[Sir Napsalot]

As always, Wretchard's article needs to be read in full (and sometimes for me, twice).

Back on topic: The mistake is to assume the good time(s) will continue indefinitely.

[4Liberty]

Bump

[Politically Correct]

Coming soon to a city near you.....

[Sir Napsalot]

(more excerpt): The real damage was internal. A society can survive the loss of things, but it cannot survive without institutions or the destruction of culture. Culture is to nations what an immune system is to people. Nations under siege fall back on some atavistic condition. Thus, occupied Poland becomes more Catholic, as does Ireland, and as Egypt perhaps becomes more Muslim. They fall back on the known and the comforting. City Hall might collapse and the factory temporarily closed but if culture and identity survive these things can be reopened again.

The apocalypse of Syria means that many people don’t even want to reopen things any more. They hate their neighbors, individually and collectively.

Sobering and ominous.

[dfwgator]

Chavez, giving credit where it is due, at least had the charisma and political savvy to create the Cult of Personality. Once he passed, it was only a matter of time before things would fall apart. Maduro is nothing but a buffoon, and most Chavez supporters think of him as a joke.

That’s why regimes based on a Cult of Personality are ultimately doomed when the leader passes.....See Yugoslavia and Tito.

[Paladin2]

"The genius of the Left — Chavez’s for example — is that it destroys things from the inside out.

They pervert religion, collapse the mores, abolish the family, shred the constitution and gradually expropriate the property. The differences from one day to the next are apparently imperceptible, but it is harder and harder to go back until finally there is no reversal of ‘progressive gains’ possible at all.

The public is finally faced with the stark choice between chaos or authoritarianism. And most people will chose the Boss over the Mob."

[Slyfox]

Bump

[Obadiah]

The apocalypse of Syria means that many people don’t even want to reopen things any more. They hate their neighbors, individually and collectively.

How utterly sad that you can see this happening right here in America.

[Kartographer]

Preppers’ PING!!

[M Kehoe]

We should send Sean Penn and Danny Glover down there to help.

I crack me up.

5.56mm

[Axenolith]

Historians are puzzeled? It takes 0 time to figure out the problem, for 3000+ years politicians have learned you can ride the power wave promising some the fruits of others labor.

Couple that with a governmental or bank ability to free float the money unit and POOF! No more country...

[caver]

Good article, thanks for posting.

[NTHockey]

>>The question that always puzzles historians about the fall of great and rich countries is: ‘why didn’t they say it coming?’ How did they let disaster sneak up on them?<<

Because man is egotistically stupid.

[blueunicorn6]

Just my personal observation, but it takes four times as long to build something up as it takes to tear it down.

[Buckeye McFrog]

in 1960 Detroit was the richest city in the world in per capita income.

My in-laws have home movies they shot in 1960, shortly after they moved to Detroit. It surely was a hoppin' happenin' place.

Could not be a starker contrast from today.

[marron]

Detroit was untouched by the war. Not a bomb fell on it. But years of public education worked their magic. It dismantled the culture and social institutions which once built its factories.

Long article but well worth the read.

[dadfly]

well done. mr fernandez aptly describes the real “hockey stick,” both figurative and literal. ours, of course, is already well nigh poised to strike.

[SisterK]

Thank you for posting. The whole article was worth the read.
Our community is not dead yet. But buzzards are circling.

[sheikdetailfeather]

I just read this article. All young people need to read it.