Unease and Anxiety walks upon the land – Has a Preference Cascade started? Part 2 - Granite Grok

Unease and Anxiety walks upon the land – Has a Preference Cascade started? Part 2

The conversation I had with the clerk today (er, just looked at the clock – yesterday) about what might be just over the horizon?  What set me off on this topic was a post I read a bit ago on Patheos by The Anchoress – “I expect the crowd in power to destroy everything…“.  She starts off referencing a post from Instapundit:

GOING JEAN GALT? Patrick Carroll writes:

I decided to take six months off this year. I sold stock and did what I wanted for a blissful six months. I read books, drank good wine, watched my garden, got out my high-powered binocs and looked at the planets, hiked, cooked, ate well, just lived. I did so because I expect the crowd in power to destroy everything, so I thought I’d take a break before the deluge…I also bought guns (rifle, shotgun, pistol each for the wife and I), and have contracted with a local landscaping company to build a highly-defensible, nice-looking (fence/hedge combination) perimeter for my property.

Oh, and I bought water barrels. And a propane tank. And a generator.

And then adds (emphasis removed, and added by me):

What’s interesting is that I am hearing similarly discomfited talk around me, and seeing it in my emails. In the past few weeks I’ve heard some surprising people admit they’ve been arming themselves and purchasing ammunition — one such discussion happened all around me at the hairdresser’s while I sat and listened. The stylist and his boss, they’re storing food and arming themselves. The chiropractor who popped in to say hello while taking his afternoon stroll said he is armed, too: “never in my life thought I’d have a gun in the house, now we have two.”

They’re arming, they say, because they “see it all going bad.” These same folks who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 were now asserting an idea the far-left had floated around before that election, but instead of “Bush is going to install martial law and suspend elections.” they’re saying it of Obama.

And I am seeing similar things, hearing similar things, on blogs I never expected to and from people who’ve raised my eyebrows as they spoke.  No, I’m not talking to ex-Obama folks (I generally don’t personally travel in circles where folks might be ex-Obama supporters and voters.  I do hear this from Conservatives that normally have a sunny disposition but that doesn’t surprise me.  What Does Surprise me is when folks that I would consider non-political and have much more of an interest in their daily lives than what goes on in DC or in the State capital, Concord start in on this.  I see and feel a growing anxiousness and unease starting to become more and more palpable.  No, those folks that are strong Dems to really Demo Socialists whose Nirvana IS belonging to Big Government are not part of this conversation – they are fat, happy, and waiting for more as they think that the election will clear out the TEA Party as they promise more and more for doing less and less to their Dependency Society.  In fact, it is that very fact (among others) that is becoming worrisome – with the old stigma and shame of being on the dole erased by Democrats and Progressives (“hey, others pay taxes so you CAN have this – you DESERVE it!), they worry about the tipping point.  They worry about the “Can DO!” attitude being replaced by “Govt or someone else will do it for me” mentality.  They think of the time when the National Debt cost dumps this country into a third world status, and that American Exceptionalism is thought to be nothing exceptional by the Elites of the country (and those currently in power).

 

Food costs more.  Gas is skyrocketing.  Things are spiraling out of their control and comprehension.  They want to say “This is America – it can’t happen here!” but their little inside voice is no longer convinced that just saying that is enough.  Their kids college debt means just a more expensive way for the kids to come home.

When people get to this point AND start to realize that others are thinking the same, either change is going to come quick to change that future horizon OR lots of people are going to start planning for Really Bad Hair days are a-coming – and maybe, a whole lot of RBH days coming.

The ones that don’t plan for the RBH’s?  Their’s may be even worse.  and that would mean a whole bunch of a downward cascades…and then the nail lept up and hit the hammer (emphasis mine):

…So, I figure, okay, it’s a credit union, I’ll try my bank. They said they don’t make personal loans anymore! It shook me up. I felt like maybe I didn’t realize how bad things are.”

There is an absolute collapse of faith in our systems and in the guy they helped put into office. These folks who were so quick to believe the press in ’08 and to believe in “hope and change” are now willfully believing the absolute worst. While I was getting my grey washed away I heard about local goings-on that I won’t write about here until I check it out for myself, because I don’t know what is real and what is paranoid fantasy or conspiracy theory. But the thing is, the anxiety is real, the doubt is real, as is the willingness to believe the absolute worst of all of our institutions — the press, the churches, the government. These folks are utterly convinced that the only thing that is going to be installed come next January is chaos and oppression. They’ll vote for Romney (“assuming there is an election and we’re allowed to vote and the vote is actually counted…”) simply because he’s not Obama, but they’re convinced that America’s best days are over.

“Soon, it’s going to be every man for himself, mark my words” said the salon owner. “I’m telling you, get a gun. Get a generator, now, because in six months you won’t be able to. Stock up.”

She is relating what I am seeing.  Even if the posts themselves are not outright downers, there is an atmosphere about them this is.  I really don’t think that it is just the regular Left vs Right election despair in which there are always those that see Armageddon starting at 12:01AM the day after an election.  This is different – people are seeing that smaller is better – their circle of friends, or like minded folks with whom a high-trust relationship can be established (and fast).  The larger the institution, the less effect they have within that larger group, the high level of distrust in that organization.  They don’t know what or who can be trusted except that that are immediately around them and that can be personally held accountable – and judged.

Yes, judged. The Rightness or Wrongness of a thing, person, or idea.  Not judgementalism, but merely bringing back a guarded sense that “being so tolerant and open minded that your brains fall out” is losing the luster that the Politically Correct folks have foisted upon us.  “ALL IS WELL” (Kevin Bacon, Animal House) is not wringing true as so many institutions have spun so much and so badly, they are lumping everything in the Dispose-of bin.  They may be saying that “we’re all in this together” a la the DNC “We all belong to Government”, but their actions are starting to say otherwise.

Congratulations – welcome to the Conservative side where most of us just wish to be left alone as Free Citizens.  The Anchoress concludes:

So, let me ask you, readers — do you also “expect the crowd in power to destroy everything”? Are you arming yourselves, stocking up on food and buying generators? Or do you think everything is going to be fine, and we all need to take a breath?

Go ahead, guess.

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