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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 20, 2024

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You say that weaponization of the dollar was bad policy, but then you give examples of a long list of bad policy decisions the US government would not have been able to pursue if it couldn't borrow infinite dollars.

To me it sounds like the Western governments would in general be better managed if they faced some budgetary constraints.

I sincerely hope so.

Alternately, it could result in no more Western governments. During Rome's constant decline and mismanagement, hardly anybody in any position of power ever went "Woah woah woah, we have straight up squandered our resources! This can't go on forever! We gotta get on the right track!" Of the few who tried, many were put to the sword when the dependents of the state revolted at austerity. Of the few who survived that bottleneck, their meager accomplishments were often squandered and set even further back by their unworthy successors. And eventually, at the end of it all, the empire entirely dissolved, overrun by foreign tribes with foreign customs, and a cult worshipping what arguably killed the empire was left in it's place.

I think it's far more likely there is no Unites States of America, replaced by a confederation of racialized kingdoms (none of which are white), loosely paying lip service to an institutionalized cult of woke dedicated to constant polemics about the sins of whiteness, and good riddance to them all.