I came of age in the 1970s. It was the worst of times during my lifetime, although the 2020s promise to exceed the awfulness of that decade.

I’ve learned a lot of lessons from my experiences then, some pointing to optimism, others to pessimism about the current trajectory of the United States.

The renaissance that the 80s and 90s brought points to the possibility of optimism–decline is a choice, not an inevitability. The determination of the current crop of Elites to destroy the foundations of that Renaissance suggests that recovery from this round of destruction may be much more difficult.

In general, my own writing suggests that I lean toward pessimism because I do. But I am now a crotchety old man of 58, and older folks tend to be nostalgic about a lost past.

My nostalgia, though, is not for my youth. The era of my youth sucked. Decline was everywhere. Pretty much the only good thing I can remember about the America of my youth was the moon landing, which happened right around the time I turned 5. Otherwise, the cultural landscape was bleak. Crime was skyrocketing, cities were disintegrating, riots were common, the economy was tanking, and inflation was raging. Watch the movies of the era and they were filled with despair.

Taxi Driver, the Dirty Harry movies, Serpico, The Conversation, The French Connection, Death Wish, Dog Day Afternoon, every Charles Bronson movie… Hope was in short supply.

Scenes from the 1970s, only worse, are now common in American cities. Crime has yet to reach 1970s levels, thank God, but the trends are bad. The fact that the crime is lower is not due to better law enforcement, or better character in our youth, but rather the fact that we have fewer teens roaming the streets.

Ironically, as I was writing this, Ed and Adam Baldwin were having a similar conversation in their Amiable Skeptics show. Give it a listen to prove that great minds think alike.

The psychopaths we have are if anything worse than those of my youth. They are utterly unconcerned about law enforcement and have no concern for civilization. Most teens are decent, but the ones unmoored from family life are functionally insane.

The scenes–which are rarely shared by the MSM or even discussed openly–are harrowing. In my city there are regularly very shocking scenes of random violence. Dinkytown, the neighborhood surrounding the University of Minnesota, is now suffering from random acts of violence by roving bands of youth who violently beat up students for no reason other than the pure joy of violence.

This last weekend was 3 days of violence, producing scenes like this:

#Dinkytown stomp.#UMN pic.twitter.com/RaN2tHQqA3

— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) May 6, 2023

This was not a robbery, which would be bad enough. The teens were among literally hundreds just roaming the streets, throwing rocks, assaulting people, and terrorizing the community. Most of the offenders are Somali refugees, who live in subsidized housing in the neighborhood.

Two nights of unrest in the Dinkytown neighborhood give Twin Cities law enforcement a black eye after a press conference touted a crackdown on gangs earlier in the week. https://t.co/S7HEz1W9m4

— Jennifer Lewerenz (@HeyJLev) May 8, 2023

The powers that be are nodding to the need for more order, but effectively doing nothing to ensure it is established. As with the riots of 2020, there is modest talk, but little action. And our county prosecutor is so unconcerned that the US Attorney is building federal cases against the worst of the gang offenders, trying to use what little power the federal government can legally bring to bear to reestablish order. Local law enforcement has given up because the County Prosecutor–an elected official–will do nothing.

Perp walk. #Dinkytown #UMN. pic.twitter.com/Qgmdmk4trP

— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) May 8, 2023

Leftists are the barrier to cleaning things up, and unlike the 1970s the Leftists are in charge, and there is no prospect that they will be removed any time soon. They are the Establishment. Things spiraled out of control despite the Establishment in the 70s, and they are spiraling out of control because of the Establishment today.

how much of our money gets spent every night funding all those police cars and each cop’s salary?? the police are a cancer on our city’s budget and need to be defunded

— ballen (@bqllen) May 8, 2023

This is the argument for pessimism. A sufficient number of people are willing to vote for the continuation of the policies that are causing this unrest. Open borders, defunding the police, lax prosecution, and “criminal justice reform.” Our education system exists to create more and more radicals and fewer decent citizens. Many public school graduates know next to nothing about either history or our own political system, which is unsurprising as their teachers know little themselves.

This weekend’s mayhem in Dinkytown got precisely zero coverage in our local newspaper The StarTribune. Not a word. It is inconvenient to the narrative, despite the fact that 52,000 students are enrolled, making it one of the largest universities in the world, and one of the few large ones located in the heart of a city. It generates an enormous amount of economic activity and is now a black hole of media coverage by the Leftist rage that is the most important news source in the state.

One of my wife’s colleagues has been carjacked, and a few weeks later was waiting at a stoplight and the car next to him was filled with teens wearing ski masks. He works at the Minnesota State Capitol. Our leaders drive in SUVs with security while average citizens are left to fend for themselves.

Are we headed for a Renaissance, or is this a period of decline? I don’t know. I still have hope–the 1980s followed the 1970s, after all.

All I know is that the people in charge seem to want this chaos. Not just tolerate it, but stoke it. They promote racial tension, promote criminality, celebrate violence as long as the “right” people commit it, and ruthlessly suppress self-defense.

This is the same DA who's prosecuting Trump.

"A Manhattan parking garage attendant who was shot twice while confronting an alleged thief — then wrestled the gun away and opened fire on the suspect — has been charged with attempted murder…"https://t.co/MWujf9JbIh

— Laocoon of Troy (@LaocoonofTroy) April 2, 2023

Our Elite appears to be at war with ordinary Americans, and Leftist voters are backing them up so far. Will that continue?

We shall see.

Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson DOUBLES DOWN on defending last weekend's "Teen Takeover" youth riots:

“Demonizing children is wrong.”
“Sometimes they make silly decisions!” pic.twitter.com/GV1AnGXJQh

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) April 20, 2023