21st Century Breakdown

The Burning Platform ^ | February 23, 2010 | James Quinn

[parsifal]

Political leaders and the mainstream media have been blindsided by the sudden mood shift of the country in the last few years. The reason they have been blindsided is they believe world history is linear. Liberals have now begun referring to themselves as progressives. These people think the world only progresses. The facts indicate otherwise. History is cyclical. History is replete with grand empires like Rome, Spain and Britain. It is also replete with Dark Ages, depressions and wars. Strauss & Howe have established that history can be broken down into 80 to 100 year Saeculums that consist of four turnings: The High, The Awakening, The Unraveling, and the Crisis.

[parsifal]

Wow, this is interesting. Long fascinating read. Another good link from nakedcapitalism.com

parsy, who is re-reading it

[jsh3180]

I read the same piece at a different source a couple of days ago and linked it in this post last night

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2457970/posts?page=22#22

Seriously, I have to believe history does repeat itself and the generational cycles make sense as well. I’m sure some would disagree and say man controls his destiny, but human nature and time may just lead that destiny in certain directions.

[parsifal]

Yes.I have to break out my Toynbee and refresh myself. But, yes, that is why we seem to never learn the lessons of history. There was an old saying about “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.”

Grandpa had it hard and worked for everything he got. His kids therefore had it easier, didn’t have to work as hard, but still had Grandpa around to raise them right. They are easier on their kids. Grandchildren have it made, inherit the money and blow it all. Their kids start off with it hard and have to work....etc. (unless they’re Kennedys, and the family trust was drawn up right!)

That’s what gets me about this financial mess. Darn it, we’ve been here before.

parsy

[catman67]

“These things gotta happen every five years or so, ten years. Helps to get rid of the bad blood. Been ten years since the last one. You know, you gotta stop them at the beginning. Like they should have stopped Hitler at Munich, they should never let him get away with that, they was just asking for trouble. “

Clemenza, from The Godfather

[bigbob]

I had not heard the phrase “the fourth turning” until I heard the documentary producers use it on Hannity last night, and now I do. It is scary, but makes emminent sense. We know intuitively we are in the middle of something big, this explains what it is, why it is, and maybe gives us some clue as to what must be done.

Thanks very much for posting it.

[piytar]

Interesting, although this line made me question the soundness of the entire piece:

“The short-sighted economic choices and deferred fiscal decisions will collide with peak oil...”

Peak oil — at least in real terms as opposed to politically created terms — is a marxist scam on par with gorebull warming.

[GonzoGOP]

the classic Nomad (Generation X) description of a tough, hard edged pragmatist who does not trust government or corporations.
...Generation X will provide the tough resolute leadership in the midst of the Crisis, defending society. Let’s hope the country will produce Nomad leaders on par with previous Nomads

Don't forget that for every George Washington created by a generation of tough, hard edged pragmatists there is a William T Sherman ("War is all hell"), Phil Sheridan ("The only good Indian is a dead Indian") or Curtis LeMay ("If you kill enough of them, they stop fighting"). Men who "Got the job done" and didn't care much about how many people got dead in the process. An era ruled by such cold pragmatism isn't likely to bring a smile to the PC boomers or Obama voting millennial.

[autumnraine]

I think everyone feels it, like an undercurrent of electricity humming. I know I don’t know exactly what is happening, but SOMETHING is. As my cousin (who regrets her hysterical vote for Obama) expressed it, there is a “deep sense of foreboding.”

I feel it, and I see it on people in the grocery store. The skeptic in me steps back and wants to say “This is just silly, things have been ‘scary’ before.” And truth be told, the longer things are going along ‘normally’ (albeit with lack of jobs), the more I question if I am just hysterical. But I cannot turn lose of the undercurrent of being on the edge of something. And completely unsure of what that ‘something’ is.

[parsifal]

You’re welcome. Just found it today. Plus, I like Green Day! That intuitive thing has us all sort of feeling something has been buzzing for a while. Have you ever heard of “The Boomer Bible”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh7mLgP7YH4

and then, the follow up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jaYOpbgieU&feature=related

parsy, who loves these!

