The Administrative Crisis

A feature of modern society is the vast administrative state that manages every aspect of modern life. Modern people take it for granted, as they have never known any other way to live, other than being guided by massive bureaucracies. No one alive today remembers a time when there was not a bureaucrat behind every bush ready to shout instructions or warnings. A big part of what the paleocons call “managerialism” is the vast system of administration that runs society.

It is tempting to say that the Romans had a big administrative state. Diocletian expanded the empire’s civil and military administration. He established administrative centers around the empire, especially near the borders, in order to extend control from Rome to all areas of the empire. He is often referred to as the father of bureaucracy and what we think of as civil administration. People may also point to Byzantium, which expanded this concept into a complex form of rule.

There are two big differences between these older forms of government bureaucracy and what we live under today. One is the old system was not built around an ideology like we see now. Our administrative state is built around the idea that society can be managed scientifically by an army of experts. The other difference is the modern administrative state is about training the citizen to achieve his fullest potential within the liberal democratic order, to be a good liberal democrat.

Interestingly, the administrative state in modern liberal democracies looks and acts much like the bureaucracy that evolved with the Soviet system. Both were driven by ideology and both were designed to micromanage the life of the people. The fascist systems that sprung up in the interwar years showed the signs of developing an administrative state as well. Like communism and liberal democracy, fascism embraced the rational management of society.

The other not so obvious similarity between liberal democracy and communism is their respective administrative states evolved as a response to democracy. Running a country where everyone has a say can only be done if the overwhelming majority are saying the same thing. Therefore, a primary duty of the state is to train people to hold the same beliefs, to share the same common sense. The administrative state is as much about promoting ideology as administration.

Something else that is unique to the modern age is the scale and reach of the state in terms of its ability to control activity. Those old forms of imperial bureaucracy were mostly built around protecting the interests if private rulers. Vast swaths of life were left to the people to sort for themselves. In modern systems, the state protects the interest of everyone, so the activity of everyone is heavily regulated. 19th century prisons offered more freedom than the modern Western democracy.

When he was inaugurated, Ronald Reagan said, “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time, we’ve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people.” Those words were rooted in Reagan’s reading of people we now call paleo-conservatives, who were early critics of managerialism.

Fast forward to now and what is called conservatism is a celebration of the administrative state. In the Bush years, they were pushing what they called “big government conservatism” which was an explicit endorsement of scientific management of society. Their claim was that they could harness the power of the administrative state to achieve what they claimed were conservative ends. Green eyeshade conservatism had given way to administrative conservatism.

Covid has revealed that the overwhelming majority of people in modern Western democracies just accept that their fate is in the hands of the state. The proper response to Covid was to redirect resources to hospitals to treat sick people, but otherwise let nature take its course. In the administrative state, no aspect of life is left unmanaged, so an army of experts was unleashed to put nature back in her bottle. The crisis of Covid is that nature won and the administrative state failed.

The crisis of the administrative state began to form up on the horizon at the end of last year as the economy began to do weird things. Prices for consumer goods started to spike and the supply chain began to break down. It was assumed that modern monetary management had made inflation a relic of the past. An army of experts trained in our best universities managed the supply chain, so goods and services could be efficiently managed in response to economic conditions.

Even more bizarrely, the labor markets no longer make any sense, according to the rules of the economic elites. Millions of people have left the workforce despite millions of unfilled jobs. Wages have started to creep up, but that has not had any impact on the employment situation. Of course, rising wages and rising retail prices is exactly what modern economic planners said was no longer possible. As with Covid, nature seems to be resisting the efforts of our experts.

The reason that the vast administrative state has been accepted by people is it looked like it was working as promised. The various financial crisis did not result in bread lines like they did in the past. Instead, men in suits pulled levers in the Federal Reserve and Treasury to navigate around the crisis. The retail economy was brimming with new products and services, making life more comfortable. Managerialism has been accepted because it seemed to be working.

The question that has never been tested is whether the administrative state can withstand an internal crisis. Managing through a natural disaster is a very different thing than managing an irreconcilable contradiction within the system itself. This is what the administrative state is now facing. If the problem of this age is the system, there is no systemic solution. In fact, every effort by the system to address the crisis is seen as contributing to the crisis.

This is what brought down the Soviet system. All systems become sclerotic over time, as any software engineer will tell you. The social software of the Soviet empire became so burdened with patches and workarounds that it eventually crashed. The software of a society is the internal logic of it. When those rules begin to fail everyone questions the system itself. This sets of a dynamic where the system fails, a patch is made and confidence declines until eventually no one trusts the system at all.

We may be seeing something similar with liberal democracy. In order to justify itself, it looks for crises to manage, often creating them, but lurching from crisis to crisis is making it less competent at the basics. As people begin to lose trust in the software of liberal democracy, the system administrators are releasing poorly thought out updates and lecturing the users about their conduct. The result is a spiral of increasing incompetence and decreasing trust in the system.

At the heart of the current crisis is a question never asked. That is, can the administrative state survive its own failures. A bad king in a monarchy can be replaced by the next in line. The bad office holder in a republic can voted out of office in favor of someone new. What happens when vast swaths of the administrative state have become gangrenous? How is that addressed. How are the rotten bits removed and who is given the authority to remove them?


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imbroglio
imbroglio
2 years ago

Any state has to be fed by its subjects. As we turn into stones (become impoverished,) the admin state can’t get blood from us, and its officials become unable to enforce their diktat as local, ad hoc arrangements evolve. An example: “You can’t have a goat on your property. You’re not zoned for it.” Times get tougher and a goat appears, here, then there, then iver there, and the local authority lacks the means to enforce the rule. So a variance by default. If you heard Merrick Garland’s press conference, the admin state wants to gulag thousands. Gulags are tradtionally… Read more »

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
2 years ago

Here’s an example of admin breakdown. bought a few items off Ety, but the latter were “suspicious” so canceled all my orders. After the bank had approved my CC. And i wasn’t buying anything *from* Etsy, but from a seller within the collective. So these are legit orders to someone else that Etsy squashed. And of course you cannot contact them directly, and they don’t tell you why they canceled the orders. So i went to the seller’s direct websites and bought my stuff outside of Etsy. As you can imagine, i will not be buying anything through Etsy ever… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

The filter declares my reply “spam.” I can’t give you the links I want to.

Dennis Roe
Dennis Roe
2 years ago

Please excuse any problems or delays. our best and brightest are temporarily transferred to FEMA DEATH CAMP training. Sorry for any inconvenience. Stay safe!

trackback
2 years ago

[…] this was actually a topic I wanted to get around to writing about. And as luck would have it, the Z-man also wrote about it today. So, perhaps the universe is trying to tell us something, although I have no idea what. Either way, […]

Jeffrey Morgan
2 years ago

“As people begin to lose trust in the software of liberal democracy, the system administrators are releasing poorly thought out updates and lecturing the users about their conduct.”

I’ve been self-employed in IT consulting for 28 years. One thing you never do, if you want to get paid and keep getting more lucrative gigs, is to admonish users and make them feel stupid or wrong. It’s almost never their fault – it’s usually shitty software or engineering.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Jeffrey Morgan
2 years ago

death to all users!

Falcone
Falcone
Reply to  Jeffrey Morgan
2 years ago

You mean don’t use the AT&T employee technique of berating the customer for not understanding the fine points of the upgrade policy?

Banana Boat
Banana Boat
2 years ago

NYC is doomed. Tell your local communities to prepare to discourage the inevitable influx of refugees from this administrative failure, courtesy of the Daily Mail: “So much for NYC’s ‘tough on crime’ new mayor: Ex-cop Eric Adams backs Manhattan’s ‘progressive’ new DA, Alvin Bragg, who won’t seek prison for most crimes and will downgrade felony charges in armed robberies and drug dealing.” •Will only seek prison time for homicide and limited number of other charges •Vows to downgrade many felonies including cases of armed robbery •New DA also said he will refuse to prosecute many low-level offenses •New Mayor Eric… Read more »

Bilejones
Member
Reply to  Banana Boat
2 years ago

It’s hard not to laugh, so I did.

I lived in Sodom on Hudson for the last year of Kock, Dinkins and first term of Guliani.
It is astonishing what a difference the political filth can make.

I cannot conceive of moving back there.

Ganderson
Ganderson
Reply to  Bilejones
2 years ago

Our time there overlapped- I’m seeing places I have great affection for, NYC, the Twin Cities, Göteborg, go down the crapper. Makes me sad.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Banana Boat
2 years ago

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Five or 10 years from now they’ll be a new “tough on crime candidate” for NYC Mayor and he will explain his “new” “broken windows theory” and how increased enforcement of criminal apprehension and punishment will rid the city of its crime wave and record homicide numbers. Rudy Giuliani will spin in his grave (unless still alive) listening to his stump speeches. Was there during the last Black mayor, Dinkins, who screwed everything up as will Adams. Only, with Dinkins, I believe NYC was still half White. Now it is… Read more »

Banana Boat
Banana Boat
Reply to  Compsci
2 years ago

That’s a good point. Another commenter on Rod Dreher’s article made a similar demographic point (that NYC could be past the point of no return due to demographic change): “As a 30+ year resident of the Rotten Apple, I can assure you many are angry and demoralized by the sad state of affairs in this city, crime being at the top of a growing list. Unfortunately, the demographic reality has shifted since the 90’s, and even back then Giuliani only barely won. There is a permanent liberal upper class that cares nothing for the chaos because it never touches them,… Read more »

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Banana Boat
2 years ago

NYC is a dingy dirty ugly city. a few nice buildings, but mostly meh architecture. super crowded and noisy, and of course expensive. and totally dysfunctional. there is nothing left to save. let the muds have it, they will enjoy the familiar chaos and violence.

La-Z-Man
La-Z-Man
Reply to  Banana Boat
2 years ago

You mean the new jogger mayor is NOT gonna be tough on crime?! Shocked!

