Thing about the United States is that it can't do conservatism because it was founded by liberals as a specifically liberal polity. That's why every attempt at US "conservatism" has been a colossal botch since literally 1780....
Americans are at their most vital, articulate, engaging, and interesting as liberals, because that's what they do. Liberalism is their core business. Saying "fuck you" to authority is in their DNA. It's their expertise. Conceding the legitimacy of authority is anathema to them...
That's why the US, despite being an empire, can't nation-build. Rome & Britain developed nations all over the world, because they had a profound respect & genius for law and government. Americans can't nation-build for shit because, deep down, they hate law and government...
American liberals make sense. You may disagree with them, but they have an internal coherence & philosophical heritage. US conservatives are usually incoherent, because they have no other choice: Their nation's very essence militates against everything they claim to believe...
Unless it's being expressed by a trained actor who can make BS sound plausible (Reagan), US conservatism is doomed to sound like gibberish--which is what produces shitshows like Trump & Fox News. Those circuses aren't failures; they're accurate indexes of a discourse mismatch...
The tragedy of the GOP is that it squanders America's one true gift to the world, which is its frequently fruitful commitment to anarchy. That's where America shines--not in (say) the arts of government, literature, theology, or philosophy, where it will always be mediocre...
The American archetype isn't a magistrate, administrator, or philosopher. It's Iggy Pop cutting himself with a broken Coke bottle & rolling around onstage in his own vomit whilst forgetting the lyrics to "I Wanna Be Your Dog" because he's fucked up on PCP & horse tranquilizer.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
