As Thomas Kuhn pointed out in his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, the greatest resistance to change comes moments before the collapse of the reigning paradigm, when its defenders “devise numerous articulations and ad hoc modifications of their theory in order to eliminate any apparent conflict.” Kuhn’s interpretive model has helped me make sense of some of the things that no longer make sense. Former CIA analyst Martin Gurri, author of the prophetic 2014 book Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millenium, best described the “crisis of authority” the neoliberals now face: “They could identify the causes of the public’s anger and work to reconcile the public to the system. This would entail flattening the political pyramid and reducing as much as possible their distance from the public.” This, according to Gurri, is not happening, “Elites currently seem to be more concerned with re-establishing their distance from the public than with restoring their own authority. They equate legitimacy with clinging to the top of the pyramid. They find proximity to the public frightening and distasteful: No elite figure wants to come near ‘the deplorables.’ They prefer to hide behind bodyguards and metal-detecting machines.”
Let us cast our net wide: it is the entire neoliberal project and every last one of its minions that must be sidelined from our future. That places a heavy load on the rest of us to step up, in Christine Koch's words: "People of Earth, you are the crew"
A Democratic Socialist, Melat Kiros, is on her way to beating a 30 year democratic incumbent, Diana DeGette, to represent Denver County in the House. Also, Julie Gonzales, progressive Democratic candidate endorsed by Indivisible, has a great chance to beat John Hickenlooper for Colorado representation in the Senate. Democrats are tired of go along to get along.
You’re describing a version of how a sensible electorate might respond to the last 20 years, but I don’t think it corresponds to reality. January 6 is the most obvious example. Those who demanded accountability for January 6 on the Republican side were shunned, and the electorate in general found a way to reward the (unrepentant) perpetrator with another term.
You note, correctly, that the electorate in the USA is not seeking a better healthcare system. But why would they not? Why do they not hold leaders accountable for their failure to deliver outcomes that are at least somewhat in the same zone as other leading countries? Again, the shining example is Trump, whose brazen lies about healthcare over the past decade would have been punished if the electorate was interested in accountability.
The better explanation is that the USA has become a nation of comfortable-but-bored children. They don’t take anything very seriously, whether it’s their local communities or global affairs or anything in between. Making the country better requires effort, to work out what you want your country to be, and how to get from the status quo to something better. And too many Americans can’t be bothered with this effort. So they bounce from one shiny object to another, no matter how misguided.
America won’t get better politics until it gets a better culture. Adult-aged people need to think and behave like adults. Sadly, it seems a long way off.
About half the US population is living pay check to pay check, very far from comfortable. They are so poorly educated that they do not see how badly exploited they are.
There are people with real problems, for sure, but the vast majority of Americans live more comfortably than most people who’ve ever lived. They also went to school and have ready access to whatever information they need to make decisions like who to vote for.
This is what makes failures like the re-election of Trump so distressing to the rest of the world. Americans knew who he was, and he was barely even trying to pretend that he was interested in the welfare of American citizens (e.g. “I have concepts of a [healthcare] plan”). But they voted for him anyway.
The truth is that tens of millions of Americans have been comfortable for their whole lives, and they assume that this is normal and will always be the case. They’re also so bored that they buy into anything that juices them up, regardless of whether it makes any sense (e.g. MAGA and the now-missing campus protesters both voting for Trump).
This is what most “the people will rise up” predictions ignore - “rising up” involves “getting off your couch.” It’s a pretty high barrier to start with.
There’s a large chasm between “being upset enough about something to yell about it” and “being upset enough about something to do something about it.”
Exactly right. I'm one of those perennially faithful D donors that has refused to give to the DCCC this time around. I'll give to fighters that will replace the feckless and giving to fighting orgs doing the real work.
