Is a second American revolution in the making? Perhaps the answer to that question is a qualified yes. I submit that the Coronavirus Lockdown offers fertile ground for planting the seeds of a Second American Revolution. The Silent Generation (my generation) will not lead that revolution, nor will the Baby Boomers. Gen-Xers, the Millennials, and Generation Z will not, because of their pickling during their school years in cultural marxism, post-modernism, and progressive politics. Are there enough members of Albert Jay Nock’s Remnant* left in our country who will carry the torch of individual freedom and liberty forward? My answer again is perhaps.
A Brief History Lesson as Perspective
England established its first permanent colony in North America at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. Before that, Sir Walter Raleigh founded the ill-fated Roanoke Colony in 1585. The Puritans founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1620.
America declared its independence on July 4, 1776, with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This signing was 169 years after the founding of Jamestown. The United States of America began life as a nation with the seating of the first U.S. Congress on March 4, 1789. Our country has now existed for 231 years. That is a relatively short time in the history of nations and empires.
The Coronavirus Lockdown
The coronavirus lockdown has had severe and structural consequences for America. The most consequential has been economic.
During the lockdown, some of our political leaders will act with character and intelligence and do the right thing. Others will act in their own self-interest or will follow a political agenda that bodes ill for America and Americans, at least those citizens on “the wrong side of history” as some pundits have opined.
I see America as divided equally between the so-called progressives/liberals and the non-progressives/conservatives. The latter group being those citizens who voted for President Trump in 2016. In round numbers, America has between 60 and 65 million voters on either side of the political divide. I do not see much of a center or middle-of-the-road. As a nation, we cannot sustain this polarized division for many more years.
What The Future May Hold
One has only to look around to see that the national discourse in America is filled with a lot of nonsense, fake news and hyperbolic reporting, pseudo-science, fallacies of all kinds, and just plain dumb ideas. Common sense, rational thought, and logic have all but disappeared. Emotionalized thinking rules.
All of this sets the stage for a Second American Revolution sometime in the future. Let’s hope it doesn’t take our future generations another 169 years to set things right.
Internal Link: https://whitebeardwisdom.com/the-new-3rs-for-america/
External Link: https://mises.org/profile/albert-jay-nock
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*Note: Albert Jay Nock was the author of several books in the early part of the 20th Century that focused on individual freedom, classic liberalism, and small government. He often stated that he was writing for a small remnant of America’s population who required “a great deal of (individual) freedom to grow (and prosper).
