{"id":32755,"date":"2024-09-27T04:17:47","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T09:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thezman.com\/wordpress\/?p=32755"},"modified":"2024-09-27T04:17:47","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T09:17:47","slug":"the-crisis-old-scratch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thezman.com\/wordpress\/?p=32755","title":{"rendered":"The Crisis & Old Scratch"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The defining feature of this age is the never-ending crisis, always surrounding the latest name for the Devil. Everything about politics surrounds the current panic over Trump, Putin, white supremacy, and so on. These are just names for Old Scratch and the people going on about it are in a panic. It is not just that the Devil is out there, but that we must act now to prevent some terrible thing he is doing.<\/p>\n

The theater of American democracy is always the same. The people we call the left are always in a panic about the Devil or a potential victim of the Devil. The point of their panic is to generate a sense of urgency to do something about the Devil or about the alleged victim of the Devil. Sometimes, it is a combination where the agent of the Devil must be stopped in order to save his victim.<\/p>\n

Trump has been useful for the regime because he is the Devil, but not an abstract version like climate change or a foreigner like Putin. It is much more difficult to get people excited by a distant threat or one that is hard to explain. Trump is right here, walking among us. For the people we call the left, the last decade has been defined by the great struggle against the orange demon and his minions.<\/p>\n

When Trump is gone, they will have a huge hole in their lives, but they will find a replacement as the center of American identity is this concept. What it means to be an American is the crisis of Old Scratch. To be an American means moving from cause to cause, always the same cause though. It is the crisis of what to do right now about Old Scratch and his evil designs on our democracy.<\/p>\n

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