Ranting to /dev/null

Careening

In Thursday's WSJ, Peggy Noonan argues that America as we know it has gone completely off the tracks, that "in some deep and fundamental way things have broken down and can't be fixed, or won't be fixed any time soon."

I think she's right. And I think she's also correct in her assessment that our elites are "going forward each day with the knowledge, which they hold more securely and with greater reason than nonelites, that the wheels are off the trolley and the trolley's off the tracks, and with a conviction, a certainty, that there is nothing they can do about it."

Why is this? I think it has somehing to do with this damnable sense of egalitarianism and "equality" our country seems to be drunk with. Those who qualify as "elite" - and they tend to know who they are - are the only ones capable of leading a nation. One half of the American elite - the Left - seems to have caught a suicidal case of self-loathing and counter-productive activism. The other half, demonized by the first, consists of business elites who are actually able to get the job done, but have settled into a deep ambivalence and apathy, as they are not permitted to do the jobs they need to do, and hated when they actually do them. Sure, we'll let you lead, but we'll penalize you for doing so.

Why would we want anyone who isn't rich to govern our fiscal policy? Wouldn't they be the ones who know a thing or two about money? But the rich are probably the single most hated group in the country, and on top of that, they pay massively punitive taxes. They're already paying their bit. It's irrational to expect anyone who's already giving way more than their share (1% of the population generates 60% of government revenues) to step forward and demonstrate leadership, especially when the general public refuses to admit that maybe they're not evil selfish bastards.

I'm convinced that the next two or three decades, at least will be a time of massive difficulty for our nation. The economic situation is barely stable at the moment, but all indicators seem to say that it's going to crash and burn pretty quickly. It's going to become necessary for productive citizens to cast of the burden of the "grasping and unproductive needy" if anyone wants to get eat. The trade off used to be "I pay for your life, you do what I say". It'll get that way again. It's only a matter of time.