05-24-2018, 03:25 AM
It's good to see your comments on the forum, Nomad.
We are where we are, as I see it, because the wrong decisions have been made for too long. In the end, it is not about ideology. It is about what works best for the people. Right now people in the USA are polarized. Many people on the right and some on the left are dedicated to their ideology and don't see the real needs. Compromise has just not been possible. The first turning, which is really not a "high," but more like a spirit-dead phase of recovery from trauma, is not going to come without first going through the gauntlett and facing the fire. There are no victory celebrations and placid conformity to the consensus until the victory has been won.
The track record of the american/anglo-european saeculum in avoiding major war in a 4T is not good. I hope it will not be a holocaust; I don't think it needs to be. But the issues like climate change and the lack of opportunities for many people will not wait. If those who want to take action can't break the stalemate and act on the real issues, and defeat the opposition, then the problems will just get worse and there will be no first turning. It can only come after some real action has been taken and the opponents to action have been defeated. Defeat for the stand pat opponents, the Republicans, will be best if it is defeat at the ballot box. But if it doesn't happen, bullets will fly, and the outcome may not be good. We do have a good track record of victory in 4Ts; the progressive side has always won the war and we have moved forward; not solving all the problems, but solving enough of them so that we can move forward as a nation and not fall into decline and decay. The left/right paradigm is definitely not a lie, but at bottom it is about solving real problems, not just about whose ideology wins. And it's in 4Ts that the victors are able to make real change and get things done, not in 1Ts. A first turning will just see continuation of what is started in the 4T. The way to get through the 4T and into a 1T, is to face the need for the battle and get involved.
4Ts are not times of compromise. The battle has barely been joined in this one yet. So there's no prospect at all of a first turning starting soon. It won't start until 2028 at the earliest, and even then, the first turning will still see more controversy and activism than the previous one did, along with more consensus than in the 4T. And then a second turning will follow in the late 2040s, bringing today's issues to a climax and fulfillment of purpose.
We are where we are, as I see it, because the wrong decisions have been made for too long. In the end, it is not about ideology. It is about what works best for the people. Right now people in the USA are polarized. Many people on the right and some on the left are dedicated to their ideology and don't see the real needs. Compromise has just not been possible. The first turning, which is really not a "high," but more like a spirit-dead phase of recovery from trauma, is not going to come without first going through the gauntlett and facing the fire. There are no victory celebrations and placid conformity to the consensus until the victory has been won.
The track record of the american/anglo-european saeculum in avoiding major war in a 4T is not good. I hope it will not be a holocaust; I don't think it needs to be. But the issues like climate change and the lack of opportunities for many people will not wait. If those who want to take action can't break the stalemate and act on the real issues, and defeat the opposition, then the problems will just get worse and there will be no first turning. It can only come after some real action has been taken and the opponents to action have been defeated. Defeat for the stand pat opponents, the Republicans, will be best if it is defeat at the ballot box. But if it doesn't happen, bullets will fly, and the outcome may not be good. We do have a good track record of victory in 4Ts; the progressive side has always won the war and we have moved forward; not solving all the problems, but solving enough of them so that we can move forward as a nation and not fall into decline and decay. The left/right paradigm is definitely not a lie, but at bottom it is about solving real problems, not just about whose ideology wins. And it's in 4Ts that the victors are able to make real change and get things done, not in 1Ts. A first turning will just see continuation of what is started in the 4T. The way to get through the 4T and into a 1T, is to face the need for the battle and get involved.
4Ts are not times of compromise. The battle has barely been joined in this one yet. So there's no prospect at all of a first turning starting soon. It won't start until 2028 at the earliest, and even then, the first turning will still see more controversy and activism than the previous one did, along with more consensus than in the 4T. And then a second turning will follow in the late 2040s, bringing today's issues to a climax and fulfillment of purpose.