The core issue is America no longer have what for about 175 years was a largely accepted national "way of life." I'm not talking about our social moral failings that someone surely will jump on (enslavement, hindering women's rights), though there is no doubt they are part of our nation's fabric. But the broader, altruistic principles - not "values" - that shaped the worldview and built a nation of five, six, seven generations of strong and good men and women and showed us the "way" toward a civil society worth attaining and perpetuating. The majority that may very well wish to perpetuate it (from welcoming immigrants to fulfilling the promises to our seniors and those in need of a government's helping hand, to equal treatment for all and a quality education that doesn't shy away from the facts or Western Civ) are shouted down, caricatured, and made to feel the minority. That "way of life" has been replaced by the path to inexorable mediocrity and decline.
Thanks Katherine! I missed this the first time, but read your new column in The Free Press today. We need more minds like you! We have two children in college (Cal Poly SLO, Comp SCI and UX/UI). I'm sending them both of these columns. I pray to God that young adults like them will help turn this country around!
This is one of the best essays I've read in a long time. Thank you! I just finished commenting on a Humans of NY blog entry where a 77-year-old woman with an excellent philosophy on life and work -- essentially be excellent in everything you do -- is being excoriated by the fans of "Quiet Quitting," sadly WAY more HONY readers than I anticipated. At what point did our nation decided to declare themselves victims instead of change-makers? An injection of will is needed.
"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is our mission statement. It's universal. It's what everybody wants, regardless of race, religion, culture, gender, or national origin. We can respectfully disagree about how we get there, but's let's agree that it's where we want, and need, to go.
I too am quite worried about our gerontocracy, as well as with the grip of bureaucracy. So many people in congress are not just old, but VERY old. And on the subject of bureaucracy, everyone working today knows about doing what the company asks us to do instead of doing the correct thing that will solve the problem. We cover our tails. Courage is required, from people who will take responsibility for their positions and actions. It needs to start with me.
I'm the head of a family of five running a high-tech boatbuilding shop in Hawaii.
We have two main projects: 1. We're developing an 18-foot long robotic research sailboat (https://oceanpeople.org/our-arc/). We've put low six figures of our own money and 3 years unpaid work into this one; we're about 80% of the way to our MVP, and we know it will pay off at some point.
2. We're developing a series of 90-to-185-foot long inter-island sailing passenger and refrigerated cargo carrying ships (https://oceanpeople.org/an-introduction-to-kahu-moana/). Passenger transportation and cargo carrying on sailing ships is like a lifeboat on an ocean liner: we don't know when we're going to need them, but we sure hope they're there when the oil runs out or becomes too expensive to use.
My wife and I taught our four home-schooled kids how to build sailboats and motorboats here at home. They work with wood, fiberglass, and epoxy. They weld stainless steel and aluminum. They are starting to understand how to design boats from scratch.
Not "kids" anymore, the youngest is 17 and the oldest 25, and Dad (who's almost 70 but still in good condition) is downloading everything he knows to them as fast as possible.
Our mission is to save the world, stop or reverse human-created climate upheaval, and provide small island and coastal communities everywhere with affordable water transportation and cargo carrying.
No, we don’t think we’re hot stuff; we just think someone needs to start doing something now. So we are.
I can't appreciate this enough. To get here we need to overcome the people who have come to believe we cannot do anything unless our political overlords bless it.
Very, very good and needed article. Especially in this stack.
It is unserious for any 'elitist' or 'leader' in America to raise the cost of energy because that is the key to everything positive in the free world. Without cheap energy - as we saw from 2017-2021 - the environment doesn't become cleaner, the poor do not enter the middle class, wars do not happen, we do not have national security, we do not eradicate national debt, we do not fake flu season's to print $6T that is NOT reinvested in anything positive to America, the rich double their wealth, etc.
Builders see opportunity in our current malaise and it starts with bringing back our manufacturing base while China is locking down once again while opening ALL energy development. We have no choice. Let's do it because we can and should!
You’re absolutely right Leslie. The issue is the greater distance from renewables to consumption, eg from Coachella Valley to San Diego or offshore wind farms to urban areas. Reliable baseload power has the advantage of being located anywhere.
Nuclear power IS THE THING that will save us all, especially the new technology. Do people realize that the US Navy has been running nuclear subs and aircraft carriers for decades with NO PROBLEMS. This is not the age of Chernobyl, three mile island, etc. This is the thing that will save us all…once we fugure out the waste thing…like Yucca Mountain, which should have been approved. If it had, we’d be in a better place
There's a lot to be said about this. One thing is that it's Randian. Yes, I know, Ayn Rand was something of a lunatic. But there was a nugget of truth in "Atlas Shrugged," wasn't there?
Another writer who crossed my mind as I read this was Robert B. Heinlein and specifically his novella, "The Man Who Sold the Moon" (1950). AOC would have hated and reviled D.D. Harriman.
Perhaps the most destructive aspect of postmodern progressivism is its attempted substitution of corporate identity for the individual personality. Recondite categories of race and "gender" are held to be our defining characteristics, while the concept of common human values is held to be oppressive. Thus a black person who shows up for work on time is "acting white," i.e. bending the knee to white supremacy. Is it any wonder that the underachiever, the mediocrity, the slacker, the parasite, constitute po-mo progressivism's beau ideal? The ambition "to boldly go where no man has gone before" holds no appeal for the party of free daycare, student loan forgiveness and elective double mastectomies for gender-confused teenaged girls.