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

SPECIAL to compsci. No reply button, so this: If you are a cancer survivor (really a survivor of the treatments), I *urge* you to buy and READ this book: https://www.amazon.com/Nourishing-Traditions-Challenges-Politically-Dictocrats/dp/0967089735/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=nourishing+traditions&qid=1641413550&sr=8-1 Sold as a cook book it is in fact a textbook with recipes in it. I URGE you to read it. And I **urge** you also to join the Weston A Price Foundation: https://www.westonaprice.org/ All the best! I’ve walked your road, and have learned a lot of REAL science. (I was appointed in 1993 to lifetime membership on the Board of Editors in the Life Sciences. I’m retired from CDC.… Read more »

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

Thanks for the thoughtful response. Not to get too specific, but the diagnosis was made after the removal of the cancer—it could not be otherwise. Then the discussion was what to do. Not being panicky, I inquired as to what the pathologist was looking for wrt the growth/spread and what he meant wrt some of the terminology (I had a good idea, but it doesn’t hurt to be polite and assume deference). Basically, in a nutshell, he could find no growth into blood vessels which would indicate potential spread—therefore, the removal operation for diagnosis was in essence, the cure. Of… Read more »

Bartleby the Scrivner
Bartleby the Scrivner
Reply to  Compsci
2 years ago

Comp; I understand your view on food. I used to say my only vice was food; and lots of it. Somehow, an intermittent fasting video popped up in my ThemTube feed, and what do ya know, I lost 37 pounds in one month and haven’t felt this good in decades. No more BP meds, cloths that fit, not out of breath. I’m trying to get my dad to change his diet,as he takes two insulin shots a day. He says he doesn’t have much time and he’s going to enjoy it. That said, do what’s best for you. Remember, your… Read more »

Bartleby the Scrivner
Bartleby the Scrivner
Reply to  Bartleby the Scrivner
2 years ago

And a hat tip to infant phenomenon. Diet really is everything with regards to health. Unfortunately folks think the people who believe that are off center.

Jordan Peterson and his daughter have video(s) regarding such, that relate how they came back from the brink with a narrow diet.

With all the issues coming up for people who have gotten the jab, the diet path is sure to be helpful, and maybe lifesaving.

SidVic
SidVic
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

I believe the word you are searching for is vagal or vagus nerve. Your understanding of medical science is abysmally ignorant. Really 6th grade stuff. While diet is important, regarding cancer it is not the end all, be all. Barring straight up carcinogen uptake, genetics dominate. One need only look at infant mortality rates and death due to infections from 100 years ago to appreciate that the medical sciences are a big plus. 100 yrs ago we didn’t even know that dna was the hereditary molecule. Now we manipulate it at will. The Russian COVID vax is essentially gene therapy,… Read more »

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  SidVic
2 years ago

sorry guy, but diet is 90% of health. and it very much affects cancer treatment. i am guessing that you don’t know that cancerous cells can’t use fat for fuel, only glucose (sugar), so eating (or not eating) sugar will definitely affect your condition. in the end, cancer is going to be found to be caused by viruses. read up on the history of stomach ulcers, for a precedent.

SidV
SidV
Reply to  karl von hungus
2 years ago

Again an extremely over-simplistic view, and just plain wrong. Cancer cells tend to use glycolysis more than normal cells because they out grow their blood supply and become hypoxia. They are rogue cells that lack the normal regulatory controls to limited growth to appropriate levels. You need oxygen for oxidative phosphorylation and to really utilize ffa but cancer cells can still use some. The brain also relies primarily on glucose. Insulin shock occurs because blood sugar levels drop below what the brain can tolerate. Look, I said diet is a factor, but a low sugar diet will not cure cancer.… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

SPECIAL TO 3g4me

No “reply button,” so I just wanted to say, “beautiful!” Don’t *ever* pass up the chance to tell these numbskulls that you are NOT participating. Well done!

James McBride
James McBride
2 years ago

The judiciary has become part of the administrative state. New laws and official forms about bankruptcy, evictions, and probate are more and more detailed and control the outcome. Judges have devolved into clerks of the court. It is the opposite of “Judy Justice” TV episodes. She shoots from the hip, never consults the written law.

Disruptor
Disruptor
Reply to  James McBride
2 years ago

Much judicial-izing falls under administrative law. The IRS writes regulations. If there is a dispute, then the matter goes to a tax count that is just another part of the IRS. Ditto homeland security, Agencies and so on.

Article 1 section 8 clause 9, allows congress to set up tribunals. Some studious muh constitution people think that tribunals have supplanted actual court systems. Could be that’s the means to allow administrative courts.

James J. O'Meara
James J. O'Meara
2 years ago

Pet Peeve: everyone talks as if “fascism” was a flash in the pan (apologies to Mosley) that lasted 5 or 6 years and then was eradicated. Apart from actual Italian fascism dating back to the 20s, what about Spain and Portugal, where it lasted until the mid-70s? Seemed pretty successful. Question: did they also develop this kind of “administrative state”?

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  James J. O'Meara
2 years ago

Who says that Spain and Portugal were “fascist”?

More to the point, why do you believe them?

Here’s a little-known fact: Victors in war write the histories thereof–with a notable exception: The losers (Communists) have mostly written the history of the Spanish Civil War.

John Flynt
John Flynt
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

Spain might be the most militantly woke nation in the world. Almost all under 35 spaniards support some faction of redditt.

Its a tight battle for first between Spain and Scotland.

Spanish Socialists are the closest thing to what if American antifa formed a political party.

The Spanish center right is made up of davos men closely allied to Merkel.

They have a horrible far right party (Vox) that is controlled by Hazony type neoconservatives.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

well, the military and governments were merged in those countries, so what would you call them?

how about presenting an argument for your position (once in awhile) instead of just posting “was it really” over and over?

Disruptor
Disruptor
2 years ago

After-the-Collapse-We-Win narratives are analogues of boomer rapture theology. It’s a pacifier to suck on while things get worse, with the hope that once it gets really really bad, than magic happens. A collapse benefits those that have the means to harness the situation. When the Soviet Union collapsed, proto-oligarchs were able to use their international money networks to buy up assets. As the US slowly browns out, we see oligarchs buying up assets, for example Bill Gates and farm land. The “Russian” oligarchs still own their plunder; Putin was able to salvage the situation by preventing a further degradation. A… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Disruptor
2 years ago

Good comment in general, but it is a mistake to equate Americans with Russians (then or now!) or to analogize the circs in Russia 40 years ago with those in America today. Apples and oranges. Different histories. Different mentalities. Different expectations. Different traditions where arms areconcerned. And I don’t mean to put words into your mouth here, or thoughts into your head, but I’ll just say on GP that it’s no good asserting that Americans won’t fight, won’t use their weapons, etc. “To everything there is a season … A time of war and a time of peace … .”… Read more »

Disruptor
Disruptor
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

Thanks for sharping up things. Dissent right people point to Russia as an example of: The Soviet Union collapsed and the Russians prevailed. Therefore, upon the collapse of the US we Americans will prevail. My intended meaning is that there are substantial differences between Russia and America under a collapse situation. Thus we shouldn’t allow Russian success in that matter to cause us to take our success for granted. There is a long way between intellectual and physical remedies. Example: There are many parents confronting school boards. And there sources of info regarding critical theory, Neo-marxism. Packaging and paraphrasing Marxism… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Disruptor
2 years ago

” … we shouldn’t allow Russian success in that matter to cause us to take our success for granted.” Understood. Thanks for clarifying. You are *absolutely* right in the quoted statement above. There is at least one 100% online, accredited, diploma-granting school (K — 12) that teaches the Classical Trivium for grades 1 – 6 and the Classical Quadrivium for grades 7 – 12. VERY AFFORDABLE. In fact, amazingly affordable. There is NO reason that parents need hand their children over to Bolsheviks to train their defenseless minds. No age limit on studying through this institution. Any age. Pursue a… Read more »

TomA
TomA
Reply to  Disruptor
2 years ago

First, the collapse (largely economic, not an asteroid strike) is the most probable endpoint given the current state of affairs in the USA. You cannot wish that away or prevent harm by simply by hiding your head in the sand. Second, the power players running DC from the backroom cannot ascend to power post-collapse is they first depart rapidly as an existential necessity. And the latter can be achieved by a reasonable number (say a few thousands) of antibodies acting out of the shadows and with a high degree of focus. There are literally millions of men (and women) who… Read more »

TomC
TomC
2 years ago
Evil Sandmich
Evil Sandmich
Reply to  TomC
2 years ago

Decent read, thought he falls apart right at the end (probably because he didn’t know how to wrap it up).
The sole remaining questions are what combination of crises will topple the hapless ruling class from its position, and how soon that inevitable moment will arrive.
Yeah, a lot of ruin in a nation, though you never know how much though until you’re eating rat fricassee over a burning garbage fire.

SidV
SidV
Reply to  Evil Sandmich
2 years ago

My touchstone is South Africa. They still intermittently keeping the lights on, albeit, barely. 25+ years of black rule. The 6% of whites stretched quite thin, I understand. Laughably, they still have affirmative action for the majority. I think Z overstates the case that a dearth of talent will collapse our system. Nah, it can probably limp along for another century. It will require toppling. Also his example about it being over when the crowd erupts with laughter… I’ve come to believe that will never happen. If our newest admiral “rachel” levin with his poorly applied ruby red lipstick doesn’t… Read more »

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  SidV
2 years ago

so the lights are barely on in SA, a small country with little manufacturing or industry (i know they have mines, but that’s it). with the mass of the population having always lived under these conditions.

that scenario does not apply to a continent wide country like the late US.

Carwin
Carwin
Reply to  karl von hungus
2 years ago

“We’ll make it up on volume”.

SidVic
SidVic
Reply to  karl von hungus
2 years ago

60 million people and look for a map where it’s territory is superimposed on europe or america. Its pretty big. Modern agriculture feeds all those mouths. Lessons can be drawn. Alot of free riders can be supported for a long time, by a relatively handful of competent workers.

