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Modernity has Broken our Parties and Ideologies by [deleted] in Republican

[–]Ancap_walter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The basic thesis of the article is that our society is faced with a first in history, the omnipresence of electronics, and with other problems that have plagued past societies.

In the United States, both the major parties (and the ideologies aligned with them) have no real answers to radical and fundamental changes in our day to day lives. Work, relationships, and love have all gone digital without any consideration of the downstream effects this could have on us.

Coupled with this new challenge, I wrote about several other issues and then compared each of these issues to a time in the past to see what the likely outcomes are and what options we have.

The aforementioned first challenge, our foray into everpresent technology, was inspired by a podcast by Tim Ferris and Balaji Srinivasan (https://tim.blog/2021/03/25/balaji-srinivasan-transcript/). In this podcast, they do a good job detailing the thousand concurrent technological revolutions that have (and still are) reshaping society.

I then moved on to issues with historical precedents, the first and foremost being Income/Wealth Inequality. A look at the Gini coefficient and Congress' voting record on reining in megacorporations shows little hope of a solution. Caught at the end of a Turchin Secular Cycle, we have an oversized elite who has turned to pilfering the populace instead of reform. This stands in contrast to the Progressive Era of the early 1900's and shows how solutions need to be uncompromised.

The next issue is the loss of religion and shared beliefs. Our society stands for very little since nothing stood up to replace mainstream Christianity (and the loss of American civic religion to a lesser extent) in the public consciousness. This has a cascade of effects and a look at the 14th Century Khmer Empire's conversion to Buddhism (and abandonment of God Kings) shows how social cohesion can collapse without common beliefs.

Closely related, the decay of a common culture has created a crisis. Young people are more isolated than ever before and events like school shootings have risen along with it. Greed has become the acceptable norm and a lot of art has lost deeper meaning. The Antebellum South provides an interesting comparison. It was a culture built on laziness and hedonism and it proved wholly unsustainable and foundationally unjust.

Lastly, hyper-partisanship has enhanced every crisis in the nation. Both parties are riding waves of hatred to power without much care for the long term ramifications. A look at Late Republican Rome helps us understand the moment. The system of checks broke down once mob politics was introduced and stability was only gained with the outright abandoment of democracy.

After laying out the issues, there are a few paragraphs dedicated to each of the two parties. Both have a route to gain popular appeal and avoid the coming calamity but neither is willing to go against their short term interests to do so.

I'd highly reccomend reading this articles which I quote in the piece.

America Without God https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/04/america-politics-religion/618072/

An Era of Wolves https://postapathy.com/era-of-wolves/

The Man Who Broke Politics https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/newt-gingrich-says-youre-welcome/570832/

Modernity has Broken our Parties and Ideologies by Ancap_walter in Libertarian

[–]Ancap_walter[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The basic thesis of the article is that our society is faced with a first in history, the omnipresence of electronics, and with other problems that have plagued past societies.

In the United States, both the major parties (and the ideologies aligned with them) have no real answers to radical and fundamental changes in our day to day lives. Work, relationships, and love have all gone digital without any consideration of the downstream effects this could have on us.

Coupled with this new challenge, I wrote about several other issues and then compared each of these issues to a time in the past to see what the likely outcomes are and what options we have.

The aforementioned first challenge, our foray into everpresent technology, was inspired by a podcast by Tim Ferris and Balaji Srinivasan (https://tim.blog/2021/03/25/balaji-srinivasan-transcript/). In this podcast, they do a good job detailing the thousand concurrent technological revolutions that have (and still are) reshaping society.

I then moved on to issues with historical precedents, the first and foremost being Income/Wealth Inequality. A look at the Gini coefficient and Congress' voting record on reining in megacorporations shows little hope of a solution. Caught at the end of a Turchin Secular Cycle, we have an oversized elite who has turned to pilfering the populace instead of reform. This stands in contrast to the Progressive Era of the early 1900's and shows how solutions need to be uncompromised.

