Dale, in 1976, I had lunch with a man who predicted this collapse of the middle class.
His name was Dalton Camp, who died in 2003. Camp was the media director for the Conservative Party of Canada, and he also ran the Camp Associates advertising agency in Toronto. He clearly knew his market research.
I have not forgotten his prediction! We are now living it.
Camp also expressed concern about institutional failure. He said it is very dangerous for people to lose confidence, faith, trust in their systems of government, economics, politics, etc. In fact, he said, he went into politics in Canada to make sure it did not experience institutional failure!
I have not forgotten this comment. He said he was in World War II, and Germans were shooting at him in Europe. He started to wonder about how he got into this situation. His conclusion was institutional failure of the government in Germany after World War I and its aftermath!
Shortly before she died in 1984, the famous American historian Barbara Tuchman gave an interview. Bill Moyers asked her what her greatest concern for America is, was. She answered, "Institutional failure." She said American had lost the value of "honor," the good opinion of decent people. The result would lead to institutional failure, the lack of trust by the American people in their system.
Note Tuchman and Camp agree. Institutional failure creates a vacuum into which the devil can jump.
The Tea Parties are an expression of this growing disconnect. The State of Vermont has activists who want to pull it out of the Union of states! When this kind of stuff emerges, there is a serious disconnect between the system and the people in it.
I shall never forget that lunch with Dalton Camp. I was going to write his biography; last night, I discovered another person has beaten me to it. I shall have to buy and read it now in any case.
Watch this business about institutional failure. It is very real; it could sadly happen in the near future.
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