Lincoln’s words are no less true now than they were when we were trying to shred ourselves amid the Civil War 160 years ago. I’m shocked and amazed at how people in this country, extremes on the right and left politically and economically, still want to participate in this shredding of America for whatever reasons they have.
Tunnel vision and ignorance pervades every level of society these days and no one seems willing or able to pursue a course of reasonable thought and behavior that shows care or love for their fellow man, while arriving at effective solutions to our problems that everyone can participate in.
In a previous essay I lamented that after 500 years of European style civilization, we may have arrived at the end of the American road. In the last 78 years since the end of World War II, we have ascended the heights of civilizations highest peaks. In every field of scientific endeavor, militarily, and in other fields we have surpassed nearly every other civilization in history only to see ourselves arrive at a new societal shredding point.
There are a number of reasons for this but I think that every civilization in history has come crashing down for roughly the same reasons, over about the same period of time. These ideas aren’t new to me. For a society to flourish seven things must be pursued by that culture for it to thrive. If it doesn’t do so with persistence and true fidelity for the good of each individual in that society, it will fail sooner than later. Lincoln saw this during the Civil War. The Founding Fathers saw this when they agreed upon and signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
In his book Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order, author and financier Ray Dalio argues these seven essentials are:
- Leadership Capabilities (scaled from strong to weak)
- Education Levels (scaled from high to low)
- Character/Determination (scaled from strong to weak)
- Rule of Law (scaled from strong to weak)
- Corruption (scaled from low to high)
- Resource Allocation Efficiency (scaled from high to low)
- Openness to Global Thinking (scaled from favorable to little)
Now for those of you who are creeped out about phrases like “World Order” and “Global” remember: You live on a planet with 8 billion other people, and all of us want a piece of a pie. It’s going to come from somewhere, so get over yourself. This is another thing the founders and Lincoln knew, too.
Think of the America of today and how we size up to this sliding scale of civilization. Now think of how we size up on these scales compared to our most recent rival for world dominance, The People’s Republic of China. I bring this up because, like it or not, they are better at many of the things we used to be best at in the world, and they are not afraid to show their muscle anymore.
Our own President Biden was quoted recently to the effect that he did not want to provoke China, even as they pursued alliances with countries that are our enemies, and try to supplant our currency as the world’s dominant currency of exchange, which has gone unchallenged since 1944. I would classify leadership of this caliber as weak. Recent presidents have been no better, really. They pursued policies in economics and foreign policy that have led to constant financial turmoil, war, and civil upheaval in other parts of our hemisphere, while denying our country had a direct hand in any of this. Entering wars under false pretenses is not only corrupt, but damaging to our larger society and demonstrably uses the youngest, least educated among us in bad, and unsustainable causes. History has proven this time and again.
The ripple effect on the economy, and the effect on educational systems throughout America can be seen today in the form of what I call “Woke Warfare” that tries to culturally indoctrinate children in ways that should have been controlled by parents. Unfortunately, steps away from a religious development of character of some kind has been supplanted with school-led programs that leave parents out. Curriculum development has taken its place, much to the detriment of our culture.
Recently, two African-American catholic high school girls gave a presentation which claimed to solve the proof for the 2,000 year old Pythagorean Theorem, thought to be unsolvable using trigonometry. It barely got noticed. What did get noticed, and continues to be noticed is the importance of letting your children have library time with drag queens, and programs of a similar nature in public schools.
The Rule of Law has been replaced with a vision of America that has been bought by oligarchs who value their power over an orderly society, and are prepared to back their vision with billions in perpetuity. In my last essay, I discussed how many of America’s largest cities have become lawless in large measure due to a flipping of the table on policing, and prosecution of criminals through lax enforcement of criminal laws, or selective prosecution.
Harry Truman said it best when he said, “Show me a man who gets rich in politics and I’ll show you a crook!” Our elected offices were never meant to be lifelong positions, but that is what they have become.
I have stated before that Congressmen should have Constitutionally imposed term limits just like the Presidency does. These people sometimes go decades in office and are accountable to no one except those who finance their campaigns to stay. That means lobbyists, billionaire oligarchs, and other special interest groups. Your vote is meaningless after election day, and they all know it. You are naïve to believe anything else. It has become corrupt beyond reason.
As the rich get wealthy beyond imagination, the rest of us struggle for existence, and educational standards decline. Everyone will suffer, but the ones able to get more, will be better shielded from decline, and financial slavery to another power. As businesses drift offshore to places like China—fast becoming better at capitalism than America—and places in Africa for the first time, American labor has developed a greater sense of want in comparison to the rich, and the union movement is seeing a resurgence. That means the cost of labor will go up, as will the cost of American goods. Things will inevitably move to other countries. Just look at what you get from Amazon.
If you are not thinking globally by now, you probably never will. America is not that place we heard about from our parents and grandparents anymore. Time to get real, get off your Smartphones, read more history and look at the schools and leaders around you.
Pray for America and its leaders.
