Topic: Indian Summer Of A Civilization

[rickl]

From Eternity Road.

It's time to face the facts:

• Racially-motivated "flash mob" violence is raging in America's largest cities.
• The president himself is playing the race card against his political opponents. More, Obama is being encouraged in this by prominent figures in his party.
• A prominent Democrat governor has suggested suspending Constitutionally mandated election procedures.
• A former high official in the Obama Administration thinks the reason Washington can't get its budgetary house in order is "representative democracy."
• Meanwhile, our federal debt now exceeds our Gross Domestic Product, some 16% of our workforce is un- or under-employed, every forecast for 2012 now reads like something from the Thirties, and the five largest banks in the nation hold sufficient unsecured risks to bankrupt the entire world.

America's Indian Summer is waning. The decades of optimism, plenty, and good cheer that followed World War II are coming to a close.

We should have known.

Read the whole thing, and don't forget to click for accompaniment.

[IronDioPriest]

Damn, I hate this bleak stuff. Mostly because it rings so true, and runs counter to my "fight for a return to sanity until the last possible moment" mentality.

I cling to a hope that the American people can be roused, and that once in control, that we can force our will upon policy makers. I cling to the notion that I am not naive to hope for such a thing, even in the face of the ominous task before us.

[charlesoakwood]

Yeah, if he and Weisshaupt went to a bar together I don't know if they'd make it home.\

[rickl]

I saw a post at Instapundit earlier that rang true with me:

WAITING FOR THE ARCHDUKE: Reader Bill Rudersdorf writes:

I have that “waiting for a bunch of shoes to drop” feeling about the current world situation. It’s not going to be nice. It’s not going to be over quickly. It’s like the summer of 1914, but I keep wondering “Where is the Sarajevo? Who will be the Archduke?”. What we now call World War I didn’t just happen without a long run-up, but still few predicted it. This is financial, at least in part, but then again, that was at the root of the beginnings of such conflagrations as the French and Russian Revolutions, whose aftershocks are still with us. So, where will it start this time, and when?

Yeah, our political class has managed things such that we don’t have much safety margin, in a whole lot of areas.

There have been an awful lot of Belmont Club posts in the past few months that are in a similar vein.

[Pandora]

Both Fran Porretto and Weisshaupt strike me as eminently practical men, facing reality and planning for the aftermath, as opposed to the idea that an election will "save us" and all manner o' things will be well.

[charlesoakwood]

They may be eminently practical men, however, they list to the fatalist side or as another member humorously defines himself as a catastrophist.

We are on the cusp of all hell breaking loose be it the Archduke scenario or our spineless political class bankrupting the nation before our very eyes, there is a big pot of stew in the kettle.  It may be rough and we will be challenged but I don't believe we will be retreating to fortifications for safety. We will be advancing forward for the Republic. Whether it is by election as I hope or by trial we are advancing to a brighter day. 

[Pandora]

They may be eminently practical men, however, they list to the fatalist side or as another member humorously defines himself as a catastrophist.

We are on the cusp of all hell breaking loose be it the Archduke scenario or our spineless political class bankrupting the nation before our very eyes, there is a big pot of stew in the kettle.  It may be rough and we will be challenged but I don't believe we will be retreating to fortifications for safety. We will be advancing forward for the Republic. Whether it is by election as I hope or by trial we are advancing to a brighter day. 

While you list to the "and all manner o' things will be well" ala "advancing to a brighter day" with nothing backing that up.

[charlesoakwood]

Back up, we are the backup.
We are here and the world has not come to an end.
We are going to have an election and we are going to win it.
And we are going to press on.

[IronDioPriest]

Back up, we are the backup.
We are here and the world has not come to an end.
We are going to have an election and we are going to win it.
And we are going to press on.

I share this determination at the end of the day. For the sake of my children and grandson, I can't lose hope that our nation's brighter days are ahead. The American people have throughout our history been a people of determination and grit.

Aside from that, the forces at work against our republic require our despair as a prerequisite for their success. f**k them.

[Pandora]

Neither of the aforementioned two gentlemen counsels despair ....

We can no longer afford to live on credit. Neither can we entrust our finances to institutions that exhibit no fiduciary responsibility.
    We can entertain no fantasies about our political rulers' ability to pull us out of our tailspin. Among other things, they've made it plain that they have little respect for us and even less desire to listen to us.
    We're going to be responsible for our own protection, our own well-being, and our own retirements -- if any.
    As the reports of racial violence cited above indicate, there'll be plenty to protect ourselves from.
    Should the opinions of Bev Purdue and Peter Orszag gain traction among the political elite, the federal government will become openly a tyranny. The American people will be transformed from a self-governing citizenry to a mass of subjugated serfs. Recent explosive federal usurpations of authority and abridgements of individuals' freedom have us treading the borderlands of that status already.

Who's elected to the presidency, and which party emerges with control of Congress, will pale in significance compared to the factors above.

America's Indian Summer is nearly over. It's time to brace for the storms of winter.

What keeps you waiting on this beach tonight?

........ rather the opposite:  "Gird your loins".

[IronDioPriest]

No, I know. I was talking about me, not them. If I look into the future and believe that my children and grandson will not have the same access to the opportunity that our generation had and should have preserved for them - if I look into that future and see more darkness than light - I despair.

That doesn't mean don't prep for the worst. But it does mean that in spite of my darker days, I'm not letting go of the American dream until they pry it from my hands.

[Libertas]

No, I know. I was talking about me, not them. If I look into the future and believe that my children and grandson will not have the same access to the opportunity that our generation had and should have preserved for them - if I look into that future and see more darkness than light - I despair.

That doesn't mean don't prep for the worst. But it does mean that in spite of my darker days, I'm not letting go of the American dream until they pry it from my hands.

 

Do not go quietly!