Back in the day there were big infrastructure projects, the interstate highway system, nuclear fission reactors, USA was once a leader in rail, but now it seems USA can’t build any infrastructure at all, HDI is lowering, life expectancy is not as high as most other OECD countries. Anyone know what happened to cause this?
One aspect is the loss of the gens and the rise of the so-called nuclear family. Rather than children being raised by grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins, they’re the sole responsibility of the parents. This is further complicated by the ruling class leaving their children to be raised by the “help” so they can continue to focus on accumulating more wealth.
But then a further aspect I think is the rise of neoliberal subjectivity and the fulfilment of the self as an individual brand in constant competition, completely disconnected from all community or family ties. Their children aren’t a legacy, they’re part of the competition. We’ve progressed beyond the death of the gens - the extended family - and into the death of family itself.
Yet another might be psychological - the kind of person that builds immense wealth is also the kind of person that will resent their children for being young and having it easy, as well as be hated by their children for being either distant or tyrannical. There’s no loving family bonds, they all hate each other.
Overall, I just don’t think the bourgeoisie are good parents for a multitude of materialist and cultural and psychological reasons.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the same people who place their own profits above the future of the planet and knowingly continue to exacerbate climate change do not care enough about the future of their own children to educate them in the proper running of empire. These are not normal people we are dealing with, the people who make it into these high positions are mostly sociopathic and psychopathic personalities.