Panzernutter
Panzernutter
2 years ago

Anyone have a dodge valiant, two door, with a slant 6 power plant for sale ? https://www.musclecarsandtrucks.com/biden-infrastructure-bill-vehicle-kill-switch-2026/

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  Panzernutter
2 years ago

Panzernutter: Right before the 2020 panic began, we had decided that in the next year or so we’d turn in our leased SUVs (no longer made financial sense) and purchase vehicles – I hoped for a somewhat used 4 wheel drive one. But then other financial concerns intruded, and government/covid restrictions increased, and used car prices rose 39% over the past year. So it looks like we’re stuck with what we have for a while. Our current vehicles might as well have kill switches, with all the other black box and safety features on them. Don’t have the mechanical know-how… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  3g4me
2 years ago

I have not idea where you are, but I do know this: There is a car auction near you every Saturday.

You do not have to accept this BS. You are hardly alone.

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

Ah yes! Thanks, as my 1988 Dodge Colt is a bit…antiquated.

Car auctions are held every weekend. I bought a car at one for $150, no mechanical problems beyond bashed panels.

It had reclining seats, a Nissan, that I could sleep in. I lived in it in the parking lot for most of a year.

SidVic
SidVic
Member
Reply to  Alzaebo
2 years ago

Wait, what, a year? Here they have begun to start promotions to get used autos. The dealerships are buying everything they can get their hands on. Months long wait for many new cars.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Panzernutter
2 years ago

So! “It is written!” Thing is … anything the mind of man can devise, the mind of man can defeat. I’d bet the rent that a cousin of mine could undo this fu*ksh*t in one afternoon. And there must be millions like him across this vast continent. Drugs and murder are also forbidden. I mean, somebody has written some words down on a piece of paper somewhere. It is written! It’s against the LAW. So there! That is why there are no drugs and no murder. Again … it is not Almighty God installing a kill switch on cars. It’s… Read more »

Mis(ter)Anthrope
Reply to  Panzernutter
2 years ago

I own 4 vehicles: 1. 1997 Dodge Ram 2500 4×4 2.1987 Susuki Samurai 4×4 with a replacement 1.9 liter Volkswagen turbo diesel engine (unstoppable off road) 3. 1966 Cutlass Convertible with 4 on the floor 4. 1985 Chevrolet K5 Blazer 4×4 with a replacement 5.3 LS engine. All have manual transmissions that most young punks can’t drive. So they have built in anti-theft devices. I hate new cars and trucks. They all look alike and have a bunch of computer crap that will inevitably fail. Most mechanics have no clue what to do when they break down. New vehicles are… Read more »

Spingehra
Spingehra
Reply to  Mis(ter)Anthrope
2 years ago

Just did a cam phaser lock out & ecm reflash to defeat the poorly conceived variable cam timing system on a 2007 F 150 5.4 three valve. It worked out nicely.
I spent thirty years hanging around auto repair shops. Still hanging around telling other people what to do. Not as interesting but it pays the bills.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Spingehra
2 years ago

“Not as interesting but it pays the bills.”

And it’s productive, honest, honorable, and no doubt satisfying in a visceral way. Admirable.

Spingehra
Spingehra
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

Thank you that is nice to hear. Sometimes all you hear is “mechanics are all crooks” there are some for sure. But that’s human nature as there are scumbags in every field and walk of life. The dirtbags are always incompetent that’s why they cut corners & scheme and scam. I have seen more than enough of those types. They are always smoke blowers usually it takes a a couple three months to catch & nail them. I fired three of them with no regrets. Then you end up cleaning up the damage. Reputation is everything. In the repair world.… Read more »

Spingehra
Spingehra
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

I spent the last half of that career doing what was called driveability & enjoyed it. I do miss it in some ways.
Still hanging around a shop doing testing & QA stuff.. I’ve got a good crew so don’t have too many headaches. I’ve been very fortunate.

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  Spingehra
2 years ago

You whaaat?

Dammit. I still don’t know which end of the box-end wrench to hold.

Spingehra
Spingehra
Reply to  Alzaebo
2 years ago

It ain’t for everybody that’s for sure. I’ve seen a lot of guys come & go. When I had a young fella that was really trying I’d do what ever it took to bring him along.
I was lucky to have a few great mechanics that did the same for me. But a few times I had to ask a guy if he really thought the trade was a good fit for him. I never held it against anybody that for what ever reasons just didn’t have it.
There are a lot of ways to make a living.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Mis(ter)Anthrope
2 years ago

Ah! You’re singin’ my song! I drive a Japanese car that’s old enough to drink and vote. 5-speed manual. Keep up regular maintenance, and those cars last forever. I got 350,000 miles out of the last one and then gave it to a nephew (in 2003), and he is still driving it. And I have *never* owned–or wanted–a new car in my life. A lot of foolishness this *need* for a new car. It’s immodest and very often nothing more than vulgar “show.” Many people’s sense of self–their identity, or at least part of it–seem bound up with the car(s)… Read more »

Spingehra
Spingehra
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

Imo Japanese power equipment( cars, tractors, outboards etc.) Is usually good stuff. In fact I have an unusual attraction to Honda outboards! Lol it ain’t right.
I have a theory about their engineering quality .
If they make a mistake with a poor design or assembly, they loose face. If they loose face they are honor bound to commit Hari Kari.
JK I don’t know much about their culture but I do admire a lot of their stuff.
That said nothings perfect.
& every vehicle line has their issues. Kept me busy and still does.

Spingehra
Spingehra
Reply to  Mis(ter)Anthrope
2 years ago

I agree with most of your points.
Definitely most of today’s cars look alike. No style. I think a lot of that is due to Cafe standards. Wind tunnel stuff that kind of thing.
It would be fun to talk about it sometime.

Spingehra
Spingehra
Reply to  Panzernutter
2 years ago

Most drivers today wouldn’t be able to operate those vehicles.
Another do gooder idea that people will be finding ways to defeat as soon as it is implemented.
I am beginning to consider permanently relocating to a third world country where people don’t have the luxury of nonsense. It’s all so tireing..
Liberty is over for the FUSA
To rip off Babba O’Reilly, I think I can still get my back into my living.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Spingehra
2 years ago

“I am beginning to consider permanently relocating to a third world country … .”

Made me laff.

Don’t look now, but … !

Spingehra
Spingehra
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

I did a stint in Morocco teaching Moroccan army NCOs how to rebuild the xtg411a transmission used in M 88s & M109 & M 110s
Lol I had never seen one before going there but managed to stay ahead of those guys.
Anyway I could live in Morocco.

mmack
mmack
Reply to  Panzernutter
2 years ago

I’ll be the automotive pedant and tell you you want a Dodge Dart or a Plymouth Valiant. 😁

Personally I’d hold out for the Original A Body Plymouth Duster/Dodge Demon or Dart Sport coupe. The 1967 – 76 Valiant & Dart 2 door/4 door “sedans” were the epitome of the “Nerd-mobile”.

And you want a Slant 6 with a Torqueflite Automatic. Virtually indestructible. Or a 318 V8 with the Torqueflite. Bastard car will rot away to nothing before the engine and transmission fail. (Experience of a 1967 Satellite with said 225 I6 and Torqueflite. Cockroach of the road.)

Ganderson
Ganderson
Reply to  mmack
2 years ago

I had a Fury with the 318. A big car that could scoot!

Ganderson
Ganderson
Reply to  Panzernutter
2 years ago

Valiants were Plymouths, Darts were Dodges, not that it’ll matter much in the unfolding apocalypse.

I had a ‘67 Valiant with a slant six and a “three on the tree”. Loved that car.

Spingerah
Spingerah
Reply to  Ganderson
2 years ago

I had a 74 dart sport, slant six 4 speed on the floor. Very simple indestructible vehicle. Until I was tee boned Christmas morning 1983. By drunk Puerto Rican in a trans am The 727 tourqflite reverse piston would break. No reverse. I have a 2001 dodge 2500 with a 64 re. That is a tourqflite with a fourth gear & a solenoid (ecm controlled) Valve body. Ask any owner they have lost reverse due to that same flimsy reverse piston. I did twice before I replaced it with an aftermarket steel piston. Did the engine once its a 5.9… Read more »

NoOneImportant
NoOneImportant
2 years ago

The latest software update is on the way:
https://news.yahoo.com/swedish-company-created-microchip-allows-083024985.html
(Microchip in arm to carry your vaccine passport…and, eventually, I presume, your criminal record, your political views, your…)

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  NoOneImportant
2 years ago

The Swedes’ also get them into the gym!

trackback
2 years ago

[…] ZMan takes a long view. […]

Mike Poile
Mike Poile
2 years ago

Great post and some insightful posts as usual. One reason for the massive growth in the managerial state is simply because it can. Unlike in Roman times when maybe 95% of the population had to labour to support the remaining 5%, today thanks to the industrial revolution and the rapid and ongoing economic growth it unleased, things are reversed with maybe 5% engaged in primary production and 95% riding on their efforts. Of course this is only possible due to a combination of modern technology and cheap and abundant natural resources particularly fossil fuels. How long can rapid growth continue… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Mike Poile
2 years ago

Our betters are banking on AI and transhumanism, believe it or not.

Evil Sandmich
Evil Sandmich
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

Even after repeatedly lobotomizing it to keep it from being “racist”? “Automation” is another big bug-a-boo, the fact that they’ve been banging on about it for more than ten years shows how vapid the idea is in the end.

trumpton
trumpton
Reply to  Evil Sandmich
2 years ago

The problem is its just ultimately a pattern recognition system based on goals that are target outcomes.

You train it on patterns, feed back its correctness and that is what it classifies.

To get different results you would have to feed it data with knowingly false classification and conclusions.

Not saying its not going to happen (look at kids in university), but the doublethink contradictions they are used to implanting in people is just not workable for that.

