In my observations (oversimplified, of course), the four major forces in contention are democracy, communism, society, and government.
In the matrix, when society and democracy have the most power, the result is individualism. If you consider the evolution of America, this is the quadrant of our founding. Even though we were technically under a monarchy, the therapy of distance applies – that the Colonies were far too large and too far away from the center of power in London to be effectively controlled or governed by a King and the true management of society and government was conducted by the social mores and by religious beliefs. Democracy was evident in the choice of the individual because there was no concept of a large communal structure on the frontier. Due to the frequent isolation of the people who explored, pushed the boundaries farther west, and then lived on the edge of Western civilization decisions necessarily relied on the individual.
After the advent of the Revolutionary War and the subsequent founding of our nation, government became a living entity and began to assume power from society, taking on the management of interpersonal activities, such as trade and legal arrangements. The common convention of the time, the strong feeling of independence and individualism led to the creation of the Constitution and its enumerated powers. Recognizing that there were still limitations of distance, time and communication and that there were distinct and individual regional differences, the Founders wisely debated the wisdom of a strong central government versus smaller units (the States) and decided in favor of preserving the power of the individual and relegating anything not specifically necessary for maintenance of a strong national union to the individual states, thereby keeping the management of the people’s affairs strongly in their hands. As the role of society gave way to the power of organized government, the power of democracy remained strong and we moved into the upper left quadrant, a representative republic.
This is where we remained until the oppositional forces of economic growth from industrialization and the communistic idea of social organization began to co-develop. The explosive growth of the American industrial revolution and the innovations that came from it allowed an improvement in quality of life that has been unparalleled in human history. Far from depending on the strength of one’s back, through the invention of labor saving and labor multiplying mechanisms (the steam engine, the cotton gin, the steam shovel), the energy needed to drive them (the discovery of oil and natural gas) and the drive to reform and exploit the natural environment to support human need (railroads, highways, irrigation, dams for flood control and electric generation, chemical fertilizers and modern methods of food production).
This evolution allowed people to consider activities (leisure, education, entertainment) other than those only focused on survival. Where in the past, the survival was an individual pursuit (dependent upon the ability of the individual to hunt, gather or conduct subsistence farming), survival became more interconnected and moved back into the province of society… as technology and society evolved, individual knowledge and skills became more “siloed”, and interdependence was required for progress and survival.
Even though these interactions were driven by free enterprise and lassiez-faire capitalism, as society regained influence with a greater concern for itself via the greater interconnection, we moved into the quadrant where collectivism became more powerful than individualism, moving us closer to communistic control. This is evident in the societal changes due to the Great Depression and the subsequent comfort of the American people with collectivist (and in some cases, socialist) programs and philosophies.
The next step is under way. To cement control, the natural response of collectivist society is to guarantee its survival and propagation into the future by enshrining that belief in law through government. A collectivist society readily accepts the transfer of control to government if it can be assured that the behaviors needed to sustain it will become a matter of law. Examples of that today are the shift from church and faith-based aid, something traditionally supplied by the private sector (churches, Salvation Army, charities) to governmental welfare programs, setting a “minimum” wage in lieu of allowing the market to value labor and affirmative action/quotas. The final step is the movement into the lower left quadrant to totalitarian control of the population where democracy and society have no power and the government and communist ideology have total control.
Although this will be, it should not be looked upon as an “alarmist” treatise. There is a zone of political stability that we have managed to stay within that exemplifies the natural variation of political thought in America. This “give and take” has been going on in our country since the early 1900’s with no clear winner. We have rotated through every quadrant, orbiting around the center point, with Congresses and presidential administrations of every range – from the anti-constitutionalism of Wilson, Obama to Trump on the other side without coming apart at the seams. We have existed through the imbalanced economies of the industrial revolution, the national pride and national unity of two world wars, the division of several more military conflicts, the staid conformity of the 50’s, the racial, social, and sexual revolution of the 60’s, several economic recessions and booms and several massive economic disruptions, the Covid pandemic and the Ferguson/George Floyd riots.
Then came Biden, a communist revolution wrapped around a dried husk of a man like a mummy wrapped in linen.
