Is China in a 2T-ish era?

[JasonBlack]

(08-02-2022, 03:25 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: Yes indeed, I agree, and from my side those problems are #1 climate breakdown, and #2 inequality, and #3 assaults on democracy and voting rights (including big money ownership of the process, and police abuse), and #4 gun massacres-- and not abuse of welfare programs.

And I might add that unless the rising power of tyranny abroad is not reversed, we may be fighting pig dictators like Putin and Xi Jinping too. And maybe a civil war against the Proud Boy types too.

The higher murder rate is a relatively recent phenomenon (like...well under a decade) in a much more stable downtrend, not a primary 4T crisis.

My thoughts on climate change are on the other end: people are simply not going to give a shit about climate change if they're poor. This is not an argument against dealing with climate change. It's not even an argument against levying heavier taxes on corporations who are the prime culprits (even Milton Friedman believed this was a good idea, as do many on the right). It's an argument against how it is being approached. Even the most impending and dramatic natural catastrophe will never be the first priority of someone contending with the risk of starvation or homelessness on a regular basis. That's just how Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs works. It's paramount that our main focus is on research and development, cost reduction and scalability. Unfortunately, climate change is a topic taken over by misanthropic luddites, rather than people who love their country and want to see it prosper in a sustainable manner.

Most importantly, regardless of who you think the "good guys" are, the 4Ts are overcome by leaders who are good at unifying, bringing people together and cooperating. Whether it's climate change activists, LGBT advocates, BLM supporters or the propagandistic, Hollywood-to-Washington state of the movie industry, Democrats have failed on all fronts. The vast majority of the population (everything from the various factions of the left, to libertarians, to moderate Republicans)...already agree with the basic ideas they're pushing. We shouldn't judge people by race, the police need to be reformed, we should leave gay people alone, women should have equality...but rather than working with any of these people, they insist on drilling down a continual purity spiral**, cannibalizing their own and pushing people over to the right.

**purity spiral: a situation in which members of an ideological group become increasingly zealous and intolerant, eventually turning on other members.