This is I think they are struggling with ,and genuinely can’t understand why it doesn’t give them what they want.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Evil Sandmich
2 years ago

I say again–at the risk of beating a very dead horse–all of this depends on an *unfailing* supply of electricity. And they have done everything they can think of to see to it that we cannot produce the stuff. But they intend a digital “currency” and a total-surveillance state. With no electricity.

Mycale
Mycale
2 years ago

The elites always have a study at the ready, a study that supposedly invalidates years, decades, or centuries of on-the-ground observation. The mass media invokes the word “study” as some sort of talisman against debate. For example, broken windows policing. That maintaining basic order in society will dissuade some lawbreakers, and putting away those who do commit crimes for as long as reasonably possible to keep them from committing more crimes, seems to be a truth so obvious that it need not be mentioned. Yet, about 10 years ago, elites declared that they did some “studies” which said that broken… Read more »

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Mycale
2 years ago

The “new” science (studies) used to support the “new” strategy is most often *not* science—or put more graciously, flawed science. In support of this assertion, I point to the numerous publications lambasting the irreproducible results in over 80-90% of the studies published in the (soft) social studies. Most all of what immediately plagues us is rightfully classified as in the realm of the social sciences. But, if that wasn’t enough, even studies in the “hard” sciences are more and more weakened in effect by disingenuous or ignorant interpretation by scientists/politicians unschooled in the scientific method and statistical analysis. In short,… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Compsci
2 years ago

The human race–and our people–survived for quite a good while without that stuff. Most of us will, too.

trumpton
trumpton
Reply to  Mycale
2 years ago

The only intended outcome of this is to turn all of NY into a prison in practice if not in name.

Attempts to house and administer criminals within the whole city will result in it adopting the functions of a prison.

People will clamor for their own imprisonment and restrictions in order to try and curtail the criminality that they never seek to remove and will not be able to see the reason why it will just get worse and worse.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  trumpton
2 years ago

more like a ghost town.

trumpton
trumpton
Reply to  karl von hungus
2 years ago

I wonder at what point other states will curtail inbound movement from NY?

JerseyJeffersonian
JerseyJeffersonian
Reply to  trumpton
2 years ago

Yesterday would have been optimal.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  karl von hungus
2 years ago

Then where will they get their soylent green?

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

Nah. Green’s for health addicts.

Soylent Cicada has that special crunch.

JerseyJeffersonian
JerseyJeffersonian
Reply to  trumpton
2 years ago

Remeber the movie, Escape from New York?

Today if Biden was kidnapped and held for ransom, I’d let him rot, and Snake Pliskin could find something else to do with his time than to rescue him.

A.B Prosper
A.B Prosper
Reply to  JerseyJeffersonian
2 years ago

He’d be better off playing Call of Duty than rescuing almost anyone in the political sphere in the West.

Mike Poile
Mike Poile
Reply to  Mycale
2 years ago

If someone tells you that they trust the science, say that you’ve got a bridge to sell ’em.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Mike Poile
2 years ago

“If someone tells you that they trust the science, say that you’ve got a bridge to sell ’em.”

Or just chuckle and roll your eyes. Then exit.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Mike Poile
2 years ago

“If someone tells you that they trust the science, say that you’ve got a bridge to sell ’em.”

Better yet, say, “Get thee behind me, Satan!”
then laugh. THEN exit.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Mycale
2 years ago

” … and putting away those who do commit crimes for as long as reasonably possible to keep them from committing more crimes, seems to be a truth so obvious that it need not be mentioned.” This is not self-evident. In former times, when there were orderly societies, punishment for a great many transgressions involved *restitution.* Jails (gaols) were simply places to hold the accused until the necessary procedures were accomplished to decide the degree and form of restitution. This is minutely codified in the Bible, and it was minutely codified by the Anglo-Saxons, a good example being the old… Read more »

Jeffrey Morgan
Reply to  Mycale
2 years ago

Yes! I love it. The “study” as a talisman. I’ve been re-watching early episodes of Game of Thrones and I can imagine those fatuous Maisters claiming they have a study!

Anonymous White Male
Anonymous White Male
2 years ago

One thing not mentioned in the eventual collapse is the economic system the whole system is based upon. Borrowing money into existence. Interest bearing economies always follow a predictable exponential curve. “A little debt is good for the economy” is eventually followed by “Unmanageable debt is good for the economy”. The system relies on the peasants and businesses continuing to borrow money to keep the treadmill going. The only problem is, eventually no one can borrow any money because they are leveraged to their topknot. This is one of the reasons you see mass immigration. Immigrants have no debt. Their… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Anonymous White Male
2 years ago

This is what the Great Reset is all about. The final crisis began around the middle of August 2019. We know that b/c that’s when the Fed Chairman held the press conference to announce “a special REPO market window for foreign central banks.” In December, Covid was “discovered.” In January, the BoJ announced that they would “purchase Jap gov’t debt without limit.” In January, the Ministry of Truth began telling us 24/7 that “a worldwide pandemic [was] killing millions.” The rest you know. The bureaucrats of the world, having bungled us into a zero-interest-rate “environment” for 13 years (and a… Read more »

Paintersforms
Paintersforms
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

Enough people figured it out. I bet they’re sweating bullets anyway.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Paintersforms
2 years ago

The revolting behavior of our betters one year ago tomorrow bears out your estimation. If you haven’t looked recently at the *shameful* pictures of those *craven* curs and wenches–“The Honorable” members of the Congress of the United States of America–cowering pigeon-heartedly ON THE FLOOR behind their desks in the House chamber–do so!

It’s worth a thousand words.

Sweating bullets indeed!

Paintersforms
Paintersforms
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

Speaking of, I see Trump cucked again re: 1/6 lol. What a tease.

trumpton
trumpton
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

@Paintersforms – at least he left off intentionally entrapping his supporters in cahoots with the uniparty to feed the narrative.

His work on establishing the narrative for the next steps is over in that respect it seems. Just the grift left.

Spingehra
Spingehra
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

As long as bread & circuses last smoke & mirrors will hide the rot. If there is ever a go code will anyone agree ?

Mow Noname
Mow Noname
2 years ago

Our host has mentioned the analogy of “falling down a long flight of stairs and hitting a landing”. Man walked on the moon for the last time the month before I was born. Almost forty-nine years later, my dreams of flying cars and exploring new worlds have been replaced with more terrestrial concerns. However, my sons are being taught that there is more to this universe than wallowing in filth, envy and despair. Man is capable of wonderous things. As with the marvels of Egypt, the Bronze age, Greece, Rome, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the nuclear age, my sons… Read more »

Outdoorspro
Outdoorspro
Reply to  Mow Noname
2 years ago

I’m just a bit older than you and I remember very clearly the future I was promised: jet packs, flying cars, end of disease and old age, etc.

I’m very disappointed in the future.

Barnard
Barnard
Reply to  Outdoorspro
2 years ago

“End of disease and old age.” So they sold you the idea that we would be immortal on earth and you believed it? Jet packs and flying cars were reasonable, but why would anyone have believed the aging process could effectively be stopped? That is the height of hubris.

c matt
c matt
Reply to  Barnard
2 years ago

A little longer life and in better condition till the end are not unreasonable, but immortality (1) is insane, and (2) why would you want that in this world?

Everything modernity sells to us brings the exact opposite – chemically poisoned foods, questionable medical concoctions, empty lifestyles, etc.

A.B Prosper
A.B Prosper
Reply to  c matt
2 years ago

People might want an end to aging and disease because they aren’t buying into whatever religion is being sold and the alternative is death.

What’s stupid are flying cars and jetpacks, neither of which are useful for average people or affordable with the amount of energy we have.

Gedeon
Gedeon
Reply to  Barnard
2 years ago

VTOL personal transportation is a thing now, but not mass producible. Boeing and Porsche have an MOU for a VTOL JV and there is a lot going on in the space. Most of it is quadcopters scaled up to human size. The natural problem is not large enough brushless motors, but battery substrate as well as a corresponding limited range.

The gap solution until population attrition runs its course are VR glasses for the surviving masses.

Coalclinker
Coalclinker
Reply to  Outdoorspro
2 years ago

In 1970 I was 6 years old. I remember the flying car, pie in the sky stories, about how bright the future would be.

I knew every time I looked at my Mom’s 2 year old Ford Torinio and saw those big rot holes in the rocker panels and all 4 inner fenders, I knew they were full of sh@t and figured that we might be eating that one of these days. I don’t think we’re too far off from that. And I sure didn’t realize how I would be aching 52 years later.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Mow Noname
2 years ago

“If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, … .”

IFF.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Mow Noname
2 years ago

We are not the same people as our forefather were—in spirit and in intellect. All that you say we would have was possible in those days, but we were 90% White with White institutions. Now we are 50% and dying rapidly. The “great reset” will be—and must be—a great retreat to a level of physical existence which our new, “vibrant” population can produce/support. The critical fraction is at its failure point.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Compsci
2 years ago

But the gibs will be gone for good, and I suspect a bushel and peck of ’em will vamoose. The rest will need a bit of encouragement.

Paintersforms
Paintersforms
2 years ago

“What happens when vast swaths of the administrative state have become gangrenous? How is that addressed. How are the rotten bits removed and who is given the authority to remove them?”

People come up with ad hoc solutions and they’re ignored, allowed to rot and fall off. Yes, there’s the risk of enforcers enforcing, but that’s the way it is, and at some point enforcement becomes impossible.

That’s not revolutionary talk, either. It’s survival, and survival is a natural right.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Paintersforms
2 years ago

It’s not merely survival, it’s just a simple observation of the facts.

Well said.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Paintersforms
2 years ago

Minor quibble—“survival” is not a natural right. The struggle for survival is a natural right—perhaps. Survival is for those strong enough to accomplish it. Those not strong enough do not survive *and* do not reproduce further “weaklings”. Nature abhors weakness and vacuums it would seem.

