Robert Bork wrote a book in 1996 titled Slouching towards Gamorrah. I always liked that title because it's a pretty good description of western decline and is the topic of the book. I'm sure I read it because I read lots of books like that in the 90's. My political orientation at that time was conservative. My political view nowadays is "a pox on both your houses" and I vote against the incumbent. 
  The west is in decline as a result of hubris, "we can build a better world" and, of course, these "smart people" will be in charge . Experiments like these only result in tyranny. 
  The west adopted secularism with human beings at the top, replacing God. It's been pointed out here before but, I shall reiterate there is nothing greater than man in western civilization. It's idolatry and there is no room for mysticism. Especially, Christian Mysticism. Evangelicals will never accept it and frankly I don't want them to because their version would be appalling so, I pray they stay out of it. I don't think we have cause to worry.
  In a material sense Evangelicals are compromised by their devotion to the USofA and Republican Party in spite of their (Republicans) cynical veneer of religiosity. Republicans have never pushed hard to solve the issues that Evies care about because they need these issues as reasons for Evies to vote for them. Also in a spiritual sense Evangelicals are apostate; by their political activism, they have abandoned true faith for temporal gain and in so doing lead the slouch toward Gamorrah.
  It should be obvious to anyone who has studied the US Constitution, that the USA has an entirely secular government.  Proclaiming "America is a Christian Nation" is idiocy. Any person believing that the First Amendment grants them religious freedom should look at how federal courts have tinkered with the "Free Exercise" clause, which in turn violates the "Establishment" clause. No one seems to have a problem with that. Since 1879 when, in a case against the LDS the SCOTUS unanimously ruled that Free Exercise did not include Religious Practice! Essentially, violating the Establishment clause. It had nothing to do with law or clarifying the First Amendment no no no. The purpose was to cement the notion that there is nothing higher than Man, including God which is superstition anyway. The US Constitution was and is the zenith of Enlightenment thinking. The framers were Atheists, Deists and nominal mainline Protestants. There is no real freedom of religion, never has been. If the government doesn't like your religion and your beliefs are anti-government, apocalyptic and involves firearms. The government will kill you or lock you up for a long time. The high profile takedowns like Ruby Ridge and Waco embarrassed the Feds so they changed tactics. Since 9/11 they have refined their methods. The government controls the message given to the media and go after any group they don't like and get away with it. The preferred way now is to access the targets computer and fill it with kiddie porn. Shazbot! Instant Pariah!
  So what's to stop them from coming after us? Nothing but, right now we're a speck of dust on a dusty shelf. As we grow through future generations that will surely change. While the Evies continue slouching towards Gamorrah, we 
walk upright in the footsteps of Christ towards Glory.

(01-26-2019, 11:57 AM)IainH Wrote:  Republicans have never pushed hard to solve the issues that Evies care about because they need these issues as reasons for Evies to vote for them.

Yes. In general, the system works for politicians: many solutions to things cause other problems down the road, for other politicians to solve. It keeps the system churning and people paid. In particular with Republicans and conservatives, they really don't do anything useful in stopping progressivism from...progressing. Maybe slowing it down here and there. 

A conservative today is a liberal 10 years ago. We're at war with Eurasia, not Eastasia. Maybe soon we'll be back at it again with Eastasia. 1984 might be one of the most insightful books published in the last 100 years.

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(01-26-2019, 12:49 PM)jaybreak Wrote:

(01-26-2019, 11:57 AM)IainH Wrote:  Republicans have never pushed hard to solve the issues that Evies care about because they need these issues as reasons for Evies to vote for them.

Yes. In general, the system works for politicians: many solutions to things cause other problems down the road, for other politicians to solve. It keeps the system churning and people paid. In particular with Republicans and conservatives, they really don't do anything useful in stopping progressivism from...progressing. Maybe slowing it down here and there. 

A conservative today is a liberal 10 years ago. We're at war with Eurasia, not Eastasia. Maybe soon we'll be back at it again with Eastasia. 1984 might be one of the most insightful books published in the last 100 years.

  I read Orwell's works in HS beginning with Animal Farm, which is really a dystopian children's story. I read 1984 twice, I was a liberal anti-communist. Many of his predictions have come to pass. The media are the Ministry of Truth imo. One thing he got wrong was the bleakness of the society he predicted. In reality it's not grey, it's colorful with bells, whistles and flashing lights. People indulge in bread and circuses and like it. Whereas in 1984 people were slaves to an all powerful government; in 2019, we are debt slaves believing the next doodad we buy on the never never will bring us happiness. I really need to read it again, it's been 40 years since I started reading Orwell. He and Sven Hassel, you'll have to search him because I don't think he published much in America. Huge among young males in the UK though. They were my favorite authors. SH was the Louis L'amour of WW2 fiction. I owned the largest collection of paperbacks in the holler but, I ran out of space and gave away most to the pharmacy where old people can take them. It's sort of an unofficial library, they can keep them or return them with no fines. It's a good thing because I know several of the "crusties" and there's nothing like an action novel to escape your senior ailments for a while.

Here's the thing that gets me: Those writers who saw it coming weren't necessarily the smartest minds, just the ones who wrote about what they saw. When you stop to notice the actual nature of the beast, it becomes pretty obvious how it acts and what it plans to do. You can see where things are headed when you stop buying into propaganda.

(01-26-2019, 02:29 PM)IainH Wrote: The media are the Ministry of Truth imo.

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They are. It's not opinion. They are observably a propaganda tool.

(01-26-2019, 10:55 PM)jaybreak Wrote:

(01-26-2019, 02:29 PM)IainH Wrote: The media are the Ministry of Truth imo.

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They are. It's not opinion. They are observably a propaganda tool

My "imo" was false humilty. See even those of us who are fully aware of the nature of PC western civ, are able to succumb to the "let's not offend anyone" bulldump* on occasion. I'm the least PC person I know. My excuse is; it was the wee hours, I was very sleepy and didn't want to go to bed until I was done, lest I forgot something important. Ha!
*bulldump: I'm trying to find out how many ways I can take the shit out of bullshit. Nice ways, so my wife wife won't say "you need to watch your mouth, Mister!". I don't like having to constantly be on guard to avoid offending a nagging harpy. But, we all got our thorns, I just happened to marry mine AND it didn't appear until AFTER the I do's. Con Beast! That is the best kind of humor, reality centered. She is a really nice person, a swell gal, to other people.