The Future

[mjpc88]

Yello yello.

Used to be in the community back in 2007-2009 back when it was hosted on the original server run by David and LNRW, NAB, Lumina, Kumar, Sazari, The Comrade, Thefranzkafkafront, Lil Bit, neoconfectionary, Geolibertarian, and Nathyn were around. There were some other guys I remember like some libertarian-socialist dude and some guy who toured Thailand a lot too.

Anyway... one of the other forums I used to be on called Discussionworldforum just shut down after operating for 10 years, convinced that discussion boards are a thing of the past with the onset of social media. I tried staying in touch with the server owner, but he was convinced "my people" got Trump elected while I distanced myself from them.

I guess this is what drives me nuts a lot. People... don't know so much.

They don't know how Trump was a liberal during the 90s from his mayoral endorsement of Giuliani on the split party ticket up until his birther crusade against Obama.

They don't know how the origin of America's liberal versus conservative debates go back to the Old versus New School, Side, and Light debates in what proper good works and salvation are among congregationalist, Presbyterian, and low-church Episcopalian circles.

They don't know how despite Trump's lack of piety, he still conducts himself like a presumptuous Calvinist on the definition of good works, and how that impacts politics differently across the country. Democratic bastions like New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, and California are primarily composed of conservatives who are Catholic, but red states across the south, midwest, and far west identify more with Evangelical Protestantism.

They don't get how Biden is a Catholic while America has a history of formalized anti-Catholicism going back to John Jay as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who labeled the religion as bloodthirsty and warmonger when writing to the Canadians about Quebec's preferential treatment in light of history going back to the St. Bartholomew Day's massacre.

There's so much I can write about on so many levels, but I don't want to say too much too fast. I don't want to overwhelm or talk in vain...

...but the bottomline is people really are disconnected not only from each other but from what makes sense. They just... don't know anything anymore.

I hope this all changes in 2024. 2004 to 2014 was the libertarian/anti-libertarian phase. 2014-2024 looks like the dissidant right/anti-dissidant right phase...

...but politics tends to come full circle every 30 years, and just like 1994-2004 was about conventional conservatism versus anti-conservatism, 2024 looks like another conventionally conservative phase is in the works...

...or maybe it's not. With the boomers and their elders passing away while social justice warriors have social conservatism on the ropes and the civic responsibility behind fiscal responsibility is practically dead from "social media activism" convincing people they're really involved when they're not, who knows what will happen.

[Philly]

Hello.

Glad you are here, but honestly I have to say that you're talking a bunch of bullshit right now fam. If you think Biden's Catholicism matters in any meaningful way in 2020, you're off in your own world. And really, all this focus on intra-Christian understandings of truth and good...has very little relevance in explaining to current moment we find ourselves in.

You didn't seem to touch on political economy once in your post. While you're right that most of our debates are based in old ideological and moral debates, America is not a bunch of monks out in a mountain monastery debating about the truth of humanity. We're a giant country in a world of globalized capitalism. We're a superpower and a global empire in decline. We're a society that had the world's greatest economy half a century ago and are struggling with the trauma of realizing that what we had has been dying for a long time since. And now, we're in the midst of a massive economic depression that was on the horizon anyway but which is severely worsened because of the worst pandemic in 100 years. These are the things that lead to Trump, and they're what will likely cause his downfall.

I'm all for using history to understand the present, but your purely idealistic reading of history doesn't have answers for our current reality.

I am & rgds

Philly

[Saz]

[mjpc88]

[mjpc88]

[Philly]

[exploited]

Welcome back to the board.

Most of those folks are gone, but a few remain - I actually visited LNRW several years ago. He was doing good but I haven't seen him since. NAB is still here. Saz, as you can see, as well.

David was the Big Papa back then, but now it's John Galt. You will call him Papa, Big Papa, Daddy, Galt or John, but never Big Papa John Galt. He's superstitious about these things and will ban you. Just a heads up.

As for your post, it all seems a little vague to me. So rather than guess at what you're implying, I thought we could do a little introductory game.

Who are you voting for in 2020? Who did you vote for in 2016?

What is your favourite food, and why is it pizza?

Should Amazon and Google be broken up?

Is BLM a legitimate peaceful protest movement, a terrorist group, or perhaps both at different times?

What role do you foresee America taking in global affairs in a post-Trump, Chinese world?

[mjpc88]

[mjpc88]

[mjpc88]

Just remembered The Chessmaster, Ikari, JLB, and JDHURF too. Looks like Ikari's a moderator on debatepolitics if you want to get in touch with him: https://www.debatepolitics.com/members/ikari.html