I wonder how those who lived through the gaslight era
viewed the future as they left the 19th and began the 20th century? Did they view the passing of the century with
the same dread and hard feelings we are experiencing as we leave the 20th
century behind and plunge into the 21st?
There are a couple of significant differences between then
and now. For example, our government and
its currency was based on our holdings in gold, rather than the faith and confidence
in an institution called the Federal Reserve.
The Fed, as it’s known, is an extra-governmental organization that
controls the real fiscal policies of the US and to a now decreasing degree the
world. What happens, as we are beginning
to see, when the world and the citizens lose confidence in both the institution,
and America’s ability to pay its ever-increasing debt? Will we become a super-Venezuela with the
political elite and rich cloistered behind their walls getting all they need
while society collapses just outside?
Colleges were a very small segment in the grand scheme of
America. They began as institutions to
train the ministers of the religions that came to America to escape
persecution, and then grew as centers to educate the elite who would run the
country. I was not there, but it seems
they held, for the most part, to the principles of the age of
enlightenment. Following the second
World War, the US government created the GI Bill enabling tens of thousands who
might otherwise never attend college to improve their education, social
standing, and financial well-being. This
in turn created a new wealth for the colleges and an escalating expansion to
keep up with the demand. A demand that
was further advocated by the political and educational leadership that saw
great benefit in the institutions. At
some point the concepts of education seemed to have changed from exploration
and enlightenment to indoctrination, as well as wealth accumulation for the
institutions and their professors/administrators. As legions of graduates leave with little
prospect for great jobs that will reward them both professionally and
financially what will happen to these institutions? If we consider them an industry, as I think
they should be considered, we will see a market correction where only the most
adept will survive as the market draws down.
What kind of carnage will result from this abandonment of liberal
education?
How about the idea of justice, and the American judicial
system? I imagine there has always been
at least two standards of justice in America.
One for the rich, and the other for the rest of us. I think it is also safe to assume the
minorities have never received “equal justice” under the laws, for the system
has historically been rigged by those in power.
But with today’s instant communication any idea that someone is presumed
innocent until convicted has been tossed out the window. We see that in the Travon Martin case, every
police shooting, the kangaroo courts of colleges with student sexual
misconduct, and celebrity scandals where we rush to judgement and condemnation
based on one-sided news reporting. We
have replaced real courts and real judges with reality courts and judges who
render verdicts in civil cases so the audience can set in judgement as well. Finally, is there any hope of minority
defendants getting a fair trial? Who
decides what fair is when we have entire movements intended to overthrow the
legal system to get their own version of fairness.
The political institutions and parties were well
established and accepted. The Democrats
were clearly the party in power in the major cities, and at the federal level,
although there was just enough opposition from Republicans that they
occasionally rose to prominence. Racism
and discrimination was accepted nationally, with the only question being the
degree of openness. Within the major
cities of Boston, New York, and Chicago the political machines ruled with
sufficient efficiency to keep any opposition at the token level. In Chicago, it was a Republican machine, NYC
was Democratic. Third party candidates
made some noise, but were one-trick ponies that never seriously threatened the
system. Today we see the crumbling of
those two political parties as their complete inability to solve problems is
paraded before the people on a daily basis.
The President gained the office because the average citizen grew tired
of the lies and manipulations of the parties, and his opponent represented a
failed political oligarchy, which assumed too much of its followers.
With the shrill whine of a Democratic Party's political elite
increasingly out of touch with the middle American, and an opposition Republican Party that appears to be increasingly defined by their own ineffectiveness, it seems only a matter of time, and
not too much time at that, before the institutions they control cease to
function, and then to exist. What will
replace them?
I think the next quarter of century will be an interesting
time as we move from the historical concept of the United States to whatever
replaces it.
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