It does seem that there is a lot of discussion in the last 2–3 years about how American society is teetering or crumbling. Before we talk about how true that is, I think we need to admit that your perception of American society is highly contextual around a few things:
Where you live
Your ideological alignment
Your income
Your wealth
Your profession/industry
Which party is in power
How educated you are
How much you read the news
A lot of people know essentially nothing about what is going on at a micro- or macro-level around them. They just want to make money, not be taxed at 50% of the money they earn, have kids, raise those kids, and just live the life they want to. That’s not everyone, obviously. Some people do want to smoke weed and play video games all week, and some people do want to create companies that eventually help them acquire yachts. There are many paths in the world, and your particular perception of American society and where it’s headed is tied to which path you are on.
Now, all this said, our faith in core institutions does seem to be declining.
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