Think of this as Volume 14, Number 7 of A-Clue.com, the online newsletter I've written since 1997. Enjoy.
The cycles of American history are important because they can show us where we are, and let us know that our reactions to events are not as unique as they appear.
Our history has been marked, so far, by six generational crises from which we managed to escape, and which defined all who went through them:
- The 1800 Crisis, about the limits of our democracy and adherence to those limits.
- The 1828 Crisis, a new balance between sections and the myth of "the people."
- The 1860 Crisis, about Union, slavery, and the nature of our economy.
- The 1896 Crisis, about balancing power between business and government.
- The 1932 Crisis, about rescuing the economy and unity.
- The 1968 Crisis, about culture, global war, and values.
The 2008 Crisis has much in common with the 1896 and 1932 crises, in that our problems are primarily economic. But it also has much in common with 1860 and 1968, in that our people seem culturally divided. (History is viewed like a picture on Google Earth -- everything below appears compressed and one-dimensional.)
There should no longer be doubt that 2008 was important, in the same way that our other crisis years were important. The assumptions of the past era had collapsed, our problems seemed ready to bury us, and we were ready to hear a new story about ourselves.
But we are now two years past that crisis. We have reached its center, its core. We are in the middle of cultural, economic and literal war, a time that tries mens' souls and has people wondering aloud whether this path is, indeed the right one.
Now is the time for heroes.


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