11-19-2018, 05:34 PM
(11-19-2018, 03:55 PM)David Horn Wrote:(11-18-2018, 02:49 AM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:(11-17-2018, 06:02 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: This article does seem to confirm Bob's perception of the information age in conflict with the industrial age, much as two saecula ago the conflict was between the industrial age and the agricultural age-- and involving many of the same states on the progressive and regressive side. Today the red industrial age side is blocking the progress brought by the blue information age side, whereas before the previous civil war the gray agricultural age side was blocking the progress brought by the blue industrial age side.
I am also seeing the S&H Turnings very heavily in play. Unravellings are supposed to be a time of selfishness and greed. A crisis period is most for unity, taking action, and transforming values. The former manifested as Reaganomics, small government, limited spending, providing minimal services. The latter has not yet manifested, but the blues have tried to advocate it.
Make America great again? Just like the 40s through 80s? The time of tax and spend liberalism? Can one be great while caring only for one's self?
This is the crux of the problem. The GOP, least supportive of expansive services and higher pay, is now the preferred party of the very people most hurt by the current economy. If that continues, a stalemated 4T has to result. So either Trump is a Svengali, and able to sell his supporters on slow-motion suicide, or the spell breaks and a huge backlash occurs. For the second option to emerge, the economy has decay or crash. The stock market seems to be getting wobbly, but the stock market isn't the economy. What do Trump supporters see in the economy that make them happy? Jobs are crappy. Pay isn't improving. So, what's up?
Successful deception, and appeals to traditional values irrelevant to their personal interests, is what's up. It's been going on for decades, but Trump was the great demagogue who got them to follow him. The Democrats need to put forward a more inspiring candidate who can counter-act the Demagogue. McAuliffe and Landrieu are the best 2 choices, with Sherrod Brown as a possibility, and Sanders and Biden as current old favorites who might succeed but I wouldn't bet on them to. If the Democrats nominate a loser like Hillary Clinton, Harris, Booker, Gillibrand or even Elizabeth Warren, then the decision is postponed further, and Trump is left in office to self-destruct. If Trump self-destructs before 2020, then Pence can be more easily beaten, as he is not a talented demagogue who can deceive and get as many of the economically-disaffected traditionalists behind him.