I remember thinking this way when I was an idealistic conservative. Now I spend more time focusing on nurturing a small flame to outlast the decline - even that is very tough, but I also think it has a good chance of working.
(PS I read this to Mrs. Apple Pie. She enjoyed it, but she's complaining about a sore throat and disappointingly has no comments of her own)
Choice A: Trying to/believing we can fix this giant empire and impose, or encourage it to adopt, a new "Age of Heroes."
Choice B: "Nurturing a small flame to outlast the decline."
Maybe there is a way to split the difference.
I begin more inclined toward Choice B. I too once believed that Choice A was possible and desirable. I no longer do. The Empire is too large and too far gone, but more importantly…republican democracy is not a guarantor of human rights; it is a violator of them. Fixing this system—even if we restore some vision that one or more of the Founders may have had—means fixing a fundamentally non-consensual, rights-violative, violent system.
A possible Choice C lies elsewhere, but also somewhere in between. It lies with a variant of the Benedict Option: forming (and allowing to be formed) smaller polities that attempt to embody better ways of life. Let them succeed or fail. Let them be free to try. Let them secede and show others the success of their ideas. Those that apply the ideas of the Age of Heroes will very likely thrive!
But it must be voluntary. It is neither possible to force an entire people to adopt a way of life nor is it desirable. "Fixing" the American system and preserving the American Empire means requiring that people live a certain way whether they wish to or not. That will never work. (At best, it works for a time and then collapses.)
A system of free polities in which people consent to participate and live a certain way will produce real heroes. Indeed, every participant/citizen/member of such a polity would feel a hero because he has CHOSEN that polity and its ethos.
Choice C is best. The republican system is so convoluted and manic that it would need a severe overhaul that would take many years to even restructure. But by allowing people to live as they choose, with perhaps a loose federal code, would work better, I think. (I say loose federal code so that the states don't start warring with one another consistently, such as in Ancient Greece.)
Tyranny is never the option, which is why I wouldn't trust the current government system with implementing a plan such as the Age of Heroes. They'd quickly corrupt it and force it upon people.
But with smaller territories, people can figure out what works best. And smaller territories would possibly lead to a more simplistic way of choosing leaders, getting rid of excess fluff like caucuses and electoral colleges. (Maybe those polity leaders can choose the federal head?)
Something else, I think is worth nothing, is raising the children with the Age of Heroes virtues, and educating them on the past. Making sure every generation understands where they came from, and what they have to maintain, prolongs complacency.
Opposing us from the left are statists—people who prefer that the state exist, and that it be as large, active, and centralized as possible.
Opposing us on the right are patriots—people who refuse to surrender the image (part true and part illusory) of the 'Founders' vision.' People who cannot put down the tricorne hat and just walk away.
This means that pretty hardcore libertarians and anarcho-libertarians are the only natural allies. Some conservatives, if sufficiently disillusioned, will also agree/join.
The patriots can be sold on the idea of "colonies" if it's trumpted by the right people--influencers and thought-leaders. If that doesn't work, then they can still have their "True America" polity as a part of the decentralization. It would be up to the patriots to succeed or fail.
Worst case scenario, though, they would be the first group who rallies for civil war. This would create a myriad of other problems...
As for the statists, they can create their own utopia, like CHAZ.
Not to be Eeyore, but both of those require them accepting the idea of breakup in the first place. That is gonna be a hard sell. Both, though motivated from a different place, will call it "treason."
That being said, I am formulating a plan for slow, peaceful progress towards this goal…
We might eventually attempt a two state solution once we realize Þe invaders will not Americanize just as Rome attempted when Þey realized germanic invaders would not Romanize.
We will fail, Þe west will fall and with it Þe world will fall backward another two thousand years once again.
The cryptic and archaic emoting of the “anarcho-capitalist” liber-tard-ians, with their badly camouflaged epistemology is a mix of Russian Jew Ayn Rand and pedophile devil worshipper Aleister Crowley, who's Thelemite cult is really the brainchild of pedophile Jew Israel Regardie . . . their transexual Baphomet goat god is a creation of devil worshipping Jew Eliphas Levi . . .
From the Zodiac killer, to the Nightstalker, to Jonestown, to San Francisco . . . it’s the same cult of bloodthirsty, psychotic devil worshipping nutjobs . . . . . . Ukrainian Jewish devil worshipping pedophile Marina Abramović, Jewish devil worshipping pedophile Ghislaine Maxwell, and the former mayors of San Francisco, including Gavin Newsome, are all devil worshipping sex weirdos . . .
