Posted on 03/31/2016 10:20:58 AM PDT by robowombat
“When there is a crumbling of major certainties, the unifying principles evaporate and the most absurd things become possible.”
In the scramble to make sense out of the present election cycle, analysts have come up with all sorts of theories. One popular explanation claims that people are hardening in their positions. On the left and the right, all parties are holding rigidly to their agendas, forcing their will upon the rest of the nation making it difficult to get things done.
Thus, people claim the only solution is to smash through all the rigid agendas and just do whatever it takes to get things done, even if it offends traditional orthodoxies. No option is off the table — not even socialism.
Some interpret these hardball tactics as the divisive and inflexible product of the nation’s polarization. Ironically, it actually represents a crumbling of certainties.
One of the certainties at risk is the American consensus that has long been in place by which people generally agreed to follow some rules to pursue happiness around a general prosperity. It is a very practical model and is responsible for the American way of life.
Americans still value this consensus; it is far from over. Significant portions of the electorate still want this model to continue.
However, this American model that promises prosperity and unlimited progress is no longer working as it used to. People simply aren’t following the rules any more. This has created major pockets of discontent that can no longer be expressed by traditional political means. It has given rise to diverse opinions ranging from radicals on the left that question America’s economic system, to anarcho-libertarian elements who see no role at all for government. Above all, Americans from all walks of life sense a spiritual void amid the abundance of the nation’s glutted markets.
From this discontent comes the crumbling of certainties. Doubts abound concerning an American Dream that is in trouble. People are questioning old assumptions. They are experiencing suffering and failure which forces them to either harbor all sorts of recriminations and resentments or to ponder and reflect upon the more important things of life.
That is why the present election cycle is so chaotic. When there is a crumbling of major certainties, the unifying principles evaporate and the most absurd things become possible. The imagination is loosened, and everyone creates their own realities based on their anxieties. Without certainties, there is no need for institutions, processes, or civility. Rather, spectacle and image reign. All this adds chaos, making the present election cycle more difficult and confusing. It is not so much a polarization of society that is taking place but rather a shattering into a thousand poles.
The worst part of this whole scenario is that the very tools needed to correct the situation are sadly missing. This crumbling of certainties is only made possible by the fact that the foundations of society are rotting. Leadership is lacking, honor has gone missing, and godliness is waning. One can no longer build upon religious sentiments because they have become only that — vague sentiments — not firm convictions.
For example, standards of moral outrage have decayed to such a point that the shocking revelations found in the Planned Parenthood videos have failed to ignite a firestorm of indignation in the nation’s majority. Consequently, the notorious abortion provider still enjoys the support and praise of many candidates who do everything possible to keep it running.
Finally, there is the crumbling of that highest “certainty” undergirding the present world order -- the “almighty dollar.” Looming on the horizons are major challenges to this great anchor and, should the mooring fail, the whole world will be set adrift.
And so the nation faces an election in which the likely outcomes promise to multiply uncertainty and further shatter America’s unity.
Is there a solution to this mess? The only way to combat a crumbling certainty is to have recourse to a higher certainty that will bring about a return to order. But this return to order will only come when society faces a rude awakening and the debate is turned back to the moral issues that lead to the Certainty of all certainties — so sidelined in the present debate. That certainty is God, for Whom all things are possible.
John Horvat II is the author of The Return to Order. A syndicated columnist and economist, he is also vice president of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property.
The left is trying to make the US ungovernable.
How appropriate for our time!
http://www.wnd.com/2016/03/temple-of-baal-to-go-up-in-new-york-london/
PS: Not sure WHY I’ve sent this out as the few remaining — and dwindling number of — Christians among us already understand the sinister symbolic significance of this event while the growing numbers of pagans won’t care or understand. Many will probably celebrate it — right up until the muslims and their shari’a law become dominant here in the West. And they thought Christianity was “oppressive”?
Welcome to the “American Empire”....
Remember, Rome didn’t fall after the fall of the Republic, but mutated into a totalitarian empire that later collapsed....