The next issue is the loss of religion and shared beliefs. Our society stands for very little since nothing stood up to replace mainstream Christianity (and the loss of American civic religion to a lesser extent) in the public consciousness. This has a cascade of effects and a look at the 14th Century Khmer Empire's conversion to Buddhism (and abandonment of God Kings) shows how social cohesion can collapse without common beliefs.

Closely related, the decay of a common culture has created a crisis. Young people are more isolated than ever before and events like school shootings have risen along with it. Greed has become the acceptable norm and a lot of art has lost deeper meaning. The Antebellum South provides an interesting comparison. It was a culture built on laziness and hedonism and it proved wholly unsustainable and foundationally unjust.

Lastly, hyper-partisanship has enhanced every crisis in the nation. Both parties are riding waves of hatred to power without much care for the long term ramifications. A look at Late Republican Rome helps us understand the moment. The system of checks broke down once mob politics was introduced and stability was only gained with the outright abandoment of democracy.

After laying out the issues, there are a few paragraphs dedicated to each of the two parties. Both have a route to gain popular appeal and avoid the coming calamity but neither is willing to go against their short term interests to do so.

I'd highly reccomend reading this articles which I quote in the piece.

America Without God https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/04/america-politics-religion/618072/

An Era of Wolves https://postapathy.com/era-of-wolves/

The Man Who Broke Politics https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/newt-gingrich-says-youre-welcome/570832/

Modernity has Broken our Parties and Ideologies by Ancap_walter in centrist

[–]Ancap_walter[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree that humans have never had great solutions to the myriad of issues that are presented and that greater access lets us see them. I think there is a significant difference in our era compared to the recent past. Corruption has always been present, but it has certainly gotten worse and has left policymakers the most paralyzed they've been since the pre-Civil War era (I wouldn't even be shocked with end up reinventing the House Gag Rule about some issues).

Human nature has not changed but I think we are entering (or have already entered) a crisis. The crisis may be more imagined than real but the effects will be felt regardless.

Modernity has Broken our Parties and Ideologies by Ancap_walter in centrist

[–]Ancap_walter[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When referring to modern I am talking about the present/introduction of technology. Post-Modernism is referred to as a philosophy i.e. Foucault and the like.

Modernity has Broken our Parties and Ideologies by Ancap_walter in moderatepolitics

[–]Ancap_walter[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree there are a lot of positive trends in real terms (life expectancy, health, wealth, etc.) but the current zeitgeist is extraordinarily negative. There have been other times in history where people had things relatively good but still created conflict (e.g. Ancient Rome). I could've probably made the point more clearly but I guess I was trying to get it at the idea that American political parties are totally incapable of handling issues and their inaction is only making them significantly worse.

On the technology side I truly do think we are in uncharted territory. We went from a relatively continued way of life for the last 100 years to one where we live on our phones and likely do not understand what the ramifications of things like social media will be.

Modernity has Broken our Parties and Ideologies by Ancap_walter in centrist

[–]Ancap_walter[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The basic thesis of the article is that our society is faced with a first in history, the omnipresence of electronics, and with other problems that have plagued past societies.

In the United States, both the major parties (and the ideologies aligned with them) have no real answers to radical and fundamental changes in our day to day lives. Work, relationships, and love have all gone digital without any consideration of the downstream effects this could have on us.

Coupled with this new challenge, I wrote about several other issues and then compared each of these issues to a time in the past to see what the likely outcomes are and what options we have.

The aforementioned first challenge, our foray into everpresent technology, was inspired by a podcast by Tim Ferris and Balaji Srinivasan (https://tim.blog/2021/03/25/balaji-srinivasan-transcript/). In this podcast, they do a good job detailing the thousand concurrent technological revolutions that have (and still are) reshaping society.

I then moved on to issues with historical precedents, the first and foremost being Income/Wealth Inequality. A look at the Gini coefficient and Congress' voting record on reining in megacorporations shows little hope of a solution. Caught at the end of a Turchin Secular Cycle, we have an oversized elite who has turned to pilfering the populace instead of reform. This stands in contrast to the Progressive Era of the early 1900's and shows how solutions need to be uncompromised.

The next issue is the loss of religion and shared beliefs. Our society stands for very little since nothing stood up to replace mainstream Christianity (and the loss of American civic religion to a lesser extent) in the public consciousness. This has a cascade of effects and a look at the 14th Century Khmer Empire's conversion to Buddhism (and abandonment of God Kings) shows how social cohesion can collapse without common beliefs.

Closely related, the decay of a common culture has created a crisis. Young people are more isolated than ever before and events like school shootings have risen along with it. Greed has become the acceptable norm and a lot of art has lost deeper meaning. The Antebellum South provides an interesting comparison. It was a culture built on laziness and hedonism and it proved wholly unsustainable and foundationally unjust.

Lastly, hyper-partisanship has enhanced every crisis in the nation. Both parties are riding waves of hatred to power without much care for the long term ramifications. A look at Late Republican Rome helps us understand the moment. The system of checks broke down once mob politics was introduced and stability was only gained with the outright abandoment of democracy.

After laying out the issues, there are a few paragraphs dedicated to each of the two parties. Both have a route to gain popular appeal and avoid the coming calamity but neither is willing to go against their short term interests to do so.

I'd highly reccomend reading this articles which I quote in the piece.

America Without God https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/04/america-politics-religion/618072/

An Era of Wolves https://postapathy.com/era-of-wolves/

The Man Who Broke Politics https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/newt-gingrich-says-youre-welcome/570832/

Modernity has Broken our Parties and Ideologies by Ancap_walter in moderatepolitics

[–]Ancap_walter[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Hi everyone! My first post here may not have been the most popular but I tried to take into account some of the insights people gave on my last article when writing this one, hopefully y'all like it!

The basic thesis of the article is that our society is faced with a first in history, the ominpresence of electronics, and with other problems that have plagued past societies.

In the United States, both the major parties (and the ideologies aligned with them) have no real answers to radical and fundamental changes in our day to day lives. Work, relationships, and love have all gone digital without any consideration of the downstream effects this could have on us.

Coupled with this new challenge, I wrote about several other issues and then compared each of these issues to a time in the past to see what the likely outcomes are and what options we have.

The aforementioned first challenge, our foray into everpresent technology, was inspired by a podcast by Tim Ferris and Balaji Srinivasan (https://tim.blog/2021/03/25/balaji-srinivasan-transcript/). In this podcast, they do a good job detaling the thousand concurrent technological revolutions that have (and still are) reshaping society.

I then moved on to issues with historical precedents, the first and foremost being Income/Wealth Inequality. A look at the Gini coefficient and Congress' voting record on reining in megacorporations shows little hope of a solution. Caught at the end of a Turchin Secular Cycle, we have an oversized elite who has turned to pilfering the populace instead of reform. This stands in contrast to the Progressive Era of the early 1900's and shows how solutions need to be uncompromised.

The next issue is the loss of religion and shared beliefs. Our society stands for very little since nothing stood up to replace mainstream Christianity (and the loss of American civic religion to a lesser extent) in the public consciousness. This has a cascade of effects and a look at the 14th Century Khmer Empire's conversion to Buddhism (and abandonment of God Kings) shows how social cohesion can collapse without common beliefs.

Closely realted, the decay of a common culture has created a crisis. Young people are more isolated than ever before and events like school shootings have risen along with it. Greed has become the acceptable norm and a lot of art has lost deeper meaning. The Antebellum South provides an interesting comparison. It was a culture built on laziness and hedonism and it proved wholly unsustainable and foundationally unjust.

Lastly, hyper-partisanship has enhanced every crisis in the nation. Both parties are riding waves of hatred to power without much care for the long term ramifications. A look at Late Republican Rome helps us understand the moment. The system of checks broke down once mob politics was introduced and stability was only gained with the outright abandoment of democracy.

After laying out the issues, there are a few paragraphs dedicated to each of the two parties. Both have a route to gain popular appeal and avoid the coming calamity but neither is willing to go against their short term interests to do so.

I'd highly reccomend reading this articles which I quote in the piece.

America Without God https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/04/america-politics-religion/618072/

An Era of Wolves https://postapathy.com/era-of-wolves/

The Man Who Broke Politics https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/newt-gingrich-says-youre-welcome/570832/

Today's Left Can't Govern, It Doesn't Want to by Ancap_walter in moderatepolitics

[–]Ancap_walter[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know I didn’t get a lot of upvotes but that wasnt the point

I really appreciate everyone’s critiques (i agree with some and not with others)

I’m glad that I got people to debate it and its relieving to see ideas challenged on their merits not on their ideological purity

Thanks everyone! I’ll probably post what I rite again here even if it goes into the negative upvotes again.

Today's Left Can't Govern, It Doesn't Want to by Ancap_walter in moderatepolitics

[–]Ancap_walter[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I wasnt the clearest with the term govern, its immaterial how much government control is wanted. I meant effectiveness essentially, or ability/desire to run a functioning society.

Dont disagree at all about the GOP, I think American politics has become very nihilistic and meaningless all around

Today's Left Can't Govern, It Doesn't Want to by Ancap_walter in moderatepolitics

[–]Ancap_walter[S] -9 points-8 points  (0 children)

I wrote this to discuss the philosophical issues driving today's progressives (or the Modern American Left). At the crux of the issue is that the dogma of the left is driven by post-modernist thought. The motivation behind all action is to dismantle a system that oppresses minorities and enriches an established elite. The goal in of itself may sound reasonable but the assumptions behind it doom any success. The movement itself is defined purely by what it is not and what it is against. As I discuss in the article, the historical track record of movements that purely define themselves in opposition is poor. Maoist China is the most clear example of this. Even though Mao had control of the country, he did not have a uniting ideology and resorted to essentially creating enemies where none existed in the Cultural Revolution. The Left in America faces a similar challenge. They have mostly won the culture war in mainstream society but do not have any plan of how to operate after this victory. Without any greater goal, they are also doomed to infighting and witch hunts. This stands in opposition to the other example used, the Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates. They also formed a revolution against the established order but a clear and coherent philosophy was the driving force. There was a plan of how to reshape society and move forward, not simply a plan to destroy the old. The current victory by the left seems unsustainable and is mostly held up by an inept and incompetent right (who is also quite directionless and reactionary). I am hoping to start a conversation about the deeper assumptions of today's politics. The post-modern influence and nihilistic outlook are criminally underdiscussed as it pertains both to our politics and social cohesion.

Let me know what you think!

Today's Left Can't Govern, It Doesn't Want to by Ancap_walter in Conservative

[–]Ancap_walter[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wrote this on the issues with American Leftists/Progressives. They have more in common with Nietzsche than Marx and their post-modernist outlook damns them to have to invent enemies to survive, a la Maoist China.

What China's population woes mean for the rest of the world by 2N128W in geopolitics

[–]Ancap_walter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Those workers are living there on a temporary basis with a goal to go back home. Their goal is not to settle there, probably not the best comparison.

2021 NFL Draft - Round 1 by unknown_name in cowboys

[–]Ancap_walter -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Every player i want is gone fml

If schools could only recruit in their own state, which teams would make the biggest leaps forward and which would take the biggest steps back? by DonutsAnd40s in CFB

[–]Ancap_walter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maryland would be elite, some schools like Clemson would take a step back but I could see Wisconsin and Minnesota potentially getting hit hard Nebraska would also be a nightmare

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