The Total State

Reading the most fascinating book by Auron Macintyre called “The Total State”. Also re-watched the old movie “Secretariat” last night. And the two actually have something in common, at least in my ruminations. That being the inherent mystery of the human and animal. 

For some reason I never get tired of reading about this giant American political discovery of the 21st century: that the Constitution has failed. (Or we have failed the Constitution, that discussion is to be addressed later in his book.)  Macintyre, like me, thought that the framers set up a system, something like a tool or machine that protects our rights. It was not required to be maintained other than via arduously-acquired amendments to the constitution. He and I completely ignored the human angle. Which is the only angle that matters. 

Similarly, there’s a tendency sometimes to see horses as machines, as simply tools that if you look at their statistics and breeding closely enough you’ll be able to discern their finish in races. You reduce them, in other words, and miss the intangibles. Horse-racing teaches that animals, like humans, have something in them that can’t be measured or charted.  One of the greatest breeders had a choice to get Secretariat and chose the other foal. 

The Constitution, and what the framers gave us, was not a system that worked like levers but simply provided a temporary “cheat sheet” that provided human factions. The point of the legislative, executive and judicial was to create a good mix of wealthy oligarchs, farmers, and common folk, all contesting politically. The “magic” wasn’t in the three branches of government but the three power centers that in the 18th century could produce outcomes that were wise due to the power being decentralized. But along our history we changed greatly, primarily in making almost all the three branches of government elected by the people. In the beginning senators were not elected by the people, and there were no presidential primaries. 

This introduction of mass democracy coupled with a mass media charged with forming opinion meant that “the people” are the only power center were the only power center and that, ironically, a very small power base of media elites could sway the 51% to win most elections. 

My tendency to reduce horse betting to a “system” is similar to how I viewed what the framers did as a “system” when in both cases you can’t avoid the human or animal component. But to acquire knowledge or control requires a hands-on approach. There is no political system that can work without great effort by the people, and betting horses “from afar” is usually self-defeating. You can’t farm out your role in politics. 

One could also say the government underestimated the population and thought their system, their levers, produced reliable results. Years of CIA experience destabilizing unfriendly governments was turned to America but it didn’t go as smoothly as anticipated. In any other place, or just a few years earlier in the U.S., a January 6th Fed-sponsored riot would’ve put an end to Trump and his movement. It’s possible to simply give Americans credit to have seen through it but it’s also plainly the fruit of the government consistently sabotaging its own reputation with lies and scams. To name two: the lengthy investigations that eventually admitted that Trump wasn't a Russian agent, and allowing George Floyd protestors to run wild during the covid lockdown because protesting was more important than the virus I guess. This and other things so undermined trust that even the government’s magnum opus, the Jan 6 orchestration, didn’t end MAGA. 

It’s analogous to Vietnam War. During the '60s our government slowly and over years brought up the heat, thinking as the war increased in intensity it would demoralize the North Vietnamese. Instead it mostly demoralized Americans. If we had brought the full fire power of, say, 1970 in the year 1964 perhaps the outcome would’ve been different. Similarly if the government had created a January 6 incident in 2017 perhaps it would’ve been effective. Instead there was the slow ratcheting up, first trying to go after Trump's administration figures, then to impeach Trump,  and then expand it to his followers. 

Regardless, it’s pretty surreal that Trump survived the “insurrection” given the unreal propaganda effort of mainstream media coupled with lengthy televised hearings via the January 6th committee.  In the end, the typical levers that should cripple a movement didn’t work this time because Trump supporters aren’t programmable robots. We're certainly not Secretariats, but we're not stupid.