I've been sickened to the core at Ws unlikely resurrection from the most-hated president to love-in member knighted exclusively by the Obamas at McCain's funeral.

No one is outraged.  No one cares.  No one remembers? 

The current president has foment no war, ordered no killing on the war front.  Yet, we immediately term this as "worse" and gloss over this contrast as if  never existed and never lied to EVERYONE with racism that actually ended in genocide in the Arabian Peninsula. 

Did W tell us "Ayrabs hate us because we are free and that's why they knocked down the WTC"? 

Did this happen or not?  I see no one acknowledging it.

The lie in bold above is the PLATFORM and FOUNDATION probably of all future wars America will be involved in - in the near future at least.  W helped lay the foundation (with the patriot act) that would allow the current maniac and anyone else in power to wage war with much greater ease than any before. 

The fact the public consciousness has sort of skipped over W by branding current the "worst" causes my gut to flip over.  Let's be real.

I am NOT baiting.  This is a serious issue we need to ask if we are prognosticating with current events.  If we are truly just erasing things in the past and glossing over things like this in the present, we have no frakking hope at all.  People in this forum I have a higher respect for that IF someone is in here, they understand the concepts of a saeculum.  If they can do that, they can think on the level this thread requires.  This is SO important.  If powermongers can do their evil and be forgotten or exonerated in less than 2 decades, we are frakking doomed.  It is like Scully said to Mulder "they just scatter back into the woodpile".  And unfortunately, this has also revealed a different terrible truth that the "woodpile" has a blue sign on it and a red sign.  No one is exempt.  If the Obamas really have such a fervor against W and the evil he helped perpetrate, they would not be holding hands and passing the pipe and doing Free-Love with the enemy.

I'm serious, this event really shocked me.  I can't believe no one else sees it.

I have been trying to get my brain about the phenomenon which have occurred in the political sphere in the last decade. I have personally been going about with my life and not being too concerned about what is happening politically. Although I have been going through an existential crisis over the last year or so, after a long-term relationship I was in fell apart.
 
My life so far has been a curious mixture of one of those nerds from the film “Revenge of the Nerds” and the classic Nomad “wild youth” type as Strauss and Howe described. I know ever since I first read “The Fourth Turning” a long time ago, I never identified with the Millennial generation, instead I identified strongly with Generation X. Right now, I am in the process of becoming a “young fogey”, I am surprised how Conservative in my world outlook I have gotten compared to many in our society When I was young back in the turn of the millennium I would have never seen myself as Conservative in any way. For example; as a teenager I would never voted for a Far-Right party like One Nation, however now I am more than prepared to vote for a similar party.
 
As I have stated earlier I was born in 1983, however Australian generations are a little bit behind America's and don't see my age cohort being a part of the Millennial generation. However, I do see those born about say 4 years later as part of another generation.
 
The Fourth Turning started with the Global Financial Crisis here in Australia, however it wasn't a dramatic way like it did in Europe. Rather the transition in hindsight has been rather gradual, which is different from the last Fourth Turning here which had a much more dramatic transition. I believe has to do with Australia having escaped the Global Financial Crisis so far.
 
Lately I have been getting myself up to speed about political developments which have occurred and only recently I have noticed these phenomena happening here in Australia. 
 
I am wrapping my brain about various phenomena and putting them into a generational context such as identity politics, social justice warriors, the alt-left and alt-right. Personally, as a decent minded British style Liberal, I have to say I do not approve of developments and consider identity politics in any form extremely toxic to body politic and I am worried about the increasing restrictions on free speech all in the name of offending as few people as possible. 

Also, some of the stuff the left wing SJW's are arguing runs what we know about human behavior from evolutionary psychology. Since I believe that human behavior can be explained through our evolution as a species. For example; gender identity is not a social construct and it is obvious that male and female brains are structured differently. When it comes to transgender people I have read scientific research which showed their brains were structured in the way of the gender they identified with.

