Tag: decline and fall

The preference cascade

Glenn Reynolds makes a connection between the Trumpening and #Brexit:

In America, Donald Trump — who many of the experts thought had no chance — is dominating the polls. In Britain, meanwhile, much of the public seems to be mobilizing in favor of exiting the troubled European Union — a British Exit, or Brexit.

Writing in The Spectator, Brendan O’Neill puts this down to a class revolt on both sides of the Atlantic. And he’s right as far as he goes, but I think there’s more than just a class revolt. I think there’s also a developing preference cascade. O’Neill writes: “In both Middle America and Middle England, among both rednecks and chavs, voters who have had more than they can stomach of being patronised, nudged, nagged and basically treated as diseased bodies to be corrected rather than lively minds to be engaged are now putting their hope into a different kind of politics. And the entitled Third Way brigade, schooled to rule, believing themselves possessed of a technocratic expertise that trumps the little people’s vulgar political convictions, are not happy. Not one bit.”

Well, that’s certainly true. Both America and Britain have developed a ruling class that is increasingly insular and removed from — and contemptuous of — the people it deigns to rule. The ruled are now returning the contempt.

Robert Prechter predicted this more than a decade ago. It’s also happening in other European countries. This is what happens when the social mood changes. The blithe, mindless optimism that permits the populace to be used and abused by the financial elite is gone. People are seeing more clearly now, and they are beginning to recognize what was done to them, and by whom.

There will be a reckoning. There will be many reckonings. And unfortunately, not all of them will be pretty, or even civilized.

When the tide goes out, it’s easy to see who was naked all along.

The obnoxious and obtuse left

The leftist technocrats of San Francisco don’t seem to grasp that when the revolution comes, they’re going to be among the first strung up. And in light of their entitled attitudes, deservedly so.

I am writing today, to voice my concern and outrage over the increasing homeless and drug problem that the city is faced with. I’ve been living in SF for over three years, and without a doubt it is the worst it has ever been. Every day, on my way to, and from work, I see people sprawled across the sidewalk, tent cities, human feces, and the faces of addiction. The city is becoming a shanty town… Worst of all, it is unsafe.

This holiday weekend, I had my parents in town from Santa Barbara and relatives from Denver and Rochester New York. Unfortunately, there was three separate incidents and countless times that we were approached for money and harassed.

The first incident involved a homeless drunken man in the morning coming up to their car and leaning up against it. Another bystander got frustrated with the drunken man, and they got into a heated pushing and shoving altercation.

The second incident occurred as we were leaving Tadich Grill in the financial district. A distraught, and high person was right in front of the restaurant, yelling, screaming, yelling about cocaine, and even, attempted to pull his pants down and show his genitals.

Finally, last night Valentines, I was at Kabuki Theater inside watching a movie. About two hours into the film, a man stumbled in the front door. He proceeded to walk into the theater, down the aisle to the front, wobbled toward the emergency door, opened it, and then took his shirt off and laid down. He then came back into the theater shielding his eyes from the running projector. My girlfriend was terrified and myself and many people ran out of the theater.

What are you going to do to address this problem? The residents of this amazing city no longer feel safe. I know people are frustrated about gentrification happening in the city, but the reality is, we live in a free market society. The wealthy working people have earned their right to live in the city. They went out, got an education, work hard, and earned it. I shouldn’t have to worry about being accosted. I shouldn’t have to see the pain, struggle, and despair of homeless people to and from my way to work every day. I want my parents when they come visit to have a great experience, and enjoy this special place.

I am telling you, there is going to be a revolution. People on both sides are frustrated, and you can sense the anger. The city needs to tackle this problem head on, it can no longer ignore it and let people do whatever they want in the city. I don’t have a magic solution… It is a very difficult and complex situation, but somehow during Super Bowl, almost all of the homeless and riff raff seem to up and vanish. I’m willing to bet that was not a coincidence. Money and political pressure can make change. So it is time to start making progress, or we as citizens will make a change in leadership and elect new officials who can.

 “I shouldn’t have to see the pain.” Yes, that sums it all up right there. God forbid that he actually attempt to do anything about it himself. No wonder the white SJWs are starting to get scared. They’re starting to realize that their mercenary army of immigrants and impoverished hates them as much as it hates the white traditionalists they were imported to destroy.

And we’re sure as hell not going to defend him.

Bailouts are for the banks

Not for the little people:

Believe it or not, the US Marshals Service in Houston is arresting people for not paying their outstanding federal student loans.

Paul Aker says he was arrested at his home last week for a $1500 federal student loan he received in 1987. He says seven deputy US Marshals showed up at his home with guns and took him to federal court where he had to sign a payment plan for the 29-year-old school loan.

Congressman Gene Green says the federal government is now using private debt collectors to go after those who owe student loans.

I suspect Donald Trump is the only reason the USA is not entering a revolutionary environment. But even with Trump, one more round of bank bailouts should do it.