Despite the morbid obesity of America’s political body - “obese” in the sense of too much donor money, too many powerful special interests seeking continued government entitlements and favors - I think you’ve found the faint pulse of democracy. Please keep listening and diagnosing and your stethoscope warm…
The first image to come to mind was the French Revolution, banner-fueled with"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"... in response to 'Let them eat Cake'.... trump's 'Let the children have one Barbie' isn't even food. It's getting closer and I appreciated your character analyses of Platner, Mamdami, and Khanna. Thanks!
Greg Perrett makes an accurate and astute comment here. Call it culture, DNA, norms, or systems, it is America that needs to change, not only the candidates or policies they put forth.
American modernity is an equal opportunity influencer. Even if we pay more to that warehouse worker and provide better healthcare and retirement benefits (a fine goal nonetheless), we are left with structural problems that will continue to erode. If we can’t get unified societal agreement for proactively pushing the culture in a different direction, America will likely suffer social unrest at level rare for the country.
We ignore at our own peril the powder keg (pallets of toilet paper in the Kimberly Clark warehouse) that American culture has produced and stored.
When I think of our economic/political structure as a pyramid, it seems so obvious that the top will fall if the base is continually eroded. I don’t understand why, but it seems that those at the top eventually lose their ability to keep their principles in order. Maybe it’s a form of altitude sickness that makes people on the top incapable of keeping their perspective functional.
I was turned on to Graham Platner from the first time he appeared on my horizon. He rings true to me on a level of instinct that has been reinforced by intellectual assessment as I’ve followed what he has to say.
I am a Republican by registration. 81 years old. Perhaps because I’m female (a gender that navigates more comfortably by instinct) but also because of my age, I have found that my reactions to people tend to be reliable for me (ie, continue to seem sound). I’m not so huberistically stupid as to need to feel that my assessments about people and situations are overwhelmingly correct but I do think an instinct to drop attachment to personal ego and party affiliations leads one to see more clearly because of being less burdened by ego shit.
I find that I agree with the values of the Democratic Party but I am utterly turned off by the way the Democrat machine comes off. I give money to Democratic candidates all over the country because I become familiar with what they say and am impressed.
Unfortunately I look like a pool of honey in the sun to Democratic operatives who descend on my email and text functions with blind stupidity to the fact that anyone may be attracted to the character and intelligence of a candidate rather than being a mindless supporter of a party. It is no wonder to me that the Ds fail time and again. Their hearts (and often their minds) are in the right place but the crushing machinery that leads Schumer to support Mills over Platner stuns me.
And unfortunately the nasty attachment to party has lead to a country divided by “factionalism” in exactly the way our founder Madison feared.
One of your best pieces of writing. It explains perfectly where we are and the journey to this point. It also explains why Sanders voters could have voted for Trump in 2016. Moving forward, we have to accept that millions of people were hoping Trump would be the one to bring change (disruption) and accountability (vendetta). I believe that the anger of his voters will be key to come out of this mess. We need to help channel it. As per the ruling class, they live in a bubble getting bigger and bigger. We know what happens eventually to those bubbles. I lived through the second Iraq war, the financial crisis, Covid. I have always been asking myself why no one has ever paid, especially for the financial crisis. I made it through, I have a career and a good life, I have been an observer rather than a victim, however, my anger and eagerness to shape a different society for my children and grandchildren is enormous.
All true, but The People can't "take" their rightful share of the pie, they still are dependent upon their masters to "give" them a fair shake. And until Congress frees itself from highly-paid lobbyists cutting their preferred candidates in on a piece of the plutocratic action, nothing will change — wealth will continue to concentrate amongst the top-ten percentile, the unquenched anger will build, and far-right "populists" will keep on keeping on, diverting attention away from the "malefactors of great wealth" to the "Other".
