tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post1640449914840745107..comments2024-03-28T12:29:39.157-07:00Comments on Graphic Firing Table: SolsticeFDChiefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-5175404299760215172010-12-24T07:02:58.485-07:002010-12-24T07:02:58.485-07:00Pluto:I don't see a way back to the New Deal s...Pluto:I don't see a way back to the New Deal society. Roughly a third of the American electorate has lost any sense of self-interest in favor of worrying about God, gays, and scary brown terrorists. A good tenth or so is just fucking batshit crazy - the "Cheney Tenth", I like to call it, from the 14% that still give Deadeye Dick a "like" on Facebook - and about another third is so whipped and passive that they will give the Right what it wants rather than listen to them whine.<br /><br />I don't think that we'll take a real Nazi-style turn into dictatorship, though. The Dark Side is not yet that strong in us.<br /><br />Instead I see us going the way of Hapsburg Spain or the late Roman Republic; calcifying, the class distinctions becoming less of a continuum and more rigid, with a larger permanent underclass and a small oligarchy more obviously running things at the top, losing ground to the newer, hungrier societies in Asia, South America, even perhaps Africa (though they're worse off than we are by several orders of magnitude - no, on second thought, forget Africa).<br /><br />I think a lot depends on how stupid we are overseas. If we can get a grip on this mania we have for tossing ships and men around like poker chips at every penny-ante brushfire war that calls itself "Islamic" we might stand a better chance of preserving some capital at home. But I see us as the Spanish in the 1600s, trying to suppress heresy everywhere and, in the end, getting nowhere.FDChiefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-19166863166825247282010-12-22T05:51:47.961-07:002010-12-22T05:51:47.961-07:00The bigger question is not where we are, but where...The bigger question is not where we are, but where we are going. Will we change course back to the good old days, go someplace much darker ("So, Lord Vader, how would you like your tea?"), or some other place not yet imagined.<br /><br />My bet is on the third path for two reasons:<br />1. Because we seem to be setting ourselves up for one of those slap-downs that history likes to dwell on. Sort of like Napoleonic France or Nazi Germany. And you know how well they did...<br />2. Nobody expected the Spanish InquisitionPlutonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-74010063541895175152010-12-22T05:47:23.401-07:002010-12-22T05:47:23.401-07:00You don't leave much room for us to interpret ...You don't leave much room for us to interpret the data any other way, Chief. But I wouldn't have argued with your thesis before you made your argument.Plutonoreply@blogger.com