Where's the Revolution?: Sleepwalking Through the Fall of Empire

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I mentioned on the most recent episode of The Check-In that we are much closer to a possible regime and political collapse within the United States of America than most people are willing to admit. Fascism is, by definition, a self-destructive ideology that emerges from long festering corruption and rot, so by the time it emerges into full bloom, that reality has already set in. Now, with this disastrous, stupid, and illegal war with Iran, we have set loose a myriad possibilities and nearly unlimited chaos.

It goes almost without saying that we are living in the death of the American Empire. Dispatches From A Collapsing State gained its name from this recognition and the chronicling of that collapse is the main objective. The Midnight Kingdom: A History of Power, Paranoia, and the Coming Crisis is the story of how we arrived here and a glimpse into what that collapse might lead to or reveal. For awhile the assertion that the empire was collapsing was a hotly contested concept. True believers maintained that, yes, the rise of Donald Trump and MAGA certainly meant America had hit a rough skid, but, they maintained, eventually the ship would be righted. Now, facing what some call the polycrisis, or a giant knot of interconnected crises (I maintain it’s economic, democratic, cultural, and spiritual), those debates don’t seem hotly contested anymore.

Given that we are likely living through the collapse of the empire and possibly even the collapse of our ruling regime, some have been curious about a related question: why is it that we have yet to see the manifesting of revolution?

I want to answer that because I think a real and honest look at why it hasn’t happened already would be beneficial in creating the structures necessary to overthrow this decrepit and insulting status quo and realize a better, fairer, and more functional world. We look around and we see nonexistent trust in institutions. We see the ruling class exposed as corrupt criminals who hurt children and kill innocent people. We know the game is rigged and we know it is speeding toward a cliff.

So. Why haven’t we done something about it?

Nonexistent Structures

As I discussed in January when I made the case for a national strike, the structures simply aren’t there. There was a hope among some of us attempting to organize an actual resistance that maybe resurgent labor unions or movements would be ready to fight back, but the signals have all been that they’re either not willing to or are preoccupied with existing plans in regards to a larger labor action in 2028. Sadly, capitalist maneuvers have gutted any type of central organizing, leaving a vacuum of power that has been filled by independent groups and actions like the No Kings protests and people just going down to the local Tesla dealership with signs.

For those who are maybe unaware, most of the ideas and issues that people would identify with “Leftism” are handled in the nonprofit sector, which is, and has always been, shackled to the whims of the wealth class because of fundraising. These nonprofits have been forced to play ball with the wealthy and launder their reputations while privatization of government and social programs has meant the responsibility has been offloaded to these groups and the wealth class, through their philanthropy, functions as a nondemocratic government body.

All this is to say, there isn’t some grand, giant organization operating behind the scenes to really challenge the capitalist status quo. Capitalism, through a complicated congruence of actions, has absolutely undermined any larger challenge to its continued existence and evolution. The only reason we’re having this discussion at all and considering revolutionary upheaval of capitalism is because capitalism is fundamentally self-destructive.

In other words, if there’s going to be an overthrow of this system, it’s largely going to happen because we make it happen at a time where there is simply no denying any longer how terrible and odious this status quo is.

Missing Protests

A few months ago somebody emailed me and asked me where the prolonged protests are. They nodded toward the anti-genocide protests that became a fixture on college campuses and wondered why Donald Trump’s numerous crimes and abuses hadn’t spurred something similar.

The answer is in the question. For months we watched young people brutalized by police and Right Wing gangs working in concert. They were suspended, expelled, decried by liberals and MAGA alike. Some Democratic voters criticized them because they were going to “hurt Joe Biden’s reelection chances.” When I was reporting from the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, I watched delegates and attendees to the big party inside sneer and make fun of the protesters as they faced off with phalanx after phalanx of police armed like a modern army.