I could wrong, however as I see it the leaders of the alt-right or white identarian movement are Mid Life X'ers for the most part, with the alt-left they are more dominated by Millennial's. Although the followers of both movements seem to be predominately Millennial. Also, I see the whole Social Justice Warrior phenomenon seems to me as a female Millennial phenomenon. 
 
I know in YouTube and elsewhere I am often attracted to Gen X'ers who are of a similar mind to me in being critical of identity politics and SJW's, along share passion for defending free speech even if it offends people. People for example; such as Jordan Peterson (b.1962), Carl Benjamin or Sargon of Akkad (b.1979) and others.

Assumptions:
America's 4T started about 2008 and will probably last until 2028.
The current crisis in 2018 appears to be the corrupt Trump administration, Trumps associates pleading guilty or on trial, and the investigation into the 2016 election hacking supported by Russia.

A non-profit, "The Climate Mobilization" ( https://www.theclimatemobilization.org ) is calling for a mobilization of America like the 1940s.  Maybe Climate Change is part of the 4T crisis era that will mobilize society to change.
Maybe Climate Change results in an economic change like what happened to USA during 1940s.
Maybe Climate Change results in democratic values, the end of culture wars and unifying America against a common enemy.

The current Dems vs Reps, Trump vs Mueller, seems so small compared to a global crisis like climate change.


50% of Russian government revenues come from fossil fuels.
What crisis happens if the Russian government collapses when Europe and Asia suddenly stop buying fossil fuels?

It became so clear after taking in the events of the funeral, there is no such thing as even a dual party system in America anymore.  It is one controlled UNIT at the top, and then there is the rest of us.

It blasted home to me when seeing W sharing candy for Michelle Obama at that funeral.

BUT WAIT..... with me there is always media involved.  This time, it was the film V For Vendetta (2005).  "Remember, Remember The Fifth Of November".  The ideology is not a person.  It is a thought which lives on in others.  Just because someone point to a donkey instead of an elephant, that does not mean their ideology is so different. The election of W was no less hated than the election in 2016 with the current villain.  Yet, some years have passed and now they are all great friends sitting there playing the Across-Party-Aisle fakery.  All of them had negative things to heap onto the current president while they, themselves, shined as blameless lambs.  We hated some of them THEN, but the love-in proves we can rise above "ignorance" and "hatred" and "unite" across "party lines". 

That made me sick.  Both because the dead are disrespected, but because it shows that these people are not really so different at all.  They all sit down and are friends at the end of the day.  

And since the Fourth Turning authors were Meta Thinkers and viewed things in a top-down manner, I must include the McCain event as part of a whole which includes the Aretha Franklin memorial where the president was also blasted.  Of course, the dead are just husks while this is going on, they are simply being used by the living.  Used to spew politics and political subjectivity at others while using a ceremony for the dead to do it.

I know what some will say "WELL, THEY WEREN'T AS BAD".  Not so much.  They were throwing eggs at W motorcade before even the election itself.  People knew even before the election there would be WAR.  Before 911, some of us knew. But there he is feeding Michelle that candy.  There will be the rest of W's life encased in FORGIVENESS by showing that until the end of time.  W is now no longer the most hated president in recent memory. 

If Papi Bush could understand right now, he would cry a tear for the redemption of his son.  He was always traumatized that America did not understand why W had to avenge 'Merica toward them Ayrabs that want to kill us because we are free.

LOOK!  I have been preaching this in here............. it was only a decade ago when we were in the news with the arcane idea THIS was the whole crux of why America was still in Afghanistant anyway.  THAT "ARABS" ATTACKED US ON 911 BECAUSE WE ARE FREE.  But the president who made that lie a reality just got exonerated by maybe the only people on Earth who could do that: THE OBAMAS!  And not President Obama............. but HIS WIFE!  If Michelle approves, that means you do too.

If the Obamas are forgiving W, that means we truly have never had a choice in any political leaning.

I'm not playing that game... the one where we all appear united by shitting on others.  It's inappropriate.  More importantly, it proves we no longer really have choices with elections.  If W can sit next to Obama to mourn McCain while bashing the current president................ if that is even possible................... they are not different in any way, their policies don't matter, their differences of opinion mean nothing to anyone, and we thought we could choose between 2 parties but in reality this proves they all are one in the beginning just as they are one later on in the end.

