The Great Decline

I'm currently reading The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, which has me thinking about declines in general. I'm starting to believe that when The Decline and Fall of the American Empire is written, one of the core reasons given for the decline will be the stubborn and poisonous ignorance of the American people, beginning in the last half of the last century (although the seeds were probably planted long before that). Krugman talks a little about that today.

Now, we don’t know who will win next year’s presidential election. But the odds are that one of these years the world’s greatest nation will find itself ruled by a party that is aggressively anti-science, indeed anti-knowledge. And, in a time of severe challenges — environmental, economic, and more — that’s a terrifying prospect.

LATER: As further evidence, I give you this recent thread in the IJ. (See the comments.) Heartbreaking, really.

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