Paintersforms
Paintersforms
Reply to  Compsci
2 years ago

Very true. Life, liberty, property— excuse my rhetorical flourish 🙂

Still, under those circumstances, anyone trying to stop people from making it might as well be denying them life.

A.B Prosper
A.B Prosper
Reply to  Paintersforms
2 years ago

Up vote for a good post but there are no natural rights or rights period.

As the Spanish say “God said take what you want and pay for it.”

You have what rights you can take and keep , however that is done. That is the limit of what passes for Rights in this world.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  A.B Prosper
2 years ago

Laws do not enforce themselves. Men rule other men. PEriod.

Paintersforms
Paintersforms
Reply to  A.B Prosper
2 years ago

At the end of the day, yes. However, it’s handy to appeal to a higher power when taking or defending those rights. It gives you a little more oomph than ‘because that’s what I want.’ And thankfully, until somebody makes the sun rise in the west, there is a higher power, whether you believe it’s nature or the Creator.

Stranger in a Strange Land
Stranger in a Strange Land
2 years ago

“In fact, every effort by the system to address the crisis is seen as contributing to the crisis”… From a bureaucrats perspective: job well done! Next fiscal year funding assured. “The result is a spiral of increasing incompetence and decreasing trust in the system”. I dare say the majority of the population in general (and in certain segments the vast majority) are so dumbed down that even if the trust meter reads 0.0 – they can’t survive without it. “What happens when vast swaths of the administrative state have become gangrenous”? One might suspect what a gangrenous limb looks like… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Stranger in a Strange Land
2 years ago

“I dare say the majority of the population in general (and in certain segments the vast majority) are so dumbed down that even if the trust meter reads 0.0 – they can’t survive without it.”

You are no doubt right, but it doesn’t seem (to me, anyway) to affect us, really. It’s unfortunate, granted, but those fit to survive and who *mean* to survive will survive.

Joey Jünger
Joey Jünger
2 years ago

The main problem seems to be that our system’s moral imperative and technical operation are at odds with each other. The moral imperative is to understand at all places and all times that nonelite whites, especially the males, are evil and the cause of all the misery in the world. The system can only function, however—the lights can only glow in the auditoriums and people can only drive the roads to their universities—if nonelite whites, especially the males, continue to play along. How do you base a system on the participation of a people who you don’t just damn and… Read more »

mr mittens
mr mittens
Reply to  Joey Jünger
2 years ago

it’s like the salvation army con, first they tell us we are racists and should apologize for being white, then give them all your money. I say f’em all..

Citizen of a Silly Country
Citizen of a Silly Country
Reply to  Joey Jünger
2 years ago

It is an odd system. If whites ever opted out (not fight back, just opt out) in even relatively small numbers, the system falls apart.

No system this poorly constructed has lasted too long. We’ll see how long this lasts. That will depend on two variables:

1. White comfort level
2. The degree of anti-white policies

If the comfort level is very high, than the anti-policies could also be high. If comfort levels fall, the anti-white policies better fall too.

I’m not sure our rulers fully understand the equation. We’ll see.

Mycale
Mycale
Reply to  Citizen of a Silly Country
2 years ago

I understand that white people do not want to opt-out in a lot of ways. A white guy who works for his town’s department of public works also relies on that department for water and energy, for example. However, in our globalized economy, so much of what that white guy consumes is so disconnected from his day to day life and makes money for people who hate him. For example, If every white person stopped watching or caring about the NBA – not even the NFL, which I understand is a bridge too far for normies, but the NBA, which… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Mycale
2 years ago

It is remarkable, ain’t it, this apparent *need* to spend the afternoon in front of the tube watching some Negroes play with a ball.

Extraordinary.

trumpton
trumpton
Reply to  Citizen of a Silly Country
2 years ago

They understand it well enough.

They just calculate the values on each side to be different to yours.

Their control of multiple force avenues gives them a different perspective, as the reverse would be true if it was the other way.

Spingehra
Spingehra
Reply to  Citizen of a Silly Country
2 years ago

A few years ago I attended a sudlander event. Listened to their plight & donated.
How far off is that in FUSA?
I’d say right around the corner.
SHTF blacks & browns, too easy IFF. I’ve told the decent ones best hide
Benedict Arnold “whites” IFF
Local accountability will include family.

A.B Prosper
A.B Prosper
Reply to  Citizen of a Silly Country
2 years ago

Already happening in California. Stuff is declining to a sustainable level which will be basically Brazil or Mexico. Worse for them the few young Whites that remain in Blue hives are often as not obsessed with social justice or the like and while in theory are highly capable with good degrees I know an engineer from a superlative school who is in reality useless. Our leaders are incapable of seeing it, too old, too corrupt, maybe too busy sucking up to the Adversary diddling kiddies and guzzling adrenochrome , who knows? If they got the national razor they’d go to… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Joey Jünger
2 years ago

“Who thinks it’s a good idea to have their cops, soldiers, and construction workers in this state?”

The people who want to “maintain the world population at 500,000,000.” Who want to do away with fossil fuels. Who want you and me to eat bugs and live in tenements if we live at all, which they don’t approve of.

Check out the text of the Georgia Guidestones. Go to the World Economic Forum’s website and watch their videos and read their white (heh) papers. Start with the 4-minute video “8 predictions for 2030.”

THOSE people, to answer your question.

Wolf Barney
Wolf Barney
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

It’s amazing to me how open the global elites are about they want. We might want to pay more attention.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Wolf Barney
2 years ago

Fear not. Somewhere, Madame Defarge is knittin’ hard!

Melissa
Melissa
Reply to  Joey Jünger
2 years ago

Joey Junger:
So many share your sentiments.
Biden is a stupid (has always been), senile politician on his way out. It’s good to imagine him heading to hell in a hand basket soon to join Harry Reid and the rest. There is a special place reserved for them there for trying to make our lives a living hell

Citizen of a Silly Country
Citizen of a Silly Country
2 years ago

It’s interesting to see so many systems creaking toward their end at the same time. The political divide grows personal and intractable. Whites are moving to become a minority. Global debt to gdp is ~350% (it’s 370% in the U.S.), which is unsustainable. The dollar as the reserve currency is showing signs of strain, in part because it’s also unsustainable as it hollows out the middle class and manufacturing sector of the United States, thus weakening the very country that the system relies upon. The administrative state is becoming overbearing and incompetent. I could go on, but there’s something going… Read more »

Jack Boniface
Jack Boniface
Member
2 years ago

Put this in your Z’s Book of Aphorisms: “Running a country where everyone has a say can only be done if the overwhelming majority are saying the same thing.”

Also, the worst of it began when the administrative state took over the family, beginning in the late 1950s.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Jack Boniface
2 years ago

In my opinion, it was well before that, and it was a failure of the churches. The churches threw open the door for the state (liberal democracy via universal suffrage) to define marriage LONG ago by permitting the state to require marriage “licenses.” The churches allowed the state AT THAT TIME to define marriage. In 2015, those chickens came home to roost in the Sup Court’s decision to legalize “same-sex marriage.” Now, even the word “sex” is cast aside in favor of the grammar term “gender,” which–deliberately–has no meaning. When the churches CHOSE to let the State define the family… Read more »

Mike Poile
Mike Poile
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

The state can legalize same sex marriage, the state can issue unicorn licenses, don’t mean a thing.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Mike Poile
2 years ago

Well, I know what you mean, but I still say that it does mean that the churches failed Big Time and will answer for it to the Judge Eternal.

Mike Poile
Mike Poile
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

Yep! It could mean that.

Lucius Sulla
Lucius Sulla
2 years ago

On-topic anecdote from the People’s Republic of Illinois… https://ilsos.gov/news/2021/december/211229d1.pdf Yes, the Illinois Secretary of State has closed its offices through January 18th (I would bet this will be extended) because of the COVID. I assume the sheboon mammies and other unemployables will still be receiving full pay. So, a basic function of government, the DMV, will be inaccessible out of respect to our new god. Since we just bought a used car, and need to execute a title transfer and register it, that I guess will be put off for a few more weeks. I wonder what happens if we… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Lucius Sulla
2 years ago

In Georgia, the governor granted a 6-month waiver back in 2020. The governor of Illinois might have done that. They won’t tell you. You’ll have to go to them and ask.

tarstarkas
tarstarkas
2 years ago

Wouldn’t the administrative state of liberal democracy be best described as “fascism realized?” At least fascism in the Mussolini sense?

Chet Rollins
Chet Rollins
Reply to  tarstarkas
2 years ago

Fascism without the snappy uniforms would be accurate.

Citizen of a Silly Country
Citizen of a Silly Country
Reply to  thezman
2 years ago

Great point. Fascism was a reaction to the chaotic times and, particularly, to communism. The nationalism stemmed from a people (German or Italian) suffering a loss of confidence.

Our system – liberal democracy fascism – isn’t a reaction to outside forces but an extension of existing forces and an ideology already present.

As such, it is supremely confident in its morality and actions to achieve its goals.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Citizen of a Silly Country
2 years ago

Well, that’s because “the science.”

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  thezman
2 years ago

“The post war period was chaotic with communists and labor unions taking control … .”

Not only in Italy, but in Portugal, Bavaria, Russia, Hungary, Mexico to name some off the top of my head.

“In America, liberal democracy is an outgrowth of the Puritan heritage of Yankeedom, scientific Progressivism and western liberalism.”

True. And perfectly stated. Succinct and complete.

Whitney
Member
2 years ago
The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Whitney
2 years ago

So is this. Short. Readable. A quite good translation:

https://www.amazon.com/End-Democracy-Christophe-Buffin-Chosal/dp/1944339086

Thanks for the fascinating-looking recommendation.

