Finally, to the various factions and forces that together comprise America, a message.
To the Left: I am one of you. Know that I say this with love: we need to get our act together. You drive me crazy with your ever changing norms around language, and your insistence on dismissing good progress as insufficient because it is not perfect. And I realize the irony of the previous sentence considering everything I have said in this book. The problem of organizing the Left is that no one hates a leftist more than another, slightly different leftist. Where is our unified, positive vision? Where is our Project 2025?
To the Right: I recognize there are many facets of your coalition. But I nonetheless address you as a monolith with regard to democracy. When the votes are counted, and the outcome is declared, what are you going to do? Are you going to support that outcome? Or are you going to defy it? In 2020, Donald Trump defied democracy, and, if he loses in November, I fully expect him to do so again. But you don't have to follow him. You have agency. You have choice. Do not give in to that dehumanizing, fearmongering rhetoric! We are all Americans. We are all humans.
To the disaffected Middle: You really have the power to decide this election. You see two parties that you view as getting more and more extreme, and you find the choice between them distasteful. Policy preferences aside, the difference between the Right and the Left is that the Right is organized while the Left is not. If you find the policy goals of the extreme wings of each side equally distasteful, the more organized faction is more likely to be successful in implementing policy goals that you might oppose.
To the non-voters of all persuasions: I say this without judgment: You have chosen to not choose. Your view of our entire political system as corrupt, and flawed, and unworthy of your vote is reasonable. However, our government is worse, I think, for not having had your input. I hope a proportionally representative system, such as described in this book, might earn your choice to cast a ballot. In a multiparty system, you might find a party that earns your support. Or, if you wanted to get real crazy, you could create a new party yourself.
To the Prospective Next Major Party: Start with a single, simple idea. The last real new political party in America was the Republican Party, founded in Wisconsin in 1854. It had one core political belief: opposition to slavery. That was the idea that provided unity. What will yours be? Once you have your idea, start local, within your State. And once you are organized, reach out nationally for those who might be likeminded. Don’t just start by running a Presidential candidate. Show the American people you are serious first, before asking them to award you the highest office in the land.
To the Establishment Politicians: Aren’t you tired of this system, too? Wouldn’t a multiparty system be fun? Do not miss the forest for the trees! In the grand scope of our history, what will your story be?
To the Chattering Class: Ugh. You endlessly annoy me as I consume hours of your content. You treat news items as if they were all equally BREAKING NEWS, damaging your credibility and our discourse. You fritter away our mental energy with your political hobbyism, your breathless, changing by the minute, superficial political arguments. You are exhausting! Do better! Go touch grass!
To the Financial Elites: You guys know that political stability is good for business, right?
To the Bureaucrats: You pride yourself on impartial competence, as you should. But be wary of your impartiality being exploited by malevolent forces. Write down, for yourself, now, the red lines of state power which you cannot abide. Be wary of becoming a cog in a machine sowing banal evil!
To the Military: You are the single institution I trust most in America. I say that not to lick your boots, but as a statement of fact. Seemingly all our other institutions are failing, but you have remained true to your principles. Your honor during the 2020 Presidential Transition will be forever commendable. Yours is the power of the sword, the sharpest, deadliest, and most expensive sword in the history of the world. If the worst comes to pass, and a tyrant orders you to do something you know to be wrong, I hope you will again be honorable. The power is yours.
To the Past: The crimes and triumphs of our land cannot be separated. Together, you have created our present. Now, it is our turn.
To the Present: Our country stands on the edge of an abyss. “We are in the process of a second American revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.” That is a frankly very aggressive declaration from Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation, and the author of the Foreword of Project 2025.
Curious, and not wanting to let the media determine my views, I read the 17 pages of Roberts’s Foreword. There is some wild stuff in there, to put it mildly. Although, interestingly, the existential rhetoric of Project 2025 in many ways mirrors my rhetoric here. In that way, at least, we agree on the stakes of the present.
But the vision described in Project 2025 and the vision I have described here are far apart. My Polemic has at its core a belief in egalitarianism, the idea that all humans are created equal. Project 2025 claims that same American heritage, yet it twists these ideas of human equality so much that they become their opposite. It is also intensely pro-nationalist and pro-religious, specifically pro-Christianity. I find that combination concerning, because “When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way.” Based off my reading of the Foreword, and the events of January 6, 2021, there is ample reason to believe that democracy is not something that the riders of this cart will let stand in their way.
This Polemic has been a scream into the void, a desperate plea to avoid the violence and chaos of a potential Civil War. But if such a tragedy comes to pass, I know what side I will be on. I choose the pen, not the sword, and I will forever be on the side of democracy, and truth, and freedom.
To the Future: Let us have that Great Debate! For you, I hope we do good.
Hey,
I'm just a dude from India who randomly stumbled into your work via Youtube. I just wanted to post a comment to show my appreciation for your work. Your clearly passionate about this and I'm glad to see it, especially with all of the craziness going on in your country.
India has a lot of these issues as well, even if it looks pretty stable. We have our own right-wing that would like to implement a religious one party state, at the expense of the innumerable diversity of our country. It's not exactly a coincidence, since we're both ex-British colonies and we based our democracies off of the features present in the UK's system (which is also screwing them over). I have been reading a lot more into political philosophy lately, which has sent me down a rabbit hole which leads me here today.
If I could offer some unwanted advice, I think you're going for too broad of a reform, too early. No offense but as the political climate currently stands, I don't think its feasible and or even practical for a top-down approach to be effective, at least not without a lot of resentment. And unlike the Suffragette or Civil Rights movement, this issue is a less human and emotional issue and more a logical one. It's a lot easier to appeal to righteousness in the case of visible injustice to our fellow human beings, than it is to appeal to higher ideals of representation and voting rights. It's not how it should be but I think as we try to scale this issue into a national conversation, this will be one of the biggest stumbling blocks.
Have you ever thought of trying to organize more of a local movement to change the way local governments are elected ? I think its more feasible and I think that the only way an actual electoral reform movement will ever gather steam is by actually having people experience alternate forms of government. It will not be fast or easy but I think in this day and age, where only the biggest of issues can truly unite people, it will be a movement built slowly and from the ground up that can survive.
At any rate, I just want to thank you for your time and effort. I hope that one day, you will get to live in a better version of the US.