The end of the EU

The abomination appears to be in its death throes.

A new German plan to impose “haircuts” on holders of eurozone sovereign debt risks igniting an unstoppable European bond crisis and could force Italy and Spain to restore their own currencies, a top adviser to the German government has warned.

“It is the fastest way to break up the eurozone,” said Professor Peter Bofinger, one of the five “Wise Men” on the German Council of Economic Advisers.

“A speculative attack could come very fast. If I were a politician in Italy and I was confronted by this sort of insolvency risk I would want to go back to my own currency as fast as possible, because that is the only way to avoid going bankrupt,” he told The Telegraph.

The German Council has called for a “sovereign insolvency mechanism” even though this overturns the financial principles of the post-war order in Europe, deeming such a move necessary to restore the credibility of the “no-bailout” clause in the Maastricht Treaty. Prof Bofinger issued a vehement dissent.

The plan has the backing of the Bundesbank and most recently the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schauble, who usually succeeds in imposing his will in the eurozone. Sensitive talks are under way in key European capitals, causing shudders in Rome, Madrid and Lisbon.

Deflation is killing the bond markets; governments require an ever-growing inflation in order to pay off their debts in cheaper money. That’s why interest rates have been driven negative, but it’s a fool’s game because the problem continues to expand the longer the day of reckoning is delayed.

Although complete collapse is unlikely, between the migrant crisis, the debt crisis, and Brexit, it’s possible that 2016 will see the first European nations break free of the Fourth Reich.

The decline of the West

I’ve read part of Spengler’s magnum opus, and to be honest, despite being a Hesse fan, I have a very hard time with all the German mystical babble. But in light of recent events, I feel as if I should probably return to it soon.

Political Epochs in Autumn and Winter

    1. Domination of Money (“Democracy”). Economic powers permeating the political forms and authorities. 1800-2000 AD.

    2. Victory of force-politics over money. Increasing primitiveness of political forms. Inward decline of the nations into a formless population, and constitution thereof as an Imperium of gradually-increasing crudity of despotism. 2000-2200 AD.

    3. Private and family policies of individual leaders. The world as spoil. Egypticism, Mandarinism, Byzantinism. Historyless stiffening and enfeeblement even of the imperial machinery, against young peoples eager for spoil, or alien conquerors. Primitive human conditions slowly thrust up into the highly-civilized mode of living. After 2200 AD.

The Future, Echoing Roman Civilization

In the Winter of Roman politics there was a shift from the Roman Republic to Caesarism, or government led by a charismatic strongman. Eventually, the idea of representation broke down and there was a shift to bloody “force politics.”

Of course, our current government is modeled on the Roman system. There are even similarities between the two dominant parties. In Rome, the two dominant parties were the Optimates and Populares, the Republicans and Democrats of their day. This form of representative government eventually stops working because the system of checks and balances interfere with each other, causing gridlock. Force politics (killing people) eventually comes along to break the gridlock. (As an aside, some historians say it’s possible we entered this era in 1963 with the assassination of JFK by the military-industrial complex.) Arguably, this predictive model is spot-on with the current situation in the Western world. So, if Spengler’s model is correct, we are awaiting the rise of a dictator to come along and smash the rotten edifice of democracy sometime this century.

Regardless, I very much doubt that Oswald Spengler could possibly have imagined the descendants of his co-nationals being anywhere nearly as stupid as they have been under the suicidal leadership of Angela Merkel.

Bring the 3rd World, become the 3rd World

Western civilization is contracting before our eyes in France:

From the air it appears as an urban sprawl, fanning in all directions, gobbling up every available scrap of land.

With its schools, theatre, nightclub, shops and restaurants, the migrants’ camp known as the Jungle has now become a thriving Calais suburb, albeit a ramshackle one.

As our aerial pictures show, the camp on the edge of the French port has expanded beyond recognition in six months.

Last summer it was home to about 3,000 people awaiting their chance of a new life across the Channel in the UK. Now its population, made up of 22 nationalities, edges towards 7,000. But while there are some vestiges of basic infrastructure, conditions in the camp remain dangerous and unsanitary.

Civilization is not land or buildings. It is not technology or infrastructure. It is people. The Greeks understood this. The Romans understood this. Import enough uncivilized people, allow enough barbarians entry, and your society will become uncivilized.

This doesn’t mean civilization is dying, as some would have it. Such barbarization is not merely reversible, it is easily reversed. It merely requires changing the authorities that presently rule the West, which will happen. The only question is when.

And before any Americans complacently predict the end of France, I suggest having a look at what southern and central California look like now, or reading Victor Davis Hanson’s mournful dirges for the land of his youth.

Mailvox: stampeding the sheep

It’s amazing to see how the media was able to whip up a fearstorm on the basis of absolutely nothing, not even a dubious accusation.