As demonstrated by Obama and Biden, the strongest attempts to break out of our zone of stability have come during left leaning administrations when the strength of collectivist/big government thought was in their solid control. From about 1913 until the late 1950’s, events like the Great Depression, the economic transformation post WWII, and the social upheaval of the ‘60’s gave opportunities for things like the Social Security Act of 1935, government involvement in home and agricultural finance, education, and the expansion of the welfare state via the “Great Society” programs of the Johnson administration.
When classic liberal/modern conservative thought began to organize under the auspices of William F. Buckley and M. Stanton Evans, it initiated a pullback toward the upper right quadrant and the unwinding of a half century of social engineering. Buckley’s publication of God and Man at Yale in 1951 and Evans’ articulation of conservative principles via the Sharon Statement of 1961 started the transformation that resulted in the candidacy of Barry Goldwater, the eventual presidency of Ronald Reagan and the Republican control of Congress in 1994 (after 40 years of Democrat control).
A confluence of severe economic conditions and a political class desirous of complete control, combined with a willing ignorance of history and of the principles of the founding of America (or perhaps it is not ignorance but the product of several generations of Americans who have been taught an alternate or incomplete version of our history) has brought about another opportunity for governmental and societal movement of a tectonic magnitude.
Biden’s power grabs, even more than those of Obama, have resulted in Biden becoming more of a unitary executive than Bush ever was – Bush was a piker in comparison, are simply extensions of the socialist beliefs in “experts” in command of central planning and control.
We are lurching toward increasingly tighter legislative control over our citizens while pursuing ever more communistic policies, pulling us inexorably toward the totalitarian quadrant. Democrats are the drivers of this change, and the weakness of the establishment Republicans makes them complicit. Between the drive of the left and the co-dependency of the Republicans, we have seen change so gradual that entire generations of voters cannot conceptualize a society of independence – it seems strange but there will be a group of first time voters in 2024 who will have been born in the second year of the George Bush administration and their first memories of politics will be the Obama years…the Reagan Revolution is but a footnote in a dusty history book.
The danger comes if we break out of the area of political stability too rapidly and into any one of the quadrants, especially into the “totalitarian” quadrant. Since politics is like physics, for every reaction, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Although there is a great deal of concern about “taking care” of members of society and Americans are altruistic at their core, they also have a strong sense of independence and individuality.
We have conditioned our government and society to be in balance in this area and to reset the center point will cause significant social upheaval and revolution. We saw such an outbreak in the 1960’s but have not seen the equivalent on the conservative side. The proponents of conservative thought have been lacking in commitment to bring about the kind of long term change that liberals have been successful in executing.
I often wonder just how bad it must get before we get mad enough to match the intensity of the Democrats. I do not think most people understand how bad the structural deficiencies are in our contemporary economy. Since the 2000 election, we have been putting extremely expensive wallpaper over termite infested walls.
A second Trump term may just be the kick in the ass we need to get moving.
If we are to change the direction of America – that is the change we need to be working toward.
Sadly, another four years of Trump won't carry the momentum required to affect any real or lasting societal/political evolution. The unhinged "resistance" has decades of indoctrination behind it. I once thought a Trump/DeSantis ticket would check all the boxes required to bring lasting effect, but given Trump's pride and habit of stubbing his own toe, it seems that will never come to pass.
A few weeks back I saw a segment in which Tulsi Gabbard was speaking on the debacle the Biden Administration has become and I could find no fault with what she said. What we need far more than kicking the Progressive ass is a way to bring that 9/12/01 feel back to America, even if it's not on as large a scale. Sure, there'll still be fatal cases of TDS, but those pesky independents would be skeptical of the Left's 'literally Hitler' claims. We are in sore need of unification instead of an in your face approach if the republic is to survive. If you think what Trump's tenure from '17 -'21 was beset with madness and obstruction from the Left, just think what a Conservative four years would do to the Progs.
Trust me, I'd rather kick them in the teeth than the ass, but we need a way to neutralize the lunatics. A Trump/Gabbard ticket just might bring a salve to the wounds that are absolutely self inflicted. Then again, I could be wrong. It happens.
Not alarmist at all. Accurate, but a bit subdued, report.
As for us matching the intensity and commitment of the crazed Democrats: highly unlikely. They LIVE to destroy.