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1. I believe history is cyclical, not linear. This is an ancient view, one informed by observing seasonal changes and rotating constellations.
The ancients cherished an existential treatise by Hesiod that explored life’s most fundamental questions through myth...
The ancients cherished an existential treatise by Hesiod that explored life’s most fundamental questions through myth...
2. The Theogony narrates the rise of the titan Cronus, youngest son of Gaia, who at the behest of his mother, takes a scythe and castrates his father Uranus. By mutilating and overthrowing the great Father, Cronus becomes the king of the heavens and establishes a new order...
3. And yet as he lay bleeding Uranus had cursed Cronus, prophesying that one of Cronus’s children would also overthrow him. So while Cronus enjoys all the privileges and delights of a divine ruler, he is haunted by his father’s prophesy...
4. Cronus marries Rhea and together they have many children. While things are peaceful for a season, Cronus becomes increasingly paranoid and begins savagely devouring his own children.
5. Before consuming his last child, Rhea tricks Cronus by replacing the boy with a stone, which Cronus greedily swallows.
The surviving child is then secreted away and hidden in the Aegean mountains where he is cared for by servants.
The heavenly child is Zeus.
The surviving child is then secreted away and hidden in the Aegean mountains where he is cared for by servants.
The heavenly child is Zeus.
6. Zeus grows quickly, blessed with strength, courage, cleverness, and power.
Zeus makes a heroic return, defeats Cronus, tears open his father’s belly to liberate his siblings, overthrows the Titans, and eventually imposes a new order: the rule of the Olympians.
Zeus makes a heroic return, defeats Cronus, tears open his father’s belly to liberate his siblings, overthrows the Titans, and eventually imposes a new order: the rule of the Olympians.
7. The cycle of chaos, awakening, ascendance, climax, and decline, may seem familiar. After all, we have seen this play out time and again in our own nation’s history (“The Fourth Turning”). This cycle, along with the above myth, should be instructive, especially for Millennials
8. For decades the United States has languished under the long shadow of a Cronus generation: a cohort of Americans who not only repudiated the Greatest Generation and overthrew that old order, but turned their lusty, rapacious appetite against the young and unborn.
9. The Cronus generation is defined by a sense of righteousness bordering on sanctimony. Armed with sacred values and principles, they overthrew the old order of their parents and installed a regime that ironically, looks like a secular theocracy...
10. Despite all its early optimism and promise, however, the regime has become downright monstrous, with its noble elect clinging to power ever so tightly, despite being enfeebled and aloof in their twilight years- this is our gerontocracy
11. Millennials know the wickedness of Cronus, see the fragility of his rule, and long for something better- they sense their own greatness and believe they are destined to usurp the devouring father, but they are plagued by several limitations...
12. And no, I am not referring to Millennials’ economic limitations here. I see a deeper problem in Millennials’ unwillingness to abandon the assumptions upon which the old order was built.
And FWIW, I tend to believe this is more than just the product of a bad education...
And FWIW, I tend to believe this is more than just the product of a bad education...
13. Unlike Gen X, Millennials were actively protected by parents and other adults (something too often mistaken for coddling). This imbued many Millennials with an appreciation for obedience and perfection...
14. I think this appreciation often translates into obedient thinking and a desire to see the promises of the regime succeed according to the old blueprint.
This leads to exploitation and stifles creativity and courage- vital forces in the birth of a new order...
This leads to exploitation and stifles creativity and courage- vital forces in the birth of a new order...
15. Case in point: AOC has all the right desires, instincts, and tactics, but the most important part of the formula- her guiding philosophy- is warmed up leftovers from the 1960’s-1970’s American left...
16. Being a good little girl and regurgitating yesteryear’s bromides for Daddy Cronus will not lay the foundations for a new order.
What’s more, this kind of impoverished thinking prevents promising young Millennials from finding that divine child within...
What’s more, this kind of impoverished thinking prevents promising young Millennials from finding that divine child within...
17. Frankly, I see more promise on the right than the left for the emergence of a new order... but to be successful, the project will require a degree of unity from across the political spectrum- national populism, anyone?
18. In the end, I believe this Millennial generation has more in common with the Greatest Generation than any other; they are best suited for delivering the death blow to the Cronus regime and with any luck, leading us all to a better world.
After Cronus comes Zeus.
After Cronus comes Zeus.
