Get Your Conservative On
The August 25 issue of American Conservative randomly ended up in my hands the other day, and a perusal revealed two riffs worth a read. You have to subscribe to see the content online, but oddly, both articles are available for free at findarticles.com.
In a piece entitled Future Perfect, Brian Kaller posits that yes, peak oil will change everything, but finds some hope in that:
“…Take one of the more pessimistic projections of the future, from the Association for the Study of Peak Oil, and assume that by 2030 the world will have only two-thirds as much energy per person. Little breakdowns can feed on each other, so crudely double that estimate. Say that, for some reason, solar power, wind turbines, nuclear plants, tidal power, hydroelectric dams, biofuels, and new technologies never take off. Say that Americans make only a third as much money, cut driving by two-thirds. Assume that extended families have to move in together to conserve resources and that we must cut our flying by 98 percent.
“Many would consider that a fairly clear picture of collapse. But we have been there before, and recently. Those are the statistics of the 1950s–not remembered as a big time for cannibalism.”
“… We need a common vision that avoids post-apocalypse yarns as well as “Star Trek” fantasies in favor of something both realistic and hopeful. Handled right, peak oil could bring a revival of small-town America, local farming, small businesses, and an economy that centers around Main Street rather than Wall Street. It wouldn’t require us suddenly to turn Amish. With solar, wind, and nuclear power, we can maintain the Internet, commuter rail, and other technologies and continue the global exchange of ideas.
“…If Andy Griffith is too corny, pick your favorite portrayal of a simpler American life. It may not exactly map the future, but it is likely to be more accurate and hopeful than the images we’ve been given for generations and would be familiar, popular, and attainable. It would serve to remind us that just a few generations ago Americans lived, and often lived well, before everything was cheap and fast and thrown away. We, with far more wealth and power than they had, are capable of walking into the Long Emergency unafraid and with a plan.”
The second piece — The End of Democracy by Pat Buchanan — considers the ascendancy of autocratic capitalism in China and Russia:
“…In a survey of 24 countries by Pew Research Center, the nation that emerged as far and away first on earth in the satisfaction of its people was China. No other nation even came close.
“…And what nation is it whose people rank as third most satisfied? Vladimir Putin’s Russia.”
“… Of the largest nations on earth, the two that today most satisfy the desires of their peoples are the most authoritarian.
“…Liberal democracy is in a bear market. Is it a systemic crisis as well?
“In his 1989 essay, ‘The End of History?’ Francis Fukuyama wrote of the ultimate world triumph of democratic capitalism. All other systems had fallen, or would fall by the wayside. The future belonged to us.
“Democratic capitalism, it would appear, now has a great new rival–autocratic capitalism. In Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, nations are beginning to imitate the autocrats of China and Russia, as some in the 1930s sought to ape fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.”