Subject: Re: Fwd: Fukuyama's "America in Decay"
Date: Mon, Sep 1, 2014
Msg: 101147
Yes, Fukuyama's piece is exceptionally lucid and compelling. It seems to me that it's also strikingly transpartisan (though of course there will be differences concerning how we should respond to various particular points he makes). His analysis certainly isn't what most Americans remember (if they recall anything at all) from their high school textbooks (or even from the odd college course or two).
Fukuyama's conclusion that only some shock to the system is likely to stir the doldrums of public disengagement and to galvanize elites into action is not just depressing--it rings true. Institutions don't change from within, except in the direction of preserving what their occupants value most: job security, status, inertia, etc.
I wonder how much impact emphasizing the "assets" our communities and nation enjoy, the common values we share, and other cheery thoughts will have on the demoralized masses and on our ignorant, navel-gazing (or just corrupt) political class. Can we (much as we would like to believe we can) "participate" and "collaborate" our way out of this predicament? The old cliché about deck chairs comes to mind.
Is this a crisis, or is it "just the way the world works," an weary assessment that in our jaded "wisdom" we will pass on to younger generations without supplying them with the tools or sense of urgency required to act before the (inevitable) shock comes?
Michael Briand
Michael K. Briand, Ph.D. Pessimist in Residence Republic of Jefferson 530.345.3709
From: Lawrence Chickering Sent: Saturday, August 23, 2014 3:58 PM To: TRANSPARTISAN@LISTS.THATAWAY.ORG Subject: [TRANSPARTISAN] Fwd: [TRANSPARTISAN] Fukuyama's "America in Decay"
I would say it much more forcefully. This is a staggeringly thoughtful and depressing meditation on governmental dysfunction in the U.S. Fukuyama's analysis should shake people at every point on the political spectrum out of any comfort they feel at the positions they hold and should push them to step back and rethink where we are and where we are going.
Lawry Chickering Educate Girls Globally
Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:
From: Michael Strong Date: August 22, 2014 at 9:19:13 PM PDT To: TRANSPARTISAN@LISTS.THATAWAY.ORG Subject: [TRANSPARTISAN] Fukuyama's "America in Decay" Reply-To: Michael Strong
Thoughtful analysis concluding:
"The depressing bottom line is that given how self-reinforcing the country's political malaise is, and how unlikely the prospects for constructive incremental reform are, the decay of American politics will probably continue until some external shock comes along to catalyze a true reform coalition and galvanize it into action."
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/141729/francis-fukuyama/america-in-decay
--
Michael Strong
Creating a World in which All of Humanity Flourishes
Co-Founder and CEO, Khabele+Strong Incubator
Co-Founder and Chief Visionary Officer, The FLOW Project, now Radical Social Entrepreneurs
Co-Founder and CEO, StartupLearning.Me
Co-Founder, Startup Cities Institute
Lead Author, Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World's Problems Author, The Habit of Thought: From Socratic Seminars to Socratic Practice Blogger at "The Purpose of Education is Happiness and Well-Being for All," "Let a Thousand Nations Bloom," and "Radical Social Entrepreneurs" Co-Founder of The Atheneum School, The Winston Academy (defunct), Moreno Valley High School (ranked the 36th best public high school in 2006), and The Bronze Doors Academy. Co-Founder, Conscious Capitalism, Inc. TEDx UChicago, "The Creation of Conscious Culture through Educational Innovation" TEDx GrandRapids, "Innovate: Experience" TEDx UFM, "Socratic Practice as Disruptive Technology"
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