You're in a better position than you think!
Why the Revolt Will Work - IF YOU Would Just Stand Up.
As I mentioned over at P4B, I am reading a book called The Economics of Discontent by Jean-Michel Paul. So far I find it very interesting. It begins with a premise I am planning a major series or a book for. Basically, he warns elites (and knuckleheads who sit in the mom’s basement and fancy themselves as elites) to throttle back on the name-calling when referring to those who are moving down a populist road. They are not racists or xenophobes. They are a natural outgrowth of what the government and cronies have done to the economy and the body politic for decades now.
Or as I have often put it, we need to stop arguing like 12 year olds. And that goes both ways. Paul is right to say calling populists racist is both false and unhealthy. Equally, Trumpsters and other populists have to stop insulting anyone who disagrees with them (sometimes only in degree) and stop pinning all your hopes in the fortunes of ONE MAN. The fate of the nation rests with YOU, not HIM.
Jean-Michel also did a very good job diagnosing the problems we are dealing with; the things we must fix if we are to survive as a nation. I believe he is just warning of creating another economic disaster. I believe if present trends persist, the United States will cease to exist a concept. Indeed many of the guardrails erected to keep us on an honest path have been torn away already.
This is how he sees the problem. We deviate slightly in how it might be phrased, but this is objectively accurate. And this is the wound Davos wishes to tear at to advance their version of wealth centralization and acquisition.
"Wealth inequality is perpetuating itself and becoming more extreme. Real estate, health care, and education have become less and less affordable. Excessive financialization has diverted resources from productive economic activity. Globalization has destabilized large segments of the public and rendered them economically obsolete. Industrial consolidation has hampered competition and rent-seeking special interests have successfully co-opted government. A decade of quantitative easing has further transferred wealth upwards in ways that affect many but are understood by few." (Emphasis mine.)
We’ll revisit this book again.
But there is a ray of hope.
I am still very early into the book, and I can’t say what Paul’s ultimate answers will be. First among many charts and documentation is this encouraging illustration.
Clearly, we are not a few voices shouting from the wilderness. We must start thinking and speaking and behaving as a force to be reckoned with. My criticisms of Trump aside, he has put his finger directly on this reality. And THAT is why the entire ruling class has sought to destroy him.
Whatever his sins, they are microscopic compared to the corruption of the swamp he’s vowed to fight. And he’s not alone.
I have often argued, in DeSantis, we have the exact same champion fighting for the exact same society without the tangential self-promotion and girly tweets. But that is just a matter of personality. And this movement MUST NOT be a cult of personality.
That said, this is shaping up to be a very interesting election. We get to pick between the guy who wants what we want and the guy who wants what we want. I like the odds.
I will add this caveat: getting Trump or DeSantis into the White House will be of no value if we don’t sweep conservatives, or at least Republicans, into the Legislature. To do this we must participate in election monitoring and fight for transparent balloting. If they stop the count or push for late balloting, anywhere, they are cheating.
It is time for the folks who see what we see but were afraid to break from the flock of sheep, to jump in. The water is fine.