I came across a 10 minute outtake from Tucker’s episode #155 this morning. It struck me that Tucker’s comments on “Why America Is Failing” fit in rather well with our post of yesterday: Perspectives On The Coming Election Year. In that post we spoke of the deep social unrest and discontent in America as we head into an election year. Tucker addresses that same concern about the state of our union, whether it could withstand a major shock—especially a shock that he believes is sure to come: an economic shock. Tucker offers no solutions but, reading between the lines, he does suggest to me that philosophical issues lie at the heart of our current unrest. Tucker does refer to practical problems that we should be thinking about, but it remains that without consensus—a shared “civic religion” is necessary for a country in which the people are reasonably at peace with one another.
Mark - I don’t know if you follow Martin Armstrong, the geopolitical and financial guru. I subscribe to his service and I’ve watched quite a few of his free media interviews although he tends to say the same things about the past rather than speaking about the future in most of them. Which is probably not surprising given the US government tried to steal his IP, put him in prison for 11 years on bogus conspiracy charges and tried to kill him in jail. So I don’t blame him for being circumspect about what he knows now that he’s finally free in his 70s. Anyway, he did a really good interview recently with the Big Picture where he is more coherent and forthcoming about future events than usual. You may think it’s worth transcribing. He thinks the 2024 election either won’t happen or the result won’t be accepted, and he predicts the collapse of the financial system in the next 2 years. He also says the break-up of the US is inevitable, and we won’t get a new form of government until 2032. https://youtu.be/tbtZW_lIWaI
A part of this is the globalisation of businesses and the socialisation of business costs via education, training and importing workers, where workers simply become a number.
Long gone are the days of apprenticeship and mentoring which created its own kind of civic virtue.
Rotary clubs in Australia built massive infrastructure for the well being of the community whereas now charity is sent overseas via NGOs.
“I wonder what Trump makes of Tucker’s concerns? Is that part of MAGA? I think, in his own way, less articulate than Tucker’s, Trump shares those concerns about America’s failure, its lack of a civic religion that unites.”
As evidence, I would cite a moment so startling in its novelty that it was burned into my memory. I think it was at the lighting of the White House Christmas tree during his first year in office. On an occasion when recent presidents may have barely managed a bland, generic reference to God (if even that), Trump actually noted that Christmas commemorates the birth of “our Lord Jesus Christ.” This from a man not known for his piety, to say the least. I still find it hard to believe he said that.
The Feminine inclination to conflict avoidance is good if it’s in the ‘Peace Making’ mould, but not if in ‘Peace Keeping’.
IMO the aim of society should be to be grounded in high trust. Difficult to achieve during top-down revolutionary change, with no buy-in sought, no conversation allowed, arbitrary goalposts, and capricious, unaccountable leadership - there’s no grounding in quicksand.
As Tucker is being mentioned, and knowing that it is somewhat tangential (but not greatly so) to the subject, I wanted to note the interview he just conducted with Alex Jones:
I think this is an important interview. I have not followed Alex closely and my unqualified impression of him heretofore (as formed only by the MSM) has been to frame him as a fringe speculator. With that perhaps mistaken conditioning (you can judge by the interview), I have been "neutral" on him (neither presuming belief nor disbelief of what he says).
In this interview, Alex expounds on subject material and theses which Mark's readers are likely already familiar - in particular with respect to the NWO push for world control but also with respect to historical events such as 9/11 and Covid. I found the interview strangely stimulating on a multidimensional level - I don't know how to put it better than that. As just one example, Alex identifies the need for looking at this struggle with TPTB as spiritual, even if he is not able to identify the specifics of the struggle in that context. I think you will find the interview thought provoking (and also entertaining), especially in light of Mark's recent emphasis on the cultural and religious aspects of the geopolitical conflict presently occurring. Interestingly, Tucker verbally agrees with pretty much everything Alex says.
I haven't studied the question in any great depth but it seems to me at first glance that some donors and the powers that be at the Wharton School and Republican Elise Stefanik have forced the President of the University of Pennsylvania to resign for not being sufficiently pro-Israel to lead an Ivy League University. What am I missing?
The basic problem was laid out back in 2010 by Angelo Codevilla, in a book and in a long article in "American Spectator" https://spectator.org/americas-ruling-class/ Codevilla's "Ruling Class" is more than just the politicians and bureaucrats--he includes the Fortune 500 brass, the top level media, the upper-level academics--the "elites" of all fields. Another important voice is Martin Gurri, a former CIA analyst. His book "The Revolt of the Public" detailed how the Internet broke the Ruling Class control over the flow of information. The censorship efforts we have seen in the past few years are part of their attempt to regain control. They still have not totally succeeded--and the reaction has started against what they have done.
