Russiamerica

How the World’s Great Enemies Became Failed State BFFs

The biggest change in the early 21st century world is easily this: Russiamerica. Russia and America merging to form a massive, failed, ideological superstate. No, before you go Ross Douthat on me, I obviously don’t mean they’ve merged like a fortune 500 corporation. I mean that they are converging ideologically, culturally, becoming one volk, if you like, with strikingly similar beliefs, aspirations, and dreams. And of course such people are natural friends. Hence, Russiamerica and Trumputin.

Before I prove it to you, let’s note about how remarkable the birth of Russiamerica is. After all, these are the greatest enemies of the last era of human history. We had many stories of Russia infiltrating America, or vice versa — but even in these stories, they remained enemies. For them to be proud allies against a world shaking its head? Unimaginable.

In what sense do I mean “Russiamerica”, a “failed ideological superstate”? I mean that both extreme capitalism and extreme socialism have ended in the same place: kleptocratic nationalism. That is the political economy that describes both Russia and America today, and they are merging ideologically because they both believe fiercely in it. Now, that doesn’t mean you do. But enough of your compatriots do — and certainly most of your leaders. What are the essential tenets of kleptocratic nationalism? There are essentially three: centralization, power, and blood.

— That there should be no public goods, save ideological (ie Pravdas)

— That the strong should take more than all, and the weak should perish

— That a society has a blood tie to its land, and that blood tie is stronger in some than in others

— That an economy is most effectively run by a tiny handful of monopolies

— That those monopolies should be owned by friends of the polity

— That the polity should be run by a strong father who can give people safety

— That thus any criticism of father is a moral and legal treason, justifiably punished severely

Centralization, power, and blood. These are the great aims of Russiamerica. You can categorize my little criteria above that way easily, if you like. What should be clear, though, is how strikingly close America and Russia are along these axes of belief. Both now believe that centralization yields efficiency, that power (not, say, justice or freedom) is the right end of society, and that purity, nobility, strength of blood (cleanse those dirty Muslims) is what the political economy are organizing, maximizing in the first place.

The interesting question is this. How could two such deeply opposed belief systems, capitalism and socialism, end up in the same place? The answer is so obvious it is hiding in plain sight. Before they were political “isms”, they were something deeper: extremism. Only Russia and America among rich nations ever believed that one single ideology was salvation. Hence, one was capitalist, one was socialist — but both were extremist. As superpowers, both were on puritanical moral crusades. The rest of the world just wanted to be left alone to live.

Today, the socialism and the capitalism have largely been stripped away ideologically, having failed. Even the GOP’s much maligned healthcare plan, for example, isn’t capitalist —I can’t just go to the store and buy prescription drugs — it’s a bizarro combination of the worst of everything. It is kleptocratic nationalism.

So now all that is left is the extremism. And in all extremisms, you will find these three great organizing beliefs. Centralization, power, and blood. The extremist doesn’t believe in human possibility — only in genetics, blood, determinism, destiny. The extremist doesn’t believe that society has any moral aim at all, freedom justice truth and so on — first and last, there is power, without which there is nothing at all. The extremist must centralize power — after all, he is on a moral crusade: he wishes to save people who probably don’t want to be saved. And the extremist must come to believe, as a result of denying both human possibility and morality, that blood is the currency by which life is valued.

There is a great truth in this story for thinking people. Russiamerica represents a great failure. Not just of political economy. But also of morality, of truth, of justice, of freedom.

Even if it takes a hundred years to be expelled from the garden, it is what happens when societies stop believing in human possibility.

Umair
July 2017