For The Record

As a result of the recent election, several bloggers and friends expressed renewed hope. Below is my response. 

All well and good to hope, but the closeness of the election shows a nation greatly divided in its ideals.

Regardless of who is president, the fact that we the people have such differing -- and almost equally divided -- opinions about the direction of our future does not portend well. I think we do ourselves a disservice to think so simplistically....that a different president will make that much difference. The fact Donald Trump even attained office should be a major warning signal, but the fact that everyone believes The President is actually responsible, points up how little we realize there are HUGE machinations that go on behind the scenes...and his actions have to be ratified.

We can hope a new president may be able to make some positive changes, but he will not be able to neutralize the avarice and strivings toward power that are motivating many others throughout the world. The Chinese are only BEGINNING to come into the 21st century (see: Three Gorges Dam); and they've done it in less than 15 years. As they continue to leave us farther in the dust Americans will have increasingly little impact on the economies they, the Chinese, will come to control.

With the threat of nuclear proliferation increasingly real, our military can no longer be relied on as a deterrent. And we've shown our own hand to be one based in our own imperialist self-interests too many times for people to take our claims of "promoting democracy" seriously any longer.

Biden and Harris may have won, but I'm afraid we, as a country, have lost. It will take more than a new president to keep us on the playing field, let alone compete. You can hope all you want, but if you listen to what's being said (by folks from around the globe) at the Rim of The Grand Canyon, at Bryce, at MOMA San Francisco, people are dissing us for our provincialism. Not that they don't have problems of their own, but on top of the stupid presidents, it is the condescending attitude of America toward the rest of the world that has fostered the enmity toward us. We need to focus on cleaning up our own house, but, unfortunately, the world isn't going to stop and wait for us. And increasingly that means we're just going to fall farther behind. I blame our education system; and the fact that we've been unwilling to do anything about it has served the interests of those who can just go elsewhere. 

A Challenge!

Challenge Transcendent!

And lastly, this sent from Brewed Journey (The Atlantic abt Peter Turchin), a blogger/reader. (Thanks, John!)