Now They Tell Us: Deep State Warns Of US Decline

Deep State mouthpiece David Ignatius, writing for the WaPo, is previewing a new Rand study that’s due out Tuesday. Rand is concerned that the American Empire is in a long term downward spiral “from which few great powers have ever recovered." Among the few great powers that have recovered from such a long term decline the study cites two telling examples:

The 18th century British Empire—and look where they are now, reading the riot act to Russia and China, lecturing and shaming them like the punks they are:

The other example, of course, is America’s own Progressive Era, courtesy of the likes of TR and Woodrow Wilson, which brought us such brilliant constitutional reforms as the Income Tax, direct Senatorial Election, wars to make the world safe for “democracy”, etc. That’s not reassuring.

Predictably, Ignatius, er, the Deep State, sees the job of arresting long term decline as one for the “elites” working selflessly “for the common good and national revival” (I think “national revival” is code for “imperial revival”, as evidenced by the WaPo title, which focuses on “power”). The key is to find “new leaders”. You know I’m not kidding—Ignatius:

What will save us is a broad commitment, starting with elites, to work for the common good and national revival. We have the tools, but we aren’t using them. If we can’t find new leaders and agree on solutions that work for everyone, we’re sunk.

Oh, I forgot to mention. The Deep State also blames our decline on “an increasingly corrupted information environment”. More coded language. I think that means something a lot like: normal Americans are getting too much information about how the system actually works—against them—and who benefits.

Does all that seem counter intuitive to you? Me too. What could go wrong with trusting the elites? Who would pick the new leaders, if not the elites we already have—the same elites who thought installing Zhou over the wishes of the nation was good enough? Why would the elites do an about face and devote themselves to the common good, after decades of financial strip mining of the country and beggaring of the middle class? After all, America may be in decline but there’s still plenty of value left for the elites to loot—why stop now? Just slap some laws into place to control the “information environment” to continue gaslighting the little people while the looting proceeds.

To show how unserious about facing up to reality the elites are, they’re already plotting a China Hoax to follow on the heels of the Russia Hoax—flim flam blame shifting narratives are their way of dealing with national decline:

chinahand @chinahand

"generally speaking" "arguably interfere" textbook example of word weaseling w/ collusive media stripping out the modifiers to generate the desired accusatory chyron

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Lord Bebo @MyLordBebo

 China is influencing the U.S. elections, says Blinken.

We’re moving from Russia hoax to China hoax. Buckle up, that one will be uglier.

Arnaud Bertrand provides a precis of Ignatius’ article and the Rand report:

Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand

This is explosive stuff. A new study by RAND, by far the most influential policy Think Tank in the US, concludes (as shared in this WaPo article by David Ignatius):

"The United States might be stumbling toward a decline from which few great powers have ever recovered."

The study describes this decline as “accelerating” and doesn't seem optimistic about recovery: “Recovery from significant long-term national decline is rare and difficult to detect in the historical record. [...] When great powers have slid from a position of preeminence or leadership because of domestic factors, they seldom reversed this trend.”

What causes the decline? Pretty much everything you'd expect: “military overstretch,” “self-interested and warring elites,” “Addiction to luxury and decadence,” “failure to keep pace with … technological demands,” “ossified” bureaucracy, “loss of civic virtue,” “unsustainable environmental practices”, etc.

Question: How does a society restore “civic virtue” once individual commitment to virtue is lost? These days “civic virtue” in America seems to equate to whatever the MSM will let me get away with. Or, alternatively, anything I can get away with withut being caught.

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Washington Post Opinions @PostOpinions

Is the sun slowly setting on U.S. power? That depends on us, @IgnatiusPost writes. https://wapo.st/49WjZGV

12:07 PM · Apr 27, 2024

Somehow I get the idea that this may be just a trial narrative run for a ruling class power grab scheme. Highbrow gaslighting before the election season starts in earnest.