TomA
TomA
2 years ago

The best analogies for the “administrative/managerial state” are entropy and cancer. Entropy is, by definition, that which is wasted and therefore inefficient, but it pales in harm caused when compared to cancer, which will ultimately kill you if left unchecked. And the root of all cancer is runaway growth of deadweight cells, which can only occur if you continue to feed the beast. So why do sane people feed the beast? Answer, because a comfortable lifestyle blinds them to what they do. Hence, the death spiral will continue until a collapse forces Normie to roll up his sleeves or die.… Read more »

Altitude Zero
Altitude Zero
2 years ago

The funny thing is, this shouldn’t be too hard – just give the normies sportsball, pron, and moderately well-paying jobs, shovel out enough graft to keep contractors happy, give the joggers some “walking around” money, make up some fake jobs to give to the blue hair university crowd, and let the good times roll. But of course, this only works if 1) the “elites” are actually competent, 2) they are in touch with reality, and 3) they don’t hate the people and society they rule over. None of these things happen to be true, hence their present difficulties. For example,… Read more »

Mow Noname
Mow Noname
Reply to  Altitude Zero
2 years ago

I am all for “their downfall” (faster, please), but these people seem bound and determined to take everyone and everything down with them.

Evil Sandmich
Evil Sandmich
Reply to  Mow Noname
2 years ago

It is a murder-suicide cult, institutionalized mental illness writ large.

Milestone D
Milestone D
2 years ago

Back when I was cheering GWB’s crusade, I took some Public Administration courses as grad school electives. Initially, these classes just seemed like civics on steroids, and thus moderately interesting and relatively easy. But then I started wondering why a bunch of fresh out of undergrad girls (and it was always girls) wanted to get trained as bureaucrats. Only later, when one of them posed a question roughly along the lines of “but what do you do when they make bad laws?” and the answer wasn’t immediately “we serve the will of the public as expressed through the constitution and… Read more »

tarstarkas
tarstarkas
Reply to  Milestone D
2 years ago

Consideration for the Constitution and the will of the people or even what is good or bad for the people is nothing but window dressing. It’s almost like a cheap costume. It’s just words you throw around like a magic incantation, or decorations for the page.

It’s like listening to a Congressman drone on about being good stewards of the tax payer’s money as they pass an abomination blowing hundreds of billions of Dollars on nothing.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  tarstarkas
2 years ago

The Declaration was wartime propaganda intended to induce French intellectuals to press the king into aiding the American cause. Over time–owing in no small degree to the war criminal Abe Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address–we (as a whole) have come to believe our own propaganda. And it’s been downhill ever since. There was never–never–a time when Massachusetts and South Carolina (as exemplars) were going to live under the same gov’t as a *permanent* arrangement. Southerners have had more than 400 years’ experience–cheek-by-jowl experience–with “diversity,” and we KNOW that all men are, in fact, not created equal. We TRIED to tell Yankeedom that,… Read more »

Captain Willard
Captain Willard
2 years ago

There are two more important dynamics to consider here: 1) Regulatory Capture 2) Arsonist/Fire Department administrative State (which Zman touched upon only briefly) Who runs the FDA? Pfizer. Who runs the SEC and the FDIC? Wall Street. Who runs foreign policy? The MIC and certain (others). Etc etc….The larger and more powerful the Administrative State, the greater the tendency toward regulatory capture. We see it all the time, as lobbyists write half the legislation that passes Congress and regulators are just paid off by corporate interests. Meanwhile, by day the Pentagon tries to fight conflicts the CIA and State Dept.… Read more »

Wkathman
Wkathman
Reply to  Captain Willard
2 years ago

Your comment serves as an excellent addendum to today’s superbly analyzed Zman piece. The managerial system thrives on offering solutions to problems of its own making (or imagining). Everything becomes a heads we (the managers) win/tales you (the citizenry) lose scenario.

honkytonk
honkytonk
Reply to  Captain Willard
2 years ago

Ah yes, the ol’ “break your leg and sell you a crutch” move

trumpton
trumpton
Reply to  honkytonk
2 years ago

Its more like saw your leg off with a rusty spoon and give you sepsis while selling a pain inducing prosthetic and subscription antibiotics for the rest of your life.

Evil Sandmich
Evil Sandmich
Reply to  Captain Willard
2 years ago

lobbyists write half the legislation that passes Congress

I see someone is still an optimist.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Captain Willard
2 years ago

We are not “a nation” and never have been. America is–and has always been–an amalgam of nations. Whole books have been written on the subject. Good ones. And that is one of the main problems with “democracy,” as ZMan rightly points out in today’s essay. If there is no cultural unity, if there is not a REAL nation, then popular self-government is simply not possible. Human nature forbids it and history demonstrates it. The so-called “union” is a *forced* union, and the correct definition for forced union is “rape.” A “union” held together by force is no union at all,… Read more »

B125
B125
2 years ago

A friend’s wife was tearful, she told me over the phone that I probably shouldn’t come visit since she had a “start of a sore throat” and “didn’t want to kill me” with the Omicron Variant. Apparently I’m at even higher risk of dying from it than the triple vaxxed like her. I told her that she was over reacting and that both of us would be fine, and went to visit anyways. None of us even got a cold and I guess her hypochondriac “sore throat” went away too. It sounds like a made up story but it’s unfortunately… Read more »

OrangeFrog
OrangeFrog
Reply to  B125
2 years ago

Don’t worry about it old son, stories of triple-vaxxed but still getting the dreaded China Virus are becoming two-a-penny in my circle. On such man even proudly boasted of this fact. Not sure what his agenda was, but at no point did he look like a man who had made a massive blunder. The worst of it is that these are actually, in my experience, quite nice folks. But they’re invested in The System that they don’t even know hates them, so what can a man do but forge ahead by himself… maybe with a family if lucky. I beginning… Read more »

Severian
Reply to  OrangeFrog
2 years ago

What might happen with “Omicron” is something similar to “bug chasing” among gays. Once they realize it’s basically just a cold — a pretty mild one, from what I understand — they might go out of their way to be exposed to it, to prove what tough guys they are, and how committed to the “public health” lifestyle.

Yeah, I know, it’s stupid, and I wouldn’t put real big money down on the proposition just yet, but you must admit, it fits these freaks’ psychology.

trumpton
trumpton
Reply to  Severian
2 years ago

I would wager the thing to remain long term will be masks.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Severian
2 years ago

Good catch. Bug-chasing is not out of the question *at all.* Well-spotted!

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  OrangeFrog
2 years ago

It’s natural selection in action in real time. Not something that takes place in such a brief period of time that we can observe it from start to finish. It’s truly a remarkable period in history from many perspectives. I mean, getting to *witness* natural selection *as it happens* is remarkable.

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  OrangeFrog
2 years ago

Orange Frog: Friend’s family is visiting from England. Both young parents are vexxed and boostered (partly in order to travel, more in order to work and live). “See, I didn’t turn into a frog!” she reassured her devastated stepmother. She was more redpilled years ago but she has spent less and less time in the US and less and less time exposed to alternative media and points of view. She claims she won’t let her children be vexxed “until they are old enough to choose for themselves.” In reality, of course, this means when their best friends’ mothers get said… Read more »

Chet Rollins
Chet Rollins
Reply to  B125
2 years ago

That wife will likely forget the last two years once the hysteria dies down who knows when and will just look at you confused if you bring it up, then she’ll act entirely the same way in the next fake crisis. Already reconciled myself to the fact many of my friends with trusting and agreeable personalities by nature are NGMI.

OrangeFrog
OrangeFrog
Reply to  Chet Rollins
2 years ago

Good point. It really is the trusting nature that screws these folk over. Everyone likes to go on about the IQ thing, but most higher IQ types are very cowardly and trusting… they’re all in on the Covid-Coaster.

Most of the working class whites around my way shun masking and openly mock the shamdemic, although they are on the younger side (25-35). Oldsters of all classes and races seem mostly united in their terror. Chinks naturally ‘rag up’, they love it. It’s what they’ve been doing for ages. Indians seem to love it too.

Horace
Horace
Reply to  OrangeFrog
2 years ago

I’ve heard the clot shot described as an IQ test, but I call it a trust test. The Americanized Africans have a low rate of clot shottage. They are not smarter than we are, but they have a very low level of trust for the system.

They show wisdom in doing so. The abortion and diversity industries both substantially started out as efforts to remove and replace them from the urban habit they unhappily shared with virtue signaling white leftists. The system since the 1950’s (rule by white leftist technocrats) has not been good for them.

trumpton
trumpton
Reply to  Horace
2 years ago

Not been good?

Have you been in a coma for 20 years?

The most useless group is now pushed in every single aspect of life far beyond any merited position and for whites its wall to wall blacks in culture.

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  Horace
2 years ago

Horace: It’s not ‘the system’ the Africans don’t trust, it’s wypipo. They and White leftists (and ignorant, self righteous conservatards) still go on about the “infamous Tuegee experiment,” although there was never any such thing. There was no specific cure for syphilis at the time the study began, and the men received free medical treatment. At the end of FORTY YEARS, a grand total of . .. 100 died. They freely and enthusiastically abort their own; they still dump increasing numbers of moronic and imbecilic predators on White society. I only wish more of them were fully vexxed. Spare me… Read more »

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  Horace
2 years ago

“A trust test”

That’s good- I was thinking an obedience test, but nobody wants to be told they obey.

“Trust” is more accurate, and can actually open the door.

Wolf Barney
Wolf Barney
Reply to  OrangeFrog
2 years ago

OrangeFrog, the oldsters trust the newspapers, the corporate news shows, and of course their doctor. They can’t wrap their minds around the idea that any of them would lie. I understand that, because the campaign to get a shot into everyone is the biggest coordinated effort the world has ever seen. Sometimes I feel crazy myself for believing that it’s all been lies. But you have to stay with the evidence that’s clear to see. Young people are increasingly understanding that the corporate media is fake. The Joe Rogan interviews with Dr. McCullough and Dr. Malone have been huge moments… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Wolf Barney
2 years ago

The Food Network’s audience is larger than CNN’s. But CNN survives b/c “cable packages.” Get cable; get CNN. Or at least PAY for CNN.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  OrangeFrog
2 years ago

Which is why it’s so often called “the Chinky-pox.”

