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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"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
@jamesd23x. -
"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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Of course this is no more politically possible than it's politically possible to demolish a large New York building while people are still inside, to avoid having it fall uncontrolled across other inhabited buildings.
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"Were this to be the happy case, the conservative side of American life, operating from a dominant position, might be able to obtain agreement to some form of true federalism." You just keep stepping in it, don't you Codevilla?
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America also can't allow separation because: Trade routes are intricately interlinked and are owned by political supporters. Who gets the debt? Who gets The Bombs? Frankly, separation is just too much work for an exhausted Late Empire.
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"Unattainable, and gone forever, is the whole American Republic that had existed for some 200 years after 1776." Ignorance is bliss. Maybe -don't- read your Moldbug: you're not emotionally robust enough to handle it.
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"For some, laws are already on the books (18 USC I/29/611)" "A dying Empire accumulates laws the way a dying man accumulates remedies."
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Anyway, that's all for Codevilla's errors calling forth correction.
End of conversation
New conversation -
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