As Thomas Kuhn pointed out in his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, the greatest resistance to change comes moments before the collapse of the reigning paradigm, when its defenders “devise numerous articulations and ad hoc modifications of their theory in order to eliminate any apparent conflict.” Kuhn’s interpretive model has helped me make sense of some of the things that no longer make sense. Former CIA analyst Martin Gurri, author of the prophetic 2014 book Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millenium, best described the “crisis of authority” the neoliberals now face: “They could identify the causes of the public’s anger and work to reconcile the public to the system. This would entail flattening the political pyramid and reducing as much as possible their distance from the public.” This, according to Gurri, is not happening, “Elites currently seem to be more concerned with re-establishing their distance from the public than with restoring their own authority. They equate legitimacy with clinging to the top of the pyramid. They find proximity to the public frightening and distasteful: No elite figure wants to come near ‘the deplorables.’ They prefer to hide behind bodyguards and metal-detecting machines.”
Let us cast our net wide: it is the entire neoliberal project and every last one of its minions that must be sidelined from our future. That places a heavy load on the rest of us to step up, in Christine Koch's words: "People of Earth, you are the crew"
We are in heated agreement. Mike stepped up. We need to be like Mike.
A Democratic Socialist, Melat Kiros, is on her way to beating a 30 year democratic incumbent, Diana DeGette, to represent Denver County in the House. Also, Julie Gonzales, progressive Democratic candidate endorsed by Indivisible, has a great chance to beat John Hickenlooper for Colorado representation in the Senate. Democrats are tired of go along to get along.
You’re describing a version of how a sensible electorate might respond to the last 20 years, but I don’t think it corresponds to reality. January 6 is the most obvious example. Those who demanded accountability for January 6 on the Republican side were shunned, and the electorate in general found a way to reward the (unrepentant) perpetrator with another term.
You note, correctly, that the electorate in the USA is not seeking a better healthcare system. But why would they not? Why do they not hold leaders accountable for their failure to deliver outcomes that are at least somewhat in the same zone as other leading countries? Again, the shining example is Trump, whose brazen lies about healthcare over the past decade would have been punished if the electorate was interested in accountability.
The better explanation is that the USA has become a nation of comfortable-but-bored children. They don’t take anything very seriously, whether it’s their local communities or global affairs or anything in between. Making the country better requires effort, to work out what you want your country to be, and how to get from the status quo to something better. And too many Americans can’t be bothered with this effort. So they bounce from one shiny object to another, no matter how misguided.
America won’t get better politics until it gets a better culture. Adult-aged people need to think and behave like adults. Sadly, it seems a long way off.
About half the US population is living pay check to pay check, very far from comfortable. They are so poorly educated that they do not see how badly exploited they are.
There are people with real problems, for sure, but the vast majority of Americans live more comfortably than most people who’ve ever lived. They also went to school and have ready access to whatever information they need to make decisions like who to vote for.
This is what makes failures like the re-election of Trump so distressing to the rest of the world. Americans knew who he was, and he was barely even trying to pretend that he was interested in the welfare of American citizens (e.g. “I have concepts of a [healthcare] plan”). But they voted for him anyway.
The truth is that tens of millions of Americans have been comfortable for their whole lives, and they assume that this is normal and will always be the case. They’re also so bored that they buy into anything that juices them up, regardless of whether it makes any sense (e.g. MAGA and the now-missing campus protesters both voting for Trump).
This is what most “the people will rise up” predictions ignore - “rising up” involves “getting off your couch.” It’s a pretty high barrier to start with.
There’s a large chasm between “being upset enough about something to yell about it” and “being upset enough about something to do something about it.”
Exactly right. I'm one of those perennially faithful D donors that has refused to give to the DCCC this time around. I'll give to fighters that will replace the feckless and giving to fighting orgs doing the real work.
I would rather send money to a Kickstarter campaign than the DCCC because with Kickstarter there's a better chance of getting what I paid for.
Despite the morbid obesity of America’s political body - “obese” in the sense of too much donor money, too many powerful special interests seeking continued government entitlements and favors - I think you’ve found the faint pulse of democracy. Please keep listening and diagnosing and your stethoscope warm…
The first image to come to mind was the French Revolution, banner-fueled with"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"... in response to 'Let them eat Cake'.... trump's 'Let the children have one Barbie' isn't even food. It's getting closer and I appreciated your character analyses of Platner, Mamdami, and Khanna. Thanks!