My name is Tristan and I used to be involved on the old Fourth Turning forum back in the day. I was born in 1983 and currently live in Hobart, which is in the Island state of Tasmania, which is part of nation of Australia. I have been busy with my life in recent years, however the saeculum still remains on my mind. I must admit William Strauss and Neil Howe's predictions have been extremely accurate so far and my faith in the saeculum is stronger than ever. I am a short to medium term pessimist, however a longer-term optimism since winter will end eventually and spring will come. 
 
Generationally I would see myself as a late wave Reactive or Nomad, since Australia I estimate about 4 years behind North America when it comes to turnings. I do see people a few years younger than me in a different generation, which I find hard to relate to. Personally, I do feel I have become a “young fogey”, which Strauss and Howe did predict that for Generation X as they entered midlife hehe

When it comes to the Millennial generation here in Australia I am very optimistic about them and they will achieve a lot. However I am worried especially once we suffer through our own Great Financial Crisis (which has been delayed), some authoritarian regime supported by the Millennials could arise in response to the likely response from the political class, namely a very expensive public bailout of the banks facing collapse. 

My name is Tristan and I used to be involved on the old Fourth Turning forum back in the day. I was born in 1983 and currently live in Hobart, which is in the Island state of Tasmania. I have been busy with my life in recent years, however the saeculum still remains on my mind. I have to admit William Strauss and Neil Howe's predictions have been extremely accurate so far and my faith in the saeculum is stronger than ever. I am a short to medium term pessimist, however a longer term optimism since winter will end eventually and spring will come.
 
Generationally I would see myself as a late wave Reactive or Nomad, since Australia is about 4 years behind North America when it comes to turnings. I do see people a few years younger than me in a different generation, which I find hard to relate to. 
 
Personally, I do feel I have become a “young fogey”, which Strauss and Howe did predict that for Generation X as they entered midlife. I am concerned about the appetite for authoritarianism which the Millennial generation I have observed certainly have. Especially when it comes to the curtailing of free speech which is considered offensive. This is a concern I share with some X’er and X’er peers have including Jordan Peterson (b.1962). Because once the financial crisis hits Australia, authoritarianism will certainly emerge, especially given the failure of our political class to address the concerns of voters so far.
 
I am not sure when the Fourth Turning started in Australia anytime between 2008 and 2012 roughly, there was no bang like there was in Europe with the Global Financial Crisis (which we escaped so far). What has happened political since then, at least federally has been shambolic to put it. 
 
We have had in eight years, five separate prime ministers and six changes of Prime Minister. Also there has been hyper-partisanship which has characterized federal politics, this has led to an unprecedented apathy towards our political class. I do believe this has to do with the Boomer peers in their elder stage having dominated the legislatures for quite a while and the country having four Boomer Prime Ministers from 2007 to just a week ago (Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull). However, their political power has definitely peaked, For example the current Prime Minister (Scott Morrison) and every state premier is a Generation X peer and that generation definitely have the majority in Federal and State parliaments. Our Silent generation peers have been gone from public life for quite a while now and sorely missed.
 
There pessimism in society about the future, there are concerns about climate change, cost of living and increasing inequality in the economy. Also there is a lot of frustration at our political leaders about not addressing their concerns. The last couple of decades has been characterized by a housing boom of epic proportions which has led to the Millennial generation so far being shut out (unless their parents can assist them financially) of the housing market because of unaffordable prices. While the economy has been growing for nearly three decades now. Since the GFC wage growth has been pretty much non-existent in real terms and unemployment (especially youth unemployment) has been high. Public opinion in recent years have been incredibly concerned about the opportunities (or lack therefore) of the Millennial generation in both the labor and housing markets.
 
