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Wishful thinking from afar by someone who isn't an American and who doesn't understand American culture. - The US is, on average, highly anti-intellectual and

Wishful thinking from afar by someone who isn't an American and who doesn't understand American culture. - The US is, on average, highly anti-intellectual and proud of it. - Spends an unsustainable amount on the military-industrial complex more than the rest of the world combined. - Lacks health insurance, healthcare, and mental healthcare for all as a human right. - Is far more dangerous than any Western European country. The city I live in doesn't have police response for nonviolent crimes until 36-48 hours later, if at all. - Millions of homeless people live on the street. (The true number is far higher than the official estimate.) - A hundred million Americans are furious, barely surviving, and frequently quick to anger over anything. - Politically divided. - 30-40% of the country would rather the whole thing burn down than for things to get better. - Routine acts of mass murder don't happen in a functional society again, and again, and again. - Suicide by habits of despair. - Doddering and corrupt politicians who lack a vision and ambitious project milestones. - Already had one dumb insurrection and can't elect a SOTH. America is on the path to another Civil War, but it will take 0-35 years to come to a head in such a fashion. It won't be invaded or replaced, but it may dissolve into 2-3 alliances of states. There is unlikely to be violence necessarily because leftists lack the arsenal the far-right has, and the state has a far greater capabilities than any private party.* Decline is a slow-boiling frog that goes from reliable postal mail and public park water fountains to haphazard, inconsistency and privatized commons HOAs. The bullshit just piles higher and deeper. ---- * The edge-cases are individuals in 2 a.-friendly states with privately-owned M114 155mm towed artillery, privately-owned Gatling guns (antique and modern), and surprisingly privately-owned 40 mm Bofors L/60 anti-aircraft autocannon with power traverse pre-treaty (each explosive or incendiary shell has to have an DD NFA tax stamp [and usually the permission of the local sheriff] while regular rounds do not). There is a semi-yearly gathering in Arizona to shoot NFA arms. I doubt there are any privately-owned LAWs, Hellfires, hypersonic missiles, Longbow Apaches, or counterbattery radars.

friend_and_foe 3y ago
Most of what you're claiming are indeed signs of social problems, and not small ones. But not a single one of them is an indicator that a collapse is imminent. Some of them are counter indicators, for example the strength of the US military. All of them were the norm throughout human history up until very recently, and political structures were relatively stable for most of it. The problems might suck but they aren't signs of imminent political instability. I do think political instability is imminent, but not for any of these reasons. I think there's a weak point, social cohesion, and a pry bar is being used efficiently and cheaply to destroy it. We are being propagandized to hate each other by groups of people who don't have our best interest in mind. All the social programs and military spending in the world can't help when a society no longer views itself as one entity. And calls for unity aren't the answer, they're more of the same propaganda. Those calling for unity do so with an implied qualifier that "unity" happen entirely under their ideological control. There's no desire to compromise, because we don't view those that we would be compromising with as belonging to the same nation.

friend_and_foe 3y ago

Most of what you're claiming are indeed signs of social problems, and not small ones. But not a single one of them is an indicator that a collapse is imminent. Some of them are counter indicators, for example the strength of the US military. All of them were the norm throughout human history up until very recently, and political structures were relatively stable for most of it. The problems might suck but they aren't signs of imminent political instability. I do think political instability is imminent, but not for any of these reasons. I think there's a weak point, social cohesion, and a pry bar is being used efficiently and cheaply to destroy it. We are being propagandized to hate each other by groups of people who don't have our best interest in mind. All the social programs and military spending in the world can't help when a society no longer views itself as one entity. And calls for unity aren't the answer, they're more of the same propaganda. Those calling for unity do so with an implied qualifier that "unity" happen entirely under their ideological control. There's no desire to compromise, because we don't view those that we would be compromising with as belonging to the same nation.