[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sweeney', 'T')hey were part of the Enlightenment, they believed in liberty, the power of reason and the value of education.

[Ibon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergyUnlimited', '
')Society also understood that 1 person with higher education per ~300 is all what is needed and others should train in useful crafts and trades etc.

[Newfie]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sweeney', 'T')hey were part of the Enlightenment, they believed in liberty, the power of reason and the value of education.

[mousepad]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ibon', '
')Today the masses are empowered with mediocrity spewing their shit all over the place on social media. This completely drowns out and removes from any authority those individuals who are learned.

[Newfie]

Mouse,

Not so sure about that. Others argue that we were more intellectually engaged in the late 18th century than not. Notably but not alone Neil Postman in “Amusing Ourselves to Death.”

To your second point about “elites” running the country I personally think we have that now. They are financial elites not pragmatic intellectual elites, which is the problem. As far as our current state of democracy it is very, very low. We have some superficial trappings, but the bottom line is that the military industrial pharma complex runs the country within narrow parameters no mater the outcome of any election. If Trump, or Obama or anyone were to truly threaten they they would get the Epstein treatment in a hurry.

[mousepad]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newfie', 'M')ouse,

Not so sure about that. Others argue that we were more intellectually engaged in the late 18th century than not. Notably but not alone Neil Postman in “Amusing Ourselves to Death.”

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mousepad', ' ')if the majority doesn't give shit about global warming, for example, that should be accepted. It's not for the minority to command how the majority should feel. If the majority chooses to go over a cliff, it's their choice. And you will have to go over the cliff with them. That's democracy. And I think it's good.

[mousepad]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', ' ')to change the minds of enough people

[mousepad]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', 'Y')es there are people who are deniers.

[mousepad]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '
')There is a long and glorious history in our country of enlightened minorities working steadily to change the minds of enough people to turn this country in the right direction

[Newfie]

Mouse wrote:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')That's democracy. And I think it's good.

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergyUnlimited', '
')So here is a challenge to Outcast Searcher and others who refuse to recognize possibility of hard crash on US territories in foreseable future:

You are *deniers*, very much like AGW deniers.
You are witnessing a hard crash of formerly most prosperous US state and you are blatantly denying it.

[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mousepad', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', ' ')to change the minds of enough people

[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', '
')I deny that short term economic "collapse" is occurring just because self-appointed self proclaimed "experts" like armageddon or shorty make cherry picked references to isolated economic stats or oil -- especially out of context or twisted and sourced from disreputable sources.

[Newfie]

Just a thought, not at all convinced myself, MAYBE the world has become too complex for us to develop class of leaders, folks who have a real grip on the worlds problems? Too many specialist each babbling in their own coded language. They can’t communicate outside their own echo chamber. No generalist left? Or if there are we don’t respect them? Can we even name a few?

[Ibon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newfie', 'J')ust a thought, not at all convinced myself, MAYBE the world has become too complex for us to develop class of leaders, folks who have a real grip on the worlds problems? Too many specialist each babbling in their own coded language. They can’t communicate outside their own echo chamber. No generalist left? Or if there are we don’t respect them? Can we even name a few?

[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newfie', 'J')ust a thought, not at all convinced myself, MAYBE the world has become too complex for us to develop class of leaders, folks who have a real grip on the worlds problems? Too many specialist each babbling in their own coded language. They can’t communicate outside their own echo chamber. No generalist left? Or if there are we don’t respect them? Can we even name a few?

[Nefarious]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newfie', 'J')ust a thought, not at all convinced myself, MAYBE the world has become too complex for us to develop class of leaders, folks who have a real grip on the worlds problems? Too many specialist each babbling in their own coded language. They can’t communicate outside their own echo chamber. No generalist left? Or if there are we don’t respect them? Can we even name a few?

[Newfie]

Maybe not too diverse, too self righteous.

[Nefarious]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newfie', 'M')aybe not too diverse, too self righteous.