"... since the Democrats are the party of government, it was clear that protection from and vengeance against the existing power structure would have to come from the nominal opposition party."
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"The only good or justice that prevails is the good or justice of the stronger." This error I will forgive, as it's easy to make. In fact, the justice of the stronger is what always obtains.
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"Hence, among us as well, subjection by force is replacing conviction by argument." Argument was always a myth. Have to say I'm not impressed when folk, presented with contrary evidence, pretend the world changed so they don't have to change their mind.
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"This forced the recognition that there exists a remarkably uniform, bipartisan, Progressive ruling class" This has happened many times in American history. There was nothing special about 2008, which is why the Party saw no reason to hesitate.
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"They distrust elections because they think that power should be in expert hands" A distrust informed by experience.
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"The books they read pretend to argue scientifically that the rest of Americans are racist, sexist, maybe fascists, but above all stupid." As a matter of fact, American who manage to get into university largely have a higher IQ than ones that don't.
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Basically the pattern here is this: Thucydides managed to see revolution without becoming himself a revolutionary. Codevilla, by contrast, did not, and is now forced to e.g. twist words away from their ordinary meanings.
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"the rapidity with which our revolution’s logic has unfolded—have surprised and dismayed even those of us who realized that America had abandoned its republican past." Read your Moldbug, you pretentious, insular little twat.
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"they constitute cold civil war against the voters, even coups d’etat." Even the slower students are realizing that America is not a democracy. If only they didn't pretend the world had changed, to forestall having to change their minds about the past.
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"Trump’s accession to the agencies’ assertion of the power to decide with whom he may or may not speak of the nation’s secrets radically decreased the number and quality of appointees." This is why, even on days I lack any tolerance, I soldier on through such pieces.
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"Thus do such judges exercise the powers of the president and Congress." Indeed. Separation of powers is a myth. Technically it can be temporarily true, but eventually one power or another must be de facto the supreme power.
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Currently the slower students are finding out that, much like a bureaucracy's head loses power to someone somewhat lower down the org chart, the Supreme court's total supremacy has been delegated to lower circuits.
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"The revolutionary import of the ruling class’ abandonment of moral and legal restraint in its effort to reverse election results cannot be exaggerated." Ironically, if people like Codevilla hadn't said anything, it could very easily be exaggerated.
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"Conservative speakers on campuses routinely expect “protests” in which people get hurt." Scare quotes are okay, but better to name the thing: they are paramilitary soldiers. As is usual in outbreaks of genuine democracy.
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Revolution is itself a proggified word. It actually means literal revolution: that the high be cast down, that the low be brought high. The intra-elite squabbles which Codevilla describes are not revolutions, and don't even get within spitting distance of deserving such gravitas.
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"You may have won the last election, said the ruling class. But we’re still in charge. Indeed, they are." Codevilla, representing the slower students, discovers the Cathedral.
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"Establishment Republicans were driven to admit that their kind could no longer buy the Left’s comity." Republicants would have remained can't-do folk, except Trump has shamed them into sheepishly and partially rediscovering their testicles.
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"by death-gripping their privileges;" There's murder, arson, and jaywalking, and then there's Codevilla's jaywalking, littering, suicide bombing, and petty vandalism.
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"simply protested the bipartisan ruling class’s continued rule""signing the $1.3 trillion omnibus bill that continued financing every Progressive group" Yes. Trump is trying not to throw the first punch. He's hoping to pull on America the same trick he pulled on North Korea.
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Trump does not realize he is asking the Party of Permanent Revolution to give up Revolution.
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"Trump’s rousing speeches feed the body politic as empty calories feed the human body." The slower students discover the principle of folk activism.
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Though doubtless, having failed to give it a name, they will quickly forget it. Though even if they did give it a name, the name would be an abomination before all communication.
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"Who will accept losing the next elections? Odds are that neither the Left nor, now, the Right will accept it." The right holds no institutional power, so their rejection would come in the form of petulant weeping.
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"and that a substantial portion of the Senate’s Republican majority would be friendly to it." Yes. Generations of loser/outer Party selection at work.
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"That would leave the 2016 electorate’s defense to Trump—who would be forced to fully deploy Presidential powers" And as a result, throw the first punch. Most likely leading to Emperor (Imperator, meaning literally 'commander') Trump, as per
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"What would a fully re-empowered ruling class that had tasted the possibility of dis-empowerment do to preclude anything like that ever happening again?" They can't disestablish democracy, or they will face immediate rebellion.
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If they do anyway and crush the rebellion, the official renunciation of democracy will in fact be a step toward stability and prosperity. If they don't disestablish democracy, they can be voted out again.
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Codevilla is a particular class of scholar, who is capable of accurately and coherently conveying their personal observations but little else. They cannot generalize, nor can they infer future events. They are a critical operative, but basically a lab rat.
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"defusing conflict between them by means of loosening relations between the states such that these become looser than existed prior to the Civil War." Sorry. As above, the Permanent Revolution is aware they can't allow separation.
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"Prior to Progressivism, the American political tradition had not been about imposing any way of life on anyone." ...hmm? Do I hear hyenas? They are laughing. A lot.
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"it may be possible to convince it to switch from its present offensive mode to a defensive one." Ironically the correct way to deal with proggies would be to pay them off. Find out who loses their job from The Wall, and retire them at 100% their current wage. Maybe even 120%.
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