One of our foremost gloominaries is Patrick Buchanan. Today, in a ringingly despondent essay, he looks at the past and the future of the Republican Party, and considers its prospects in light of the inexorable trend, in all democracies, toward relentless government expansion and ultimate exhaustion.
His concluding remarks:
If we would see our future, we should look to Europe. There, the governments consume more than 40 percent of GDP and, in countries like France, almost 60 percent.
In Europe, the militaries have been hollowed out. Political parties face repudiation. Taxes in France have hit 75 percent. The wealthy flee. Pension promises are reneged upon. Government salaries are cut; employees laid off. Unemployment is astronomical for the young. The divisions deepen; the protests grow. Now, Europe’s banks, fearing social unrest, have started to emulate the Fed and buy up regime debt.
Looking at the West over the last century, the arc of history bends toward socialism and insolvency.
Read the whole thing here.
8 Comments
“Looking at the West over the last century, the arc of history bends toward socialism and insolvency.”
It’s beside the point, I realize, but…
…dangling modifier!
More to the point: the voters get whom they deserve, so to avoid this terrible arc, it’s up to the voters to vote more wisely.
(TBH)
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/12/america-is-like-that-second-kind-of.html
Kevin, right on both counts. I don’t blame politicians for this mess. The more I learn, the more I realize it is intrinsic to democracy. The fact that this trend exists in all modern democracies is ample confirmation. (Obviously there are historical particulars, but the principle is general.)
And how that modifier doth dangle!
Thanks for that, JK.
I am reminded of Bill Clinton’s bon mot, “It depends on what your meaning of is is.” I seems to me that our society is also becoming content to define bad behavior relatively — wholly dependent on whether or not you can get away with it.
“It seems” not “I seems”
I was fine Henry until you translated Hillbilly for the masses.
I’m gonna stick with the first. “Timschel” correct?
Timshel.
JK,
Timshel incorporates that sublime spark for my own personal definition of life, which I have coined as follows:
The link points to the first of three posts that I wrote five years ago in my attempt to define life, both in scientific terms and with a dash of spirituality.