A very serious piece about unserious stuff posed a serious
The core issue is America no longer have what for about 175 years was a largely accepted national "way of life." I'm not talking about our social moral failings that someone surely will jump on (enslavement, hindering women's rights), though there is no doubt they are part of our nation's fabric. But the broader, altruistic principles - not "values" - that shaped the worldview and built a nation of five, six, seven generations of strong and good men and women and showed us the "way" toward a civil society worth attaining and perpetuating. The majority that may very well wish to perpetuate it (from welcoming immigrants to fulfilling the promises to our seniors and those in need of a government's helping hand, to equal treatment for all and a quality education that doesn't shy away from the facts or Western Civ) are shouted down, caricatured, and made to feel the minority. That "way of life" has been replaced by the path to inexorable mediocrity and decline.
Thanks Katherine! I missed this the first time, but read your new column in The Free Press today. We need more minds like you! We have two children in college (Cal Poly SLO, Comp SCI and UX/UI). I'm sending them both of these columns. I pray to God that young adults like them will help turn this country around!
This is one of the best essays I've read in a long time. Thank you! I just finished commenting on a Humans of NY blog entry where a 77-year-old woman with an excellent philosophy on life and work -- essentially be excellent in everything you do -- is being excoriated by the fans of "Quiet Quitting," sadly WAY more HONY readers than I anticipated. At what point did our nation decided to declare themselves victims instead of change-makers? An injection of will is needed.
"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is our mission statement. It's universal. It's what everybody wants, regardless of race, religion, culture, gender, or national origin. We can respectfully disagree about how we get there, but's let's agree that it's where we want, and need, to go.
Amazing read
This was an incredible article. Just the shot in the arm I was needing
I too am quite worried about our gerontocracy, as well as with the grip of bureaucracy. So many people in congress are not just old, but VERY old. And on the subject of bureaucracy, everyone working today knows about doing what the company asks us to do instead of doing the correct thing that will solve the problem. We cover our tails. Courage is required, from people who will take responsibility for their positions and actions. It needs to start with me.
Brava! Thank you for giving us an example of audacity, giving voice, in print, to our thoughts.
I'm the head of a family of five running a high-tech boatbuilding shop in Hawaii.
We have two main projects: 1. We're developing an 18-foot long robotic research sailboat (https://oceanpeople.org/our-arc/). We've put low six figures of our own money and 3 years unpaid work into this one; we're about 80% of the way to our MVP, and we know it will pay off at some point.
2. We're developing a series of 90-to-185-foot long inter-island sailing passenger and refrigerated cargo carrying ships (https://oceanpeople.org/an-introduction-to-kahu-moana/). Passenger transportation and cargo carrying on sailing ships is like a lifeboat on an ocean liner: we don't know when we're going to need them, but we sure hope they're there when the oil runs out or becomes too expensive to use.
My wife and I taught our four home-schooled kids how to build sailboats and motorboats here at home. They work with wood, fiberglass, and epoxy. They weld stainless steel and aluminum. They are starting to understand how to design boats from scratch.
Not "kids" anymore, the youngest is 17 and the oldest 25, and Dad (who's almost 70 but still in good condition) is downloading everything he knows to them as fast as possible.
Our mission is to save the world, stop or reverse human-created climate upheaval, and provide small island and coastal communities everywhere with affordable water transportation and cargo carrying.
No, we don’t think we’re hot stuff; we just think someone needs to start doing something now. So we are.
Imagine if everyone did something.
With Warm Aloha, Tim
I can't appreciate this enough. To get here we need to overcome the people who have come to believe we cannot do anything unless our political overlords bless it.
Very, very good and needed article. Especially in this stack.
It is unserious for any 'elitist' or 'leader' in America to raise the cost of energy because that is the key to everything positive in the free world. Without cheap energy - as we saw from 2017-2021 - the environment doesn't become cleaner, the poor do not enter the middle class, wars do not happen, we do not have national security, we do not eradicate national debt, we do not fake flu season's to print $6T that is NOT reinvested in anything positive to America, the rich double their wealth, etc.
Builders see opportunity in our current malaise and it starts with bringing back our manufacturing base while China is locking down once again while opening ALL energy development. We have no choice. Let's do it because we can and should!
You’re absolutely right Leslie. The issue is the greater distance from renewables to consumption, eg from Coachella Valley to San Diego or offshore wind farms to urban areas. Reliable baseload power has the advantage of being located anywhere.
Nuclear power IS THE THING that will save us all, especially the new technology. Do people realize that the US Navy has been running nuclear subs and aircraft carriers for decades with NO PROBLEMS. This is not the age of Chernobyl, three mile island, etc. This is the thing that will save us all…once we fugure out the waste thing…like Yucca Mountain, which should have been approved. If it had, we’d be in a better place
Brilliant writing, sharp clarity of thought. Tremendous post, Katherine. Thank you.
There's a lot to be said about this. One thing is that it's Randian. Yes, I know, Ayn Rand was something of a lunatic. But there was a nugget of truth in "Atlas Shrugged," wasn't there?
Another writer who crossed my mind as I read this was Robert B. Heinlein and specifically his novella, "The Man Who Sold the Moon" (1950). AOC would have hated and reviled D.D. Harriman.
Perhaps the most destructive aspect of postmodern progressivism is its attempted substitution of corporate identity for the individual personality. Recondite categories of race and "gender" are held to be our defining characteristics, while the concept of common human values is held to be oppressive. Thus a black person who shows up for work on time is "acting white," i.e. bending the knee to white supremacy. Is it any wonder that the underachiever, the mediocrity, the slacker, the parasite, constitute po-mo progressivism's beau ideal? The ambition "to boldly go where no man has gone before" holds no appeal for the party of free daycare, student loan forgiveness and elective double mastectomies for gender-confused teenaged girls.