In thermodynamics there is a word, entropy, which identifies the inevitable and steady deterioration of a closed system. The theory is that it take a steady input of energy to a system to keep it orderly, and without that energy input the tendency is to evolve toward a state of inert uniformity.
Chile went from “a quiet, stable, peaceful country” to civil war-like chaos:
It can happen faster than anyone realizes.
… Friday, October18, 2019 was a particularly beautiful day. By lunchtime, people were out in the parks enjoying the weather. It was calm, peaceful, and joyful.
Within a matter of hours the city had turned into a war zone
And then it happened” …
Innocent people have died. And almost everyone else has had their lives heavily disrupted.
They can’t get to work. Schools are closed. Grocery store lines are crazy. There’s a curfew. Tanks are in the streets.
Pat Buchanan comments on Chile’s near-instant chaos and wonders if democracy is a dying species:
Chile is the most stable and prosperous country in Latin America.
Yet when its capital, Santiago, recently raised subway fares by 5%, thousands poured into the streets. Rioting, looting, arson followed. The Metro system was utterly trashed. Police were assaulted. People died. The rioting spread to six other cities. Troops were called out.
… Chile is the most stable and wealthy country in South America. Catalonia is the most prosperous part of Spain. Paris is hardly a hellhole of repression. And Hong Kong is the freest city of China.
If the beneficiaries of freedoms and democratic rights come to regard them as insufficient to produce the political, economic and social results they demand, what does that portend for democracy’s future?
As a partial answer to Mr. Buchanan, democracies don’t die, they kill. We’re a republic. Republics die.
The lesson in all this isn’t the lunacy of the left, it’s how quickly civilized societies can devolve into chaos, and how unchecked chaos can just as quickly devolve into civil war.
The anti-gun taxes now in effect in Chicago and Seattle is under consideration by Tacoma, Washington.
Under the Tacoma proposal, a tax of $25 would be assessed for every firearm sold within the city, plus 5 cents for each centerfire round of ammunition and 2 cents for every rimfire.
Guns ‘n ammo are being nudged into the “sin tax” category. It’s a safe bet these taxes will also be ratcheted up to the highest levels they can get away with. As with all abolitionists, their object is total elimination, so we can walk shoulder to shoulder into that golden dawn of untainted brotherhood … under their benevolent leadership.
We have gotten so accustomed to this new “normal” that we forget how obscene it is. Functional governments do not act like this.
Aside from weaponizing food shortages in a civil war, consider this
“Global Authorities Brace For Worldwide Protein Shortage After “Quarter Of Earth’s Pigs Wiped Out” … up to 70 percent of China’s pigs could eventually end up dead “
China is importing huge amounts of pork and soy, running up prices world wide. In Asia people are turning to beef and poultry, and those prices are rising. In the US, the grain crop is down about 10% and there’s a record shortfall of corn and soy beans. So far it’s a matter of price increases for scarce commodities, their substitutes and those products which use them.
Be aware numbers vary, both official numbers and commodity futures estimates.
Updated numbers on Chinese hog losses vary considerably from previous totals. According to the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, Chinese hog losses in the first nine months of 2019 from African Swine Fever totaled 28.5% of production. This is a considerable difference from the country’s Ag Ministry claim that 41% of hogs have been lost. This lower number would answer the question as to why China has been importing less pork that expected.
Next year’s growing season will be better, the same or worse. Which one of these are you prepared for? And how much are you willing to bet African Swine Fever—it’s similar to Ebola—won’t show up here? It’s already spread to the Philippines, South Korea and Viet Nam. Outbreaks have been contained, so far, in Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria and wild boars in the Czech Republic.
There is only winning or losing when it comes to war and if you’re not willing to do whatever you must in order to actually win then there is only losing.