A Full House For Disaster (What Went Wrong In America In The 20th Century)

Return Of The Gods Web Site ^ | February, 2006 | William Flax

[Ohioan]

A Full House For Disaster

There is an old saying that "the Devil is in the details." Here, we suspect, the Devil was the dealer.

Synopsis
Three kindred errors in understanding or assigning Responsibility: Education, Public Safety & Welfare. Two kindred errors in the comprehension of Causation: Denial of nature as cause for success or failure & observed aspects of comparative group dynamics; & a trivialization of human sexuality.

A Poker Hand From Hell

There have probably been no truly new ideas in the field of human group dynamics in the past thousand years. Social "innovation" consists largely in a rephrasing of past concepts to play on the egos--adequate or otherwise--of susceptible people, those who want to appear "ahead of the curve," "with it" or, at least, not "out-of-it." What the social or political philosopher does is to restate, endlessly restate, concepts that others have explored, over and over again, through the ages. But in that endless process of rehashing old ideas, there is certainly an effort to pull those old ideas together in fresh, new, presentations. And so it is with those of us who would defend the wisdom of the past without apology. We, too, seek new approaches, new assemblages of arguments and the phenomena that support those arguments, hoping ever to strike a responsive cord among readers or listeners.

Here, we analyze a metaphorical "poker hand": A Full House of the five most egregious philosophic fallacies prevalent in the America of the 20th Century. Each of these errors has been discussed many times before--indeed, each has been treated here, previously, . . .

[Ohioan]

The above is the start of our Essay for February, 2006. I have delayed a few days, posting it here, because it may be a little too whimsical in the concept of the poker metaphor, for most Free Republic tastes. But in the hope that some of you may enjoy it, I decided to go ahead. The essay may be accessed at

[Mr Ramsbotham]

In my opinion what went wrong was the proclivity of affluent people with too much time on their hands to turn life into a game of charades, and expecting society to use its resources to facilitate their games.

[Ohioan]

I see that my initial comment was cropped.

Of course, the access of the url is Full House For Disaster.

William Flax

[308MBR]

Here's the summary: Welfare, Medicare, Medicaide, Social Security, and corporate welfare are bad. Boys and Girls are different, and public schools suck.

Nothing new here, but it is stated rather eloquently with references.

[Ohioan]

In my opinion what went wrong was the proclivity of affluent people with too much time on their hands to turn life into a game of charades, and expecting society to use its resources to facilitate their games.

You have addressed one of the causes, but not the resulting errors. It is true that social revolutions always start among the affluent for the obvious reason that people truly struggling to survive, do not have the time to plan revolutions, nor "Alice In Wonderland" sociological experiments.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Yet, sadly, with increased urbanization throughout the last Century, America--as a whole--turned increasingly away from her former respect for, or even acceptance of, an armed citizenry. In many States, and in most large cities, an increasingly restrictive policy was adopted; while at the same time, protocols were established that restricted even the Police in the use of deadly force to enforce the law and preserve private property rights; tilting a balance, once overwhelmingly in favor of the law-abiding and propertied families, more in sympathy with scofflaws and those outside any traditional social order.

Who turned away from order ? it wasn't the citizenry who turned... the legislation of new laws protecting more criminals forced the turning of the hand of citizenry from law abiding to fear of repercussions from more criminal intent !

The taking of guns from the Law abiding citizenry increased the foregoing actions of criminals all over America and the legislation of laws protecting the criminal when caught in the act of his criminality by the citizenry not being able to protect his own property but being forced to allow criminals to escape proper justice will eventually turn law abiding citizens into criminals without the citizen being aware of his act being criminal!

Courts legislate you into a criminal before you even think of breaking even the most fundamental of protection laws !

You are guilty until prov en innocent even if the criminal is caught red handed after all his job description is based on stealing from you if you shoot him he can't do his job and you are guilty of keeping him from doing his job therefore you are the criminal ! and he is the criminalized

[Tribune7]

Things went far, far, far, far, far, far, far, ar less wrong in America in the 20th Century than the rest of the world.

[SandRat]

Four LETTERS --- A.C.L.U.

[Ohioan]

Things went far, far, far, far, far, far, far, ar less wrong in America in the 20th Century than the rest of the world.

As I explained to the Jury, in a civil case that I was defending this past week, you have to consider the subject of perspective, before you can reach your conclusion. America in 1900 was far freer, far more understanding of individual responsibilities and traditional values than she was in 2000.

In our value structure, we were virtually without peer in 1900. That in 2000 there remain many, many far less desirable places, does not mean that more has been going wrong in those places over the past 100 years. Many of them were cess pools in 1900 and remain cess pools, today. Some of them have been improving. Some nations, such as those in Western and Central Europe have also been declining in their rooted social structures since 1900, just as we have.

None of that changes the fact that the values which made America possible have been very seriously undermined.

William Flax

[Ohioan]

Who turned away from order ? it wasn't the citizenry who turned... the legislation of new laws protecting more criminals forced the turning of the hand of citizenry from law abiding to fear of repercussions from more criminal intent !

I think we have a multi-headed hydra, here. It was only in part Legislatures, more often city councils adopted the most restrictive anti-gun legislation. But the protection of criminals, committing felony crimes, has also resulted both from some questionable Court decisions, and the success of certain Leftwing groups in creating a very distorted impression from those questionable Court decisions. (There is a certain amount of smoke and mirrors involved in the questionable notion that the citizen dare not kill or seriously injure a criminal seeking to rob him, etc..)

