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1. veff :trash: (veff@poa.st)'s status on Tuesday, 25-Apr-2023 08:25:37 JST veff :trash:

   @Boomerman Found the original text I saved a year back, but not the source, which I think was someone’s substack. Here it is:

   I have been thinking recently that the present situation in the United States shares many points in common with the United States of the 1970s. Consider the following similarities:

   • America is going through an extended period of racial upheaval (the “Civil Rights Movement” and the consequences of integration/the Obama administration and BLM agitation)

   • Rising crime rates and drug abuse epidemics

   • Two Presidents (Nixon/Trump) that, to varying degrees, were very polarizing and either loved or hated by millions, left office in disgrace

   • Record inflation and stagnant economic growth (“stagflation”) under two relatively uninspiring Presidents (Carter/Biden)

   • Energy crises

   • The United States losing a very long, costly war (Vietnam/Afghanistan) against an enemy that was supposedly inferior on paper

   • Arms races with great powers

   • Dissidents, both genuine and in name only, predicting the relatively imminent (within one or two decades) collapse of the American state

   And what happened after the 70s? Reagan came into office, seemingly gave this country a shot in the arm in terms of pro-American sentiment, and it was “Morning in America” again as robust economic growth returned while Reagan and his successor oversaw the breakup of America’s principal geopolitical foe, the Soviet Union. Not only did the United States continue existing, it had about a decade where it was unquestionably the global hegemon.

   Now, I generally dislike the analysis of history/current events that simply points to past commonalities and then uses those commonalities to infer that “the cycle is repeating”, or something along those lines. History is not really cyclical in the way that weather is, and it is certainly not cyclical in the way seasonal climate is. So it is also worth pointing out how the America of today is very much different from the America of the 70s:

   • The United States is far less White and far less Christian than it was in the 1970s, and getting less White and less Christian with each passing day

   • Likely related to that point, feelings of patriotism are at an all time low

   • The United States is far more deindustrialized than it was in the 70s

   • The United States is far more divided in terms of partisan politics than it was in the 70s, with most states being locked-in as either “Red States” or “Blue States”, and this division being largely determined by race, class, and education/indoctrination level

   • The quality of our leaders is much worse. For all the flaws of Nixon and Carter, Trump was no Nixon, and Biden is no Carter.

   Expanding on Trump/Biden not having the leadership abilities of Nixon/Carter, both leaders of the 70s were far more willing to be distrustful of Jews and Israel (or at least speak frankly about Jewish power in private) than Trump and Biden were/are. Jewish power in the American government, and the executive branch specifically, has never been more apparent

   The United States is far more of a reactionary power abroad than it was in the 70s. In 2022, it is Russia, China, and the “Axis of Resistance” allying with each other to freeze out the United States; and the US has been largely unsuccessful in driving a wedge between its various geopolitical rivals as it was in the 70s when it capitalized on the Sino-Soviet split and started laying the ground work for the Iran-Iraq war.

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   RT: https://poa.st/objects/43a19f2a-dbca-4ddb-b3e5-aa2bb78205ca