Greg Perrett makes an accurate and astute comment here. Call it culture, DNA, norms, or systems, it is America that needs to change, not only the candidates or policies they put forth.
American modernity is an equal opportunity influencer. Even if we pay more to that warehouse worker and provide better healthcare and retirement benefits (a fine goal nonetheless), we are left with structural problems that will continue to erode. If we can’t get unified societal agreement for proactively pushing the culture in a different direction, America will likely suffer social unrest at level rare for the country.
We ignore at our own peril the powder keg (pallets of toilet paper in the Kimberly Clark warehouse) that American culture has produced and stored.
The Sovereign Class never cared about democracy. Slaves, serfs, little people are just human capital ...lazy, loud and troublesome.
When I think of our economic/political structure as a pyramid, it seems so obvious that the top will fall if the base is continually eroded. I don’t understand why, but it seems that those at the top eventually lose their ability to keep their principles in order. Maybe it’s a form of altitude sickness that makes people on the top incapable of keeping their perspective functional.
I was turned on to Graham Platner from the first time he appeared on my horizon. He rings true to me on a level of instinct that has been reinforced by intellectual assessment as I’ve followed what he has to say.
I am a Republican by registration. 81 years old. Perhaps because I’m female (a gender that navigates more comfortably by instinct) but also because of my age, I have found that my reactions to people tend to be reliable for me (ie, continue to seem sound). I’m not so huberistically stupid as to need to feel that my assessments about people and situations are overwhelmingly correct but I do think an instinct to drop attachment to personal ego and party affiliations leads one to see more clearly because of being less burdened by ego shit.
I find that I agree with the values of the Democratic Party but I am utterly turned off by the way the Democrat machine comes off. I give money to Democratic candidates all over the country because I become familiar with what they say and am impressed.
Unfortunately I look like a pool of honey in the sun to Democratic operatives who descend on my email and text functions with blind stupidity to the fact that anyone may be attracted to the character and intelligence of a candidate rather than being a mindless supporter of a party. It is no wonder to me that the Ds fail time and again. Their hearts (and often their minds) are in the right place but the crushing machinery that leads Schumer to support Mills over Platner stuns me.
And unfortunately the nasty attachment to party has lead to a country divided by “factionalism” in exactly the way our founder Madison feared.
One of your best pieces of writing. It explains perfectly where we are and the journey to this point. It also explains why Sanders voters could have voted for Trump in 2016. Moving forward, we have to accept that millions of people were hoping Trump would be the one to bring change (disruption) and accountability (vendetta). I believe that the anger of his voters will be key to come out of this mess. We need to help channel it. As per the ruling class, they live in a bubble getting bigger and bigger. We know what happens eventually to those bubbles. I lived through the second Iraq war, the financial crisis, Covid. I have always been asking myself why no one has ever paid, especially for the financial crisis. I made it through, I have a career and a good life, I have been an observer rather than a victim, however, my anger and eagerness to shape a different society for my children and grandchildren is enormous.
Thx Mike. My daily bread. Nearly starved to death when u went quiet.
Excellent!! Anyone Bernie endorses im down with. He's been screaming for years. We are all ready to hear him. Great insightful article
Unequivocally, adamantly YES
All true, but The People can't "take" their rightful share of the pie, they still are dependent upon their masters to "give" them a fair shake. And until Congress frees itself from highly-paid lobbyists cutting their preferred candidates in on a piece of the plutocratic action, nothing will change — wealth will continue to concentrate amongst the top-ten percentile, the unquenched anger will build, and far-right "populists" will keep on keeping on, diverting attention away from the "malefactors of great wealth" to the "Other".
*Plus ça change..." and all that.
All this is wishful thinking. People were given a choice in 2024 and they chose.