While I've tried ptetty hard at some points reading along, not to jump into this pond post election with any of my own opinions. Some folks are making what seem like valid points, others, sadly, appear to be less well informed, but just as certain. Which is understandable, but somewhat disconcerting. And unfortunately, kind of a shame. This is just an observation, not pointing at anyone.
But what I am going to say is this. Very, VERY little of anything happening now, hasn't happened before. And I've never in my life heard anything more true than the old adage: Those who ignore history, are doomed to repeat it. I am and have always been a history buff. Both American History, and Western Civ.
I can tell you with great confidence, all this has happened before in various forms. What we're seeing now, here in the US, and around the world.
Economic anxiety, rural vs urban, less educated, vs so called "elites.". Big business influences, and Government miss management (though if I'm honest I don't think ever here, in the US, quite so poorly as now. This is not choosing a side, just my honest opinion of Covid, and Govern by tweet specifically. And immigration. Particularly immigration (Chinese Exclusion Act, Japanese Interment... Just to name a few recent - without looking at it again I might go as far as to say the only time immigrants were ever truly welcomed and not an issue of contention, were the years of the Civil War as people were signed up to the Army and shipped south immediately after disembarking thier ships)
My point is, and maybe I'll stop here. Is to say this. Look to history. Don't think you have all the answers, because you're probably going to be surprised. And find a correlating world event, or even just here in the States. Because if you want to know what happens next, it almost certainly has before, in one way or another.
Observations and opinions are great. Conversation and thought experiments and absolutely necessary. But history bears the scars of almost every aspect of all these things. Both positive and negative. We should try to endorse and repeat the former, and quash the latter.
Hell even something brand new like climate change has a historical correlation. We were warned about the Ozone layer. I remember, I was there. We promptly changed a few minor issues (aerosol propellants, and freon) but never properly fixed anything. And the hole is still up there. And in fact it was just in the news again the other day.
Look to History my friends. Let it save us from ourselves. And always remember. No matter what you think of what happens, we're all in this together. And if you look up a Dude named Scientific Adam, you'll see that we are.
Healthy debate is good. Compromise and positive forward progress has, I think, always been better that not.