I think you hit the nail on the head. Trump DOES understand it, intuitively. Part of what the MAGA slogan meant was to remind people of a time when that patriotic civic theology still mattered. (Wokism is, in part, the Left's deranged response to _their_ need for a civic theology.)
Haven’t yet read your book, but Anton’s review puts me in mind of the work of the late literary theorist-cum-anthropologist Rene Girard. It seems to me that when it comes to explaining western civilization’s late-modern crisis — especially the symptom we call “woke” — Girard’s theological/anthropological analysis potentially complements your philosophical framework.
Girard’s thinking in this regard defies summary in a blog post comment, so I recommend the (almost random) selection of links below for a quick introduction — I suggest reading Rod Dreher’s American Conservative piece first since it is the shorter and more succinct of the three (ironic, given his famous loquacity).
“Girard writes about how the “concern for victims” is what sets Judaism and Christianity apart from all other archaic religions. This concern for victims has now been virtually universalized, even — paradoxically — as Christianity has begun to decline, at least in the West.”
“As Girard already perceived in 1999, we live under the reign of ‘victimism, which uses the ideology of concern for victims to gain political or economic or spiritual power.’ But victimism isn’t merely a cynical smokescreen for power. Instead, the rise of victim power signals a genuine and troubling exhaustion of all other sources of authority and legitimacy. This points to the real problem with this new ideological regime: Beneath its benevolent rhetoric, its implications are apocalyptic, accelerating the collapse of any sustainable order.”
“Unsatisfied with uncovering the origin of culture and explicating the emergence of secular modernity, however, Girard came eventually to predict the apocalyptic acceleration of history towards a tragic denouement.”
Great thumbs up from Glenn Elmers! The Claremont Review of Books has been necessary reading for years. The publication is singular (in my limited time for these things) and is the start of scratching the surface about what is really happening in politics and the great depth that one needs to have in history and political philosophy to understand it. Claremont is one of the places where the relearning and rebuilding starts.
I’ve cited Huntington’s two book on multiple occasions on this site. Both were very important books as I became more acutely aware of the deterioration of the American Creed as a basis for the growth our civic culture. He was very animated in his concerns with dual citizenship.
and with good reason. Thank you for mentioning these as I agree both are great books, “who are we” is a must read.
Regarding Tucker:
https://www.wsj.com/business/media/tucker-carlson-is-launching-his-own-streaming-service-5fc2f9ba?mod=djemalertNEWS
Mark - I don’t know if you follow Martin Armstrong, the geopolitical and financial guru. I subscribe to his service and I’ve watched quite a few of his free media interviews although he tends to say the same things about the past rather than speaking about the future in most of them. Which is probably not surprising given the US government tried to steal his IP, put him in prison for 11 years on bogus conspiracy charges and tried to kill him in jail. So I don’t blame him for being circumspect about what he knows now that he’s finally free in his 70s. Anyway, he did a really good interview recently with the Big Picture where he is more coherent and forthcoming about future events than usual. You may think it’s worth transcribing. He thinks the 2024 election either won’t happen or the result won’t be accepted, and he predicts the collapse of the financial system in the next 2 years. He also says the break-up of the US is inevitable, and we won’t get a new form of government until 2032. https://youtu.be/tbtZW_lIWaI
I'll check it out. As you suggest, in the past I've found him not terribly forthcoming. As you outline his thoughts, I can see it.
A part of this is the globalisation of businesses and the socialisation of business costs via education, training and importing workers, where workers simply become a number.
Long gone are the days of apprenticeship and mentoring which created its own kind of civic virtue.
Rotary clubs in Australia built massive infrastructure for the well being of the community whereas now charity is sent overseas via NGOs.
“I wonder what Trump makes of Tucker’s concerns? Is that part of MAGA? I think, in his own way, less articulate than Tucker’s, Trump shares those concerns about America’s failure, its lack of a civic religion that unites.”
As evidence, I would cite a moment so startling in its novelty that it was burned into my memory. I think it was at the lighting of the White House Christmas tree during his first year in office. On an occasion when recent presidents may have barely managed a bland, generic reference to God (if even that), Trump actually noted that Christmas commemorates the birth of “our Lord Jesus Christ.” This from a man not known for his piety, to say the least. I still find it hard to believe he said that.
Absolutely agree Mark.
The Feminine inclination to conflict avoidance is good if it’s in the ‘Peace Making’ mould, but not if in ‘Peace Keeping’.
IMO the aim of society should be to be grounded in high trust. Difficult to achieve during top-down revolutionary change, with no buy-in sought, no conversation allowed, arbitrary goalposts, and capricious, unaccountable leadership - there’s no grounding in quicksand.