“”When there is a crumbling of major certainties, the unifying principles evaporate and the most absurd things become possible.””
The first thing I thought of after reading this was the assertion that Climate Change is more of a mortal enemy to the United States than Islamic jihad, ISIS, Sharia law and the caliphate are.
Had to look up WBTS. The words ‘associated’ with it in the Urban Dictionary make me want to take another shower today. So the rest of FR doesn’t have to look it up, it just means War Between the States. Urban Dictionary is really base.
Is there a solution to this mess? The only way to combat a crumbling certainty is to have recourse to a higher certainty that will bring about a return to order. But this return to order will only come when society faces a rude awakening and the debate is turned back to the moral issues that lead to the Certainty of all certainties — so sidelined in the present debate. That certainty is God, for Whom all things are possible.
Welcome to the world of post-modern relativism. Francis Schaeffer was pointing this out 60 years ago and others before him. Once you give up on the truth of a transcendent God then there is no such thing objective morality. Might makes right.
Ungovernable as a Republic, but not ungovernable as a dictatorship, with them being members of the Party Apparat.
This is what happens when you abandon federalism. The country cannot be run entirely by a geographical majority to the exclusion of everyone else.
My moral certainties aren’t crumbling. Sorry if yours are.
Public lewdness is now just part of the ‘new normal’. A good indication of a debased and ethically calloused culture.
“PS: Not sure WHY I’ve sent this out as the few remaining — and dwindling number of — Christians among us already understand the sinister symbolic significance of this event while the growing numbers of pagans won’t care or understand. “
You are not alone...and yes, this was all foretold...it is very interesting to really be living in truly Biblical times...but a bit scary also. Stay close and faithful to God, defend the faith, defend the faithful and help those who cannot help themselves. That is the code on which I now live. I believe the nation has pretty much already died...this is not the nation I grew up in...and I think we are watching the final collapse before the chaos that will be global.
Supposedly the last time 65% of eligible US voters voted in national elections was back in 1908, less for state and local. It hasn’t broken that since, a lot of them being below 55%. At least by any thing that I have seen.
Supposedly the 10% of dumbest voters, the ones that vote, but vote one way and then another but can’t usually coherently explain why, are the ones that decide these elections. That’s what swing voters are, right? The people who the campaign money is meant to manipulate into voting or not voting at all based on political ads? Or vote based on how well attended a political really seems to be, or how well the media said a candidate did in a debate. The swayable.
It’s a wonder we aren’t worse off, considering. The problem is that we would probably be even worse off if more people voted.
Freegards
Go nonpolitical. Do what is right, healthy and productive.
RE: “It’s a wonder we aren’t worse off, considering. The problem is that we would probably be even worse off if more people voted.”
Fear not, our ever worsening Idiocracy strives to let Everyone participate in voting.
Citizen status is not necessary, mere residency is adequate!
The report, commissioned by the *U.S. Vote Foundation, an organization that “helps U.S. residents” vote*.
There’s been a change in attitude from many security researchers in recent years from opposition to any kind of Internet voting to offering suggestions on how to fix what’s wrong with it, Kiniry said.
The idea of Internet voting “is becoming more of a reality,” he added. “The real concern of the security community is that this is going to happen whether we like it or not, and therefore we need to be constructive moving forward.”
The report’s authors spent two years putting it together with input from election officials in 10 states, a dozen university computer science and e-voting researchers and cryptographers and technologists from IBM, Microsoft, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology and other organizations.
The report comes after about 10 states considered legislation this year to allow some level of Internet voting.
Let us know when to set off for Galt’s Gulch.
Our self-destructive feedback loop guarantees our doom.
RE: “Pct to Dems & liberals:] 99%
[Pct to Repubs & Conservs:] 1%
Leviathan (Uncle Sam employs more people than you think)
National Review ^ | 02/03/2011 | Iain Murray
“...nearly 40 million Americans employed in some way by government.”
...and pensioners from the same.”
So youre that one huh? Theres always one.
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