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America: a nation of giants led by pygmies
Spiked On-Line ^ | 8 Jan 2023 | Joe Kotkin

Posted on 01/09/2023 6:19:23 AM PST by Rummyfan

However dreadful its political class, the US’s fundamentals are overwhelmingly strong.

The United States today stands as a living contradiction to the ‘great man theory of history’. For the US is a great country led by small minds. In recent times, it has been ruled by a narcissistic moral reprobate and it is now being run by a cognitively deficient and scandal-plagued politician. There is a growing feeling, particularly among the young, that today’s America is diminished. Yet the US remains the world’s premier power, and its last best hope against a rising authoritarian tide.

America: a nation of giants led by pygmies Share Topics POLITICS USA The United States today stands as a living contradiction to the ‘great man theory of history’. For the US is a great country led by small minds. In recent times, it has been ruled by a narcissistic moral reprobate and it is now being run by a cognitively deficient and scandal-plagued politician. There is a growing feeling, particularly among the young, that today’s America is diminished. Yet the US remains the world’s premier power, and its last best hope against a rising authoritarian tide.

So, how does an America led by mediocrities succeed? The secret sauce lies in two great assets – America’s geography and its constitution.

America enjoys an enormous expanse of arable land, the largest in the world, bigger than that of Russia and Ukraine combined, and nearly 100million acres more than China. It is not only by far the largest food exporter in the world, but it also leads all countries, including Russia and Saudi Arabia, in the production of fossil fuels, which are now being consumed more than ever. And not to be overlooked are America’s vast reserves of fresh water, the third largest on the planet.

(Excerpt) Read more at spiked-online.com ...


TOPICS: Government; Miscellaneous; Politics; Society
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 01/09/2023 6:19:23 AM PST by Rummyfan
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To: Rummyfan
"America enjoys an enormous expanse of arable land, the largest in the world, bigger than that of Russia and Ukraine combined, and nearly 100million acres more than China. It is not only by far the largest food exporter in the world, but it also leads all countries, including Russia and Saudi Arabia, in the production of fossil fuels, which are now being consumed more than ever. And not to be overlooked are America’s vast reserves of fresh water, the third largest on the planet."

The mediocracies are working on screwing that up as well (see sales of farmland to Bill Gates and China).

2 posted on 01/09/2023 6:23:07 AM PST by Tench_Coxe
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To: Rummyfan

“Now that Trump is thankfully out of power, ...”

__________

Author has a terminal case of TDS.


3 posted on 01/09/2023 6:25:38 AM PST by one guy in new jersey
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To: Rummyfan

...it has been ruled by a narcissistic moral reprobate..., by which I gather you mean Donald Trump. The world has been ruled, and effectively by narcissistic moral reprobates, King David first comes to mind.


4 posted on 01/09/2023 6:25:40 AM PST by Bookshelf
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To: Bookshelf
...it has been ruled by a narcissistic moral reprobate...,

I thought he was referring to Clinton or Obama.

5 posted on 01/09/2023 6:26:50 AM PST by Rummyfan (In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized of man. )
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To: Rummyfan

Obama may be running in the background but, for the first time, his actual skills and talents are being shown to all.


6 posted on 01/09/2023 6:27:42 AM PST by Skywise
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To: Rummyfan

So beautifully worded....a nation of giants led by pygmies. That is exactly what is in our whole government little crying babies from top to bottom.


7 posted on 01/09/2023 6:46:15 AM PST by kagnew
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To: Rummyfan
Excerpt from C.S. Lewis "Screwtape Proposes a Toast":

(The scene is in Hell at the annual dinner of the Tempters’ Training College for young devils. The principal, Dr. Slubgob, has just proposed the health of the guests. Screwtape, a very experienced devil, who is the guest of honour, rises to reply:)

"What I want to fix your attention on is the vast, overall movement towards the discrediting, and finally the elimination, of every kind of human excellence – moral, cultural, social, or intellectual. And is it not pretty to notice how “democracy” (in the incantatory sense) is now doing for us the work that was once done by the most ancient Dictatorships, and by the same methods?"

