There are numerous words which could describe our current state of affairs. Few, if any, are complimentary.
‘Complacent’ must rank among the most apt.
As a culture we are stagnant, bereft of new ideas and wholly lacking in vitality. Just look at our popular culture – Fast and the Furious 19 or the 30th spin-off of Star Wars. On the public square, the same arguments are repeated ad nauseum and soundbites trotted out, but nothing substantive ever happens.
At least nothing positive, that is. Taxes can go up and ludicrous schemes implemented, but anything approaching a difficult but necessary decision is kicked into the proverbial, and now exceedingly over-full, long grass.
Our politics have been captured by the constricting mental cage of wokeist doctrine. The environment – omnipresent and ephemeral, the cause and solution to each issue – is a catch-all under which all mendacious schemes can be advanced. Daily the citizen grows less free and more heavily taxed, all legitimised by appeals to Gaia.
Individual autonomy is continuously degraded. The utterly incredible events of Covid have been memory-holed. The sweet, soothing story upon which we based our island’s story – that of being a nation of sovereign individuals – was obliterated amid lockdowns, masks and mandates. With no appetite to atone for this great catastrophe, for it would implicate too many, no lesson has been learnt. Do not be so foolish to think such draconian measures will not be used again. The only answer to each modern conundrum is an extension of the state.
Long taken for granted was the prosperity, safety and freedom that we were born into. Complacent minds did not realise – or perhaps they did, and perversely still wanted it snuffed out – that our relatively blessed state was only the result of a confluence of mutually reinforcing factors, not a permanent state of nature.
Take, for example, energy. Cheap, abundant electricity is the basis of modern society. It is not a pleasant addition, nor something which can be done away with without catastrophic cost. It is fundamental to our standard of living, be it the ability to heat one’s home or the energy necessary for industry. Having wedded ourselves to insane, ideological targets, we impoverish ourselves and hasten our deindustrialisation.
Most infuriatingly we have enough energy right beneath our feet to supply us for decades to come. Being the most practical solution, however, it is completely ignored.
Our ruling class is impervious to reason, gripped instead by dogma. They steer a ship of gradual decline, hoping to bung the ever-increasing number of holes appearing in its hull with fresh printings of fiat currency and hollow sloganeering.
Seduced by zero percent interest rates, governments decided that everything could be paid for by debt. That it should only take a child to realise the flaw in such an absurd vision is testament to the calibre of those making decisions on our behalf.
How much money has been wasted in recent years? Covid set us back about £400 billion, or roughly £6,000 per person in the UK. Our misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan were a relative bargain reaching nearly £40 billion - not to mention the lives lost along the way. Heaven knows how much will be siphoned off to Ukraine. Housing illegal immigrants costs us over £2 billion per year at present, as well. Imagine if all this money had been put to better use, or better yet, left in the pockets of Britain’s increasingly squeezed taxpayer.
(This is not to mention the mere £895 billion printed by the Bank of England between 2009-2020. In the good old days we’d call that debasement of the coinage; today it is given the fancy sobriquet of ‘quantitative easing’. To speak plainly in 2023 is to be crass. Everything must have its euphemism.)
The inflationary implications of such debt-fuelled spending are now being felt. With repayment costs only increasing, the government resorts to further tightening the fiscal screws, although you can be sure that, when the time comes, they will find the dosh to fund whichever brainless boondoggle captures their imagination. Much better spent there, or on ‘luxury’ accommodation for illegal arrivals, than making sure the nation’s schools don’t fall apart.
It is impossible to avoid the feeling that things no longer function adequately. Scarcely a train journey can be taken without a diversion or cancellation, and you pay through the nose for the privilege. State apparatus is sclerotic, with often basic activities becoming a lengthy exercise. Having become accustomed to such failings, however, there is little appetite for improvement. Fed a narrative of national self-loathing for decades, we have become a people content with decreasing standards across the board.
Issues continue to fester away, gnawing at the body politick. Young people scarcely have the chance to buy somewhere to live, forced into stupidly expensive accommodation as prices have skyrocketed. A primary cause behind this – that of exploding demand amid decades of mass immigration – is rarely, if ever, mentioned, as to do so would be uncouth.
There are glimmers of hope. Recent vigilante activity to sabotage ULEZ (which even our Prime Minister is apparently unable to stop) is an encouraging sign that there is a modicum of fight still lurking within the population. One hopes that as the real-life implications of government’s insane policies become manifest, such demonstrations of an unwillingness to be bullied into impoverishment will become more commonplace.
The cossetted, consumerist lives we have led has been fuelled by the endeavour of past generations, whose wealth we have exchanged for debt. Downing tools, we imagined that we could simply outsource the difficult jobs to poorer countries while we enjoy our civilisational retirement in peace and that the rest of the world would be happy to oblige.
Regrettably, we have lived through our civilisational peak. For proof, look no further than Africa, where western-backed governments collapse domino-like before our very eyes. As the world returns to multipolarity the West runs the risk of becoming an irrelevant backwater mired in internal strife.
It will take a different calibre of leadership and reinvigorated populace to change course. It needn’t have been this way, but such are the fruits of our own complacency.
I've been watching a couple of fascinating series about India and its history: from the despairing viewpoint of Broken Blighty, I noted the resourcefulness, the many skills, the attachment to history and culture, the intelligence and the expertise which will surely lead India to an era of success, while we stagnate, overwhelmed, alienated and undermined by the sheer stupidity and arrogance of those in charge.
Students have been told that their chosen accommodation will no longer be available, having been allocated to the growing numbers of illegal arrivals, whose needs take priority.
A particularly irritating spokesperson- or should that be wokesperson- one Chris Stark- has tecommended that our heating should be turned off in the evenings, as temperatures fall and people gather at home.
Mr Stark Raving Bonkers is on a 6 figure salary apparently; say no more.
Gatwick Airport falls into chaos, waiting lists are soaring, excess deaths are rising, yet we are being nudged into serfdom by means of demand management ,speech and thought control, while millions are splurged on the illegal arrivals who will continue to avail themselves of the costly welcome facilities.
Finally, the next jabberwocky will shortly be rolled out, as our ever reliable media whips up the necessary panic and compliance.
Of course I agree with everything you say. But having said that what is to be done about it?
Virtually all MPs are parasites, the bought robots of political parties. They have led us into hell for 30 years and they will take us into complete slavery.
The only way forward is complete reform of the Parliamentary system with the abolition of political parties. Every MP should be independent and CONTRACTUALLY bound to their constituents to fulfil their electoral promises.
https://TheCounterRevolution.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/TCR/Counter-Revolution.pdf Pages 927 to 939.
Such a reform can only be brought about by mass civil disobedience (Gandhi and MLK jr) - otherwise reform is quite impossible.