I’m a long time lurker at your site. Today i got a panicked call from my daughter who goes to Boston University. The rumor on campus is that a dangerous group of men were planning to form a mob and rape women this evening. She wanted to know what to do to be safe. She sent me this link from facebook

I assured her that it was a hoax and that she had nothing to worry about from Roosh and company.

I thought that you might be interested to see this going around social media and that students are genuinely concerned.

This may be the most cogent argument against female suffrage ever presented. Especially considering that many, if not most, of the same young women will blithely insist that importing one million Muslim migrants can’t possibly cause any problems.

One would think these easily stampeded young women would be far more concerned about a man who has written about his own stalkerish tendencies. And remember, we have been reliably informed that “writing something that shows you’re a horrible person and then
proclaiming “it’s satire!” neither makes it satire or excuses you.”

A man ahead of his time

20 years ago, Sam Francis foresaw something akin to The Trumpening in America’s political future:

What if you dropped all this leftover 19th-century piety about the free market and promised to fight the elites who were selling out American jobs? What if you just stopped talking about reforming Medicare and Social Security and instead said that the elites were failing to deliver better health care at a reasonable price? What if, instead of vainly talking about restoring the place of religion in society — something that appeals only to a narrow slice of Middle America — you simply promised to restore the Middle American core — the economic and cultural losers of globalization — to their rightful place in America? What if you said you would restore them as the chief clients of the American state under your watch, being mindful of their interests when regulating the economy or negotiating trade deals?

That’s pretty much the advice that columnist Samuel Francis gave to Pat Buchanan in a 1996 essay, “From Household to Nation,” in Chronicles magazine. Samuel Francis was a paleo-conservative intellectual who died in 2005. Earlier in his career he helped Senator East of North Carolina oppose the Martin Luther King holiday. He wrote a white paper recommending the Reagan White House use its law enforcement powers to break up and harass left-wing groups. He was an intellectual disciple of James Burnham’s political realism, and Francis’ political analysis always had a residue of Burnham’s Marxist sociology about it. He argued that the political right needed to stop playing defense — the globalist left won the political and cultural war a long time ago — and should instead adopt the insurgent strategy of communist intellectual Antonio Gramsci. Francis eventually turned into a something resembling an all-out white nationalist, penning his most racist material under a pen name. Buchanan didn’t take Francis’ advice in 1996, not entirely. But 20 years later, “From Household to Nation,” reads like a political manifesto from which the Trump campaign springs.

To simplify Francis’ theory: There are a number of Americans who are losers from a process of economic globalization that enriches a transnational global elite. These Middle Americans see jobs disappearing to Asia and increased competition from immigrants. Most of them feel threatened by cultural liberalism, at least the type that sees Middle Americans as loathsome white bigots. But they are also threatened by conservatives who would take away their Medicare, hand their Social Security earnings to fund-managers in Connecticut, and cut off their unemployment too.

I myself have been writing about America’s bi-factional ruling party for more than twelve years, but only recently has it seemed that people are beginning to wake up to the fact that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats are genuinely on the side of the average white Americans who comprise the genuine American nation.

Sooner or later, all politics inevitably becomes tribal, because the only scenario in which so-called post-tribal politics is possible is in a formerly homogeneous nation that is in the early stages of becoming heterogeneous. In other words, there is no such thing as “post-tribal” politics, there is only pre-tribal politics.

And tribal politics is the larval form of war.

Not just broken, but nonexistent

Rev. Franklin Graham declares that the USA is “broken”:

“Tonight the president is set to give his final State of the Union address,” said Rev. Graham in a Jan. 12 post on Facebook. “I can tell you the state of our union.”

“Our nation is broken — it’s broken morally; it’s broken spiritually; it’s broken politically; it’s broken racially,” he said.

“The state of our union cannot be fixed unless we repent of our sins individually and ask our nation to do the same,” Rev. Graham continued.

While I agree with Rev. Graham that the abandonment and rejection of God is the most significant problem, you cannot put an egg back together when you’ve not only got a cracked egg, but also bits and pieces of a sausage, a burrito, and won ton soup.

If you add tigers, goldfish, and iguanas to a herd of sheep, you may have something, but whatever it is, it is no longer a herd of sheep.

You cannot make a nation out of many nations. It has been tried, many times. We have a word for such a multinational entity and that word is “empire”.

The US empire is breaking down. It is breaking apart. And it cannot be fixed because it cannot become something that it is not.

A reaction to federal overreach

A family militia has taken over a federal wildlife building in Oregon.

The Mandate of Heaven has clearly been lost. Many, if not most, Americans no longer support the federal government, for a very wide variety of reasons.

This particular action is unlikely to be a successful challenge to federal authority, but it is even less likely to be the last. And as we saw in the case of the Soviet Union, all it takes is a single successful one before the whole system collapses.

A message from the Hammond family can be read on Oathkeepers. A more detailed account of events can be found here.