> You can’t preserve something, you can only recreate it.
I'm reminded of Heraclitus' river: can't step in it twice, and likewise the status quo (the past, the present to some extent) is not necessarily congruent with what lies ahead. There's a Gestalt theory, the Paradoxical Theory of Change, which I think maybe explains where America is at due to the lacking collective identity of the country (we can't again move forward until we agree upon who we are): https://web.archive.org/web/20240607095215/https://www.gestalt.org/arnie.htm
What do you think it would it take to bring the necessary unity between parties to stabilize the country? (Path three.) Or is that option out the window?
_Someone_ needs to come up with an better idea of who we are and convince most people that that is the best identity. It doesn't need to unite the parties, it can be one party and the moderates, like Obama.
Demography is what makes our situation difficult. Different groups have interests that are not just differences of opinion. Quintessential example: many Americans want tight borders and deportations, so they can have more favorable conditions in the housing and labor markets. They also may pine for when America was more homogenous and unified. But if you're a recent immigrant, you want the border open so your cousins can come. That's the way to make it more comfortable to you. And if that makes economic and social conditions a little worse, what do you care? America is the richest country in the world; it will remain miles better than your home country even as things get much, much worse.
> You can’t preserve something, you can only recreate it.
I'm reminded of Heraclitus' river: can't step in it twice, and likewise the status quo (the past, the present to some extent) is not necessarily congruent with what lies ahead. There's a Gestalt theory, the Paradoxical Theory of Change, which I think maybe explains where America is at due to the lacking collective identity of the country (we can't again move forward until we agree upon who we are): https://web.archive.org/web/20240607095215/https://www.gestalt.org/arnie.htm
What do you think it would it take to bring the necessary unity between parties to stabilize the country? (Path three.) Or is that option out the window?
_Someone_ needs to come up with an better idea of who we are and convince most people that that is the best identity. It doesn't need to unite the parties, it can be one party and the moderates, like Obama.
Demography is what makes our situation difficult. Different groups have interests that are not just differences of opinion. Quintessential example: many Americans want tight borders and deportations, so they can have more favorable conditions in the housing and labor markets. They also may pine for when America was more homogenous and unified. But if you're a recent immigrant, you want the border open so your cousins can come. That's the way to make it more comfortable to you. And if that makes economic and social conditions a little worse, what do you care? America is the richest country in the world; it will remain miles better than your home country even as things get much, much worse.