Is there a third option?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I'm making this a poll because I want to force people to give some kind of straight answer to this. I'm also posing this question on my Facebook.

A lot of political and cultural disputes these days seem to come down to people who think that the way forward is essentially a continuation or even extension of the same global power structures that have held sway for the past thirty-odd years and people who think that the way forward is some sort of retread of nineteenth-century right-Romantic notions of nation (if we're lucky) or blood and soil (if we're not). People in the former camp are fans of politicians such as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and people in the latter camp (in this country) for the most part voted for 2016 Presidential popular vote runner-up Donald Trump. Both of these camps more or less correctly accuse the other of living in 'a bubble', but nobody seems to concede that both camps might have bubbles, still less that each camp's bubble may be at least partially of the other camp's own construction.

What I'm asking is whether there's a third option--whether there's some way to build a future that isn't either the continued worldwide unchallenged hegemony of the financial services industry (and certain other sectors success in which similarly requires specialized education and willingness and ability to live in one of a few ultra-high-CPI, ultra-socially-liberal urban areas, like tech and the media and I guess maybe also some reasonably-remunerative 'creative' industries such as fashion), or the complete abdication of (using this word with tongue halfway into cheek but not entirely) civilized norms in favor of a morass of right-wing populism, neo-Poujadism, and endless right-Promethean extraction-industry rapacity.

Ross Douthat retweeted some risible list of 'global thinkers who mattered this year' and suggested his own list, which was almost entirely figures of the illiberal right of whom I'm sure Douthat doesn't really approve, conservative as he is (I suppose one could consider the late Christopher Lasch a figure of the left, but I doubt most American liberals would want to). I'd add a few non-alt-reich figures to Douthat's list, such as the restless and unconquered spirits of Karl Marx and Pope Leo XIII, but talking about figures like them as relevant to our days is liable to get you laughed off the stage by both the Trumpists and the Cuomoists.

[White Trash]

The development of the pro-globalization camp has only made me consider embracing Ludditry. Sometimes I wonder if Ted Kaczynski may have been right about a few things. I like to think that there is a third way, some middle of the road way forward, but it has yet to present itself.

[Murica!]

Well, we could always throw our selves off the cliff, no?

What I'm attempting to say is that there is always a choice, regardless of conditions.

[Associate Justice PiT]

The development of the pro-globalization camp has only made me consider embracing Ludditry. Sometimes I wonder if Ted Kaczynski may have been right about a few things. I like to think that there is a third way, some middle of the road way forward, but it has yet to present itself.

     Part of the problem, I think, has been a lack of interest in proposing a serious alternative. The technocrats and internationalists have no complaints with the current paradigm and will castigate you for any trepidation about their project. This intransigence on various key points of concern has given rise to a powerful reaction.

[Kingpoleon]

Internationalism without concentrated power?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

At this point, I'm really beginning to doubt whether there is a political solution at all, because no matter what we try, it is going to collapse with everything else once this "infinite growth" we value so much in the economy begins to crater.  That's not particularly helpful or reassuring, but that very well could be the future we're headed towards.

That said, there is always another way: earn less, consume less, and try to live a good life away from the areas of civilization that will be most heavily impacted by the collapse.