Is great change only possible through cataclysm?

Apr 3, 2025, 12:49 PM

I wanted to post this on a normie board, but there's no way to discuss it without veering into politics.

Looking at American history, the greatest change only came after existential catastrophe: The Civil War, the Great Depression, 1980s hair metal... Without those epic disasters, we couldn't have made tectonic shifts.

Maybe I'm trying to stay glass-half-full while watching this clusterfuck unfold, but I genuinely believe this could be a great opportunity to retool our government and address modern problems with modern solutions.

Not that I expect it from the current administration. But this tomfoolery could shake us out of complacency and remind us why we had trade deals and alliances in the first place.

Politicians worry about poll numbers and Overton windows and election years. They're super risk-averse, too scared to color outside the lines. Congress refuses to use or defend its own authority. And it's ironic to see Democrats, who are supposedly progressive, fighting to preserve the status quo right now.

The public has little appetite for change either and only unifies when things are in the crapper, like after 9/11.

So is this the only way to get things done?

Do the Germans always have to bomb Pearl Harbor?

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No, it requires leaders...

and we haven't had one in the WH in a good while.

I don't think the extreme can be persuaded on too much but the less-extreme and the middle can be and that's all that's needed. Trump squandered a real opportunity to sell a vision. But the problem is that he doesn't actually have a vision...he's a political opportunist with no actual ideological center. He will do whatever and say whatever he thinks he needs to to maintain (or return to) power. He puts his personal interests over country and party again and again.

What's happening now is what so many feared...he's unchecked and surrounded himself with sycophants and he was much better prepared coming into office versus the 1st go around.

We could restructure the size and scope of the federal government, but it's going to take a charismatic leader that puts the country first and has character and vision.