One would have to be incredibly naive or distracted to think that society is functioning properly. Very little of the federal government is operating in the best interests of the American people. On the local level, several cities have stopped enforcing laws and have gone quite feral.
Over the past 30 years, the values of Judeo-Christian belief that had inspired and sustained Western civilization and culture for centuries have been steadily replaced in a moral, cultural and political revolution of the postmodern ascendancy. But the contradictions and implausibilities inherent in this successor creed have been increasingly exposed, and its failure to supply the needs of the people is discrediting it in the popular mind.
Baker kindly breaks up the problem into three pillars.
First, the ethical primacy of global obligation over national self-interest, in economic and geopolitical terms, but most directly and consequentially in a rejection of the morality of national borders and an embrace of something like open-door immigration.
George W. Bush seemed like a rehabilitated frat boy when he was elected. He seemed like a good-natured guy who liked America and didn’t want to mess it up. When 9/11 happened, he initially did a good job of showing resolve and consolation. I thought he might use the attack to close up the Southern border and straighten out the visa and immigration system. Instead, he invented Homeland Security and reduced the freedom of the American people.
For a few decades, I’ve found it odd that so many wealthy and stable countries should open their borders to admit refugees originating from countries with cultures opposed to Western values. They were clearly not operating in the best interest of their citizens.
Second, a quasi-biblical belief in climate catastrophism, in which man’s essential energy-consuming sinfulness can be expiated only by massive sacrifice of economic progress.
America is not the worst in this regard. Germany shutdown nuclear reactors and invested in solar and wind power with backup energy available from Russia. Nuclear energy is safe and abundant. Solar and wind power produce power sporadically and aren’t particularly good for the environment.
Third, a wholesale cultural self-cancellation in which the virtues, values and historic achievements of traditional civilization are rejected and replaced by a cultural hierarchy that inverts old prejudices and obliges the class of white, male heterosexuals to acknowledge their history of exploitation and submit to comprehensive social and economic reparation.
It’s taken as axiomatic that any organization or activity profits from more black folks, women or queer people. Hiring on merit is seem as racist. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is considered retrograde.
Baker suggests that these pillars of dysfunction are crumbling.
Donald Trump was very clear about America’s trade problems. China was robbing us blind. President Biden is continuing Trump’s policies. Few people now doubt that China is an aggressive competitor.
The subsidized sale of electronic vehicles are slowing down. Dealerships have a glut, even though several states and a few countries intend to phase out internal combustion cars. The limits of blind environmentalism is becoming obvious.
When the woman of the year is a man, people start to notice that the queer community is built on too many grievance conflicts. The Supreme Court has been ruling against race-based admissions. Disney’s aggressive embrace of the Woke viewpoint is collapsing the company.
The Covid epidemic was handled terribly. Nearly everything the government told us was a lie, but they doubled-down by convincing corporate and social media to support the government narrative and punish alternate viewpoints. All of that is now known, but no one will be punished. The people who crippled the world will remain at the top.
When the new moral order collapses, how many people are left who remember what a properly functioning moral order looks like? Will the elites be removed from positions of power and influence, or will they shrug and mumble something about good intentions?