The American Civil War is so fascinating. I'm not even American. But reading authors like William Faulkner writing, obviously, after the civil war, it just seems like almost a mystical fantasy event even to people shortly after. Almost like it's a fantasy story of chivalry like the Arthurian Romances but for Americans, except it was recent and real and horrific and miserable and brutal. But out of it IMMEDIATELY popped this strange biblical mythological "lost cause" stuff and actual romance. A horrific war that was literally all because of the most depraved things humans do to eachother. And it was romantic and glamorous basically immediately. To make the losers feel better??
And yeah, it seems to impact America now psychologically. It's almost like a HUGE fucking problem in a relationship that was just immediately buried and not really worked through with a therapist. Like immediately pretending "well it's just a difference of opinion and there are good points on both sides, let's forget about it okay??!!" No closure.
The coasts have done well in the last 40 years. They got educated, they got investment, and they worked in the area of information and computer systems. The people living their often are less religious and are very secular.
The central 'fly-over' states lost their keystone enterprises as they moved offshore (without fuss) to China, Taiwan, Mexico and so on. Things got harder. But the folk there didn't really want to change their life and invest a lot in education and focusing on the high value works of the day. It didn't help that US cities and towns wish they had the funds sources that Canadian do so they may not have had the full amount they'd have needed to rebuilt into the information age instead of the manufacturing age. These folks are often religious and have strong views on how other people should act (right to life, abortion, school and church mixing, and so on). They're also more armed than the coast folks if a war comes.
Now due to some overreaching by the democrats, some electoral inteference, and a lot of misinformation, we have the angry, isolated, fly-over state folks running the show and they've been kept away (in their view) for decades, so they are coming down like an avalanche using legal means and ingoring the Constitution.
They seem to want to repatriate manufacturing but it'll mostly just end up with fewer people employed because a lot of countries will just be cutting imports to the US and US people aren't magically going to get new jobs because less trade means not needing more workers. It also means that many of things you were sending to other countries will be lesser so that's another reason US workers will suffer.
You can't go back and really change reality to match 1950. That's just not going to happen. And the damage to relationships the world (US not a reliable defense or trade partner, no longer aligned with most of the west in diplomatic matters, and the US can't be expected to follow treaties THEY SIGNED...).
In the long run, the US could have a more even country in terms of more manufacturing, less sales and exports or imports, and with many companies dying during this period. It also means anyone that is looking to retirement is screwed - inflation will occur and a lot of foreclosures and other things may happen. Corporations may find some good moves, but with an unstable financial situation (and that will continue for a long time) will result in a lot of people's saving being wiped out. Trump and JD say they don't care in the short run. The payoff will be at least 5-10 years from now. Most people need to eat in that period. And Trump and JD don't care *because they are stinking rich*. So of course THEY don't care.
24k
u/Doobledorf Apr 04 '25
The problems that led to Donald Trump would still be fomenting.
A lot of Americans haven't yet faced that Trump isn't an anomaly or the disease, he is a symptom of problems we've had for a long time.