01-09-2021, 03:45 PM
(01-08-2021, 03:03 PM)mamabug Wrote: Getting back to the original post - what the next First Turning looks like will depend entirely on how the side in power (which controls basically all institutions at this point) handles dissent over the next 2-4 years. The more heavy handed the approach, the scarier the High appears to me.
Best case - extremists on both sides (alt-right and antifa) are suppressed; a social consensus around American values is reached that is mostly progressive, but allows some level of dissent without repercussions that threaten livelihoods; the foundational structures of America (SCOTUS, Senate, Congress, etc.) are not changed. In that case, the high will be similar to that after WW2 where some Civil Rights changes that occurred in the later years were rolled back, but overall there was improvement over the previous Awakening. This would mean freezing any current advancements about where they are now or quietly rolling them back.
What it would look like:
1. LGB rights are here to stay, but churches and some religious institutions (but not all) can still exclude from employment
2. Women's and Minority rights are here to stay, however the emphasis will remain on equality of opportunity not equity of outcome
3. Trans rights will be halted at current state or rolled back. I expect there would be an eventual 'compromise' around how to deal with things such as women's sports, unisex facilities like prisons, and pre-adult transitioning which will please nobody and come back to bite everyone in the next awakening.
Worst case - extremists and moderates on one side are suppressed both violently and through economic persecution; a social consensus is declared to exist which allows no level of dissent without repercussions; the foundational structures of America are altered to ensure continued dominance of one side. In that case, the high will be similar to post-WW2 Soviet Union (which, yes, was still a high).
I have no real predictions for what that would look like based on precedent, it could go in so many different ways depending on who eventually gains power. My best guess is something like 1984 meets Fahrenheit 451 meets Harrison Bergeron.
I may not want to be a trans-sexual. I can't imagine tampering with my body that way. But this is not about whether you or I like this operation for ourselves. This is about the right of people to be what they want to be. LGBTQ rights are here to stay. Many non-white trans persons have been murdered by alt-right fanatics. They have a right to life same as anyone else. I wish people would not be so concerned about identity issues, and that we could all just respect each other as we are and get on to deal with real problems. But racism, homophobia and xenophobia must be educated out of us, and removed as systemic aspects of our society, or we will remain stuck in yesterday's oppression.
Whether our institutions change may depend on how determined the right-wing is to use them to block needed action and reforms. In a 4T, institutions can change. We may need to change some of the Senate rules. We may need to change the Supreme Court. The last time change to the Supreme Court was proposed, in the previous 4T, the justices backed down and it wasn't necessary. With this much younger Trump/Bush court we have now, we'll just have to see. Meanwhile, DC and PR statehood and maybe others could redress the senate and electoral-college imbalance favoring redneck rural former-slave states that have our nation stymied. I doubt the current condition of our government can survive the 4T with the threat of climate change and pandemics hanging over it and the systemic racism and inequality that has kept our people down so long.