But for those who have not yet read the essay that is the subject of this thread, it is in the trends over private arms, that there is a true ray of hope today. Thankfully, organizations such as the GOA, and their allies, have been effectively fighting back.

[Ohioan]

The ACLU has certainly been a major player in undermining the effective continuity of traditional American values. And in recognizing that they are just one of the players, I certainly do not mean to minimize in any way, their importance to those who seek to convert America into just another Socialist entity.

Not to change the subject from my essay, here, but I have dealt with the ACLU in detail at Leftwing Word Games & American Religious Freedom.

William Flax

[jec41]

One word would have been sufficient. Materialism.

[IronJack]

Wordy, often obtuse analysis, but one whose shortcomings are far outweighed by its perceptions. I found this paragraph especially intriguing:

Stripped of a positive identification with one's own, against a background of egalitarian rhetoric, the observed losses have not been to violent or anti-social tendencies, but to the inhibitions which engender constructive behavior. One can see this in the increased drug addiction among all races; in the breakdown of the family; in the gang wars over turf, even between members of the same race in adjacent neighborhoods, in many of the inner cities of America. Yet to understand the full picture, to put it into an historic context, we believe that the present combination of guilt on the part of much of the traditional leadership, fear of truth on the part of the middle-classes and resentment on the part of the under-classes, among the citizens of a great power, to be unparalleled in human experience. While Rome may well have perished because the original Roman stock failed to reproduce, what remained through the generations, still honored Roman culture. What hope can there be for any "Nation," which condemns its own ethnicity, or apologizes for its origins?

Laying aside the hyperbole ("unparalleled in human experience"), this is a cogent delineation of racism's root causes, at least post-Jim Crow. In summary, it blames escalating racial tensions on the destruction of white pride, a general lowering of the bar. That social trend is evident everywhere you see suburban white youths mimicking the marginal behavior of gangsta wannabes and inner-city flotsam. It is also obvious in the elevation of those marginal lifestyles to positions of awe and admiration. And I suspect that the author is correct in his assessment of the cause: white guilt, to one degree or another.

[Ohioan]

One word would have been sufficient. Materialism.

While materialism has certainly contributed to a moral weakness, which in turn has contributed to a breakdown of individual responsibility in education, public safety, etc., as well as a lost sense of continuity, it is not itself the cause--rather a parallel symptom. (That is the turning to an emphasis on the material concerns of the moment, is a parallel symptom to other aspects of a loss of the foundational values.)

[Ohioan]

Yes, and no.

I am not just blaming "White Guilt." That is one of the facets of something that has become a general malady. That is the facet that renders what was once the leadership, impotent. But the same forces are also responsible for the whole self-destructive psychology of the inner cities--and what we see there is patently self-destructive.

We have not just stripped away White pride, or affluent American pride, as socially acceptible. We have trivialized everyone's sense of ongoing community identification in a positive sense. (The Left, of course, loves that identification when it is a negative--a sense of togetherness in feeling resentment, in blaming others. They just don't want anyone to take pride and responsibility either as an individual or a group, for positive, ongoing, cultural achievement.)

This lack of pride removes the major inhibitor to anti-social behavior--that sense of the importance of measuring up to an established social and familial value system.

[Search4Truth]

Philosophy will only rearrange the deck chairs of the Titanic. The only real solution is a return to Biblical truths.

[Malesherbes]

Good comment by William Flax. I would add that students graduating high school in 1900 (frequently) had a better education than their grandchildren graduating college in later years.

[jec41]

While materialism has certainly contributed to a moral weakness, which in turn has contributed to a breakdown of individual responsibility in education, public safety, etc., as well as a lost sense of continuity, it is not itself the cause--rather a parallel symptom. (That is the turning to an emphasis on the material concerns of the moment, is a parallel symptom to other aspects of a loss of the foundational values.)

You may be right or wrong however I would not argue or debate today because individual responsibility in education, public safety, etc., as well as a lost sense of continuity, is but supposition to determine the philosophy of such. I am not of the effort to either prove or refute any arguments of philosophy and remain thoughtless of such until I have finish my observance of today's basketball games.

[R.W.Ratikal]

What went wrong in the last century in America is easy to explain.

In 1933 a wealthy Wall Street financier Franklin D. Roosevelt became president of the United States. Roosevelt was a ignorant of economics as a fence post. He fell for the political correctness of socialism and led America down the fateful road to socialism.

in the middle of the 19th century a crackpot born into a good family in Germany (the birthplace of socialism) named Karl Mark. Marx who was as ignorant of economics as Roosevelt later turned out to be wrote the Communist Manifesto.

This document lays out 10 plants that must be achieved if a country is to be fully socialized. The Democrat Party agenda and platform since Roosevelt's day is an almost duplicate of Marx's manifesto.

Americans have accepted this manifesto. That's what went wrong.

[Ohioan]

Philosophy will only rearrange the deck chairs of the Titanic. The only real solution is a return to Biblical truths.

Do you not see the contradiction in what you have written?

Philosophy means the pursuit of truth--the search for truth. If you believe that it is found in the Bible, then you should be the greatest of advocates for the Philosophic pursuit. Many people give up the pursuit, believing it hopeless. You have hope and direction--at least a sound start.