I’m reading another book from the early 1900s. This one is by Walter Lippmann titled Drift and Mastery, published 1914. It is an incredible display of rational thinking and articulation. Wow! Talk about make me feel inferior! I can aspire to write so adroitly, but I am under no illusions. I do my best and strive to improve. What else can I do?
I bought this book to expand my understanding of the progressives. I hear the term often in the “news.” It seems only right to learn more and he was a central figure in the movement. He even may have been the one who coined the term. In the introduction he presents it in quotation marks and writes that he thinks is would be a good name for a trend happening during that time.
Lippmann and the progressives of his time espoused a different version of progressive ideas than I am seeing today. Naturally. Times change things. Some things don’t change much though. We are still under a heavy burden placed upon the backs of mankind by accumulation over history. Lippmann and others considered themselves to be rebels, and they probably were, but the term is too general. More definition is needed. Still, they were attempting to take the temperature of the time and change it, so, they were rebellious at least. After more than a hundred years, their cause is still unattained.
It seemed that they had some good ideas and a will to see then put into action. I wonder what Lippmann thought about the depression that followed his book. Maybe I can find some record about it. One thing is a logical derivative; the Great Depression had a dramatic effect on the movement of the progressives. It seems quite obvious to me that there are people with fabulous wealth who have strong incentives to protect it.
Our world is one in which wealth is power. Make no mistake. Only those of “invincible ignorance,” as Lippmann put it, cannot see that money is power. That being said, it must also be said that even the not-so-ignorant and even intelligent people do not grasp the full ramifications of the fact. As I ponder the intricacies of reality, understandings assail me like lightening flashing in my mind. Linking together one bit of data with another and then another until it becomes like a train of many boxcars, a long train of thought, insights begin to add more boxcars and more boxcars until my ability to articulate falls far short of justice. Sharing these things using available means of communications is proving a greater challenge than the achievement of the insights. Lord help me!
I realize that people don’t understand all about everything. That is by definition ignorance. Our long and horrible history is proof of our ignorance and terrible ways. If God would snap his fingers and banish all ignorance, things would be very different. Alas, I doubt God has such power. The long history of mankind seems to be valid proof . We are caught in the throes of sharp contrast among Americans. Opposites contest. Opinions lack unanimity. Even though we all live on the same planet in the same time with virtually identical needs and forms, tensions are reaching the snapping point. All hell could break out any minute. It is a powder keg out there. Are we to take to the same old solutions of our past, violence? Many are thinking it will be necessary. It will not be necessary. It will be folly so great it could be the end of all life.
Man has gone beyond. He has the power to harm everything. We ARE harming everything! This is something that scares the hell out of me. Not simply because we are killing and destroying, but because the powerful want to do something about it.
You would have to have just arrived here from Mars or some distant planet to be unaware of the vast and rampant pedophile atrocities going on around the world. It is something that spans all “classes” of people. But the rich are able to harm more children and have already been captured in commercial “clubs” of child molesters. Do you think the powerful people who could hurt children are just sitting idly by while mankind destroys the world? They are not. Fools who can’t resist the brainwashing that makes them use the words “conspiracy theorist” as a pejorative are minions. Unwitting victims of their own misplaced trust. Which is something that I deeply want to write about for it is one of the leading causes for the debacle we are bringing upon ourselves.
Instead of typing another round of polemics and explanations, I will simply call your attention to the Great Reset. Notice the similarity the name has to the Great Depression. Great is not used here in the sense of something good and positive. Sure, those who invented the term hope you will take it that way, but the term is used to relate the size, proportion, extent, and effect as well as the value they ascribe to it. As for the misplaced trust, one need but get a smattering of expression of one’s political views to know exactly what stations they watch and listen to. They go to the ones they trust. FOOLS! Why would you trust any of them? There is only one answer, you have been conditioned.
I hope to develop this more, but time bears down upon me. I hope you will try to take a step back and let love open your eyes. You can do it. You just have to truly want it and believe it can happen.
