The Sense of an Ending

Whatever happens, I find I cannot escape the sense that America has reached an impasse, that it has arrived at a moment of transition, and not just on the matter of abortion. Whether one looks at politics, economics, or the world, one sees a realignment of forces, a shuffling of players off and on the stage, to prepare for the next act in the drama. The Trump presidency seems less like the harbinger of a new beginning than a spectacular climax to a historical epoch. If so, we are living through a sort of denouement, a working through of conflicts left unresolved. “It feels like the order we have all taken for granted since the end of the Cold War is badly decaying, and has gotten so fragile that it might well shatter soon,” wrote Damir Marusic of Wisdom of Crowds last month. Question is: What replaces it?

via freebeacon.com

Exactamundo. You could call it “the fourth turning.” That’s what some global macro on youtube sorts are calling it. Some Christian sorts are speaking openly of “the end of days.” NPR, I kid you not, was enthusing, literally enthusing, this morning about “masking up!” for the holidays. And they had some MD from UChicago explaining how masks were vital to block Covid because they stopped people from sharing “contaminated air.” Where do they think the air comes from and goes from people wearing your typical mask? Do they take us for idiots? — Don’t answer that. I don’t know what to say, except buy Bitcoin and pray. And probably only one of those things will work.