Symbolically, music's Golden Era has past

As music devolves into trash (not universally but nearly so), does it symbolize the decay of Western society?  I have argued (long ago on this blog somewhere) that musical decay is a symptom of societal devolving.  Bill Whittle and Alfonzo Rachel discuss the same idea. Roman society decayed dramatically towards the end. I'm not sure about it's music, but as I said, musical decay is a symptom of a larger problem.

Is growth always followed by decay? Is every society destined to fail? In another example of the decay, does the defund police movement provide more evidence of a descent into anarchy right before a societal collapse?  I don't believe we have come that far but if we don't turn the ship around, so to speak, it may become inevitable a lot sooner than we'd like.

Is America failing the same way Rome did?

I've often wanted to research what caused the downfall of nations and empires to see if there are similarities and lessons to be learned to ensure America doesn't travel down the same path.  Or perhaps nations falling is inevitable.  There is ample evidence - Rome, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, France, the Mongols, ancient Greece, the Soviet Union and many others all eventually fell by the wayside or simply faded from greatness.

Many people have looked into the decline of various empires.  Here's a recent example worth watching (NOTE, it's preceded by an advertisement that you can skip if you like). There's not an in-depth dive here but the book seems like it might be worthwhile.

What do all of these have in common?

What do all of these have in common?

Nazi Germany.

Soviet Russia.

Communist China.

Mussolini's Italy.

Ancient Rome.

Napoleonic France.

Imperial Japan under Hirohito.

OWS.

Obama presiding over your doom.

Massive debt on the horizon, hyper inflation even closer. You don't ever want to think the boat is inevitably going to sink or you stop bailing water. And in stormy seas, the lifeboats are but a delay in the eventual outcome. I'm not an alarmist generally speaking - I tend to think in terms of everything being cyclical.  There are boom and bust periods.  Nations rise and fall and rise again.  Political parties political fortunes surge and regress.  Ideologies ebb and flow.  You do your best to promote what you think is right - free markets, personal liberty, etc.  But the tides are the tides. If things are shifting leftward right now, fighting back is no more than trying to mitigate the damage it will cause. It's still worth it - I'm still trying to help bail water. But things will balance out eventually.

The question is how far will things go before they start to correct?  If it goes too far, it doesn't become an American ebb and flow cycle, it becomes the decline of another civilization in the global ebb and flow.  That can be a dead end for America.  China recovered, Rome didn't. Japan recovered.  Mongolia didn't.  Greece didn't.  Germany recovered, France not so much.  Russia probably won't.  Spain and Portugal didn't. History is replete with examples of losers, and winners are few and far between.

It's wonderful to think that America is above such ebbs and flows or a rise and fall.  It's not.  Not when the citizens have become complacent and feel a sense of entitlement not only to their liberty but to things like health care.  When you're on top, it's easy to rest.  It's easy to think you're invulnerable.  You're not.  And now is no time to rest and dream Utopian dreams.

The videos below point out the troubles ahead on the horizon for the ship of America.  They are alarmist.  But they are not necessarily wrong. America needs to be shaken awake.  The Tea Parties are a way to do this.  But they need to go hand-in-hand with an explanatory message - the country cannot afford the Democrats.  The costs are too high - the debt is unsustainable.  And the trajectory is simply wrong.  This message needs to break through the clutter of messages at the Tea Parties (mostly good messages, but too disparate), and the mainstream media.  The message that Americans who do not pay close attention need to understand is that there is no such thing as a free lunch!

Alarmist, yes.  Possible? Yeah, it is.  With today's speed of financial transactions, perhaps the Depression of the 1930's could happen so quickly that the recession came and (mostly) went already and the solution will be what kills the patient.  The spending has to stop

Kennedy Dynasty continues?

So Caroline Kennedy wants to be a US Senator. One has to wonder why. But as Republican's should we care? Should we not welcome, vapid uninformed opposition? Yes and no.

Yes, for obvious reasons. Weak opposition makes for easier victory in debates, in political maneuvering, in every respect. She is less likely to carry any weight in her position and therefore could not be counted on to sponsor any meaningful yet egregiously bad legislation. Maybe one or the other but not both. Let's face it, she'd be a lightweight. And that's a plus for Republicans. Other reasons to be happy include the fact that if ever a Kennedy could be beaten, she'd be the one to present the opportunity to us.

On the other hand - she does have the name recognition. She could skate through on that alone, which would be unfortunate. It bodes poorly for America that celebrity and star power play so well to so much of the population. It's a portent of a failing superpower if celebrity equates to relevance in other spheres. The gladiators in Rome were revered, but they weren't meant to be Senators there. In modern America, Paris Hilton is not meant to lead, by election or by example. Yet the freedom that makes it possible is the same freedom that makes it significantly possible. You don't have to be smart to vote. You don't have to understand economics, or civics or trade, or ecology or morality. And as such, to quote a Roman dictum, caveat emptor. You get what you pay for (If you're in Illinois, apparently that means a Senate seat).

You'd think the country would learn from history (oops, don't need that to vote either) that dynasties aren't the ideal. Yet two mediocre Bush presidencies, two Clintonian agonies, and myriad Kennedy runs have not yet squashed the idea that all members of a particular dynasty are created equally, and that genetics doesn't determine quality when it comes to politics. Perhaps the biggest plus that can come out of a Caroline Kennedy seat, would be a miserable failure that puts the last nail in the Kennedy mystique (after the 40 or so Ted put in) once and for all. I think we have to hope so because any success and 30 years from now somebody named Skip Kennedy with the IQ of a football helmet might be a serious contender for the Presidency and live gladiator shows will be being broadcast 24/7 on MTV.