From the multitude of negative commentary – some written by myself – one would think world will end tomorrow. We have citizens arguing about everything – racism, sexism, abortion, trans rights, gun rights etc. But the reason people can protest is because technology and political structures have advanced to allow them the free time to do so – rather than concentrating on gathering food, building housing, and trying to figure how not to freeze or starve to death.
There has never been a better time to be alive. In 1900, only 123 years ago, the average lifespan in the United States for whites was 47.5 years. For Blacks, it was 33.1 years!
Now for whites, it is 78.5 years while for Blacks, it is 74.9. If fact, Black females now live longer than white males: 75.7 years versus 74.5 years respectively.
And not only are we living longer, we are living more comfortably. In the past, it didn’t matter if you were the king or pawn. Life was miserable. Henry VIII had huge sores (probably caused by diabetes) on his legs that spewed pus. George Washington suffered from constant tooth pain that wooden dentures did not help. Andrew Jackson had chronic diarrhea (no gluten-free food back then). Queen Victoria was blind from cataracts.
But today, medical advances allow people to walk, hear and see clearly even when they are in their nineties and our political and legal system has allowed these advances to be spread to the masses, although not quite uniformly. The existence of pensions and government-assistance supplements has made the golden years quite pleasant for most.
And this is not simply in the United States. As recently as fifty years ago, mass starvation in third world countries was common. But hunger has decreased over 50% in the past two generations – especially in India and China.
Deaths from war have also plummeted. The number of military personal and civilians killed in wars is the lowest in human history, about 0.3 per 100,000.
This progress can be attributed to two major factors: capitalism and globalism. The problem is that we are now dealing with the political ramifications of the triumph of these factors.
Capitalism causes huge resentments because it creates large disparities in wealth and social status leading to the emergence of failed ideologies such socialism and communism. Ironically, it is not the poor masses who lead the charge against capitalism, it is intellectual high IQ types who are too lazy to do manual labor. The cesspools created by communism and socialism in Russia, China, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela are the result of the intellectuals running the show instead of the capitalists.
Fortunately, in the United States, the intellectual class has been mollified with bureaucratic sinecures, cushy university jobs and lately – jobs created by the climate change scam. Having to pay higher taxes, confiscatory tuitions and ridiculous energy prices to support these people is preferable to the gulags and political prisons these people create when they seize power.
Globalism was a huge success too. Trade agreements allowed manufacturing to leave our shores and created work for millions in impoverished countries, especially in China and India. This greatly reduced world hunger while providing political stability and decreasing the chance of war.
The problem is that many working-class Americans were left in the gutter as these jobs left our shores, leading to a rise in populism and to the chagrin of our ruling class, the election of Donald Trump.
Unfortunately to neuter Donald Trump, our ruling class has put our Constitution in a paper shredder. Hopefully, this is only temporary. Nonetheless, the fairness of our elections is being threatened with billionaires harvesting ballots in swing states and our judicial system suspending the rights of those who rioted at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Meanwhile, the rioters who burned down portions of Portland, Philadelphia and Denver were not only never charged, but actually received money by alleging police brutality!
But the major problem is that in order to destroy President Trump, our ruling class has been forced to repudiate his highly successful administration, especially his outstanding foreign policy. President Trump is the only president in recent memory who did not start an idiotic war. He developed relationships with world leaders that prevented North Korea from launching ballistic missiles, stopped Putin from invading other countries, made progress in the Arab Israeli conflict while keeping oil prices down.
Now our ruling class is gung-ho for a war the Ukraine is unlikely to win and saber rattling over China’s threat to invade Taiwan. But should Trump be defeated for good; our ruling class will quickly embrace Trump’s policies. Ukraine and Taiwan are not worth the risk of a nuclear war.
Year ago, I started yelling at our television after some liberal commentator irritated me. My daughter, a teenager at the time said: “Dad. Stop watching it. It just gets you upset, and you can’t do anything about it.”
She was not entirely correct. We can fight back. But we should count our blessings. Have a cognac. Watch the Steelers, the Giants or even the Jets. And realize that despite our problems, the world has been getting better and there has never been a better time to be alive.
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Tom Pugliese
Apr 24
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