An introduction
It is my sincerest hope that I am wrong about the things that I have set out to write in this publication. That my views have been constrained by lacking a vantage point that allows me to see the full picture, and that my mood has been infected by the cynicism of the current zeitgeist.
I will be frank that I have masked my name behind an androgynous handle, embracing the very possibility that my views are misguided, in order to protect myself from ridicule or harming myself professionally. Further, I do so in order to say the things I fear to state under my own name, cognizant that modern times make the evolution or growth of one’s thinking nearly impossible in the public sphere.
However, it also serves a purpose, so that whatever ideas may be presented to the public may be judged accordingly and independent of my own credentials. In our present era we have grown accustomed to elevating to great importance, ideas of little merit or practicality, solely based on the individual who issues them.
This practice unfortunately, has aided not only in the degradation of the discourse but in the acceptance of bad ideas and policies and rejection of the good, that has relegated our development as a nation to a permanent impasse.
With these things said it is my intention to shine a spotlight on the reality that decades of policy failures, eroding norms, and the effects of a global pandemic have created the conditions for upheaval. My first goal is to stress the urgency of the present moment and impress upon the reader the very real danger we face as a nation. A danger not fully acknowledged in real terms by the modern press or political discourse beyond the use of hyperbole or as a rhetorical tool.
As I see it, we have two paths before us: one of reform and the other of revolution. I have come to believe the third path we are already traveling upon and it is defined by the gradual decline of post-World War II America as we have come to understand it, both in domestic and foreign spheres. The third path is the easiest and most likely to be followed because it provides the least resistance.
To that end, I will do my best as these writings develop to stray from engaging in too much prophesying around where that ultimately leads us, as my intentions are to inform what can be done to prevent that from occurring, or altogether transform America into a new form of governance that centers those from which our government derives its power.
Finally, whatever my personal leanings may be, I will not express them outright and let the reader discern for themselves where I stand. I feel applying ideological labels provides a barrier for people to engage with ideas and evaluate them honestly. The same label can mean different things to different people, and often we find ourselves debating ideologies instead of the merits of proposed ideas and the context in which they are being put forward.
Whatever my leanings may be, my desire is not to see a new America built in the mold of the philosophies of centuries past, but rather to chart a new course that defines what governance can and should be in the 21st Century, taking into account what we have learned through the course of human experience.