All a while in this time, Australia has been running very high levels of immigration (as an attempt to keep house prices rising by stimulating more demand), which has fueled significant anti-immigration sentiment among the public. Also, we had a commodities boom during the earlier part of this decade, which lead to an over-inflated currency and hollowing out of our manufacturing base. Once the housing market crashes, Australia I predict will undergo an economic depression on the scale of what Greece has suffered. Right now, I am predicting our current party system is going to collapse (along with the economy) like it did in Italy and new political parties rise up in the place of the former ones. Authoritarianism and demise of our liberal democracy with an ‘illiberal’ one like that current in Hungary could happen, if the Millennials believe it is price worth paying for seriously addressing the country’s issues. There has been a increasing amount of what I see as authoritarianism through limits on free speech which has occurred in Australia in recent years and it will probably get worse in my opinion.
 
So far, the Millennial generation have not been engaged very much in politics like they have in the United States (Obama and Sanders), also in the United Kingdom (with Jeremy Corbyn). No political figure or party so far has managed to tap into the power of the Millennial vote and people I speak to are very dismissive of my opinions. However, their activism has certainly been in evidence. For example; a left-wing activist group GetUp has more members than either of our major political parties (Labor or Liberal). Also, Millennial activism little doubt played a part in a high turnout (80%) and success of (61.8% voting Yes) a plebiscite last year to allow for same sex marriage to be legalized federally. However, I do believe the Millennials here are very politically radical, however I don't know which politician or party will tap into their power.

As I see the Global Financial Crisis triggered the Fourth Turning for the whole of Europe. Since then it has been crazy, I am going to do a bit of a survey of the major countries in Europe to give you an idea of how the Fourth Turning has affected each major nation. This is going to be over several posts and over a few days at least, because there is a lot I am planning to write.
 
Right now, in Europe the Silent generation peers have long left politics and Generation 68' (Boomer peers) have peaked in power and the Generation X peers have risen. I am going to allot the major European leaders into their generations to give you an better idea of generational dynamics. European generations are about four years behind North America, since the last Awakening started off with a bang in 1968. Hence the name of the Boomer peers in Europe, the generation of 68'.
 
 
Generation 68':
 Theresa May – Current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Jeremy Corbyn – Leader of the opposition Labour Party in the United Kingdom.
Angela Merkel – Chancellor of Germany
Viktor Orbán – Prime Minister of Hungary
Geert Wilders – Leader of the anti-Islam Freedom Party in the Netherlands
Vladimir Putin – President of Russia
Francois Hollande and Nicholas Sarkozy former Presidents of France.
Jean-Claude Juncker - current president of the European Commission.
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Mariano Rajoy - former Prime Ministers of Spain who led it during the GFC
 
Generation X Peers: 
Matteo Salvini (Italian deputy Prime Minister, interior minister and leader of the Lega Nord) Emmanuel Macron – Current President of France
David Cameron – Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Marine Le Pen – Leader of the National Rally (formerly: National Front) in France
Pedro Sánchez – Prime Minister of Spain
Alexis Tsipras – Prime Minister of Greece
 
A couple of British public figures you might be familiar with is activist and Journalist Tommy Robinson (b.1982) and Milo Yiannopoulos (b.1984). Both these men I know to an extent and they are Reactives, although late wave ones.
 
Millennial: Sebastian Kurz (Austrian Chancellor), Luigi Di Maio (Italian deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Five Star Movement). Both are first wave European Millennials both being born in 1986.
 
There is a massive struggle currently going on between the Pro-European and Eurospetic parties across the European Union. Brexit is only one manifestation of it and the Eurosceptic are far from united. The hard variety are like the UK Independence Party who out of the EU completely, while the "soft" variety (which Viktor Orban is an example) is an example prefer to reform it and give more powers to the individual member states especially over areas such as immigration.
 
The "soft" variety of Eurospceptic dominates in the relatively poorer Eastern and Southern European countries, while the "hard" variety dominates in wealthier Western Europe countries. Ireland is a exception to this general rule, the voting public there is pro-European Union in contrast with the Eurosceptic United Kingdom.
 
