A chilling prediction

[Recursion]

"Members of labor unions, and unorganized unskilled workers, will sooner or later realize that their government is not even trying to prevent wages from sinking or to prevent jobs from being exported. Around the same time, they will realize that suburban white-collar workers — themselves desperately afraid of being downsized — are not going to let themselves be taxed to provide social benefits for anyone else.

At that point, something will crack. The nonsuburban electorate will decide that the system has failed and start looking around for a strongman to vote for — someone willing to assure them that, once he is elected, the smug bureaucrats, tricky lawyers, overpaid bond salesmen, and postmodernist professors will no longer be calling the shots.

One thing that is very likely to happen is that the gains made in the past forty years by black and brown Americans, and by homosexuals, will be wiped out. Jocular contempt for women will come back into fashion. All the resentment which badly educated Americans feel about having their manners dictated to them by college graduates will find an outlet.

After my imagined strongman takes charge, he will quickly make his peace with the international superrich.

-- Richard Rorty, Achieving Our Country, 1999

Left here without comment.

[empedocles]

1. 'Chilling'

[dware]

2. Chilling indeed.

There's a better than even chance of this happening.

[leftieNanner]

8. It already has

The prediction is from 20 years ago.

Maybe I misunderstood your post.

[mjvpi]

11. Exactly

[redstatebluegirl]

3. Wow...

[saidsimplesimon]

4. off topic

My father was a 32nd. He said it was bad form to advertise.

I enjoy reading about your adventures in Paris.

[Recursion]

5. I'm blue lodge so "32nd" doesn't really mean anything to me

I wear a lapel pin and ring, so I don't have any problem rocking an avatar.

Glad you're enjoying the Paris reportage! The Christmas markets are starting up soon and I hope to re-start blogging about them.

[saidsimplesimon]

6. In the scheme of things,

"rocking an avatar" is a lot like "Christmas".

Glad all is well for expats.

[Dan]

7. ahh yes and the POC and women will just lay down and play dead while they're screwed.

[Perseus]

9. You want "chill"? go back to 1935, "It Can't Happen Here!" by Sinclair Lewis

He knew some evil clown like trump was coming, luckily we are not where the book goes, at least not yet and hopefully he will be impeached, but many people saw it, I think many people knew our constitution was crafted for honest people and not crooks like trump and the republicans.

[Grokenstein]

10. "gains made in the past forty years"

...will only be wiped out if everyone either stands down because they don't want to miss their shows, or start squabbling among each other over pur--oh.

Oh shit.

[TygrBright]

12. "Prediction"? It's already happened. A fait accompli. Done and dusted. n/t

[SonofDonald]

13. The man knew the future

Nostradamus my ass, this man knew what was to come

Chilling

[warmfeet]

14. Not a prediction.

An observation (now), perhaps.