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Civilization Decays "by Forgetting Obvious Things" |
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Dear Reader, |
"Every high civilization" — wrote the English G.K. Chesterton — "decays by forgetting obvious things." |
I begin to suspect American civilization is down with a hard amnesia. |
It has forgotten such obvious things... I fear it may decay beyond recall. |
Mr. Donald Bryson directs an outfit named the James Locke Foundation. From whom: |
In 2026, America will mark a remarkable convergence of anniversaries. It will be the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, which explained how free people, trading freely, could generate prosperity on a scale the world had never known. |
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It will also be the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the bold assertion that liberty, not power, is the rightful foundation of a just society… |
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That convergence should give Americans pause — because it arrives at a moment when the principles that undergirded both documents are no longer widely understood and increasingly taken for granted… |
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Two and a half centuries later, that clarity is fading. |
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Hollow and Empty Words |
Again: Civilization decays by forgetting obvious things. |
The things themselves remain. The Wealth of Nations, the Declaration of Independence, both remain. |
Yet they have largely lost their animating vitality. They have become hollow… empty… sterile vessels… as desolate as the desert wastes that stretch within a congressman's skull. |
Many, though a declining number, can cite the words. Yet do they truly appreciate the words? |
I am reminded of my youth. Before each dinner meal I said grace in thanks of the Lord's benevolence. |
Yet it was the merest act of rote memorization. Not once — not once — did the words ever go home. |
I was, in essence, an unthinking parrot chirping words of which it had no comprehension whatsoever. |
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Waning Belief in Capitalism |
Continues Mr. Bryson: |
A December 9 Economist/YouGov nationwide poll finds that only 41% of Americans say capitalism is the better economic system. Just 21% choose socialism. But the most revealing figure is this: 38% say they are not sure what to think at all. |
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Among young adults and independents, uncertainty rises even higher. That ideological softness should alarm anyone who cares about America's future. |
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Nations do not abandon their economic foundations overnight. They lose them gradually — first by forgetting what those foundations were… |
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Gallup's September 2025 survey confirms this [development]. Only 54% of Americans now say they view capitalism positively, the lowest figure Gallup has ever recorded. |
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Unworthy Heirs of a Great Fortune |
It is as if we are the inheritors of a vast fortune our grandfather earned. |
We lack all appreciation of the brilliant sagacity, of the sweat-stained persistence, of the harsh toil that earned that fortune. |
We assume it as granted, as a sort of natural bequeathment. |
And so we squander our inheritance on frills and entertainments. We wallow in idle and juiceless luxury. |
Thus we are heirs unworthy of the precious fortune we have inherited. |
Here I do not hector, preach, scold or finger-wag. |
I merely observe… and reflect. |
An air of inevitability even seems to surround it. |
But It's NOT Capitalism! |
Yet perhaps Americans have forgotten capitalism's virtues because the capitalism they perceive around them is not authentic capitalism. |
It is a distorted and plagiarized capitalism. |
Once again, Mr. Bryson: |
When federal officials take equity stakes in private companies, that is not capitalism. When state and local governments offer targeted tax breaks and subsidies to favored firms and industries, that is not capitalism. And when success depends more on political connections than on serving customers, that is not capitalism either. |
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Recent federal industrial policy offers a clear illustration of how capitalism is being misidentified. In the name of national security and supply-chain resilience, the federal government has moved beyond regulation and subsidies into direct ownership and control of private firms in strategic industries. |
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Meantime: |
An October 2025 analysis from the Council on Foreign Relations documents the rise of what it calls "American state capitalism" — a system in which government increasingly acts not just as a regulator, but as an investor, deal broker, and rent extractor, taking equity stakes in private firms, steering capital to favored companies, and directly shaping corporate decision-making. |
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While these interventions are often justified in the language of national security, industrial policy, or economic nationalism, the effect is to normalize government picking winners and losers — precisely the practice free-market conservatives once warned against. |
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The Fed Is the Engine of False Capitalism |
I find tremendous justice here. Yet I believe this autopsy of capitalism omits a profoundly contributing pathology — the Federal Reserve. |
The Federal Reserve manipulates interest rates that foster stock market speculation. |
Thus it fattens the topmost asset-owning classes at the expense of the middling and lower classes. |
It strikes an axe against savings and productive investment — the central pillars of authentic capitalism. |
Along the route, it inflates bubbles of every model and make. |
When those bubbles burst in the air, government conscripts the taxpayer. |
This sore beset fellow is coerced into rescuing the miscreants who profited most from the bubbly formation. |
Yet they label it capitalism! |
It is not capitalism. It is the negation of capitalism. |
It's Time to Remember |
Mr. Bryson, in stern conclusion: |
History shows that when societies lose confidence in the moral legitimacy of their economic system, they invite ever-greater government control to correct perceived injustices. Those interventions create new distortions that invite still further intervention. |
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Freedom erodes not with a revolution, but with a shrug. |
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"Every high civilization decays by forgetting obvious things." |
This civilization has forgotten authentic capitalism. |
It is high time to remember… lest the amnesia prove permanent. |
Regards, |
Brian Maher |
for Freedom Financial News |
P.S. As I mentioned above, whenever Elon Musk goes "all in" on something, it always generates HUGE excitement and opportunity. |
His latest project, Starlink – with its mission to provide satellite Internet to every corner of the globe – is no exception. |
And one man says it will soon go public, at an estimated $100 BILLION valuation. |
That would make it the biggest IPO in HISTORY… |
Roughly 228X BIGGER than Amazon's IPO. |
Today, investing legend James Altucher has uncovered a smart, unconventional way to potentially benefit from the impending Starlink IPO… |
Before it even hits the market. |
This backdoor play lets savvy investors like you engage with Starlink's promise without the need for direct initial IPO access. |
And the best part? |
You can buy into this pre-IPO opportunity for less than $100 right now. |
Click here to learn how. |
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