{"id":28303,"date":"2026-07-19T17:33:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T00:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/?p=28303"},"modified":"2026-07-30T16:22:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T23:22:02","slug":"better-today-tearing-things-down-ransacking-hate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2026\/07\/19\/better-today-tearing-things-down-ransacking-hate\/","title":{"rendered":"Better Today; Tearing Things Down; Ransacking; Hate"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Another story about how the past was not better than today, in particular about teens in 1990s;<\/li>\n<li>Now Marco Rubio is trying to destroy the International Criminal Court; why would that be?;<\/li>\n<li>How it&#8217;s no longer so much fun to be MAGA in Washington and ruining everyone else&#8217;s lives;<\/li>\n<li>GOP midterm strategy: make it a &#8220;hate election&#8221;.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div align=\"center\">&#8211; &#8211; &#8211;<\/div>\n<p>First of all, this. Another piece about how things were *not* better in the past. (Somehow, things are getting better. Despite.)<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-576622654.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0.20870602265951%2C100%2C99.582587954681&amp;w=750\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Vox, Bryan Walsh, 12 Jul 2026<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/future-perfect\/495059\/america-teenagers-1990s-suicide-teen-pregnancy-drugs-violence\">The forgotten success story of America\u2019s teenagers<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;Today\u2019s teens are much safer than 1990s teens. Why doesn\u2019t anyone talk about it?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll quote the Key Takeaways.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><b>Key takeaways<\/b><\/p>\n<div class=\"_1a70pe6\">\n<ul class=\"duet--article--unordered-list _10sa9omi uyby7v0 pn04iq1 _1a70pe7\">\n<li class=\"uyby7v1\"><span class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup\">The teen birth rate hit another record low in 2025 \u2014 down 81 percent from its 1991 peak, or roughly half a million fewer teen births a year.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"uyby7v1\"><span class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup\">It\u2019s not just pregnancy: Teen drinking, smoking, fighting, and drug use have all collapsed since the 1990s.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"uyby7v1\"><span class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup\">The best theory: Teen lives got longer, safer, and richer \u2014 and their futures became too valuable to gamble.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"uyby7v1\"><span class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup\">A teenager today is about a third less likely to die than one in 1990.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"uyby7v1\"><span class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup\">The price: Teen sadness has surged since 2017, and the good kinds of risk-taking declined too.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s how the piece begins:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">It\u2019s been feeling very 1995 lately.<\/p>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">Oasis, whose last good song came out back when Macs were still see-through, was <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/2025\/12\/beyonce-edges-oasis-highest-grossing-tours-2025\/\">the second-biggest tour on the planet<\/a> last year. Gen Z is snapping up<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2025\/10\/17\/gen-z-fashion-nostalgia-retro-tech-backlash-millennials\/\"> the flip phones and digital cameras their parents had traded in<\/a> for smartphones, and Y2K-era fashion is flooding the mall, in case you were wondering where all the rhinestones came from. Pop star Olivia Rodrigo <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allmusic.com\/blog\/post\/olivia-rodrigos-deep-love-affair-with-90s-alternative-rock\">just released<\/a> a hit album heavily influenced by alternative rock recorded a decade before she was born.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>And this bit:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Speaking as someone who lived through the 1990s as a teenager and mostly enjoyed it (at least in retrospect), it makes total sense to me. Of course, it would \u2014 as a Washington Post analysis found, when Americans name the country\u2019s \u201cbest decade,\u201d the answer inevitably boils down to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/2024\/05\/24\/when-america-was-great-according-data\/\">whichever decade they turned 11<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This is what, I think, MAGA means: return the nation to whenever they grew up. That&#8217;s all. It&#8217;s a psychological response that likely has occurred throughout human history. There is no knowledge or analysis to their nostalgia.<\/p>\n<p>The writer goes on expand on that third point.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The best unified theory comes from <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/why-todays-teens-arent-in-any-hurry-to-grow-up-83920\">psychologists like Jean Twenge<\/a> and more recently writers like Mastroianni, whose <a href=\"https:\/\/www.experimental-history.com\/p\/the-decline-of-deviance\">\u201cDecline of Deviance\u201d essays<\/a> argue that kids stopped taking risks of all kinds in part because their futures became too valuable to gamble. As lives <a href=\"\/future-perfect\/494256\/united-states-life-expectancy-death-rates-health-overdose\">got longer, safer, and richer<\/a>, the expected cost of any given joint, fight, or pregnancy went up. Twenge called this the \u201cslow life strategy,\u201d and it shows up as much in data about taking good risks as it does in taking bad ones: The share of high school seniors with a driver\u2019s license, for instance, fell from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.generationtechblog.com\/p\/teens-arent-getting-their-drivers\">82 percent in 2005 to 63 percent in 2023<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This is fascinating. It can&#8217;t be a conscious decision. And yet, there&#8217;s the issue of sadness.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The problem with reducing risk-taking behavior across the board is that not all risks are bad. The same caution that might keep a 16-year-old from smoking or having sex might later keep her from founding a company, moving across the country, or writing a strange novel. In Mastroianni\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.experimental-history.com\/p\/the-decline-of-deviance\">\u201cDecline of Deviance\u201d essays<\/a> he documents falling cultural and scientific risk-taking right alongside fewer fistfights. \u201cFor the first time in history,\u201d he writes, \u201cweirdness is a choice. And it\u2019s a hard one, because we have more to lose than ever.\u201d\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Citing Jonathan Haidt. And concluding:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>But our valid worries about the mental state and uncertain future of today\u2019s teens shouldn\u2019t blind us to just how remarkable the shift from the 1990s is as a whole. As Mastroianni <a href=\"https:\/\/www.experimental-history.com\/p\/the-decline-of-deviance-2\">writes<\/a>, \u201cWe would have spent billions to solve all of these problems back in the 1990s&#8230;and yet when we got the thing we wanted so badly, we didn\u2019t even notice.