Summary – A thousand symptoms show that America is broken, but with only one cause: old age. New societies rise from ashes of the past. Perhaps America’s time day has passed, and we must begin to build a better future.
My inbox overflows today with wild guessing, mostly conspiracy theories about the causes of the Iowa caucuses fiasco. Mostly nonsensical. There are two sound ways to see this. The first is tactical, micropolitics. For a fine example, see “Iowa Caucuses, the Blob, and the Democratic Party Cartel” by Matt Stoller (columnist and author, well-wired into the Democratic Party).
“{T}he insularity of the political class has enabled institutional actors within the Democratic Party in Iowa to become fused with corporate power through informal and formal financial and social relationships. As corporations get more and more concentrated, these relationships eventually wear down the competence of a political apparatus. The night before the caucus, the Iowa Democratic Party head said, “These are probably the most prepared we’ve ever been as a party for these caucuses. We’ve run through a few different scenarios, but I can tell you, we’re ready.”
“That’s where we get to ACRONYM, which owns the app maker Shadow {which did the tabulating for the D’s Iowa caucuses}. ACRONYM is an organizing vehicle for a $75 million digital spending campaign for large Democratic donors against Trump. Basically the pitch from Acronym was, ‘we need to be high tech to beat Trump,’ which means collecting money from rich people and unions and buying YouTube and Facebook ads with it. The function of the nonprofit is simple, it’s an ad buying firm full of ex-Facebook employees. …
“In this moment in history, the network of institutions that comprise the Democratic Party, from cable news channels to law firms to campaign operative networks to Silicon Valley lobbying outposts like Facebook and Google, are hollow and obviously incompetent. …The result of this rank incompetence and dishonesty is a rebellion in the Democratic Party, much as the same dynamic in the Bush administration created the predicate for the Trump movement. The most important symbol is Bernie Sanders …”
I live in eastern Iowa. The Democratic Party is poorly organized, but the GOP is a coffee klatsch – ineffective in what should be a core state. Stoller’s analysis explains the symptoms of this weakness. It is accurate but superficial. It is much like describing DoD as ineffective. Not so; these are highly effective social machines. They do the bidding of America’s stakeholders (i.e., not us).
Without citizen involvement, as we became consumers (i.e., politically passive and apathetic), powerful special interests have taken over the political machinery of America. It’s the Great Circle of Life. If we won’t run America, others will – and will do so in their own interests. But that is the small lesson from Iowa.
“If God didn’t want them sheared, he would not have made them sheep.”
— Calvera, bandit leader in the movie The Magnificent Seven(1960).
America’s senescence
People attribute the dysfunctionality of our institutions to malice or evil. The hard reality is that this is just old age: we have a political and economic system with low legitimacy, antiquated social machinery, and riddled with graft (parasites, like our defense, health care, and education systems – extracting immense resources disproportionate to their contributions). Even our public infrastructure is decrepit. Worst of all, the system – us, working collectively – cannot reform itself. I discuss this widespread institution failure in A new, dark picture of America’s future.
This is senescence. In cells, senescent cells cannot replicate. Which describes America today, in which we have increasing difficulty passing on our values to the next generation. Freedom of speech and association, the presumption of innocence, capitalism and free markets, our traditions of morality – all are fading copies from one generation to the next. Alienation is the natural reaction of many people (i.e., the majority between the fanatical extremes) to living in what becomes a foreign society. As a result, our institutions are becoming dysfunctional.
America (technically, our regime) is 232 years old. That is ancient. In modern times, few societies last that long. Those that do survive, drastically change over such a period. Even Britain, with its famously stable government, has evolved more than America’s political structure over that period. This is somewhat similar to the late Roman Republic, where the citizens also became alienated as Rome’s internal and external circumstances drastically evolved.
“Every nation has the government it deserves.”
— By Joseph de Maistre (lawyer, diplomat, philosopher). From Letter 76 dated 13 August 1811, published in Lettres et Opuscules.
What comes after senescence?
Societies are not eternal. Where are the Romans, the Scythians and the Amalekites? Their lands endure, with people living there. But everything that made them distinctive peoples is gone. Sometimes by evolution into something different. Sometimes by rapid revolutions. Sometimes by replacement (peaceful or violent) by other peoples. Or, as in America today, all of those working simultaneously. The result can be better or (like the Fall of Rome) much worse.
But it need not be our fate. Revival is an inherent capability of humanity at all levels, from the individual to the nation. If we care about America and the lives of our descendants, then we will again become active in our community and national organizations. Especially politics. Not just voting, which is the lowest level of involvement – choosing among the alternatives others serve up. But contributing time and money to shape the choices we get.
Both America and the world have changed, and we must adapt or suffer the consequences. We can fix America’s machinery or just accept our new rulers and their new deal for us. If we choose the latter, let’s retain our dignity and not whine about it.
Once we were worthy of the America built with two centuries of work. Is that true today?
“Choice. The problem is choice.”
— Neo in The Matrix Reloaded.
We will choose if it is rising or setting.
For More Information
Ideas! For some shopping ideas see my recommended books and films at Amazon. Also, see a story about our future: Ultra Violence: Tales from Venus.
If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See all posts about ways to reform America, and especially these…
- Important: A 4th of July reminder that America is ours to keep – or to lose!
- Populism arises amidst American workers abandoned by both Left & Right.
- The middle in American politics has died. Now extremists rule.
- On this Independence Day, See The Future of America.
- After Independence Day, look to America after the Republic.
- Brexit and Trump began a new era for the West.
- Vote for your ideal figurehead in 2020!
- This is why we’re weak. Here’s how we can become strong.
Books explaining what happened to American politics
Listen, Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?
The Party Is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted
