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Is there any "Western" country, other than maybe Denmark, that can envision a positive future for their own country?
The Mayans were right and the world ended in 2012, we're just playing out the consequences. And Fukuyama, and Toynbee, and Nietzsche...
Slightly more seriously, unconstructive cynicism is easy and not too painful. To envision a positive future without an ability to influence it is painful.
It ended in 2016 when Bowie and Lemmy died. Somehow, they were holding reality together.
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I'm American and I thought -- at least in the general directional sense -- we were headed down a fairly good path. At least somewhat better than the one we just got off of. Woke in retreat, plan to reign in immigration, no new wars. These changes were huge. There are other problems that were not going to be addressed. I'd like to see Amazon, as a prime example (no pun), pay more than $0 in taxes per year. But crawl before we walk. Now it doesn't really seem like we were ever really on that path. But because I think most Americans want some or all of the same things I want for the country, I'm still hopeful that positive change can come in time.
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