The Crisis of Modernity

Hence, the winning strategy for the “Northeast Liberal Elite” in American national elections has been “universal suffrage” and a concentration on urban centers, given that the urban centers were the magnets for drawing minorities as well as a certain segment of White Americans from rural areas after the technology and industrial boom led to the overhaul of the economy and social fabric of rural areas which was financed by the “Northeast Liberal Elite” during the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. But as Charles Beard noted, ‘universal suffrage’ and a concentration on urban centers for elections led to outbreaks of war on a global scale as well as greater inequality between both urban and rural voters on one hand and the liberal elite on the other hand. For instance, the rise of Nancy Pelosi directly correlates with the increase of drug addiction and homelessness in San Francisco. And Chuck Schumer has translated into a hike in the rate of gun violence in New York in recent years. America’s transition out of a policy of “isolationism” towards a policy of empire and hegemony also coincides with the “universal suffrage” of the early 20^th century fostered by the Northeast moneyed elite.

Also, money and ‘unlimited credit’ fostered by the Northeast liberal elite is the primary means of control over large swaths of not only the American population, but also large segments of the international community and international society. And as the American economist Michael Hudson noted, Washington’s shift from “payments-surplus to payments-deficit status” as a result of the evisceration of government by the Northeast liberal elite and in essence giving the bankers control of government rather than enabling the government to control the bankers in the 21^st century means that the flipping and reversal of the basic rules and norms of economics, finance, and governance by the Northeast liberal elite gives Washington merely the appearance and illusion of power rather than the reality of power. And with novel political and social developments, it may not take much to dispel that illusion of power and expose the reality which underlies the appearance and illusion of power. 

Arguably, the general theory behind money and ‘unlimited credit’ is that money and ‘unlimited credit’ are the main tools and instruments used to foster indebtedness, and indebtedness leads to control of the debtor on the part of the creditor and servitude on the part of the debtor towards the creditor. Thus, debt is a form of control by the creditor over the debtor more than anything else. But not everyone receives bribes, credit, and handouts from the Northeast liberal elite, and a certain number of those who have received them are now angry, disgruntled and frustrated, hence the prospect of “Jeffersonian Democracy” in America and the rise of populist movements in Europe in recent times. Developments in Asia and the ‘Third World’ also indicate a certain degree of blowback resulting from the foreign policy of the Northeast liberal elite. Also, the philosophical outlook of the moneyed liberal elite and the basic assumption or belief held by this narrow group along with their jejune media mouthpieces is that they are the only ones who are intelligent and smart in the world and thus everyone else is dumb and stupid. However, this philosophical outlook as well as the basic assumption and belief is void of any cosmological, ontological, or metaphysical substance, hence, the political and social dysfunction. 

In turn, the class hegemony fostered by the moneyed liberal elite over the ‘99 percent’ has led to what certain philosophers and thinkers have dubbed the ‘crisis of modernity.’ In essence, the ‘crisis of modernity’ stems from the enslavement of the non-material soul to ephemeral and transient material conditions and circumstances brought about by the liberal elite. As the founder of the Baha’i sect said, what is missing amidst America’s wealth is a soul. And as René Guénon wrote:

“What the modern world has striven after with all its strength, even when it has claimed in its own way to pursue science, is really nothing other than the development of industry and machinery; and in thus seeking to dominate matter and bend it to their service, men have only succeeded…in becoming its slaves. Not only have they limited their intellectual ambition – if such a term can still be used in the present state of things – to inventing and constructing machines, but they have ended by becoming in fact machines themselves.”

Another basic assumption and belief held by the mainstream is that ignoring, isolating, and shunning the person who challenges and deconstructs the official line or the meta-narrative of reality emanating from the mainstream will break down the person’s spirit and will to continue. But that assumption and belief – along with the despicable actions, attitude, negativity, and toxicity that comes with such an assumption and belief – is merely a mirror that reflects the reality of the cosmological, ontological, and metaphysical outlook of the mainstream and it all amounts to self-projection more than anything else. If anything, subway floods and the stench in New York, John Avlon’s anxiety, rats sprawling the streets of Georgetown, gun violence in Chicago, as well as drug addiction and homelessness in San Francisco and Los Angeles reinforce the spirit and the will to continue. When will it stop? Never.