"History is the sound of hobnail boots going upstairs, and slippers coming down." It seems to me we are witnessing such a moment; the American ruling class has been declining for several decades now, and is now reaching a point where it has real difficulty in controlling events or 'narratives'. It is clear from Mr. Putin's recent red-line drawing that he thinks this ruling class can be told where to get off, and domestically, the poor response to COVID has convinced many Americans that, for better or worse, they're on their own for the same reason. For many rightists, a cardinal principle of a good society is hierarchy, and they see 'communism' as either equality (evil) or fake equality masking authoritarianism (worse, because coming from a different tribe). (Because of their communitarian traditions, I suppose Russia, China, and Islam can be characterized as 'communist' so it's a convenient slur which many Americans are too uninformed and mentally lazy to criticize.)
Meanwhlie, the incompetence of the Democratic Party (the pseudo-Left) is so manifest now that I need not go into it here. Its reliance on IdPol to avoid class war issues has led it into increasing irrelevance. I wonder how far we are from hearing those boots on the stairs.
"History is the sound of hobnail boots going upstairs, and slippers coming down." It seems to me we are witnessing such a moment; the American ruling class has been declining for several decades now, and is now reaching a point where it has real difficulty in controlling events or 'narratives'. It is clear from Mr. Putin's recent red-line drawing that he thinks this ruling class can be told where to get off, and domestically, the poor response to COVID has convinced many Americans that, for better or worse, they're on their own for the same reason. For many rightists, a cardinal principle of a good society is hierarchy, and they see 'communism' as either equality (evil) or fake equality masking authoritarianism (worse, because coming from a different tribe). (Because of their communitarian traditions, I suppose Russia, China, and Islam can be characterized as 'communist' so it's a convenient slur which many Americans are too uninformed and mentally lazy to criticize.)
Meanwhlie, the incompetence of the Democratic Party (the pseudo-Left) is so manifest now that I need not go into it here. Its reliance on IdPol to avoid class war issues has led it into increasing irrelevance. I wonder how far we are from hearing those boots on the stairs.