#JaredWesley: "It means moving beyond the tired West vs East dichotomy... to channel values of #resilience and #optimism into #adaptation, [not] retrenchment or replacement. [Will] Western communities harness that pioneering spirit to create a prosperous, inclusive future?

"The #West [must] think bigger. It needs leaders whose visions stretch beyond our current limits, to build dreams miles out of town in the expectation that we’ll all grow together in that direction."

https://open.substack.com/pub/drjaredwesley/p/western-alienation-20?r=4t3klr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

#JaredWesley: "[Ending]... this #black-and-white fallacy starts with a shift ... from a battle over the #past ... to a shared vision for the #future. Instead of seeing change as a threat or a boon, #Westerners can treat it as a reality they must confront together.

"... investing in new industries while valuing the contributions of #resourceworkers, embracing #Indigenous and #settler leadership, and fostering economic policies [will] ensure prosperity is widely shared."

https://open.substack.com/pub/drjaredwesley/p/western-alienation-20?r=4t3klr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

#JaredWesley: "That earlier [populism] united religious folks, farmers, workers, and #smallbusiness owners against churches, #corporate #monopolies, banks, and distant #governments that controlled their lives. Through protests, #cooperative movements, and #unions, Westerners sought to democratize power and opportunity for themselves. Today’s #populism defines “the people” by who doesn’t belong; the earlier wave [challenged] concentrated power to benefit all who labored."

https://open.substack.com/pub/drjaredwesley/p/western-alienation-20?r=4t3klr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

#JaredWesley: "In this sense, the #West’s greatest challenge may not be economic or cultural decline, but the fact that some people were conditioned to believe in both limitless #opportunity and #superiority. The #mythology of the West promised a permanent #frontier. But frontiers, by definition, do not last forever. Like other regions, the reality of the modern West is now one of boundaries—economic, cultural, and political."

https://open.substack.com/pub/drjaredwesley/p/western-alienation-20?r=4t3klr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

#JaredWesley: “I think politicians who are able to tamp down the rhetoric and get people focused on doing stuff, getting stuff done, moving forward, are the ones that are going to be the most successful electorally over the next five to ten years,” he says. “It’s not going to be the folks who are howling at the moon and throwing insults across the aisle.”