How much harm can one man do?
A lot. In the right position and highly neutralized congress with little checks and balances......a lot more.
Feel free to write opinions, you virtually know my opinions already. My problem is, if I start writing my opinion on this matter, I might totally go to the dark side, and I try not do that.
There must be hope for the American People somewhere, otherwise as a parent why am I raising my kids here?
The problem with a great empire is that when it declines, it does not decline alone. The influence of this country on global affairs is so great that the repercussions of our decline will be felt just about everywhere. It is a global event.
Where will the safe havens be? Will we be able to recoup, here, in the US? We still have vast resources, including people, education and natural resources.
It's not just a matter of economics. Some of the changes he has made will have devastating long-term consequences. Others may be turned around...like his golden oval office, the Gulf of America, the Trump Kennedy Center. If we are lucky, there will be a sea change with the 2026 midterms (if they are allowed to proceed unimpeded). With a working Congress maybe the worst of this administration will be choked off.
Meanwhile, I think we should all be flexible in assessing our futures. I know you will be because you have made dramatic changes over the course of your life. I try to tell my kids to be ready for an evolving future, to not count on stability but be ready to adjust. I hope the same for my granddaughter.
One thing Trump has done for us is remind us that the world is and always has been a scary place. In the U.S. the domestic population has been insulated from that. No war here since 1812. Maybe we are waking to a new reality.
I know I'm going on...but that's just my mind as I reheat a few slices of pizza for lunch. Life goes on, we hope.
I have always mentioned this to my family. I have choices to live anywhere in the world, but I live here because I want to. They know that I have travelled the world and yet, even today, after all the problems that we have in the United States today, I still want to live here and raise my kids here. I don't know if I am right or wrong, only time will tell. But I have hope that I am doing this right not just for me, but for my children. I don't want to be anywhere else. Where else I will find such friendly and accommodating society? No where, still. Yes, people will be surprised by it, but it remains true today, at least inside my bubble!
True for me too. Here I can be myself, and myself is a rather odd bird. Where else would I have that comfort? The choice for me is to work at improving where I live, not to flee.
Not by any definition I can support. We are ruled by a nest of vipers, and the few exceptions are only allowed to give us false hope the system of governance can be saved.
SCOTUS stated clearly in the Heller decision what hope we have, and history reveals the truth of that decision. It is sad, but the bare fact is that when the ballot box fails, the bullet box succeeds. From time to time the verminous knaves that worm their way into power exceed the people's ability to tolerate, and then, beyond reason, people act with authority to eliminate the vermin.
That will happen. I have no doubt. The real answer to our dilemma is what follows the pest removal process? My money is on decentralization of production and wealth. My recommendation is to seize the means of production suitable to your personal circumstances, in your case probably aquaponics, because you already garden. Adding fish and hydroponics would be relatively facile for you. For me it is aquaponics - which is in motion - and wood gasification, because I am surrounded by almost unlimited free wood I can gasify to produce electricity. That is also in progress, and I am intent on spreading that power - ahem! - as far and widely as I am able. 3D printers, CNC, Laser cutters, inkjet printers, all these tools enable people to make the goods they need, such as dinnerware, parts, and solar panels.
We transcend a clinal boundary today that has not before occurred in history, as the laws of physics mandate the decentralization of the means of production, which decentralizes wealth. This transcendence will not be easy. It will not be gentle. But, it will be a permanent change in economic power, eliminating overlords forever.
Be good to good people and they will be good to you. That is the best we can do while we imprison dragons in their deep, dark caverns with their hoards of shiny gold they think is wealth, and create the world to come with our good company.
Hello @valued-customer,
Thank you for that impassioned response.
I cannot endorse the bullet. While I agree that by the time people reach the higher echelons of government they are already corrupted (because of compromises they make to get to those positions), I don't have much more faith in 'people' than I do in 'government'.
It is my experience that in the absence of order bullies rise to the top. It is (in my opinion) an unfortunate truth that humans are aggressive. Throughout history they have organized themselves into groups. It's just what they do. Inevitably the strongest (generally the bully) rises to the top. We are a lot like our primate relatives in that regard.
Do I want the government to go away and marauding individuals (armed to the teeth because everybody who wants one has an assault weapon) marching down the street and knocking down my door? Do I want them to seize my vegetables and laser-printed goods? Do I want them to carry off my granddaughter, because they can and there is no one to stop them?
