Thread: The Erosion of Civil Liberty in America

Originally Posted by hathor28

It feels like 1930s-50s all over again, in those times everyone had to act a certain way and dress a certain way. They put commercials on TV to teach people how to be nice and dandy family/people. Don't do anything rash or show any emotions. Such a boring society! but i loved the music and movies lol

Astute observation, and you're not the first person to notice this pattern. In fact, there's a book called "The Fourth Turning" (published in the 90s), which hypothesizes that American history (and Western more generally) goes through a 4 generation cycle of approximately 80 years. Within this cycle there are 4 main periods of time, each about 20 years: crisis, high, awakening, unraveling.

crisis: The socioeconomic system has fallen apart and America is in a state of total war, either at home or abroad. This is when the old political order is completely obliterated, and the new one is forming. Examples: Revolutionary War, Civil War, depression and WW2. The last crisis was around 1929 - 1947.

high: A time of returning to normalcy, peace, and total conformity. But the economy is doing quite well. This is the 1950s to early 1960s

awakening: The economy is churning along, but the total conformity of the high has caused a spiritual crisis in America, and a new religious order is created. Examples: both "Great Awakenings", and the Consciousness Revolution / Hippy era. The last one took place from about 1967 - 1985.

unraveling: The awakening causes great complacency, and the economy begins to spin out of control but no one notices. All social and economic systems are grinding to a halt, but there is no political will to change the system. Warfare slowly becomes more common but it isn't total. The economy seems to be teetering. "Crumbling" is the best word to describe just about every institution in existence. This was 1985 - 2007.

And now we're back in the crisis. The economy is destroyed, the government has become openly tyrannical, and everyone understands that war is inevitable. Judging by previous crises, the total war will be about 10 years after the beginning of the crisis, so around 2017. My guess is that it will be a second American war of secession.