Is America in a prerevolutionary era? Let’s hope so. From Eric Peters at ericpetersautos.com:
In all pre-revolutionary times, the question arises: What is to be done?
It was asked in the 1770s by the people who subsequently led the American movement for secession from Great Britain (the accurate term for what occurred) and again in the 1860s by Russians such as the writer Nikolai Chernyshevsky, who despaired of life under the brutal autocracy of the Romanovs.
It was clear that something had to be done.
But what, exactly?
The same question arises now because – arguably – America finds itself in a pre-revolutionary era.
These eras are characterized by a number of things-in-common, the chief one being pervasive misery. Almost everyone is unhappy – and unhappy people tend to squabble, then fight. There are extremes of opinion, combined with a determination to destroy opposing opinion. Intolerance, contempt. A sense that things are out-of-control. A feeling of irreconcilability.
America is at that stage right now and it is probably not reversible precisely because of the irreconcilability. A marriage – even a friendship – cannot recover once it passes beyond a certain Rubicon of commonality, trust and affection.
America has crossed that Rubicon.
On one side, the believers in the new religion of perpetual sickness and perpetual sickness kabuki. You can identify them by their religious vestment, the Holy Rag – also known as the Face Diaper. They who wear it militantly (i.e., absent being compelled to) will never be reconciled with those who wear it reluctantly, much less those who wear it not at all.
