My reflections on the election:
https://apexsnotes.substack.com/p/some-election-reflections

highlights in thread 1/

"If I must suffer a tyrant, place him in a faraway land and give him little reason to concern himself with my business. He may enjoy his palace in peace, so long as I may enjoy my cottage in peace."

The unholy alliance of Mainstream Media, Academia, Silicon Valley, Wall Street, and the universe of NGOs is far closer to "fascism" than anything Trump or any other politician has done, proposed, or even alluded to in passing.

This utter lack of organization stems from "just let me live" conservatives and libertarians who, as well meaning as they may be, do not understand that you cannot fight organization with disorganization. The "individual" will be ruthlessly crushed by an organized force.

This is where the marxist "Capital levels everything in its path" and the conservative "woke capital" critiques converge: remember, conservatism is the abused and battered wife of capitalism.

We require a system that delegates and decentralizes as much power as possible to as local and specific a level as possible.

We MUST build alternative institutions. Here is the central issue: you cannot tell people "you should do X" and then give them no viable pathway to get X done given their circumstances and capabilities.

Without patronage, without a set of powerful backers willing to protect you, alternative institutions can only grow and flourish if they do not attract the attention of Power.

if someone refuses to organize with you against the Blue Empire, it occurs for only two reasons: naivety or selfishness. Either they simply cannot envision themselves and other people defecting or they envision a plausible scenario where they themselves would like to defect.

The greatest tragedy of our world is that, lost in the endless array of kafkaesque bureaucracies and narrative-forming entities, it isn't even clear who to blame! Who should I be mad at?

Certainly, the most democratic thing you can do in a highly federalized and complex system is make it clear who should be gui**otined when things go wrong.

It is entirely reasonable to feel overwhelmed, apathetic, and discouraged in the face of such a monstrosity. But remember: sometimes we cast shadows far larger than ourselves. Do not be discouraged.

Enough of "norm respecting". Norms are established by Power to keep you in line. The Blue Empire seethes when you refuse to play its game, because it loses leverage.