07-21-2018, 01:02 AM
I don't think there's really any way of stopping this trend that's painless.
It's more a matter of just how screwed up this country will be as a result of it as time wears on. We've already seen the rise of more extreme politics and candidates (Sanders/Trump). We've seen the return of identity politics on a scale I never thought I'd see with the normalization of Nazis on the alt-right. We've got massive tribalism and political discourse that's dangerously close to violence (and frankly is on many occasions). We've got soaring drug addiction rates in the rust belt due to the death of good-paying manufacturing jobs and a youth that sees no future for themselves. None of this is showing any sign of improving.
When it gets bad enough that people as a whole in the US finally stop feeling like they have a stake in the well-being of this country, then we are done. We will have a nation of nihilists and junkies. We're getting uncomfortably close now.
It's more a matter of just how screwed up this country will be as a result of it as time wears on. We've already seen the rise of more extreme politics and candidates (Sanders/Trump). We've seen the return of identity politics on a scale I never thought I'd see with the normalization of Nazis on the alt-right. We've got massive tribalism and political discourse that's dangerously close to violence (and frankly is on many occasions). We've got soaring drug addiction rates in the rust belt due to the death of good-paying manufacturing jobs and a youth that sees no future for themselves. None of this is showing any sign of improving.
When it gets bad enough that people as a whole in the US finally stop feeling like they have a stake in the well-being of this country, then we are done. We will have a nation of nihilists and junkies. We're getting uncomfortably close now.