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">America wanted its teenagers to stop getting pregnant, stop smoking, and stop fighting \u2014 wanted it badly enough to put it at the center of a State of the Union address \u2014 and then got nearly all of it, mostly free of charge, from the kids themselves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">\u201cCan we take a win?\u201d Mastroianni asks. We can start by counting this one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\\\\\\<\/p>\n<p>Moving on to how the current administration is tearing things down.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Marco-Rubio-2285787414-1536x1037.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Salon, Heather Digby Parton, today<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2026\/07\/19\/marco-rubios-quest-to-destroy-the-international-criminal-court\/\">Marco Rubio\u2019s quest to destroy the International Criminal Court<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;The secretary of state is using the right&#8217;s long-standing hatred of the ICC to bolster his MAGA bona fides for 2028&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Setting aside the misunderstood drive of progressives to &#8220;defund&#8221; the police, why would this administration want to dismantle an international criminal court? The answer is pretty obvious.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For a man who considers himself the greatest builder the world has ever known \u2014 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.com\/history\/article\/giza-pyramids\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">move over, Pharaoh Khufu!<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 Donald Trump has managed vanishingly little of it in either of his presidential terms. What his administrations have done is show an impressive talent for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2025\/10\/28\/trumps-bulldozer-is-aimed-at-more-than-the-white-house\/\" data-google-interstitial=\"false\">tearing things down<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\\<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/07\/19\/opinion\/13Quinn\/13Quinn-superJumbo.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp\" width=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>NY Times, guest essay by Sally Quinn, today<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/07\/19\/opinion\/washington-dc-maga-trump.html\">It\u2019s No Longer So Much Fun to Be MAGA in Washington<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The worst part about living in Donald Trump\u2019s Washington has been seeing just how much fun he and all the MAGA vandals he brought to power have been having sacking and pillaging the place. This while the rest of us longtime Washingtonians who abided by norms, shared values and even bipartisanship were filled first with shock, then a feeling of helplessness, and hopelessness. It could border on passivity. What could be done?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This is striking:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I remember running into Kellyanne Conway at a newish private club, already packed with crypto types, who scolded me: \u201cSally, I wish you would stop writing all these pieces about how terrible Washington is now and how everyone is so depressed and scared. We\u2019re having fun! You know what your problem is? You\u2019re not invited to the right dinners and parties.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So that&#8217;s what it&#8217;s all about? But now MAGA is despairing.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Lately, the <a class=\"css-povzk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/06\/29\/opinion\/politics\/trump-vibe-shift.html\">vibe has shifted<\/a>. The MAGA Republicans don\u2019t seem to be having such a good time ransacking the place anymore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-18blb2c e1me5xab0\">It\u2019s not that the party is over, exactly. And to be clear, there\u2019s lots more damage that will be done to this city, and to our democracy \u2014 not to mention America\u2019s place in the world \u2014 before Mr. Trump and his rabble are through. But it\u2019s clearly starting to dawn on the MAGA minions that the morning after is going to be a doozy.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>AlterNet covers this piece with this headline: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alternet.org\/trump-fun\/\">MAGA complains it&#8217;s no longer &#8216;fun&#8217; ruining everyone else&#8217;s lives: report<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\\\\\\<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/yp05X0DvEQZMaw1dZ5xe1bsXFYk=\/0x0:1920x1080\/1920x1080\/2026\/07\/17\/1784309698256.jpeg?w=1920\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Axios, Marc Caputo, today<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/19\/republicans-midterms-hate-election\">GOP midterm strategy: Make it a &#8220;hate election&#8221;<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/2026\/07\/axios-gop-plans-to-make-midterms-a-hate-election\/\">via JMG<\/a>)<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Republicans admit the GOP&#8217;s <a class=\"gtmContentClick\" href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/politics-policy\/2026-midterm-elections\" target=\"_self\" data-vars-link-text=\"midterm\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/politics-policy\/2026-midterm-elections\" data-vars-content-id=\"45ea34ca-f761-4db1-93a6-88bc91704d22\" data-vars-headline=\"GOP midterm strategy: Make it a &quot;hate election&quot;\" data-vars-event-category=\"story\" data-vars-sub-category=\"story\" data-vars-item=\"in_content_link\">midterm<\/a> forecast is bleak. But they&#8217;re clinging to two hopes: voters&#8217; fear and loathing of Democrats.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;It&#8217;s going to be a hate election,&#8221; a Republican tied to President <a class=\"gtmContentClick\" href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/politics-policy\/donald-trump\" target=\"_self\" data-vars-link-text=\"Trump\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/politics-policy\/donald-trump\" data-vars-content-id=\"45ea34ca-f761-4db1-93a6-88bc91704d22\" data-vars-headline=\"GOP midterm strategy: Make it a &quot;hate election&quot;\" data-vars-event-category=\"story\" data-vars-sub-category=\"story\" data-vars-item=\"in_content_link\">Trump<\/a>&#8216;s political operation told Axios. &#8220;Voters have to hate the Dems more than they hate us. And we have material to work with.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Straight out of Orwell&#8217;s <b>Nineteen Eight-Four<\/b>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Another story about how the past was not better than today, in particular about teens in 1990s; Now Marco Rubio is trying to destroy the International Criminal Court; why would that be?; How it&#8217;s no longer so much fun to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2026\/07\/19\/better-today-tearing-things-down-ransacking-hate\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-authoritarianism","category-conservatives"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28303"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28363,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28303\/revisions\/28363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}