Politics D5

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Politics The Town Voice Balanced

Cultural Inversion

By Arlon Staywell RICHMOND 2005 — Before Cultural Inversion can be understood it is necessary to have a clear idea what the regular order had been for centuries. Those with traditions and education lived in the cities and those without traditions or with crude sorts of traditions lived on the fringes. Some old attitudes such as the one about the "country bumpkin" are based on the old order of things. The reason for the old order can be seen in the article Essential Overview of History. Many students of history and even many avid scholars miss this essential understanding and so fail to understand the inversion.
Especially in America
The railroads and the industrial revolution changed the order of things, especially in America. The holders of traditions, the educated, the established, the "haves" moved more and more to the country. The cities filled with the people from the fringes, the "have-nots," who came to take jobs in factories. Even with these changes old attitudes about the country and the city persisted. It is not the only reason but certainly a major one that the assault on tradition became associated with the "educated" in the cities.
But the holders of tradition lost more than just that upper hand. In the country where the safety of numbers is often lacking, the holders of tradition began to accept the law of the wilderness. Violence was more acceptable when the social safety net was weak or missing. Those who lived at the end of a five-mile dirt road felt better depending on guns for self defense. It is a natural thing. Living at the intersection of four such dirt roads might make people feel somewhat safer, but there was a return to violence that had long been given up by the civilized.
Changing Party Definitions
Now it should be clear how the Republicans came to be the party of religious traditions and at the same time ironically the party of strong dependence on the military. It should also be clear how the Democrats came to be the party of assault on traditions and at the same time ironically the "educated." Other factors contributed to the inversion as can be seen in an article on myths in science on page B5.
The inversion is neither perfect nor stable. The Democrats can't be the party opposing overdependence on the military because they never learned the arts required. They really aren't "educated" enough to know how to maintain order without dependence on the military. And in their program of elimination of tradition they willingly employ the military. The Republicans can't be the party to restore traditions because they lost theirs in moving to the country. Though unstable there is one pernicious reinforcing factor. Because the city dwellers are without tradition and religion and because there is a belief, an outdated belief but not understood to be outdated, that the city dwellers oppose the military, the country dwellers "deduce" that the military is the means to uphold tradition. But the people who believe in "God and guns" misunderstand the city dwellers who do not really oppose the military and themselves who do not really believe in God. They believe in their guns more than their God.
With Republicans believing the military will restore religious traditions and Democratics believing the military will end them forever, both parties have been in a sort of blissful ignorance. The military is supported all around and everyone seems happy with it.
The Year of the Republican Implosion
Or they seemed happy with it. The year 2008 is the year of "Republican" or "conservative" implosion. All the strong Republican candidates who could maintain the illusion that the military is the proper tool for upholding religious tradition failed. Strong as McCain is on the military, he does not have sufficiently "conservative" values for a critically large number of conservatives and Republicans. This is clear from the "desperation" votes for Mike Huckabee.
The reason this occured in 2008 might be the inherent instability of cultural inversion, or it could mean a significant number read this website or some other version of its key lessons. However many such readers there were it was not sufficient to accomplish anything truly positive. Unless there are more readers who get all the points on this website the situation is still stuck without a real return to true religious traditions.
The Economic Implosion
With both parties addicted to huge military spending the hazard is inflation. When the illusion of growth exceeds the real economic growth that is inflation. Huge military spending can cause the appearance of growth in the economy, but it does not always mean real growth. That appearance of growth can influence people to believe the military is solving their problems and cause them to vote accordingly. Illusions carried too far tend to break down.

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