it, an interesting thought exercise.
Delete