America’s Predictable Descent into Chaos

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I don’t often go this negative, but after experiencing the continuing breakdown of both complex things like America’s political system and supply chain and even relatively simple things like food and other delivery services and dine-in food service this weekend, I’m inclined to accept Mr. Tanner’s recent analysis in Medium:

“The sad truth is, the United States of America we all thought existed was a myth. There is no true point of unity, no real sense of shared sacrifice and consideration for others that goes beyond petty politics. The political architecture is antiquated and heavily anti-democratic, the history inseparable from slavery and genocide.

More than 50% of the Discretionary portion of the Federal budget — the part paid for by Americans’ federal income taxes — flows to the military. The United States has never transcended its original identity as a brutal settler colony dedicated to extracting every bit of value it can from those lacking the power to resist.

This is why half of Americans live on the verge of falling into poverty, why unlike every other advanced nation it has no universal healthcare system, why when a pandemic strikes people are forced to keep working and spreading a virus.

The American myth is collapsing, and with it, America …

[In the 2020 election] The real breakdown of American voters came out to be:
∙ 40% pro-dictatorship
∙30% pro-Biden
∙30% pro-democracy

That’s a coalition that will not last — and in truth, the characterization isn’t fair. Yes, many Trumpists are fascists — but as many people voted for Trump because they feel he is all that protects their way of life from being obliterated by America’s Disneyfied cultural oligarchy which relegates rural people (who have less money than suburbanites on average) to the same kind of Subaltern, stereotypical existence in the national consciousness as Black Americans.”

— Andrew Tanner, American’s Grim Future

Mr. Tanner’s timeframe for this collapse (10 years) may be debated, but his basic analysis cannot.

This is happening. The clear warning signs have been ignored, and we’re past the tipping point. Find something, and hang on.

“Ending one republic does not mean the end of a nation. It means starting a new republic.”

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“California is a modern democracy with a powerful initiative process that allows its highly diverse population to amend its constitution directly. The U.S., in contrast, is a majority-white country that clings to a 1789 constitution that permitted slavery, is nearly impossible to amend, and prohibits election of the president by popular vote.

The power of the U.S. presidency is largely unaccountable; one person in the Oval Office can start nuclear war without anyone else’s permission. Other branches are also sheltered from democratic interventions. Too much power lies with a U.S. Senate that gives California’s 40 million people the same two senators as Vermont’s 625,000. Difficult controversies are decided by a Supreme Court of highly politicized, life-tenured judges.

None of this makes California’s departure from the union likely. But it guarantees state-federal conflict, and more frequent California attempts to escape the union.”

— The U.S. Constitution needs an overhaul. Here’s how California can help, Fortune