The shadow of our hegemony, having been cast over the earth for the past two centuries, is growing thin and its pulse, weakening. With its days seemingly numbered, the American empire - this great experiment in freedom and prosperity - is apparently approaching its end. Early indications of this momentous event were foreshadowed in the hard fall of its financial markets and the idling of its economic engines. The road to infinite progress and universal prosperity seems to be nearing a dead end.
Obama's selection signaled the rising of the curtain for a final act, as the charismatic empire builder struts onstage and promises a new beginning orchestrated around an ever-expanding Federal mandate, with America again "ready to lead the world." Even the least perceptive among us could read the signs of America's weariness and the ceaselessly looming archetypal battle between the forces of imperial expansion, those of contraction, and alternatively, those instigating for something whispered only softly - its disintegration.
The signs of such an occasion are the palpable, almost visceral reactions of individual States recoiling from the growing burden of this ever-expanding Federal hegemony. Perhaps they - the governors - also saw the insidiousness of this encroaching empire, relentlessly clawing its way forward, as clearly as others around the globe have seen us for more than a century.
The evidence is clear and unmistakable: a renewed defense of the 10th amendment - safeguarding States rights, a blatant refusal of Federal stimulus funds, and stirrings of secession from the Union by several State executives, coupled with the self-destructiveness of the Republican Party and the splintering strife haunting the party currently in power. And all of this in apparent response to the Obama administration's inclination to curtail the 2nd amendment's right to bear arms, federalize the health insurance industry, nationalize commercial enterprises, loan money to the States, tax energy consumption, as well as continue to expand our financial and military investments globally. Well, you get the picture! More big government! More imperial control! More power! As Obama so eloquently tipped his own hand just this month in Russia, "The pursuit of power is no longer a zero-sum game..." a rather bald admission that the true mission of his (and perhaps all) political leadership is the management of power domestically and its expansion globally.
So what is happening here? Well, the socialists, libertarians and communists, etc., all smell blood in the water. Yet the larger body politic - the 'proletariat or 'petite bourgeoisie' (depending upon your perspective) - is not so quick to jump on any of these tired old bandwagons. In fact, many of those among the masses are beginning to explore alternative solutions to questions about the direction and velocity of change necessary to avert the direst of outcomes. These are voices crying for a retreat or even a termination of the executioner... death to the State, (Federal or otherwise) and its alien authority.
These calls come from the would-be anarchists of today... not because they want chaos to reign; rather, because they feel the archaic pull of a more primal autonomy or self-sufficiency, some memory trace that was lost with the establishment of kingdoms, nations, empires, legislators, and other anonymous, impersonal governing bodies.
Yes, a revolution is coming. But it will not be a soft revolution or one of unification; rather, it will be one of disintegration. And while the secessionist movements may have gained serious momentum with certain non-Republican elements under the 'second coming' of George Bush, this revolution of disintegration will not be led by liberals or progressives, but rather by conservatives and independents - those who prefer limited Federal authority and limited government in general. And when the divisions begin, with a few States attempting secession from the Union, these new anarchists will begin to make their own moves, taking advantage of the vulnerability of both the Union and the States.
As heir-apparent of Western civilized progress, with ever-widening circles of social and economic complexity - a 'beacon of hope and freedom' to the rest of humanity, the American experience is now a fitting body-politic for a complete reversal of course - the rejection of hierarchy, control and the complexity of the civilized state. It appears more and more to be the unlikely locus for a recovery of the primal, the instinctual, the natural. Our America is a land ripe for cultural, economic and political disintegration in the interests of recovering a lost simplicity. All hinges upon the nature and dynamics of the revolutionary spirit, and to what extent it can overcome the inertia of the standing cultural hegemonic forces.
Will the coming end of the American empire abandon us to a retreat into a world populated by the likes of 'Mad Max' - a modern day Leviathan, or will it be the highly anticipated coming of the 'Kingdom of God' on earth? Neither I think! If revolutionary forces succeed in mobilizing this passion for disintegration, and if such passion can fuel the anarchist's vision for community without authority, without a ruler or government, then perhaps we can dismantle this hegemony and establish a new form of kinship-based community with a natural respect for autonomy and appreciation of self-sufficiency. We can only hope!
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