The Spin Cycle

America is out of balance for now, but is history’s most remarkable example of a self-correcting and self-repairing nation.

In my estimation, there are three key elements of a free nation. These are:

• Liberty

• Equality

• Unity

But it is not enough to have all three, all of them must exist in equal parts, all in balance.

What happens when liberty, equality and unity are out of balance?

A good analogy is a washing machine in the spin cycle.

Anyone who has ever operated a washing machine knows what happens when a load of laundry is unbalanced, because the machine bucks like a two-dollar mule, jostling everything around it and finally just shuts down – or as in the bad old days before out-of-balance shutdown sensors, beats itself to death.

We do not need to look far into the past for validation of this analogy. Of course, history is not a perfect predictor or an iron-clad guarantee, but it is certainly a guide.

The French motto of “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité” formally emerged in the early 1790’s.

The ideals of liberty, equality, and brotherhood (unity) were shared by the United States at a conceptual level, so much so they turn up in our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution in one form or the other before common use in France.

The French tripartite expression of liberty, equality, and unity would seem on equal footing and well suited to live in harmony - but as a factual matter, there is an almost irreconcilable tension between these concepts.

The French Revolution of 1789-1799 was the outward representation of how the French government and people struggled mightily between themselves with the balance of the concepts of liberty and equality - and as that struggle progressed, unity dissolved.

Many French intellectuals of the period came to believe that the French societal temperament was more inclined toward equity of outcome rather than liberty, so equity became more important than liberty.

During the Jacobin period, the French redefined equality to include the equality of OUTCOMES, not only judicial equality of rights – and as a result, “equality” morphed into “equity”.  Since liberty implied individualism, and individualism implied uneven and unequal outcomes, the idea began to take hold that an “equitable” society could only be realized through a coercive government that assured everybody got an equal share.

The answer to the question of how to maintain unity in a coercive state gave rise to  the Reign of Terror. “Unity” was maintained by the invention of the Comité de Salut Public (the Committee for Public Safety) led by Maximillian Robespierre. Charged with protecting the new French Republic against its foreign and domestic enemies, the committee was given broad supervisory and administrative powers over the armed forces, judiciary, and legislature, as well as the executive bodies and ministers of the Convention. Rising to the heights of dictatorial power over the French people (including the royalty), mass arrests and imprisonment, regicide, and summary executions became the order of the day.

But the United States plotted a different course. Rather than liberty, equality, and brotherhood (unity), America chose E Pluribus Unum - out of many, one - as a motto.

The ideas of liberty, equality and unity were given co-equal standing in our founding documents and in the systems derived from them.

• Equality was defined as protecting an environment where citizens have equality of opportunity, not guaranteed equal outcomes.

• Individual liberty was protected as unequal outcomes were expected and accepted as the price of a life of liberty for all.

• Unity was wrapped around the idea that we all have the same liberties and opportunities, we are all subject to the same justice, and we are a nation united by the need and desire to protect both liberty and equality for all.

To quote Hillary Clinton: “What Happened?” How did we get so out of balance? Given current temperaments, one might legitimately question whether the US is undergoing its own Jacobin period.

Well, three things stand out:

• Intellectual and political forces in America have been trying to unbalance the washing machine by eliminating and/or reweighting our founding principles. The most dangerous is the redefinition of equality, morphing from equality of opportunity into equality of outcomes (equity).

• Transactional politics has overcome philosophical politics. There is too much “What can you do for me?", especially when the "do" is done by spending other people's money, many of whom would disagree with that spending.

• Identity politics is killing American unity.

Academician and author Charles Murray (The Bell Curve) warned about the dangerous, yet predictable, denouement of identity politics, that 13% of the population (blacks) blaming 60% of the population (whites) for all their woes and calling for preferential retributive treatment runs the risk of the 60% figuring out that identity politics cuts both ways. When the 60% begins to make laws to advantage themselves, America is over.

Historian Niall Ferguson made the point that the American left loves to cite the 1930's as a historical reference point for today, that everybody they don't like is Hitler and FDR level programs are necessary for survival, but our polarization looks more like the 1850's and it is entirely possible we are on the verge of a cold Civil War.

As a student of history, I happen to agree with both.

But there are things we can do.

First, rebalance the washing machine - we have seen this movie before, and we know how it ends if we don't - the French version ended with gallows and guillotines in public squares.

Stopping the push for “equity” is a critical aspect of the balancing act.

We must refocus politics to something more philosophical and aspirational, and let the people figure out the rest through making decisions based on their own rational best interests.

America is history’s most remarkable example of a self-correcting and self-repairing nation. I happen to believe a return to conservative, constitutional principles and values are the way to regain our balance.

The most positive sign I have seen this is coming are the increasing numbers of people who are simply saying the most American thing ever to our contemporary Jacobins, “Go F yourself, we’re tired of your sh*t and we’re not doing it anymore.”