We live in an ideological age. Communism, fascism, classical liberalism, progressivism, democracy, capitalism – we continue to debate these terms even though some of these ideologies have died out and others have become meaningless. fighting a war.
Modern people think of ideology as something that is constructed before society begins, something that defines civilization from the beginning, but this is not the case. For example, conservatives often say that “the Constitution defines America,” but it was the American people who defined the Constitution at the time of its founding. The Founders knew this, so they made it clear that the Constitution could only govern. certain people.
The more universal an ideology tries to be, the more inhuman it becomes.
Every people, or every nation in the classical sense, has a natural way of being for that group, which is reflected in the way society is ordered. If a country is small and has a homogeneous population, few people need to be described as such. The order is organic and specific.
As nations grow and societies expand, they need ways to communicate their country’s identity to newcomers and outsiders. We call this assimilation. This can be successfully accomplished if you approach it slowly, thoughtfully, and with great care.
But the more outsiders we have to admit and the faster we have to assimilate, the less likely it is that this way of being will be able to be transmitted organically. In its place comes an ideology that abstracts the state of the nation. It’s not as good as the real thing, but it’s a great tool if you need to assimilate a lot of people quickly.
beyond the limits of nature
The problem with ideologies is that they are artificial, unlike ways of being that develop in relation to particular cultures and particular people with their own set of needs. Ideology is a tool for fitting random groups of people into rigid structures. This may work if the people being assimilated are relatively similar. But the wider the circle, the more ideology becomes abstracted from reality until it bears little resemblance to the way people live their lives.
When we force people to conform to an ideology, we inevitably dehumanize them and force their way of being into artificial molds that distort and complicate the natural order. The more universal an ideology tries to be, the more inhuman it becomes.
We have expanded human institutions far beyond their natural limits into empires that span the globe, and these empires can only be ruled by ideology. These ideologies are so divorced from actual human well-being that they harm the people they control. It was never intended for the entire planet to be ruled in one way or to share one culture or way of life. Tragedy ensues when we try to impose these man-made ideologies on real people who were never meant to govern.
This is why we spend all our time screaming at each other in American politics. Everyone is fighting for ideological control. No one is thinking about the interests of any particular people, the people of this country. To the left, even thinking of Americans as an ethnic group is sacrilegious. Progressives treat nationalism as a synonym for racism, but we all know that racism is the worst sin ever committed by humanity. We are afraid to even define what the word nation means, so we can only discuss abstract ideologies.
Ideology meets empire
One factor driving this cycle of frustration is democratic mechanisms that encourage coalitions of ethnic blocs organizing under ideological banners. In some countries, racial politics are more pronounced, but in the United States, ideology holds these parties together, as coalitions tend to form from odd combinations of class, religion, ethnicity, and regional identity. Abstract enough to be the only glue. . Power is won by sharing and distributing the spoils, as there is no incentive to govern for the good of the whole.
Another factor driving our ideological attachment is empire. The United States cannot survive as a people if we have to expand our civilization to the size of a world hegemon. Our economic and political systems depend on the ability to instantly influence trade and diplomacy around the world. Losing the domestic political battle means losing control of the entire global commercial and cultural dynamic.
There’s a reason Democrats are treating Donald Trump as an existential threat. They understand what is at stake. Each election will no longer be a debate about what is best for the people of the United States, but a battle over which ideology will literally rule the world.
The problems facing our country are big, and we cannot solve them by discussing the flimsy remains of abstract, outdated ideologies. To address the problems at hand, we must consider not what is good for our preferred form of global governance, but what is good for our families and neighbors.
Americans cannot begin to think about the well-being of our nation unless they can see themselves as a particular people with a particular history, culture, and way of life. It is a monumental task of recovery for any civilization to grapple with, but it is critical if we are to move beyond this ideological era.