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  OrangeFrog
2 years ago

PS- per the compliance test, Georgetown students are getting nosebleeds from all the nasal swabs.

Another ritual to reinforce the steadfastness of the devout and punish unbelievers.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  B125
2 years ago

I am—today—just recovered from my “sore throat/head cold”. Seems both daughter and husband both tested positive for Covid New Year’s Day or so and shared the wealth. They were *triple vexx’d!*—and of course felt they were invincible and safe to walk among the unvexx’d. No inheritance this year, sorry. 😉 I’ll get private blood work soon to test for antibodies as I don’t quite trust the general “free” testing by the local authorities. Should be interesting, since this would be the second year I’ve contracted the *pox*. No fun being ill, but I’m also kind of enjoying surviving despite Fauci’s… Read more »

trumpton
trumpton
Reply to  Compsci
2 years ago

Why bother testing?

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  trumpton
2 years ago

Yep. for a “disease” (that’s not even a disease, by the medical definition, but merely a series of clinical presentations–that change!) that you can have without even knowing it, *and* for which there is not now nor has there ever been a diagnostic test (Which CDC finally admitted in August–and the PCR “test” ceased to be authorized as of New Year’s Day), it does seem pointless. But it affords emotional satisfaction to the superstitious among us, so that’ explains it, I think. And it’s fashionable to “get tested” and emotionally satisfying to talk about it, especially if your lie is… Read more »

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

It is possible for a hard confirmation with antibody test. This is not PCR, nor the current 15 min “pregnancy” type test. I had one last year. It can tell you the amount of response (titers) in the blood. But of course, the antibodies are short term as we have seen with the vexxine. So testing soon is optimal. Since I’ve not had the jab, high response is a sign of a good working innate immune system. The blood work needs to be done every year anyway to check for conditions, such as cancer spread. January is my annual. This… Read more »

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

Infant: Courteously worked my way through a crowded grocery store aisle the other day and one woman quipped “Well, I guess we’re all in this together as they say.” I responded with a definitive “Most definitely not.” She was utterly nonplussed. After all, I appeared perfectly normal.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  trumpton
2 years ago

I am curious.

There used to be—and still are—other diseases than Covid. It would also be interesting if I’m just experiencing normal virus contraction during the typical seasonal occurrence. Also, I would refrain from telling folk “I’m a 2x survivor” of the pox…if I were not.

I’m all too often guilty of faulty knowledge and memory (I am human and getting old), but I will not be known as a liar.

trumpton
trumpton
Reply to  Compsci
2 years ago

Did you get yourself tested for varying respiratory disease all the other times you were ill with flu type illnesses previously?

Did you consider the testing just keeps adding to the numbers used daily?

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Compsci
2 years ago

To avoid being thought a liar, just end every utterance with, “That’s science!”

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  Compsci
2 years ago

“but I will not be known as a liar.”

Honesty. Integrity. Honor. Humility.
Learning.

An inspiration, my people are the finest inspiration.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Compsci
2 years ago

Trumpton, no of course not. COVID is the disease of interest, no others. I have experienced colds and such before Covid. I’ve never had the thought I’d not catch such after Covid. The interest is Covid vs everything else. Not Covid, then same old song and dance. Who cares. If Covid, then I can state with some confidence: 1) It’s not the end of the world, 2) It certainly seems endemic as one can repeatedly catch it—I did. 3) Perhaps make some recommendations, or at least model, some process by which one retains/increases a resistance to such disease—or any disease—without… Read more »

trumpton
trumpton
Reply to  Compsci
2 years ago

I still don’t get it. Seems redundant at best and supporting the continued drama.

Each to their own I suppose.

David Wright
Member
2 years ago

I have to disagree about the breakdown and steady decline of the administrative state and infrastructure. They are a managing the I-95 shutdown supremely well. In another day this terrible tragedy will be over.

Who would of thunk it, modern day Donner parties on American freeways.

3g4me
3g4me
Reply to  David Wright
2 years ago

David Wright: Am I the only one gobsmacked not merely by the inept bureaucratic response, but more by the serene confidence of the drivers that none of them needed any emergency provisions in their car? Not even basics like winter coats and boots or some bottled water, let alone battery jump starters or some long-term food snacks? It’s not hard and doesn’t scream ‘tin-foil hat wearer’ to stick a plastic bin with an assortment of emergency items in the back of the car and then check it once a year.

Long overdue culling. Long overdue.

David Wright
Member
Reply to  3g4me
2 years ago

In many rural areas having supplies and emergency needs in your car is a given. People in urban areas and especially those near the imperial capitol have no idea. Ignorant blissful fools.

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  3g4me
2 years ago

“Long overdue culling. Long overdue.”

Hahhaha
I LOL’ed. That is SO frickin’ true!

God-awful weather from Chicago to the Beltway, and do they carry any preps for it?

Heck no, not even so much as a Slim Jim!!
Truly a different species.

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  Alzaebo
2 years ago

Note from the Snowpocalypse:

When the Dunkin’ Donuts catering truck pulled up in the median, 100 women swore to have his babies.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Alzaebo
2 years ago

Snowpocalypse! LOVE it! Ashamed I didn’t think of it myself! My hat is off to you!

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  3g4me
2 years ago

I live in the Sonoran desert and I have blankets in my car and trunk. I also have a firearm, but that’s me. 😉

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  3g4me
2 years ago

AND fun to watch!

Jack Dobson
Jack Dobson
2 years ago

“The crisis of Covid is that nature won and the administrative state failed.” Chernobyl, essentially. The parallels between the United States and the late Soviet Union are eerie. This sometimes gets pushback, but it is nonetheless true: the Soviets did not hate its subjects anywhere near as bad as the United States hates its citizens. The managerial state operates under the delusion that The Great Replacement will allow the system to operate because the new folks will have no clue what life was like the old regime. Fat chance. Even constant surveillance and police state tactics, all common now, will… Read more »

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Jack Dobson
2 years ago

The breakup of the USSR is not over. I believe our comparison is better shown by the current Russia-Ukraine conflict, and potential fallout spreading to the Baltic States. In these cases, there were considerable ethnic Russians in the areas that broke off from “mother Russia”. At the time, Russia was in turmoil and unable to exert much force on many of the break away States. Today, they regret that decision and are exerting force to reunite their (ethnic) parts. That would seem the problem here. Many of the areas we think would be candidates for a homeland contain many 5th… Read more »

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  Compsci
2 years ago

Side note:
Ukraine might be a feint…
The real action seems to be Kazakhstan, at least for today.

I think the encirclement of Russia continues, the global masters must keep the White world divided.

And, per Infant’s Guidestones–

200 million Chinese in an emptied America,
Because less than 1% of Chinese are ‘vaccinated’.

Just waiting on the booster kill switch. The walking mutation colonies, shedding their viral overload, are going to turn us into Marek’s chickens- either dependent on ‘vaccines’, or dead.
(Or hostages, dead without the antidote.)

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Alzaebo
2 years ago

I’ve wondered about such—no I don’t believe it. But just imagine that I, the only one of my family, close friends, and neighbors without the “vexx” is left standing. This is a scenario that box office hit movies are made from. Being the last man standing is a horror I’m not sure I—or any sane person—could stand.

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  Compsci
2 years ago

Years, it will be some years.

The Chinese are patient, so are the ones who think to ride them as their next horse.

Asians are technically adept, but not independent.

A steady nag, once broken in. On the spiritual side, their cruelty will feed the old gods.

Thus, I’ve come to accept the “China was in on it” theme, they were offered a deal.

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  Compsci
2 years ago

PS- a generation or so, I don’t see “last man standing”, but certainly the Domesday Book- the fallow fields of Europe after the Black Plague. We Whites have been through the bottleneck a number of times. Remember thou, that we are the antibody, the penicillin; the reason sapiens intelligence exploded in Central Europe 60,000 years ago was to fight the black mold that creeps up the walls of the greenhouse. All biospheres have a flaw due to the limits of their building material- we are, by Creation’s design, the correction of that flaw, the fulfillment of the greater imperative, to… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Compsci
2 years ago

You’ll have all of us!

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Jack Dobson
2 years ago

” … the administrative state cannot provide endless goods and services … .”

They have no wish to do so and no plans but the Great Reset and the Georgia Guidestones.

Loved your post, though!

Götterdamn-it-all
Götterdamn-it-all
2 years ago

Gangrene or cancer, both are slow and painful deaths. I wish there were a way to hurry this up.

usNthem
usNthem
2 years ago

The admin state has been gangrenous for a long time. But now, we’ve most likely reached a critical stage where the limb has to go or the organism dies. However, the admin state doesn’t see it that way – they don’t think they’ve lost to mother nature as we can see with the continuing covid kabuki theater. Now a new potentially scary strain from Cameroon. A supposed scarier combination of flu and covid in Israel. Macron says the unvaxxed now aren’t French (though admittedly this may be true in many cases). This s*** just never ends. I profoundly wish the… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  usNthem
2 years ago

“I profoundly wish the admin state would soon begin failing … .”

It is failing right before our eyes. That’s the *reason* for the Great Reset: to hide that failure from the common herd (bankruptcy of all pension funds). And I gotta admit … it’s workin’ like a charm so far.

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

1000x this: “(the admin state failing)…the *reason* for the Great Reset: to hide that failure from the common herd (bankruptcy of all pension funds).

I’ll repeat your summary as often as I can.

The billionaire superyachts?
They’re seasteading.
Prepared like the survival bunker tunnels under every Costco, for the loyalists.

Well, screw ’em. I intend to fight. Tom A inspires me to orient around the Lost Ways book(s), and my mobility and independence will be dedicated to networking committees of correspondence.

