Short Stack: Presentism
Many Americans claim history is unimportant, but they don’t actually know enough to render such a sweeping condemnation. Theirs is a false pride in the present.
Too many postmodern Americans are stuck in a tiny mental bubble some of us call presentism—a small-souled obsession with now, dressed up as enlightenment.
They are proud peacocks who brag about living “in the moment.” Yet, their knowledge of “history” starts and ends with the latest Drake-Kendrick diss track, petty Real Housewives emo-eruptions, or Taylor Swift merch drops.
They claim history is frivolous, inconsequential, irrelevant, but they don’t actually know enough to render such sweeping condemnations. Theirs is a false pride in the present.
Narrow, Not Wide
They don’t know where we are tending—culturally, politically, morally—as a nation because they don’t know where we’ve been or how we arrived at where we are today.
Ask them about trends in America over the past century: What’s been happening within our own government? Are Americans wiser, more moral, more self-reliant, happier, than they used to be? Crickets. They shrug, yawn, and keep scrolling to see what the next shiny things is.
They ignore the past because they view traditions and customs as oppressive, mere cultural and moral shackles to be smashed, discarded. They don’t worry about piling up mountains of debt that will crush their own children and grandchildren—now measured in tens of trillions of dollars—because they live in the present.
Gimme free stuff now. Screw tomorrow.
Their worldview? A narrow, pastless, historyless present. No past to learn from, no future to plan for.
To boot, they assume the way things are now is the way things must be. A world without a Department of Education? Unimaginable! They can’t fathom that Americans were more literate and understood more about the world around them before federal bureaucrats took over education.
Shallow, Not Deep
Postmodern presentists assume medical breakthroughs only happen when Uncle Sam writes a check, ignoring centuries of inventors and entrepreneurs who risked their own necks (and their own cash) to innovate.
But here’s the kicker: Their ignorance isn’t harmless.
Without history, every outrage seems brand-new. Americans without knowledge of the past and without care for the future are easily provoked by their favorite outrage generators disguised as news media because they don’t have historical standards by which to understand, judge, or evaluate the “news” they’re hearing or reading “in the moment.”
Every partisan headline on MSNBC might as well be followed by the caption: Oh my God can you believe that?!?!
Shallow historical understanding combined with limited moral vocabularies result in every political opponent being labeled “Nazi” or “racist”—words so overused they’ve lost all meaning. Debates devolve into primal scream therapy. No nuance. No perspective. Just feelings. And hashtags.
Wisdom requires experience. And, what is history but recorded human experiences? Where knowledge of history is shallow, wisdom is replaced by emoting, virtue-signaling, and sheer folly.
Breaking this cycle means rejecting the cult of now. It means admitting that not all traditions are trash—some old things were bad, some were not. Some were good, from which we today can learn important and relevant lessons that can help us become better people.
Imagine that: Approaching the past not with condescending arrogance and a false sense of superiority, but approaching the past as humble students who want to learn. Imagine reading Aristotle or Madison not to scold or shame them, but to be expand our own intellectual horizons.
Reconnecting Generations
It means giving a damn about the future we’re building or burying with debt. Freedom isn’t merely about today’s cultural fads or doing what feels good; it’s about natural principles of justice and the natural moral virtues required for happiness that span and unite generations.
Let’s appreciate what those before us sacrificed so that we can live better lives than they did. Let’s try to do the same for posterity. Let’s help each other and our children reconnect to something bigger, older, grander, and more transcendent than the mere fleeting present. Let’s remind each other to look up.
So here’s the antidote: Learn. Remember. Anticipate.
Care enough to be self-reliant, responsible, and fiercely independent. Don’t let those controlling the levers of government power do one thing We The People haven’t authorized them to do—don’t ask those controlling the levers of government to do anything we’ve not authorized them to do—and that requires reversing an entire century of bad progressive political habits.
Join the adults in fixing the cultural mess Americans have made. Or, wait for Drake to drop his next beat while binging another Bravo series. It’s your call.