8 posted on 01/09/2023 6:48:00 AM PST by G Larry ( "woke" means 'stupid enough to fall for the promotion of every human weakness into a virtue')
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To: one guy in new jersey

Comments like that render an author’s words as tripe.


9 posted on 01/09/2023 6:50:27 AM PST by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Gonzales! Come and Take It!)
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To: Skywise

“Obama ... his actual skills and talents are being shown to all.”

There’s an interview on youtube of a young Bob Dylan sitting in front of reporters, smoking one cigarette after another.

A reporter asks him if he considers himself a poet, political figure, leader of movement, ...

A smiling Dylan said he considered himself a song and dance man.


10 posted on 01/09/2023 6:50:48 AM PST by cymbeline
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To: kagnew

I remember a similar phrase referring to the British soliders during WWI; “Lions led by donkeys.”


11 posted on 01/09/2023 6:56:37 AM PST by Maine Mariner
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To: Night Hides Not

They absolutely do.

Poor-mouthing Trump apparently gets you entry into polite society.

Polite but stultified society. But ahhh, ever so polite. And isn’t that nice.


12 posted on 01/09/2023 6:57:33 AM PST by one guy in new jersey
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To: one guy in new jersey
Author has a terminal case of TDS.

Thanks, now I dont have to read it.

13 posted on 01/09/2023 6:59:28 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: Rummyfan

Maybe these “giants” oughta wake up.


14 posted on 01/09/2023 7:15:23 AM PST by TalBlack (We have a Christian duty and a patriotic duty. God help us.)
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To: TalBlack

The pygmies are quickly taking away creature comforts away from us “giants” like cheap gas, dependable/affordable electricity, red meat, fair elections, equal protection under the law and a viable police force/enforcement to name just a few. It won’t be long now....


15 posted on 01/09/2023 7:19:36 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: Rummyfan
The United States today stands as a living contradiction to the ‘great man theory of history’. For the US is a great country led by small minds. In recent times, it has been ruled by a narcissistic moral reprobate and it is now being run by a cognitively deficient and scandal-plagued politician.

This guy contradicts his own notion in the first 3 sentences. And continues to promote the idea that some omniscient demigod is created when a president is elected, and that he 'runs' everything.

The president is a figurehead of a mass of (hopefully) like-minded politicos/bureaucrats/advisors/klingons. That figurehead might be smart and capable, a drooling corrupt idiot, or a brash egotist that can't see the mutinous crew around him.

One of the best ways to start breaking this notion would be to remove the presidents from the currency and coinage - stop creating mythical gods from flawed dead men.
16 posted on 01/09/2023 7:29:08 AM PST by larrytown (A Cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do. Then they graduate...)
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To: Rummyfan

I still contend that most politicians and entertainers are small people with big heads.


17 posted on 01/09/2023 7:34:30 AM PST by systemjim ( Lifetime Lover of Music)
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To: systemjim

People who can, do.
People who can’t, teach.
People who can’t teach, go into politics.


18 posted on 01/09/2023 7:38:43 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Rummyfan
it has been ruled by a narcissistic moral reprobate

Yes, that fits Barack Obama quite well.

19 posted on 01/09/2023 8:45:39 AM PST by marktwain
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To: Tench_Coxe
Jonathan Swift was a great satirist, and far from merely being inspiration for a children's cartoon, Gulliver's Travel's is one of the greatest works of political satire ever written.

If you've read the book (as opposed to just watching the cartoon) then you'll know there is a scene in which the King of Lilliput tests his courtiers by holding out a stick, which they then must either pass under or over:

"The emperor holds a stick in his hands, both ends parallel to the horizon, while the candidates advancing, one by one, sometimes leap over the stick, sometimes creep under it, backward and forward, several times, according as the stick is advanced or depressed ... Whoever performs his part with most agility, and holds out the longest in leaping and creeping, is rewarded with the blue-coloured silk; the red is given to the next, and the green to the third, which they all wear girt twice round about the middle; and you see few great persons about this court who are not adorned with one of these girdles."

Gulliver's meaning is that government is populated with people who rose to their position in one of two ways, either by jumping the highest, ... or stooping the lowest.

In the last 300 years, government has evolved very little.

20 posted on 01/09/2023 2:59:10 PM PST by Paal Gulli (The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch and do nothing.)
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