{"id":496,"date":"2024-10-19T18:39:21","date_gmt":"2024-10-19T18:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2024\/10\/19\/we-have-a-problem\/"},"modified":"2024-10-19T18:39:21","modified_gmt":"2024-10-19T18:39:21","slug":"we-have-a-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2024\/10\/19\/we-have-a-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"We Have a Problem . . ."},"content":{"rendered":"

. . . and according to Malcolm Pollack, there's no fixing it<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

We have a problem, and as far as I can see, it isn\u2019t going away; indeed, I expect it will get sharply worse in the wake of next month\u2019s election. The problem, simply put, is that although the bedrock principle of the American political formula is \u201cconsent of the governed\u201d, we have now reached the point where whichever faction comes to power will govern entirely without<\/em> the consent of half the population.<\/span><\/p>\n

This was not always the case. Once upon a time \u2014 within my own memory \u2014 there was enough commonality on social, political, and moral axioms that those out of power would subordinate their dissatisfaction to the importance of playing the game, and would look at political setbacks as little more than a bad year for the home team. \u201cNext season\u201d was never too far off, and meanwhile we could live with the opposition temporarily in power because we knew that, despite some differences about policy, we more or less agreed on the fundamental axioms of American life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, things are different. For the losers in the next election (whichever side that is), being governed by the victors isn\u2019t going to feel like like losing a round; it will feel like being subjugated<\/em>. It\u2019s going to be like having their homeland pillaged and their altars desecrated by a despised and unholy enemy before whom they will be made to kneel. And that is going to get worse, not better, as time goes by.<\/span><\/p>\n

The two factions, the Cloud People and the Dirt People, each have power, but very different kinds of power (the power of the latter is still mostly latent and unorganized, but it is real). Clearly, we can\u2019t live together, and neither is willing to be ruled by the other \u2014 but we can\u2019t get away<\/em> from each other, either.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The problem is summed up perfectly in the final sentence.  I don't have a real solution but a return to federalism may help mitigate tensions, as I suggest in my latest Substack<\/a> upload.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

. . . and according to Malcolm Pollack, there's no fixing it: We have a problem, and as far as I can see, it isn\u2019t going away; indeed, I expect it will get sharply worse in the wake of next month\u2019s election. The problem, simply put, is that although the bedrock principle of the American … Continue reading “We Have a Problem . . .”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[312,48,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political-pessimism","category-social-and-political-philosophy","category-u-s-constitution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}