There are three stages to new truth.
First, it is ridiculed.
Second it is violently opposed.
Third, it is accepted as being self-evidently true.
You may have seen this formulation before. But let me add one very important point. False ideas pass through these same three stages.
We need to be humble about our belief system. We may be wrong. The template we are using might be faulty.
This is Jack Elam
The character actor Jack Elam had a funny version of this saying. He said his career had gone through stages:
Stage 1: "Who is Jack Elam?"
Stage 2: "Get me Jack Elam."
Stage 3: "I want a Jack Elam type."
Stage 4: "I want a younger Jack Elam."
Stage 5: "Who is Jack Elam?"
What idea do I have in mind for us to consider? The idea that America cannot continue down the path it has been on is the new idea for us to consider. Personally I have been in the third stage for decades when I realized that I might not get Social Security. As much as possible, I reduced my payments to the system because I understood that it was not sustainable. It is self-evidently true that things can not continue as they are.
Will our great-great grandchildren ask our grandchildren, "Grandpa, what was America?" All empires fall.