The Unraveling
This phrase refers to a cycle in the Four Turnings post which I posted yesterday.
Building on that post, the culture wars of today appear to be a classic demonstration of the third turning – an unraveling.
Here’s what has happened to get us here.
Prior to WWII we had a the great depression which was an economic result of the unregulated economic expansion at the turn of the century. That economic expansion was the result of railroads, electricity, and the growth of manufacturing which radically transformed the United States from an agricultural country to an urban industrialized one. This was also a period of immigration from Europe driven by wars, failing harvests, and economic opportunity. The spiritual idealism of the late 1800’s had turned to the hedonism of the roaring twenties which become the economic bust of the thirties. The old farmer/pioneer social order had run out of gas. The dustbowl disaster of the depression just put an exclamation point on the end of that era. FDR brought a new vision of a strong central government working closely with private industry as the new social order that could solve the nation’s problems. The crisis of WWII cemented that order as the driving force for the twentieth century.
Those who won the war came back heroes and the new social order of a strong central government combined with the robust manufacturing engine built to supply war goods, created unprecedented prosperity and stability for these heroes. They created a consumer-driven economy that continues to be the engine for the world today.
Their kids, the boomer generation, grew up being told what a great society our parents had built and the unlimited opportunity we faced. We discovered that the benefits of that society were not shared equally with everyone. So we (speaking for the boomers) do what prophets do, which is to hold our parents accountable for the gaps between their values and their actions.
The artist kids born during the crisis of WWII had already staked out some individualist territory as the beat generation. The boomers grabbed onto those philosophical threads and set out to change the world. This began the slow destruction of the feeling of common purpose and individual sacrifice which our parent-heroes used to win WWII.
Little did we know that the idealism of the fifties and sixties would turn into the selfishness of the seventies and eighties, and the self-righteous fundamentalism of the nineties. If we had paid any attention to history, however, that pattern repeats regularly. At the end of the last cycle, prohibition was the conservative fundamentalist imposition on the country. In this cycle it is anti-abortion and homophobic legislation.
Now we are faced with a time of intense passionate individualism, rapidly eroding confidence in the ability of government to do anything, rampant corruption in public and private institutions, and deep distrust of those who don’t think, act, look, or talk like us. We are all teed up for the next crisis.
So whose fault is it - the beatniks of the fifties, the hippies of the sixties and seventies, the yuppies of the eighties, or the evangelicals of the nineties? If you believe those who study generational history, it makes no more sense to blame conservative fundamentalism that it does to blame November for being cold and damp. If we want another spring, we have to have a fall and winter.
It is our job right now to be deeply divisive, distrustful, and self-righteous. That is what is required to bring down the military-industrial-consumer driven social order that has been the foundation of our society. It has to die before we can all agree that it no longer works.
In the next post, we’ll speculate on what’s next.
December 7th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
“…the great depression which was an economic result of the unregulated economic expansion at the turn of the century.”
“FDR brought a new vision of a strong central government working closely with private industry as the new social order that could solve the nation’s problems. The crisis of WWII cemented that order as the driving force for the twentieth century”
The Great Depression was caused BY our government in collusion with the Money Lenders to bring about their vile vision of a Socialist America and fiat currency, the root of all evils. The only cycle here was the usual power grab by the “elites” among us, undoing our social order for their own good, which has continued unabated. Thankfully, the only thing cyclical about tryants is every one that arises eventually falls.
How is it possible to call the dupes who helped kill off hundreds of millions of their own kind to herald the new Marxist/Socialist/we’ll-all-live-happily-ever-after era in Europe and here “heroes”? Heroes don’t bancrupt their countries or the God-given moral order. “We”, the current Americans, haven’t even paid for WWI yet, let alone the the other UN skirmishes of the 20th and early 21st Centuries (including both Bush’s Asian calamities) but the “good” government you so laud did what they felt would alleviate that little problem: they put the country, the states, and all of our personal property up for collateral. And it’s nearly time for us to pony up to pay that government’s “debt”.
“We discovered that the benefits of that society were not shared equally with everyone.” You can’t possibly get any more communistic than that statement. The Preamble to the Constitution of the united states uses the phrase “…all men are created equal…”, but that is not a divine directive to reappropriate what little “wealth” we might have as a nation. Governments that attempt to impose “equality”, whatever that might be, aren’t doing the work of God but the work of the fallen one.
“In the next post, we’ll speculate on what’s next.” No speculation required - the vaunted American Dollar and faux-economic-engine of the last century is about to implode, and the government and money-lenders already have their solution - because they already “own” us they’re going to unite the currencies and governments of The US, Canada, and Mexico into a pseudo-state of the UN called the North America Union with a common, also fiat, currency called the Amero. And they have several generations of us to thank: “the Greatest Generation” for the foothold, the beatniks for their hyperbole, the hippies for their undoing of the moral order, and the current massive increase in non-European “immigrants” for the “deep distrust of those who don’t think, act, look, or talk like us.”
Welcome to “Novus Ordo Sæclorum” the “New World Order,” and God help us.
December 7th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Erich,
Good to hear from you again.
I’ll try to get something up on some speculation regarding the crisis within the context of the Four Turnings. I’d be interested in your input.
Your post in all other respects pretty much mirrors the sort of civic unravelling that we seem to be experiencing.
Whether you by into generational theory of not, it is an interesting way to look at history. The tags used, by the way, are the authors and not mine.
Jeff
December 7th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Psychobabble isn’t my specialty but it is, indeed, heartening to think that the more liberal elements of society tend to reproduce good conservatives (Divine intervention, perhaps?!)
Ron Paul in ‘08!
December 8th, 2007 at 12:51 am
Erich,
Great post.
Also maybe the first joke that you’ve posted. You’re good at it and should post some more.
You’re absolutely right in your insight. It does say that at the end of the day, we are all doing our job to move things along.
I don’t think that this is psychobabble, but I’m also not sure that it is good science. The folks who have done the research have strong academic backgrounds and the research on which it is based has been published peer reviewed journals.
I just find it an interesting idea since predicting the future is always a risky business.
Jeff
March 6th, 2008 at 6:29 am
When do you think the Feds will implement the Amero currency?
Do you think the Amero will be just as worthless as the current dollar? Do you think things will be far worse if they do bring in the Amero?
What things can we expect to see (economy, society, housing, food, energy, foreign relations ect..) when they do bring in the Amero?
If I were you I would start buying gold and silver coins which I am.
Because those coins will be worth more than the dollar and the Amero.
March 6th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Dan,
Currency is ultimately a reflection of the strength of the economy.
I know that there is a lot of concern that North America will go in the direction of the European Union, but I think that the dynamics are such that it won’t happen anywhere soon.
The dollar is already the dominant international currency so I’m not sure what the US would gain by introducing a new currency.
The real issue that is that the US has to solve it’s energy problem. The reason that gas is “expensive” right now is that we’ve flooded the market with dollars in an attempt to stave off a recession and pay our Iraq bills. The same math is driving up the cost of precious metals like gold.
We begin to solve our addiction to oil and get out of Iraq and those burdens will come off the economy. As a result, it will start growing again and the dollar will regain strength.
Jeff