The whole migrant crisis I believe has been that moment that the Fourth Turning has crystallized, and the issue will be the future of the European Union. There is a reasonable chance that the European Union will collapse, however I believe the Millennials in the European Union could very well be for 'European project' (they certainly are in the United Kingdom). While the older generations (especially X'er peers) that are driving a lot of opposition to the European Union. The migrant crisis which was triggered by the wars in Libya and Syria have seen hundreds of thousands of migrants crossing into Europe and fueling the rise of populist, Eurosceptic and anti-immigration parties. 
 
Also, since a large proportion of these immigrants are Muslims, there has been rising anti-Muslim sentiment across Europe. This sentiment has been helped by the Muslim populations in Western European countries mostly living in ethnic enclaves in the cities, being not very well integrated into the broader societies even for the second and third generation and a large proportion subsiding off government benefits. 
 
This sense of alienation from the general society groups among the Millennial peers in the Muslim communities in Europe has been fertile ground for Islamist groups which have been behind committed terrorist acts in many Western European countries. These attacks have further fueled these populist, Eurosceptic nationalist parties which have anti-Muslim views. 
 
Given what I have described above what has happened Western Europe with the Muslim immigrant countries. The countries of Eastern Europe such Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary have refused to accept any Muslim immigrants or agree to “asylum seeker” distribution among the member nations as proposed by the European Union. I believe it is because of fears that if large Muslim immigrant populations were established in their nations, the same could happen to them. 
 
The GFC and the migrant crisis have also meant in a rise in authoritarianism across the continent with Liberal Democracy under serious threat or already have disappeared in some European Union nations. Hungary for example under the rule of Viktor Orban’s government is a illiberal democracy. It is also notable for a very hard-line attitude against any Muslim migration and build a fence inside it's border during the migrant crisis to keep Muslim immigrants out.

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/nationa...83191.html

A California man was arrested Thursday and charged with making threats against The Boston Globe over the newspaper's campaign to defend the free press, authorities said.
Sixty-eight-year-old Robert Chain of Encino, California, was arrested by FBI agents on a charge of making threatening communications in interstate commerce.
Chain allegedly called the Globe "the enemy of the people" in phone calls and threatened to travel to Boston to kill newspaper employees. He made approximately 14 threatening phone calls to the Globe from Aug. 10, when the Globe announced its campaign, to Aug. 22, according to court documents.
Chain is due in federal court in Los Angeles Thursday. It was not immediately clear if Chain had an attorney who could answer to the charge, which would carry a sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
Court documents state on the day the coordinated editorial was to publish, which was Aug. 16, Chain allegedly threatened to shoot Globe employees "later today, at 4 o'clock."
As a result of the threat, law enforcement responded to the newspaper's building to ensure employees were safe.
"Everyone has a right to express their opinion, but threatening to kill people, takes it over the line and will not be tolerated," said Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division, in a statement.

• Hundreds of US Newsrooms to Trump: 'We Are Not the Enemy'
  

In response to the trends of these times, the modern credo of the American worker is: 

Be loyal to yourself, not your company. 
Switch jobs every few years for maximum career growth.
Stick it to “the man.”

You can see it all here on this reddit thread on a story about layoffs by AT&T. Also found in this thread: mid-life Gen-Xers giving life tips to rising young Millennials. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/9...ayoffs_and

The MAGA spirit comes in part from a desire to revert to the more stable time of 60 years or so ago. But is that possible with all the evolution in the corporate realm, and with a new global regime?

From the media on the left there have been some articles about different ideas for changing our economy coming from different progressive politicians. I thought we might compare and contrast their feasibility and potential effectiveness. Assuming the blue wave and all.

Sanders: A law that requires corporations to pay a tax equal to the amount of public assistance their employees collect.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/0...100-public

Clinton: A sovereign wealth fund for all U.S. citizens. Effectively becomes basic income but in the form of dividends from a massive investment fund.

https://www.vox.com/2018/8/28/17774334/s...solidarity

Warren: A law requiring the largest corporations to make a citizenship pledge and allow employees to vote on board membership (note that this is not the same as employee-ownership, but is akin to the stakeholder capitalism practiced in Germany).

https://www.vox.com/2018/8/15/17683022/e...rporations