What got communicated, sometimes explicitly and sometimes implicitly, was that to protest in modern America meant risking violence and economic ruin. It didn’t hurt, of course, that in the wake of the BLM protests in 2020 that GOP-controlled legislatures laid the groundwork for punishing protesters, including making it legal for people to literally run them over and murder them in the streets. The only “acceptable” protests would largely be “branded” protests. Things like No Kings where people went out on a Saturday, blew off a little stream, posted some pictures on their social feeds, and went about their lives.

In other words, cathartic exercises.

When the first No Kings protests were held, I was hesitant to judge them. Of course it’s a good thing for millions to get out and see one another and realize they have the power. It needed to be said that autocratic overreach should be reined in. But I also wanted to see if this thing eventually developed a platform or an agenda or even an “ask.” And absolutely nothing has emerged because it isn’t a movement, it’s an event. And, as long as it doesn’t challenge either of the political parties, it will remain something to do rather than a lever of change.

The aforementioned BLM protests were chock full of revolutionary energy, not just because they were so large and so sustained, but because they originated from an all-out exhaustion and encompassing rage. The murder of George Floyd mixed with the obvious injustice and tragedy of COVID and, because they were so large and so sustained, it brimmed with the potential to change the political and cultural paradigm. But, of course, that changed when the media stopped covering them and the Democratic Party co-opted them and, simultaneously, eradicated the political ask as they promised they supported the protests but “defund the police” was surely a political loser.

Captured Opposition

Speaking of the Democrats.

Not to be a broken record, but the Democratic Party represents the same wealth class as the Republican Party. That constituency originates from the same class but also has different interests, but one thing remains constant: a dedication to serving the capitalist agenda.

Because some Americans still maintain a death-grip on their understanding of politics through the Red/Blue paradigm and all the accompanying tropes, stereotypes, and narratives, they’re just waiting on the Democrats to step in and save them. This staves off any need for radical change. In that mindset, you’re always just one election away or one parliamentary movement or one public statement away from things getting better. You see the world through Aaron Sorkin lenses: reason will win out because everyone is actually trying their best. If the Democrats continue to fail their base and fail to create a resistance party to fascism, surely they’re not understanding things or just making errors. There’s no way their interests and our interests are separated by choice and definition.

As I’ve been saying, the Democrats are enablers. They’re never able to pass the large legislation that would change things in any fundamental way. The only wins they get are when Republicans ruin the economy or create a crisis and then they’re able to pass legislation that keeps the entire system from burning to the ground. Otherwise? Smiling faces, slick rallies, and photo ops with celebrities. Oh, and lectures for people who want to change things because they’re being “unrealistic” and we don’t want to “let perfect be the enemy of good.”

Meanwhile, liberals are often defined by a belief in prevalent systems because they have been well-served by them. Liberals are the ones going to college, who are getting the professional managerial jobs, who are incentivized to perform fealty to that system. They largely believe things are going to work out because they mostly have so far. The Democrats are their bosses who call them into their offices and deliver some bad news with a friendly demeanor. Yes, it’s a bit tough, but it’ll get better. Let’s not rock the vote.

People are waking up from this delusion, of course, but it’s continued existence speaks to something larger.

Precarity & Atomization

Neoliberalism has relied on precarity and atomization as its main weapons as it conquered the world. Precarity means people are more afraid of economic consequences because they are living on a razor’s edge and one misstep can lead to disaster. This makes workers work harder (until they don’t), expect less, and keep their heads down. Meanwhile, precarity ate away at solidarity between workers, making sure they were pitted against one another as opposed to free to work with each other to demand more and leverage their power, and, culture at large, became defined by all of us having to spend more time working and less time relating to others and fostering community.

As a result, we feel alone. We feel endangered. It is much, much more attractive to let the entire thing work itself out or, if necessary, for someone else to take care of the situation for us.

If we are to have a movement to defeat fascism or, ultimately to unseat this wretched status quo, it will require bravery. The level of bravery, no matter the circumstances, is tremendous. If we weren’t so afraid of economic ruin and if we didn’t feel so isolated, it would still require bravery, but it would be more likely. Now, as we face this crisis, we have to foster the kind of support systems that do not currently exist. We need to know, before we head into a dangerous and uncertain situation, that other people have our backs. We need to know we will be able to eat and that we will have shelter. Neoliberalism ensured these things would not be certainties, but we can do our best now, with our backs against the wall to create them as much as humanly possible.