[parsifal]

Well, the second link, like sucked big time. Some dude talking over it. Try this instead:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD1QqRY2K70

parsy, who still loves ‘em!

[parsifal]

There’s plenty of oil, but have you noticed the darn price in the last few days? We can’t have a recovery with oil at that price.

parsy, who even heard Donald Trump say it a few days ago

[parsifal]

Me too. I have never been as pessimistic about the financial situation. And I am not a panic-ky person. But I think we are starting the slide down the precipice. I have been calling it New America.

parsy, who will be a traveling balladeer and poet

[parsifal]

Gotta love Curtis LeMay! I remember when he was George Wallace’s running mate. I headed up the George Wallace student mock campaign thingie. We got a lot of votes.

parsy, who grew up around SAC bases.

[piytar]

Oh, I’ve noticed. My point was merely that the “peak oil” meme is utter bunk in terms of recoverable oil. Or rather propaganda because it gives cover to those who want to restrict use of oil (and other fossil fuels) — in other words artificially create a “peak oil” crisis — with the goal of securing more power and money for themselves. Remember, some don’t want a recovery, they want a crisis that they can leverage (in obamanation terms, “not waste”) to reshape our nation, with them on top of course. And that is what we are seeing now.

[The Comedian]

An era ruled by such cold pragmatism isn't likely to bring a smile to the PC boomers or Obama voting millennial.

Especially since they are the ones who will be on the receiving end of the aforementioned pragmatism.

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

[GonzoGOP]

Gotta love Curtis LeMay!

Was LeMay the first to use the quote "Bomb them into the stone age". I know he used the quote about North Vietnam but I'm not sure if he was the first.

[parsifal]

Maybe him or Goldwater? One wanted to “lob one over into the men’s room over at the Kremlin” as I recall”

parsy, who says those were the days!

[parsifal]

Karl Denniger over at Market Ticker has been saying the same thing. He’s even warned the cops they had best get to work on the crooks, financial and otherwise, or they’re likely to be toast. A long screed. I’ll find it and link it. fromlori may have posted it yesterday.

parsy, who has to get some bullets for his Mosin Nagent

[GonzoGOP]

Especially since they are the ones who will be on the receiving end of the aforementioned pragmatism.

Exactly. When the Confederates started planting land mines in front of Sherman's army (1864 IED's) he simply marched Confederate prisoners in front of the column. Once Joe Wheeler realized that the only people he was going to blow up where his own men who had been captured he stopped planting the mines.

When LeMay found that he couldn't hit the dispersed Japanese industry due to poor bombing accuracy over Japan he countered by simply fire bombing entire cities. His theory was that if he couldn't destroy the factories, he would just destroy the workers.

We tend to think of the Civil War and World War II as great idealistic crusades. But the men who lead the troops and who actually did the fighting were anything but idealistic. The men who 65 years ago yesterday raised the flag over Iwo Jima were not terribly concerned with the proper treatment of Japanese prisoners. Mostly because the weren't interested in taking any. Once it became obvious that wounded Japanese would pretend to surrender and then blow themselves, and any GI's around, up the standard procedure became to just shoot them again and be sure.

Idealism cannot survive the death of a societies ideals. After that it is just a race to the bottom. If you are very lucky, and have leaders like Washington, Lincoln or Eisenhower you hit bottom and bounce. If you aren't lucky and get a Bonaparte, Bismark or Stalin then you stay on the bottom until every last vestige of humanity is consumed. Note that the last three were from the same generations, and same situations as the first three. The liberals who believe in an eternal summer are fools. But those who seem eager for what is coming should temper their enthusiasm for the coming times. Sometimes you get a winter, some times you get an ice age.

[SkipW]

Liberals are so ignorant of history that they proudly refer to themselves as progressives. If they had any idea what progressives were they would not describe themselves that way.

I always say that those on the left use whichever word describing who they are is based on which one stinks the worst at any given moment.