As an amateur historian, I tend to shorten these horizons to something more manageable in my imagination.
1012AD: With my ancestry, the majority of my ancestors would have been yeoman or serf-equivalents in a feudal and theocratic world of northern Europe. The daily routines of farming and household were little different from previous centuries and there was little to see changing in the future. Very little decision making was needed for the average person.
1262AD: Very, very slight changes have appeared with the knowledge gained from the returning Crusaders in the individual’s world-view. Still almost no change in everyday life for the average peasant.
1512AD: All of Europe has been roiled with the changes forced by the waves of the Bubonic Plagues that have done much destruction to the Feudal World as well as the monolithic Church. Society is far more mobile in both potential for travel as well as change in cultural position. The Mediterranean Renaissance and the exploration voyages are starting to echo in northern Europe. Individual lives are far more tied to external and distant events than ever before in their past millennium. Real decisions by individuals result in real outcomes.
1762AD: Europe and now North America are where my ancestors reside. Europe bears almost no resemblance to its image of 500 years ago with the total replacement of feudalism by nation-states. The monolithic Christian Church has been replaced by Roman Catholicism and a myriad of Protestant and other churches. In North America, individualism is sparked by the concept and reality of the frontier where no government rules. Even in the very real cities of the nascent United States, the freedom of individual liberty provokes reaction to statist doctrines from old Europe. Individuals have power and knowledge far beyond the wildest imaginings of earlier philosophers. This is the start of our modern world.
So what are my conclusions from this very brief outline of visualized history? I believe (nothing original to me) that there are two very differing philosophies at work in our modern world, i.e.. NOW! There is a very real desire by many for a calm and orderly world where there is equality of outcome and everybody has a secure place and comfortable living. To me this resembles the Medieval world of 1012AD when there were good crops and no plague or wars. Frankly, to me this is the view of the left with all of its scattered views, to have government be the ultimate parent and provider.
For me and I think my fellow FReepers and conservatives, it is the chaotic and uneven world of individuals making the best of a world deriving from an equity in opportunity, one where no government or organization can dictate outcomes. A world that permits new industries to spring from garage inventors who may violate OSHA and EPA regulations designed to mitigate large corporations but applied bureaucratically to the smallest as well. A World where one-time millionaires are later in poverty while former ghetto residents are millionaires. A world where the quality of character and perseverence means far more than skin color or perceived societal standing!
bfl