Your idea of a free society is lovely. I do believe in self-sufficiency. However, I also believe in order. We need to have that order imposed, unfortunately, by some sort of organizing authority. We need better government. What we really need is for people to take notice and to rise up, not with bullets but with their voices, with their ballots. We need them to take note of the people who govern them, even on the local level.
We are lazy. We leave it to others to stand up. We leave it to others to run for office, to campaign. Our reward for laziness is that the worst of us rise to the top.
The remedy for bad government is good government, but people have to want it and work for it. That, my friend, is more a fantasy than a realistic goal I am afraid.
First, I'm not endorsing violent uprising. I'm certain it's going to happen, because that's what happens when corruption becomes intolerable. In the 17th Century the Dutch killed, cooked, and ate the liver of their despised Prime Minister. Saying that isn't endorsing cannibalism. Rather I lament that the execrable corrupt rulers we get when we accept rulers indoctrinate and blow smoke up our skirts until we can't agree water is wet. The only time things change is when we are so outraged we cannot tolerate that corruption anymore, and mobs slaughter anyone they think did them dirty.
Something you don't acknowledge is that you are permanently sovereign, and only you can rule you. Only you can will your heavy hand to rise to your weary brow and wipe away the dripping sweat of your hard labor. You, and you alone, will rule you while you live. If the history you know has taught you anything, it will include that institutions created to govern all become corrupted, and all end the same way, collapsing and being replaced by the next mob boss.
I am not propounding my preferred vision of society when I talk about decentralization. I'm talking about physics. The laws of physics determine what technology can be invented, and we clever monkeys tinker and occasionally invent it. You can observe that the laws of physics are today decentralizing production on the battlefields of the world at war today. <$50k drones are defeating >$B weapons platforms, and last month <$100 manpads grannies can print on their kitchen tables, like knitting doilies, advented that enable communities and even individuals to be secure from $50k drones and $B bombers alike. We see this first on the battlefield, but the same thing's happening in every field of industry today.
That's not my preference. It's not my vision. It's what the laws of physics mandate. The last oil we're going to get from the ME has been delivered. A lot of the infrastructure to produce oil has been destroyed, and will take years (years without war) before it can be rebuilt, and the war is still ongoing, the Strait of Hormuz is still closed. The costs of that shortfall haven't begun yet, but they are guaranteed because that shortfall has occurred. 70% of American farmers haven't planted crops because they can't get the fertilizer to grow them. Farmers in OZ have left crops to rot in the field because they can't get diesel to harvest them. The goods and services that are necessary to us to enjoy the blessings of civilization are going to be short this fall.
It doesn't matter that we're lazy. It matters that we eat. Them that will eat are growing food today. We'll either make what we need or we won't get what we need, and we'll die. It doesn't matter what I prefer. It matters that I do what I need to do to live. That's what's coming. If someone comes to harm you, and you haven't prepared to secure yourself from harm, it will be your fault you governed yourself so poorly as to fail to defend you. If they come for your granddaughter and you can't defend her, it will be your fault if she's harmed. It doesn't matter what you like, or don't like, to do with your tools and time. It matters whether or not you secure you, yours, and have people you protect that protect you.
You govern you, whether you want to or not. Anyone that says they govern you is a liar. Because you have the authority to rule you, you are responsible for your rule. As your ruler you are responsible for your security, and nothing anyone says otherwise is true.
The folks that accept their responsibility and rule themselves wisely will secure them and theirs from armed thugs. Folks always do, or they die. Them that do will be those that build society after all the brigands, robbers, and psychopaths have been dealth with, and they will have produced themselves the goods and services that enabled them to live, and secure themselves. Those are just predictable from the coming consequences of shutting down the Strait of Hormuz.
Live and die as you please. I am no prophet, not your master, and neither dependent on what you do. You are. Your grand daughter is. You depend on your sight, your laziness or industry, and so does your granddaughter. I hope you see clearly and act wisely to create your security so that your granddaughter doesn't come to grief, because I think you're a kind person, and I want my sons to have kind people to work with after this.
Please do.
To teach them about the Heller decision, and their personal authority to rule themselves and their nation.