Figuring out our path forward
We smart people can handle this
Long time no post! I haven't sent out a post since April. My intellectual quest during these months has been to figure out a grand theory of US international relations, especially with China. I have read dozens of books and scores of articles. I think I have come up with one. However, it's main effect would be to calm the fears of many, because it is deucedly hard for the average human being or groups of human beings to influence the course of international affairs.
I think we have much more agency in the internal affairs of the United States. In the first Trump administration, Trump initiated a Muslim ban and family separation on the southern border, and citizen resistance was successful in countering these moves. We have brilliant lawyers working on our side and the court system supports us a surprising percentage of the time.
If you cannot bring patience and determination to the game, you might as well not play. I'm gonna lay some history on you. The first group to petition for the abolition of slavery were the Mennonites of Germantown in 1688. They addressed their petition to the Quakers, and this was the beginning of the Quakers slowly taking up an anti-slavery position. Of course, slavery was not abolished in the United States until 1864.
Protest of The Germantown Mennonites Against Slavery. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/protest-of-the-germantown-mennonites-against-slavery/
The Journey to Emancipation: the Germantown Protest, 1688. https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/journey-emancipation-germantown-protest-1688
As for women's rights, Margaret Brent claimed the right to vote in Maryland as a land-owning citizen in 1648. Women did not get the right to vote until 1922.
https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/002100/002177/html/brochure.html
Yep, it does take too damn long. This is a pattern that has repeated itself over and over again in American history— progressives, who actually tend to be right about a lot of things—push the country toward a brave new future faster than the country wants to go. The country digs in its heels and the progressives feel all persecuted. My problem is that I see the big picture and I see both sides.
Actually, the biggest reason I wrote this post is to share this brilliant analysis of how a human being can move forward in these circumstances. I absolutely encourage you to read it. You will not regret the seven minutes you spend with this analysis!!!
In defense of hope - by Zawn Villines - Liberating Motherhood
Substack · Liberating Motherhood
When I was 17, I went through a series of typical adolescent traumas. I felt alone, isolated, and ill-equipped to dig myself out of my ...
Indeed, progress is a marathon, not a sprint, often stretching beyond a human lifespan. And moves erratically and sporadically like the crooked timber of humanity. Until it moves all at once and we ourselves may disagree whether overshot. Either way, it's no single person's burden or struggle alone. And it's the product of many people doing giant things and imperceptibly small things, but still always doing something.
Hi Kathleen. Good to hear from you. Did you go to Northeast PA to canvass?
As to the essay you linked to, do you agree with this statement: "All that is good in this country flows not from the government or the laws but from centuries of resistance"?