Eff ’em. I want to see the fall of the Roman roads, and will.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Alzaebo
2 years ago

If Committees of Correspondence are a-building, count me in. NO idea how to go about IRL community with this crowd but “‘Tis a consummation devoutly to be wish’d.”

Three of my 5x great-grandfathers and two 4X great-grandfathers were Committee of Correspondence and Committees of Safety members (GA, SC, & NC).

Count me IN.

Reynard
Reynard
Member
2 years ago

Roman empire!? We’ve been dealing with careless and cold hand of bureaucracy since the Bronze Age!

https://youtu.be/nyu4u3VZYaQ

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Reynard
2 years ago

I took a summer-long course in Guadalajara, Mexico, almost eight yrs ago and became friends with a classmate, a Spaniard, who told me that when Columbus landed on Hispaniola in 1492, the FIRST man ashore was the notary with desk, pens, and seals to record and “rubber stamp” the event.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
2 years ago

also contributing to the decay is the system no longer performs its actual mission. imagine a word processing program that does 100’s of other things (poorly) but cannot actually be used for writing. that is the administrative world, especially on the government side. unmentioned in the article is the main driver of this decline in system competence. affirmative action. the pre-AA IRS could write massive mainframe software systems (that are still running). now they have to job all of that out to consulting companies like oracle and kpmg. but this is all to the good. i am supremely relieved that… Read more »

Chet Rollins
Chet Rollins
Reply to  karl von hungus
2 years ago

State and Federal governments are incredibly dependent on outside contractors for basic functions now, and the contractors are learning to graft the government for every penny.

One can look at the I-95 debacle, where people were trapped for 24+ hours in a relatively mild snowstorm for an example. The fact this isn’t that close to the imperial capital shows the collapse of competence up close.

Idle thoughts
Idle thoughts
Reply to  Chet Rollins
2 years ago

Perhaps this can be leveraged?

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  Idle thoughts
2 years ago

“Perhaps this can be leveraged?”

Thanks, Idle, that helps- a lot.

People forget that most unsavory types have day jobs as tradesmen.

Not that I’m making any hints here, but I do have a past, odd skills as an urban liason, that I used to be ashamed of.
USED to be.

Some reach high, some dwell low.
I suspect the numbers of Fremen are vast.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Chet Rollins
2 years ago

The fact that the inauguration of “the most popular president EV-AH” had to–*had* to–take place with NO witnesses *and* behind barbed wire and thousands of armed soldiers shows the collapse better than tranny story hour at the kiddie library. Large segments of the population are not subjected to tranny story hour.

Gunner Q
Reply to  Chet Rollins
2 years ago

“the contractors are learning to graft the government for every penny.”

That door is closing, too, because the gov’t cannot stop playing favorites & mandates. “We need help! But only from a company owned by a trans-male Nigerian prince! Have all of your employees been quadruple-jabbed, specifically including the telecommuters? Mandatory 16-hour sexual harassment training for EVERYBODY!”

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

“The bad office holder in a republic can voted out of office in favor of someone new.”

Whaaaaat??

BluegrassMan
BluegrassMan
2 years ago

Just got the weekly mass email from my boss about wearing the face muzzle and stopping “this omnicron” death wave. What’s funny is the message had the typical idiotic language that is now normal: “it’s spreading among the vaccinated too.” followed up by: “if your unvaccinated, we encourage you to consider getting it, and make sure you’re getting tested twice a week.”

Clown world just keeps giving.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  BluegrassMan
2 years ago

““if your unvaccinated, … .”

Q.E.D.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

Grammar correction is racist.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Compsci
2 years ago

I am proud to concur! Thanks for the compliment!

usNthem
usNthem
Reply to  BluegrassMan
2 years ago

All I can say is I’m glad I packed it in last March. I would not be able to take this covid BS while working. It’s bad enough as it is. Best of luck to those still dealing with the corporate world and now this.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  usNthem
2 years ago

The South awaits you all with open arms! You know in your hearts that it’s “the last, best hope” we have.

Don’t put it off.

OrangeFrog
OrangeFrog
Reply to  BluegrassMan
2 years ago

Heh. We had an office droid also send out such a communique. The part about vaccine encouragement was amusing. I wonder how long we’ll be in the encouragement phase, as certain sectors seem to have entered the coercion phase.

Tired Citizen
Tired Citizen
Reply to  BluegrassMan
2 years ago

We get those same emails each week. The subtitle is “being vaccinated matters”. It does?

What about heart attacks and heart inflammation? Do those matter too? The psychosis is truly amazing.

The fact remains, as Z has pointed out before, the system is unworkable now. Waiting for its inevitable collapse is the waiting game now.

Bartleby the Scrivner
Bartleby the Scrivner
Reply to  Tired Citizen
2 years ago

That’s something I don’t quite get. I can see early on how malleable people would get the jab, since there was no history of efficacy or injury.

Now, there are myriads of stories recounting injury and death. In addition, it doesn’t actually, you know, stop you from getting it.

These facts are not in question.

Are they obtuse, or simply putting their fingers in their ears and saying “lalalala”.

It reminds me of “Invasion of the Bodysnatchers”. Watch out, Donald Sutherland May rat you out!

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Bartleby the Scrivner
2 years ago

normies do not accept anything unless it is on tv. for tv is their true god.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Bartleby the Scrivner
2 years ago

When you were a small child and mommy said, “take this medicine, it’s good for you”. You might not like it, but you knew mom was to be trusted with your care and would not hurt you. You did as you were told. That’s what the situation is today. Half the country has child-like minds—limited intellect and understanding. Mom died, but the government stepped in and took her place. People do not think critically—they have not been trained to, nor do they want to as important questions are beyond their ability to conceive of. They look to be told what… Read more »

usNthem
usNthem
Reply to  Compsci
2 years ago

I continue to marvel at the number of people I know, both family and friends, who have fallen for this farce hook, line and sinker. It’s incomprehensible to me that so many just took it all in unquestioningly at face value – the virus is an existential threat and the “vaccine” is our only savior. It’s hard not to be fearful of the future.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Bartleby the Scrivner
2 years ago

They don’t know that stuff. NO idea at all. They know what their TeeVee tells ’em and nuttin’ more.

You are well informed, but don’t “project” that quality onto the (truly amazingly large) segment of Western populations today who as superstitious as ay Hottentot or, by your leave, Ostei, as any Hutu.

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  Bartleby the Scrivner
2 years ago

I’m wondering if the brain damage makes them try to spread it like rabies while repeating nonsense syllables.

trumpton
trumpton
Reply to  Alzaebo
2 years ago

Have you considered the nonsense syllables are in fact a sort of a virus in and of itself?

The similar structure of all of these sequences allows it to inject itself into the linguistic processing centers.

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  Alzaebo
2 years ago

trumpton, that’s good. That’s deep.

Rewiring the associative synapses like a genetic alteration.

Once the mutation firms, their neural net is switched, sensitive to a different frequency, too.

Altered and attuned. I can use this- very, very helful, thanks much.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Tired Citizen
2 years ago

The subtitle is “being vaccinated matters”. It does?

Well, to THEM, yeah. But since their morality and smugness and science are universal, then it follows that it’s important to you, too.

That’s science. Ya know?

Strike Three
Strike Three
Reply to  BluegrassMan
2 years ago

“if you’re unvaccinated, we encourage you to consider getting it, and make sure you’re getting tested twice a week.” On Sunday morning I checked the Fakebook page of my church to see if they had any new and stupid Covid regulations. Well, they said that all the vaccinated who attended in-person worship were “highly encouraged” to wear masks. But the un-vaccinated “were welcome to worship via the live-stream, or by listening to the radio feed.” That’s gotta be the kindest-gentlest way any human has ever been banned from church. I didn’t go to church, I didn’t watch the live-stream, and… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Strike Three
2 years ago

What you describe is no church. Period. Run–do not walk–away as fast as ever you can. My congregation had a meeting when the governor very politely asked the people of our Deep South state to stay home for two weeks to flatten the curve. (After that, he called the whole thing off, and my state returned to normal). PAstor just says, “Well, what do you say?” And I (yes, I) said, “Our forbears in the Faith faced REAL danger: beheading; burning alive; being torn to pieces by wild animals, and they didn’t stop meeting together. We face nothing more than… Read more »

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

The religious part of me says there is a definite spiritual component at work as well as a cultural contagion.

Thanks to you, I’m reminded that’s true on BOTH sides.

May His hand guide you and keep you, may the Light of the empty tomb shine upon you.

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Alzaebo
2 years ago

Thanks for your kind words and your generous spirit. It’s men like you that assure that we shall prevail because “the wrong shall fail; the right prevail With peace on earth, good will to men.”

Be of good cheer. Of good courage. We are made of the stuff of our ancestors, and that ain’t nothin’. We shall prevail. We shall inherit the earth (such as it will be). But we can do a lot with what is left. We are the salt of the earth. Go forward with cheerful confidence.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  The Infant Phenomenon
2 years ago

There are “churches” where I live that meet in the minister’s home. Yeah, that’s not much of a church, but where “two or more are assembled”… You can serve God or man, not both. Many of the “big” organizations have forgotten such in their fruitless mission to put butts in pews. Covid just emphasized a growing problem, but I still smarts. I’ve heard formal church attendance is down over 40% in just the last year. No bets on whether it will ever recover in the future, and why should it? Their reaction and submission to secular authority has in most… Read more »

The Infant Phenomenon
The Infant Phenomenon
Reply to  Compsci
2 years ago

“Covid just emphasized a growing problem, but It still smarts.” I’m sure it does, and rightly so. But it is *always* better to know the truth of the situation; to know *exactly* where we stand, and now we do. And you are right: “Where two or more are gathered together … .” GO by all and every means to the meetings in homes that you mention. The FIRST churches were house churches. There is *power* in knowing that one is facing daunting odds. That’s what summons up courage, which, as you know, is not fearlessness, but going ahead *despite* one’s… Read more »