The second age of the post Cold War era

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I remember reading the Wishsong of Shannara a long time ago and there was a phrase I just remembered. It is kind of weird to remember one phase out of a book nearly 400 pages long but it came out of the dark corners and took center stage

Allanon the Druid is dying from a battle with the Mord Wraiths and he tells Brin that "the age must end" and he performs some sort of ceremony and anoints Brin his successor.

When the Berlin Wall fell back in 1989, we entered a new era, a post-Cold War age removed from superpower rivalries and a nuclear Sword of Damocles hanging over everyone's head.  The danger of a Third World War had been removed and there was a "peace dividend"  waiting to be used for something that could benefit everyone. There was even a talk about "the end of history" with the triumph of liberal democracy.

First off, history never ends.

Many have charged that US foreign policy became more aggressive after the Soviet collapse and others also maintain that our government has become as dictatorial as what we faced in the Cold War.

Maybe, maybe not.  That is for you to decide.

The year 2016 saw a resurgence of nationalism and populism and the erosion of transnational organizations such as the European Union, which has displayed serious undemocratic tendencies.  That explains Britain's succession from the EU and Eastern Europe's coming defection. Here in America, there are several similar feelings toward our own government and moribund political system.  The candidacies of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders showed that the People will not be ignored.  The 2016 election, psychotic as it was, was a serious, an d necessary shock to that political system.Barack Obama had promised "Hope and Change" and ended up endorsing the establishment everyone--Republican and Democrat bases--despised.

Hence, Trump and Sanders

The age must end and a new one is dawning.

Whether it turns out to be good or bad remains to be seen. History does not end and it often repeats because many never learn the lessons.  Sometimes they do.

Here's hoping...