Elon Musk gives gay satanist Israeli operative Volodymyr Zelensky free Starlink satellite services that you'll eventually pay for, like the nearly $200 billion to Ukraine, laundered by FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried (another devil worshipping Jew). It will surely be used for DNC campaign cash; the Democratic National Committee is just a huge terror cell masquerading as a political party.
We really need a better system in place to choose leaders. The republican system has so much bureaucracy and ethereal unknowns, which is a power tactic really. But it's a tactic that leads politicians to forget how they even got there and voters to forget the power they really have. The system needs to be optimized and simplified for max efficiency.
While I agree with your ideal, there is alot to be thankful for regarding the stability afforded by our current system as is. It is designed to be slow, ungainly, and persist. This, aside from protection of personal freedom and rights, is perhaps the most important thing about a government. That said, I too have many ideas to make it better. And I know they are all wrong, I just don't know if they are wrong enough to be dangerous. Change is a dangerous experiment because it is always an experiment. Yet change must continually occur. It's all about the balance.
Spot on. It's all about the balance. Every action has a reaction.
I love the system America has been able to create. 250 years of hard-earned rights, some good, some bad. Really, when I talk about America, it's not that I hate it, but it's like watching a beloved family member who just can't get their act together. I know no country can perfect, but it's great to find ways in which it can be.
I wrote a lengthy "manifesto" a while back and while Ill never publish it, and it was only read in full by my close friends, it served as a good starting point for me and let me get my own thoughts straight. I still publish bits of it here and there but its a good point to riff off of if nothing else. Dont stop!
I remember thinking this way when I was an idealistic conservative. Now I spend more time focusing on nurturing a small flame to outlast the decline - even that is very tough, but I also think it has a good chance of working.
(PS I read this to Mrs. Apple Pie. She enjoyed it, but she's complaining about a sore throat and disappointingly has no comments of her own)
It definitely does have a chance of working. And I'm glad Mrs. Apple Pie enjoyed this! Cold and flu season attacks all of us, alas.
Choice A: Trying to/believing we can fix this giant empire and impose, or encourage it to adopt, a new "Age of Heroes."
Choice B: "Nurturing a small flame to outlast the decline."
Maybe there is a way to split the difference.
I begin more inclined toward Choice B. I too once believed that Choice A was possible and desirable. I no longer do. The Empire is too large and too far gone, but more importantly…republican democracy is not a guarantor of human rights; it is a violator of them. Fixing this system—even if we restore some vision that one or more of the Founders may have had—means fixing a fundamentally non-consensual, rights-violative, violent system.
A possible Choice C lies elsewhere, but also somewhere in between. It lies with a variant of the Benedict Option: forming (and allowing to be formed) smaller polities that attempt to embody better ways of life. Let them succeed or fail. Let them be free to try. Let them secede and show others the success of their ideas. Those that apply the ideas of the Age of Heroes will very likely thrive!
But it must be voluntary. It is neither possible to force an entire people to adopt a way of life nor is it desirable. "Fixing" the American system and preserving the American Empire means requiring that people live a certain way whether they wish to or not. That will never work. (At best, it works for a time and then collapses.)
A system of free polities in which people consent to participate and live a certain way will produce real heroes. Indeed, every participant/citizen/member of such a polity would feel a hero because he has CHOSEN that polity and its ethos.
Secession and phylarchy FTW!
Choice C is best. The republican system is so convoluted and manic that it would need a severe overhaul that would take many years to even restructure. But by allowing people to live as they choose, with perhaps a loose federal code, would work better, I think. (I say loose federal code so that the states don't start warring with one another consistently, such as in Ancient Greece.)
Tyranny is never the option, which is why I wouldn't trust the current government system with implementing a plan such as the Age of Heroes. They'd quickly corrupt it and force it upon people.
But with smaller territories, people can figure out what works best. And smaller territories would possibly lead to a more simplistic way of choosing leaders, getting rid of excess fluff like caucuses and electoral colleges. (Maybe those polity leaders can choose the federal head?)
Something else, I think is worth nothing, is raising the children with the Age of Heroes virtues, and educating them on the past. Making sure every generation understands where they came from, and what they have to maintain, prolongs complacency.
Solid.
But then we end up with a twofold problem:
Opposing us from the left are statists—people who prefer that the state exist, and that it be as large, active, and centralized as possible.
Opposing us on the right are patriots—people who refuse to surrender the image (part true and part illusory) of the 'Founders' vision.' People who cannot put down the tricorne hat and just walk away.
This means that pretty hardcore libertarians and anarcho-libertarians are the only natural allies. Some conservatives, if sufficiently disillusioned, will also agree/join.
