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Chris Coffman's avatar

Who knows?

I don’t disagree with your dispirited tour d’horizon, but I wonder whether you’ve read “The Present Age” by Kierkegaard—and most importantly, noted the timing when it was published? 1846. The events of 1848 decisively proved him wrong only two years later.

Did you predict the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989? I didn’t.

I love your essays, and I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but the Spirit of 1776 did not originate in the recognition of a risk-free sure thing. It was more mysterious and powerful than that—and ultimately it worked.

I don’t claim to understand what makes men decide to act on principle, regardless of the apparent odds against them, but I wouldn’t discount it as a possible factor in future events.

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Lizzy Beta's avatar

Collapse is inevitable, regardless if Trump wins or not. A Trump win would only slow it down a little, if at all. It may even speed it up, as the regime brownshirts will certainly turn to violence if he wins, as they already have done.

We are at the end of empire stage. Too much is wrong with our society, and it is not just a few bad people at the top. We have an exponential blow out of debt, an economy based essentially on selling things to each other, a youth that has been so addled by smartphones and social media that they cannot think straight, an unhealthy populace where obesity, diabetes, autoimmune disorders and mental health problems abound, a native population that is not replacing itself, and a loss of status in the rest of the world, which is causing a turn from our reserve currency. Not to mention racial resentment, sex resentment, an overwhelming flow of migrants, a broken health care system.

Then there is a ruling class and their laptop minions who are completely out of touch with reality, are left brain driven, and unable to solve any problems whatsoever. It's over and there are plenty of fat ladies around to sing about it.

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