# The Arc is Long By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2024-07-03 Martin Luther King, Jr. claimed that "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." Along that long arc, there is progress and regression. These might not be random events. They might be tightly clustered. There can be times of expansive progress. Times that seem to be multiple steps forward among a variety of aspects of society. Then, there can be regression. Times where it appears that rights are being limited and protections are being taken away. There is an ebb and flow between revolutionaries and reactionaries. The ascendance of the one necessitates the diminishment of the other. In pursuit of victory, each side assumes too much. It's challenging to see one's blind spots. It's hard to understand those who one thinks are crazy. Whether a revolutionary or a reactionary, one should not simply assume that as one pursues what one wants, "everything else" will stay the same. It won't. Institutions exist only insofar as the population accepts their legitimacy or the enforcement class can maintain their operation. There are real warning signs that we are headed toward a crisis of legitimacy. As the pillar of legitimacy erodes, violence will almost assuredly follow as the enforcement class increases its operational role. Progressives should understand that the enforcement class is inherently reactionary. It is not impartial. It is one side of the status quo. Some may find solace in the idea that the arc of the moral universe will eventually bend toward justice. Perhaps that could be comforting if one had multiple lifetimes or infinite life. But we don't. We only have this life right now. That's it. It will either improve or worsen during societal oscillations between progress and regression. Data suggest it's going to get worse and then much worse. And then it may start to get better. Maybe. It is astounding how few people are tuned into this. Those disconnected apathetically are in for the ruddiest awakening of all. At least those engaged see what's coming. #### Related Items [[Justice]] [[Progress]] [[Class]] [[Crisis]] [[Universe]] [[Life]]