The patriots can be sold on the idea of "colonies" if it's trumpted by the right people--influencers and thought-leaders. If that doesn't work, then they can still have their "True America" polity as a part of the decentralization. It would be up to the patriots to succeed or fail.
Worst case scenario, though, they would be the first group who rallies for civil war. This would create a myriad of other problems...
As for the statists, they can create their own utopia, like CHAZ.
Not to be Eeyore, but both of those require them accepting the idea of breakup in the first place. That is gonna be a hard sell. Both, though motivated from a different place, will call it "treason."
That being said, I am formulating a plan for slow, peaceful progress towards this goal…
Are you're planning on turning this plan into article(s)? Because I'm pretty interested as to how to turn the polities into reality.
like fall of roman empire? tks for post
Yes.
We might eventually attempt a two state solution once we realize Þe invaders will not Americanize just as Rome attempted when Þey realized germanic invaders would not Romanize.
We will fail, Þe west will fall and with it Þe world will fall backward another two thousand years once again.
Byzantine America? I'm in.
It's imperative, though, we don't let the foreign regimes take hold. Oppression sounds maddening.
(Also, you get points for using the Þ.)
“So, remember, every picture tells a story, don't it…” ― Rod Stewart
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/so-remember-every-picture-tells-a-story-dont-it-rod-stewart
_______________________________________________________________________________
The cryptic and archaic emoting of the “anarcho-capitalist” liber-tard-ians, with their badly camouflaged epistemology is a mix of Russian Jew Ayn Rand and pedophile devil worshipper Aleister Crowley, who's Thelemite cult is really the brainchild of pedophile Jew Israel Regardie . . . their transexual Baphomet goat god is a creation of devil worshipping Jew Eliphas Levi . . .
From the Zodiac killer, to the Nightstalker, to Jonestown, to San Francisco . . . it’s the same cult of bloodthirsty, psychotic devil worshipping nutjobs . . . . . . Ukrainian Jewish devil worshipping pedophile Marina Abramović, Jewish devil worshipping pedophile Ghislaine Maxwell, and the former mayors of San Francisco, including Gavin Newsome, are all devil worshipping sex weirdos . . .
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/and-joining-the-ranks-of-this-satanic-dead-jew-society-san-franciscos-dianne-fiendstein
_______________________________________________________________________________
Elon Musk gives gay satanist Israeli operative Volodymyr Zelensky free Starlink satellite services that you'll eventually pay for, like the nearly $200 billion to Ukraine, laundered by FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried (another devil worshipping Jew). It will surely be used for DNC campaign cash; the Democratic National Committee is just a huge terror cell masquerading as a political party.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/zelensky-biden-satanism-war-greed
Rather than fixing it, our American “leaders” hide away in their ivory towers like the cowardly snakes they are.
That describes every politician ever. There has yet to be one in the last 60 years that dared to do what was right.
At this point, it would be better to start over sans DC.
We really need a better system in place to choose leaders. The republican system has so much bureaucracy and ethereal unknowns, which is a power tactic really. But it's a tactic that leads politicians to forget how they even got there and voters to forget the power they really have. The system needs to be optimized and simplified for max efficiency.
While I agree with your ideal, there is alot to be thankful for regarding the stability afforded by our current system as is. It is designed to be slow, ungainly, and persist. This, aside from protection of personal freedom and rights, is perhaps the most important thing about a government. That said, I too have many ideas to make it better. And I know they are all wrong, I just don't know if they are wrong enough to be dangerous. Change is a dangerous experiment because it is always an experiment. Yet change must continually occur. It's all about the balance.
Spot on. It's all about the balance. Every action has a reaction.
I love the system America has been able to create. 250 years of hard-earned rights, some good, some bad. Really, when I talk about America, it's not that I hate it, but it's like watching a beloved family member who just can't get their act together. I know no country can perfect, but it's great to find ways in which it can be.
America got replaced by Zombie America when No one was looking
COVID did one good thing right, and that was wake some people up to the madness.
This is basically what JBP' "conservative manifesto" should have been.
Manifestos are always a tricky thing for a lot of reasons, but if nothing else, they serve as a starting point.
Thanks. I like seeing people's takes on ideas. It's how the Enlightenment was able to have such a huge impact. (Or maybe I'm just lazy.)
I wrote a lengthy "manifesto" a while back and while Ill never publish it, and it was only read in full by my close friends, it served as a good starting point for me and let me get my own thoughts straight. I still publish bits of it here and there but its a good point to riff off of if nothing else. Dont stop!