pbrower2a - you make some excellent points about how the high plays out as Artists take over. They don't have the 'in the trenches' experiences so they can be more objective and make arguments that the Japanese and the Germans should be wholly integrated into the international community even though the fundamental values of those societies didn't change. Similarly, Northern artists didn't exclude Southerners and the children of the revolutionaries didn't seek to punish British loyalists by continuing to bar them from public office and tax them more.
The uncertain thing at this point is how thoroughly the Left feels it needs to exclude, impoverish, and or imprison those who disagree with them before it feels the 'enemy of progress and source of all that is evil in America' to be quashed to the point where no further action is necessary to ensure 'repudiation of the discreditable qualities' is either likely or irrelevant. Just like after the surrender of Cornwallis, people gradually stopped worrying that their neighbor might be a monarchist because the serious ones could leave for Canada. This stopping point is much harder to find if the discreditable quality is something like race, religion, or class (whether my own or my ancestors'). Right now I am not even sure what, exactly, the discreditable quality even is so how can surrender be determined?
Things change quickly once the war ends, but they can get incredibly bad before that point depending on the ruthlessness involved. I have seen very disturbing indicators in the culture (which politics is downstream of) that suggest there mob isn't ready to claim the victory just yet and that is essential to finding where the lowest point in the pendulum swing will be.
The uncertain thing at this point is how thoroughly the Left feels it needs to exclude, impoverish, and or imprison those who disagree with them before it feels the 'enemy of progress and source of all that is evil in America' to be quashed to the point where no further action is necessary to ensure 'repudiation of the discreditable qualities' is either likely or irrelevant. Just like after the surrender of Cornwallis, people gradually stopped worrying that their neighbor might be a monarchist because the serious ones could leave for Canada. This stopping point is much harder to find if the discreditable quality is something like race, religion, or class (whether my own or my ancestors'). Right now I am not even sure what, exactly, the discreditable quality even is so how can surrender be determined?
Things change quickly once the war ends, but they can get incredibly bad before that point depending on the ruthlessness involved. I have seen very disturbing indicators in the culture (which politics is downstream of) that suggest there mob isn't ready to claim the victory just yet and that is essential to finding where the lowest point in the pendulum swing will be.