The Coronavirus

[Eric the Green]

(06-12-2020, 08:27 AM)David Horn Wrote:

(06-11-2020, 11:30 PM)Eric the Green Wrote:

(06-11-2020, 10:50 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:

(06-11-2020, 10:04 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote: I know that you've made the mistake of associating me and others with racism as your racists and ignorant racist believers continue to   show us obvious signs of racism and support for racism and promotion of racism. You may as well be clan because you and others aren't all that much different than them these days.

You have not been obviously racist in your posting, but this does not mean the Republican Party doesn't welcome the racist votes.  LBJ went all progressive, allied with MLK, and went after the black vote with his civil rights legislation and war on poverty.  The Republicans did the obvious.  I don't think the Republicans will try to stop a very popular movement towards equality taking place in the crisis heart.  I suspect they would fail miserably if they tried.  As a blue guy, I almost want them to try.  It seems most have recognized the proverbial handwriting on the wall and are laying low.

I am of the mind that the conservative rural stay-the-same faction has the advantage for three plus turnings, but this is more than made up for by progressive action during and resulting from the crisis heart.  Well, the last awakening might have been transformational, and that was the only awakening seen in the Information Age, possibly representative, but that is a discussion for another day.  Anyway, the crisis heart is finally here.  Conservatives will have to learn to hang onto their hats for a while.

Arguably, all Awakenings also move progressive action forward, unlike 1 and 3Ts, but the conservative faction still has equal power overall, whereas in 4Ts there comes a time when the conservative opposition is defeated more fully by progressive action.

I have to side with Bob on this.  Yes, 2Ts point a spotlight on the faults in society, but they typically produce no positive changes.  This last 2T actually solidified the power of the reactionary element in this country and many other parts of the world as well.  But eventually, the rot is unavoidably bad, and action is needed to alter or eliminate it.  That's where we are -- at the beginning of the resolution.  But let's not assume we know what that resolution will actually turn out to be.  We have a hint of where we'll end, but we're still moving toward the problem. 

Here, in the US, Biden won't be a savior; he'll be a placeholder at best.  Someone or something else needs to take center stage before we can resolve this mess, and the list of potential leaders is short.

There is much to cite in favor of progress during 2Ts. In the last one, the ecology and environmental movement produced lasting results, including founding of the EPA and many laws and agencies that reduced pollution substantially in our air and water, and saved many natural areas and began restoration. Our San Francisco Bay is one striking example. Since the mid-60s, it was transformed from what Pete Seeger called a garbage dump into a wonderful place full of life. And in Seeger's own neighborhood, the Hudson River was cleaned up and transformed too, and so were many other places. Just that field alone is enough to heap huge praises on the 2T, which personally I think is the best by far in the quality of the people I met and their friendliness, preoccupations, interests and talents. The consumer movement started by Ralph Nader in 1966 has created many protections for the people that did not exist before. 

The civil rights movement originated in the 1T, but it was the first year of the 2T that the bill got passed, and from there voting rights were secured and many great society programs reduced poverty in measurable ways. While the military industrial complex went haywire, it was also a notable achievement that a protest movement for the first time in history stopped a war. The gay and lesbian folks experienced liberation that no-one can knock among those who never experienced it, and this liberation extended to many folks in many ways. Feminism opened up many opportunities for women, who have broken through many glass ceilings. I found the 2T the most liberating period of my life, as the bullies receded and became friendly, and so many horizons opened up that I had very little inkling of in the uptight, restricted and brutal 1T. Self esteem and human potential increased. All the social movements of our time originated in these wonderful 2T years.

But as I said, it was not all progress either, as I admitted by writing above that "the conservative faction still has equal power overall." Today's conservative movement also dates from the 2T, although it had antecedents. It did not fully take power though until Reagan's re-election was secured in the last couple of years. The reversals of Reaganomics that began in the late 2T have continued until today, and some of the advances in reducing poverty were reversed in these years. Unions declined and prices skyrocketed while wages and salaries stagnated for all but the wealthy. But many of the 2T advances have been permanent, even if much remains to be accomplished. Some or all of this progress is likely to be resumed in the 2020s.

Previous 2Ts were scarcely less effective in creating progress. The progressive era is named such for a reason. The first conservation movement, restraint and reform of the trusts and monopolies, regulations on food safety and working conditions, advance of unions and socialist parties, etc. Outdoor activities expanded. Expansion of the money supply. The women's suffrage movement led to them getting the vote. Without the revolution in society that began in this 2T, the New Deal would never have happened.

Likewise, slavery would not have ended without the abolitionist movement of the 1830s and 40s. Working conditions were reformed and so were conditions in asylums and prisons thanks to the first-ever humanitarian activities of this era. Public education as we know it was created. The American Revolution would not have happened without the Great Awakening and Enlightenment that preceded it. All parliamentary systems in the world originated in the British Great Rebellion. The Reformation of the Catholic Church cleaned up its practices in that 2T.

Leaders will not determine our progress or lack thereof in our 4T. The people will make progress, and will make the leaders. Biden will have to assume the mantle. He will resist, but will comply. I think destiny is calling and the call will be answered.