George Rebane

The conservative blogosphere is growing by leaps and bounds.  Recent welcome additions are Todd Juvinall’s Sierra Dragon’s Breath and Mike Sherman RV Nut.  Adding these to the CABPRO Report, Inside NC Politics, NC Tea Party Patriots, and, of course, Russ Steele’s flagship NC Media Watch strikes me as quite an array of local conservative voices (see 'Our Links' on the right) going after essentially the same set of eyeballs every morning.  Contrary to popular opinion, we all should know that ‘electronic shelf space’, on which we bloggers wait for readers, is not unlimited.

From the beginning I decided that RR was not going to be a venue for the breathless presentation of “scooplets” seeking primacy in announcing local shop openings/closings, various council and workshop meetings, events at the parks and the fairgrounds, and things generally local and of passing interest.  So many others could and would do that better than I, and that is not where my interests lay.

From my perch I see America, this grand and beautiful experiment in beneficent society and governance, under horrendous assault by internal forces of corruption, collectivism, and cultured ignorance.  America’s global antagonists range from the geo-strategic aims of Islam, incipient international hegemons waiting their turn in the wings, all the way to accelerating technology and the advent of the Singularity.  To me it is clear that our traditions of liberty, personal independence and responsibility, and republican democracy can withstand such concurrent internal and external pressures.  History demonstrates at every turn that autocracy is much easier to implement and sustain, and therefore a much more stable form of governance than what we have been attempting for the last two plus centuries.

In the 21st century we have arrived at a nexus of processes – social, economic, financial, technical, agricultural, environmental, educational, ethnic, geo-political – that are concurrently accelerating into regimes that systems scientists like Didier Sornette (2003), John Casti (2010), and others have identified as super-exponential.  This universe admits super-exponential changes only as precursors to catastrophe.

All who think and write about this phenomenon, do so for very selected audiences.  These are the topics of discussion at secluded conferences of political and business leaders.  No one returning from such enclaves will ‘rock the boat’ with what they have learned, for the simple reason that at this point there is little if anything that can be done to deflect or delay the tsunami.  The sheep will only panic and bleed if somehow they can prematurely be made to understand, so why do it?

As an example of ignored flashing red lights and blaring sirens, consider America’s deficits, national debt, and the trans-astronomical unfunded liabilities.  To half of us such alarums have all the impact of a freshly painted corral post on the herd of confined cattle.  When approached, these people all seem to wearing tags that read ‘Pardon me, but you have me confused with someone who cares.’  Most of the others are certain that if we reinstate an autocratic form of government that destroys all existing levels of wealth possession and generation, then we can start from scratch and build the long-sought workers’ paradise.  And, for all the alternative plans that are not on the table, they may be right.

We are today at the pinnacle of human thought, achievement, and creativity, we can think of no greater bygone age than the one we live in now.  There may still emerge a brilliant solution that allows us to live peacefully in separate cohorts of fellow beings with whom we share similar values, mores, systems of logic, and world views.  Some of these may even allow the original American experiment to continue, but perhaps on a smaller scale.  The fact that I cannot conceive of such profitable aggregations of Man on this earth does not mean that one does not exist, and that it cannot be discovered and brought about by wiser coalitions of leaders than currently populate our marbled halls.

In any case, that is why I carefully chose for RR the tagline – ‘Observations and interpretations from the last great century of Man.’  And I very much enjoy the serious and civil conversations that some of my observations and interpretations give rise to about leading edge ideas that either my readers or I introduce into these pages in the comment threads that follow.

So, dear reader, I will try to more consistently direct these observations and interpretations to topics that still interest, but minimize posting on events and perspectives that other conservative bloggers cover so well.  Nevertheless, for maintaining readership I am advised to keep the orientation as local as possible.  How important is this?  Counsel from you all would be much appreciated.