No democracy can survive with a middle class so insecure that it is willing to accept any authoritarian option in order to provide some sense of normalcy and security in their lives.
I see now what he means by economic decline and I agree with him very much. I also believe that a nation can't survive without a strong middle class, because although we are often overlooked, we are the driving force of the economy and the people who have the most political driving push, weather we use that or not.
For most of history ordinary people have been viewed as “weeds and rain drops,” as part of a mob, a rabble, all of which are ways of constituting them as an undifferentiated mob
Ordinary today means useless. We all like to focus on one person who can change the future for us, for the better we say. I don't think a lot of people realize that they have the power, and only together we change things. No single person has ever changed anything.
“a lethal and unprecedented linkage of relative economic decline, cultural decay, and political lethargy.”
I disagree with this but not wholly. I think the claim he makes is very interesting and I would like to see what he means by "economic decline" especially. I do agree that there is a lot of political lethargy, but I also am not quite sure what he means by cultural decay? Of America?
“People are surprised that suicides outnumber homicides, and drownings outnumber deaths by fire. People always think crime is increasing” even if it’s not.
This is a great example of what the average person might think, but it is completely wrong. What else might be like this that most of us don't know? There are a lot of mysteries to this world, but most of them hide in plain sight and we're just used to it.
“We would all like to have a warning bell that rings loudly whenever we are about to make a serious error,” Kahneman writes, “but no such bell is available.”
This couldn't be more correct, but unfortunately that's not how life works and we must remember that. We can't get upset at things we aren't in control of, only thing we are. People need to remember to not take life too seriously.
“Our nation must seek an honorable and enduring outcome worthy of the tremendous sacrifices that have been made, especially the sacrifices of lives.” Sunk-cost thinking tells us to stick with a bad investment because of the money we have already lost on it; to finish an unappetizing restaurant meal because, after all, we’re paying for it; to prosecute an unwinnable war because of the investment of blood and treasure. In all cases, this way of thinking is rubbish.
I think this is a great example of what sunk-cost is and really shows how bad it can get when you wont reverse your mistakes because you feel that you're so right.