Every generation, back to the days when we celebrated holidays with families over a slice of roasted mammoth, had concerns about the future of our families, friends, and communities. It is human nature to be concerned, even when communities consisted of only a dozen people.
It is also normal to think the problems we are facing are the worst ever. Every generation has faced its challenges, and they were all important, immediate, and impactful.
It is nonetheless true that the problems and opportunities we face are unprecedented or, at best, more pervasive and potentially impactful than ever before.
If mankind survives another couple of centuries (not a certainty) it will be largely because we figured out how to handle bigger challenges. Only the most optimistic of use think we are on track to do so.
Some of the issues that will determine our future, and which we still have a chance to affect, include:
Education – Our system is failing, despite some good people and good intentions. It would not be an overreaction to scrap the whole thing and start from scratch, emphasizing basics until they are mastered. There is no evidence we have the will to do that.
Freedom – Free speech, capitalism (which has lifted billions out of poverty in the past half century) and self-government are under attack. The last administration had extensive efforts to censor legacy and social media. President Trump has ended the biggest digital censorship programs from Obama and Biden, and our law enforcement agencies are no longer pressuring social and legacy media to spike stories that go against the “narrative.”
Astonishingly, millions of average voters and Dem leaders think we have too much free speech. Freedom is being restricted in much of Europe, too, especially Germany and the U. K. Donald Trump is constantly accused of being a fascist. Yet the evidence proves otherwise. He has pushed to enforce immigration laws – federal law – and that is offered as proof he is a dictator. A president supporting the law is the opposite of dictatorship. A president ignoring law, as did Biden, is more fascist by far. Bottom line: President Trump publicly advocates for more freedom. Not a single leading Democrat does. Just the facts, ma’am!
Political Parties – Both major parties have evolved, but the Democrats have changed more than the Republicans. Although a lot of former GOPs don’t like Trump, his policies are generally conservative with some being surprisingly moderate. For the Democrats, the nascent cohort is socialist/communist candidates, elected officials, party leaders, and a majority of their actual voters, who favor socialism over capitalism, according to their own responses to national surveys.
AI – Artificial Intelligence has gotten so good that it is now very difficult to determine whether a picture or video is real. And it controls a lot of our basic organizational and governmental processes.
AI makes us question every story or message from the media. And, rather than being objective, we have seen that AI bears the same prejudices and political leanings as the people and information that inform it. AI is also, sadly, the go-to way for students to get through school, getting passing grades without earning them. A famous article the past year, written by a student, outlined how most Yale Undergrads relied on AI to do most of their work. And their average grade is an A. We are in trouble.
Demographics – Our population is growing older, and we are not having children at even a replacement rate. Younger women are abstaining from marriage or being mothers, while a ton of young men are sequestered in their parent’s home or behind a video game console in their own place.
Astounding numbers of people don’t even have social lives, and perhaps most surprising, are giving up entirely on sex. This is not a positive comment on our nation or our future. Our founders expected us to be informed, engaged, social, collegial, and active in politics. Manifestly, today, we are not.
Media – Mainstream media continue to be overwhelmingly leftist, as do our major universities. Perfectly factual stories like Hunter’s laptop got intentionally killed, or spiked, by a combination of pressure from the FBI and other governmental agencies. There are a handful of moderate or conservative outlets, but most corporate media don’t even pretend to be objective anymore.
Illegal Immigration – We have also seen an unimaginable influx of foreigners into our nation, which creates pressure on housing, jobs, social services, schools, and more. This was the result of a conscious decision by the previous president to ignore our laws. For today, President Trump has secured our borders, but many others support the influx of non-citizens. Either way, it will have an impact on our nation for centuries to come.
So, what is the path forward? It is up to us.
The people who define our future will be the ones who make the effort to be well—informed, care enough to do something about it, and realize we are in a fight for our civilization. If you don’t get that, by now, you probably never will. As for me? I’m going down swinging. If we lose the fight for freedom, self-government, and western values it will not be because I sat this one out. How about you?
