Tonight upon the Stoa, my mask does triple duty. It protects me from the CCP Virus, the smoke caused by the evil, the sadistic, and the ignorant; and it hides my sorrow.
The disintegration of the 4th Turning is upon us. If you don't know the reference to which I speak, please look it up and read all of the books, not just the last. Trust in our institutions has completely eroded. Faith in our elected officials is nearly gone. The Culture War has turned into trench warfare and it is hard to tell anymore who is winning.
I have been in healthcare my entire life, working for various health systems around the country for nearly 30 years. I have watched while the world went insane over something as harmful as the seasonal flu (yes, I understand the Novel part of it, please relax). I have seen our trust in the FBI and the Supreme Court rot before my eyes. To that I think of the day when the Chief Justice pronounced ObamaCare a tax and not compulsion. I think of the ongoing Coup against our duly elected President and traitors being exposed in the sunlight of discovery day after day. There is no faith among those I speak with that any justice will come to them. None at all.
This unraveling will take years. It has been going on for years and will take years more. What we are experiencing now is the spasms and seizures shaking our people and its culture. Unchecked Progressivism, unrestricted Immigration, and the dumbing-down of the average American has destroyed the post World War II America. We should emerge from this conflagration within the next decade or so in my humble opinion.
What will emerge from this cycle of destruction may be unrecognizable. Thomas Jefferson was already growing concerned about the America of 1820, how it had lost its compass headings given to it by their blood and treasure. Andrew Jackson would not have recognized the America of 1920. I am certain he'd be very upset that that damn National Bank idea that he killed during his Presidency had returned with a vengeance. Likewise, the America of 2020 would an alien place to one in their twilight years in 1920. Our hyper sophisticated automobiles, our supersonic aircraft, humans living in orbit about the planet and the robot probes speeding out towards other stars. Of course, though, it isn't just about technology.
In 1820, women could not vote and over 4 million black Americans were enslaved. 60 years later over 700,000 Americans perished as our culture turned away from enslavement. By 1920 women had gained the vote and alcohol was evil, though in 1880 the average American drank more than 3 times what a hard drinker of today would consume. After WWII, if you were gay or a communist, you were black listed and would not find work anywhere. Today, unless you are a gay communist, you will find you now part of the Patriarchy, or at the very least, labeled "Problematic".
Things change. Culture evolves. Sometimes change is painful.
There are forces that have been working to undermine America and its culture for a long time. Only now, in the winter of our cultural cycle is the moment right for all their labors to bear fruit. They have stacked dry wood and accelerants all over our culture and showered it with sparks. Only now are the generational and cultural cycles lining up. This time the spark may catch and burn the old institutions away. What will rise in its place is hard to tell from here at this time.
With the rise of the big tech companies will we turn into a dystopian authoritarian oligarchy like today's Communist China? Will we continue our slide into Fascism, as the current crowds burning everything down seem to be inadvertently trying to accomplish? Will the Bill of Rights still exist? Will the nature of warfare become one of constant cyber disruption of infrastructure and less about nukes?
America is likely going to continue, even if it runs both a fiscal and cultural debt. It will be a different America, one in which my Grandmother would have felt the foreigner.
It is my hope that we learn from all the pain and suffering about to be experienced by this nation and its people. I hope that the specter of Socialism/Communism/Fascism is finally dispelled forever. I have no idea what kind of world my son will raise his children in. I hope, that when I am old and in my winter years, that I still recognize my country. I hope that I will not feel like a foreigner in my own culture.
I bid you all a good night from the Stoa. I will return to my solitude and hide my misgivings behind my mask. I will watch the fires burn in the distance, I will try not to dwell upon all the hard work, dreams, and lives being consumed within the fires of change enveloping my nation.
Live well.
Zavost