The Washington Times published an interesting op-ed a few days ago. It's a list of conditions, the criteria in author L. Todd Wood's words, for destroying a society.
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Here are some excerpts from the article:
If I wanted to destroy an enemy society, and had a long-term focus, wanted to do it stealthily, and effectively, to make the society destroy itself and the ability to defend itself, I would do the following:
1. I would destroy the religious ideals that built the country and held it together, allowing it to thrive and be exceptional. In short, I would destroy Christianity in the West.
2. I would destroy the family, the fabric of society. I would tear apart the nuclear family, that produced stable children, future contributors to the nation's wealth and power. … A society that does not reproduce is a dying society.
3. I would promote the concept "toxic masculinity" and extremist feminism. What better way to make the society less masculine, less able to field a strong military? … In short, I would feminize the male population, making it less effective in battle.
4. I would destroy the education system. I would plant Marxist professors throughout the university system, teaching new generations nothing about American history, but filling their heads full of communist propaganda. They would know nothing of Washington, Lincoln, or Jefferson, but of Malcolm X and Lenin.
5. I would divide the races. What better way, what better method of "dividing and conquering," than to foster a race war, filling minorities' heads full of lies of police brutality, and developing a culture of hate towards law enforcement?
6. I would corrupt the federal government. I would fill the intelligence and security services with traitors to the nation's founding. When any political figure arose which threatened my diabolical agenda, I would use these corrupt agencies to target and frame any rising star who loved America, even if he was a duly-elected president of the United States.
7. I would take away the population's means to defend itself - meaning, I would take away their guns. The fear of an armed population would stop any invasion. I would get rid of this problem.
8. I would destroy self-reliance and ingenuity by making over half of the population dependent on the government, unable to take care of themselves.
9. I would use big-tech to completely remove any viewpoints or ideas that were associated with the "old America." I would ban them from the internet. Heck, I'd take over the internet. I would work with other tyrannical powers to develop internet censorship to eventually prevent any opposing views to be heard by anyone.
10. I would corrupt the nation's leadership with money, finding those who would sell out the country for pieces of silver. I'd make sure they were strategically placed in powerful positions. I'd shell out money throughout the legislature to make sure no laws were passed that opposed my agenda.
11. I would promote the disrespect of the nation's symbols. I would have people kneel during the national anthem, burn the flag, tear down statues of the nation's history. I would make people hate the very fabric of the nation that gave them such wealth and power.
12. I would find a straw man, a country who is also a malicious adversary to America, though much less powerful, and I would focus all the negative energy and recriminations towards this straw man country. In this manner, the targeted nation would be ignorant of my true intentions.
He warns, "Everything I have written above is happening right now in front of your eyes."
It's hard to disagree with him.
Morningstar via Investopedia