As Tucker is being mentioned, and knowing that it is somewhat tangential (but not greatly so) to the subject, I wanted to note the interview he just conducted with Alex Jones:
https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1732897835572461582#m
I think this is an important interview. I have not followed Alex closely and my unqualified impression of him heretofore (as formed only by the MSM) has been to frame him as a fringe speculator. With that perhaps mistaken conditioning (you can judge by the interview), I have been "neutral" on him (neither presuming belief nor disbelief of what he says).
In this interview, Alex expounds on subject material and theses which Mark's readers are likely already familiar - in particular with respect to the NWO push for world control but also with respect to historical events such as 9/11 and Covid. I found the interview strangely stimulating on a multidimensional level - I don't know how to put it better than that. As just one example, Alex identifies the need for looking at this struggle with TPTB as spiritual, even if he is not able to identify the specifics of the struggle in that context. I think you will find the interview thought provoking (and also entertaining), especially in light of Mark's recent emphasis on the cultural and religious aspects of the geopolitical conflict presently occurring. Interestingly, Tucker verbally agrees with pretty much everything Alex says.
I haven't studied the question in any great depth but it seems to me at first glance that some donors and the powers that be at the Wharton School and Republican Elise Stefanik have forced the President of the University of Pennsylvania to resign for not being sufficiently pro-Israel to lead an Ivy League University. What am I missing?
Not much, but ...
https://www.unz.com/isteve/president-of-penn-shoved-out/
The basic problem was laid out back in 2010 by Angelo Codevilla, in a book and in a long article in "American Spectator" https://spectator.org/americas-ruling-class/ Codevilla's "Ruling Class" is more than just the politicians and bureaucrats--he includes the Fortune 500 brass, the top level media, the upper-level academics--the "elites" of all fields. Another important voice is Martin Gurri, a former CIA analyst. His book "The Revolt of the Public" detailed how the Internet broke the Ruling Class control over the flow of information. The censorship efforts we have seen in the past few years are part of their attempt to regain control. They still have not totally succeeded--and the reaction has started against what they have done.
I think you hit the nail on the head. Trump DOES understand it, intuitively. Part of what the MAGA slogan meant was to remind people of a time when that patriotic civic theology still mattered. (Wokism is, in part, the Left's deranged response to _their_ need for a civic theology.)
https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/woke-dilemmas/
Haven’t yet read your book, but Anton’s review puts me in mind of the work of the late literary theorist-cum-anthropologist Rene Girard. It seems to me that when it comes to explaining western civilization’s late-modern crisis — especially the symptom we call “woke” — Girard’s theological/anthropological analysis potentially complements your philosophical framework.
Girard’s thinking in this regard defies summary in a blog post comment, so I recommend the (almost random) selection of links below for a quick introduction — I suggest reading Rod Dreher’s American Conservative piece first since it is the shorter and more succinct of the three (ironic, given his famous loquacity).
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/rene-girard-covington-catholic-boys/
“Girard writes about how the “concern for victims” is what sets Judaism and Christianity apart from all other archaic religions. This concern for victims has now been virtually universalized, even — paradoxically — as Christianity has begun to decline, at least in the West.”
https://compactmag.com/article/rene-girard-and-the-rise-of-victim-power
“As Girard already perceived in 1999, we live under the reign of ‘victimism, which uses the ideology of concern for victims to gain political or economic or spiritual power.’ But victimism isn’t merely a cynical smokescreen for power. Instead, the rise of victim power signals a genuine and troubling exhaustion of all other sources of authority and legitimacy. This points to the real problem with this new ideological regime: Beneath its benevolent rhetoric, its implications are apocalyptic, accelerating the collapse of any sustainable order.”
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/the-darwin-of-the-human-sciences-rene-girard-a-theological-retro/10097680
“Unsatisfied with uncovering the origin of culture and explicating the emergence of secular modernity, however, Girard came eventually to predict the apocalyptic acceleration of history towards a tragic denouement.”
Thanks, Glenn. Got my reading assignment for this evening!
Great thumbs up from Glenn Elmers! The Claremont Review of Books has been necessary reading for years. The publication is singular (in my limited time for these things) and is the start of scratching the surface about what is really happening in politics and the great depth that one needs to have in history and political philosophy to understand it. Claremont is one of the places where the relearning and rebuilding starts.
Thanks. I don't know that work, but I will look into now.!
Voting could be part of a solution, but not the major part. Civic virtue isn't gained through voting, and that's the only cure.
I’ve cited Huntington’s two book on multiple occasions on this site. Both were very important books as I became more acutely aware of the deterioration of the American Creed as a basis for the growth our civic culture. He was very animated in his concerns with dual citizenship.
and with good reason. Thank you for mentioning these as I agree both are great books, “who are we” is a must read.