Sleepwalking

The development of the American Empire has been predicated largely on a state of dissociation. We have been lulled by our fairy tale mythology of “American Exceptionalism” and, of course, “the American Dream,” but actual living in America has been an exercise in addiction and soothing. In creating our hegemonic state and then expanding and protecting it, we have committed so many atrocities that, if the average citizen confronted them, would drive them mad. It is unsettling and disturbing what all has gone into creating the so-called “first world experience,” which is just a fancy phrase for being able to afford bullshit toys and not be threatened with violence or death every day. To cope, we turn to drugs and substances and consumerism and endless entertainment.

It is sleepwalking and until we make the decision to awake and see life as it truly is behind the veil of American fantasies and fairy tales, it will not get better. The incredible privilege of life in this country was built on the suffering of so many, both here stateside and in the many countries around the world we have subjugated for our benefit. We force children into slavery. We work hand-in-hand with brutal, murderous dictators. It is a rot that has festered and grown and consumed us. Everything else is illusion that is meant to hide this awful realization from us. Distractions.

But the fall of the Empire will bring with it a cessation of that illusion. As times get harder, there will be no escaping from it, at least not for most. We will, through the inconvenience and the decline, come face-to-face with the reality. And, as that happens, the possibility for revolution and change grows.

Left With No Choice

Revolutions rarely happen when people are comfortable. The cost of participating in these systems of oppression is low when times are “good.” So low, in fact, that we have continually gifted corrupt and unworthy leaders, sadistic ones at that, our consent in exchange for fast-food and bad TV. In those moments, where you can get a job or afford a house or actually retire, the arguments are marginal and revolve around tax credits and other nonsense. It’s low stakes. But when times start to get worse, the cost is high. Not only can you not afford a house, your life is shortened, your children endangered, you can barely walk in the streets for fear of secret police kidnapping your neighbors or shooting you in broad daylight.

That has a tendency to change the paradigm completely.

You’ll notice that I haven’t mentioned monopoly of violence by the state or overwhelming technology or weapons. That has always been the case, it’s just a different iteration. No people that has ever freed itself from tyranny met tyranny on a level playing field. It has always been through sheer numbers and sheer will that any of the progress we have won has ever been secured. What we are talking about is a fight that has been fought so many times before and with risks that those people who preceded us were willing to take. Often because there was no choice anymore.

All of the intersecting crises are getting worse, which is what many of us had feared would happen. Personally, I’ve spent the last decade hoping time after time that we would eventually pump the brakes and fix the glaring problems. And, yet, here we are. Whether this disastrous and stupid war will be the thing that does it, hopefully by now it is becoming obvious to you that something will. This is a ruinous cycle we are stuck in and the fall of the American Empire is an almost certainty now. It will not happen easily and it will not happen cleanly. It will be political and economic and cultural and also, most importantly, personal. We will all feel it.

My guess, if it matters, is that because of the factors I have listed, there will be a compounding series of events that take place that grow in size and scope and magnitude. The war with Iran was so stupid and undertaken at exactly the wrong time, so much so that it almost feels predetermined. Our economy is on the verge of collapse, our politics has wrung out every last drop of faith from us, and factors like climate change and any number of other problems, including a population cliff that plays a quiet, outsized role in all of this, have coalesced to create the perfect funeral for the American Empire. If this regime or the American system collapses, it will likely happen very quickly and all at once. It will seem impossible until it is inevitable.

The fall is going to happen whether people believe it is possible or not. For some, they will wake up one day, much like the denizens of the Soviet Union in the late-20th century, and realize they are living in a world they never imagined was possible. They will do their best to make their way through that strange world but their odds are worse than those of us who see it clearly and are preparing ourselves mentally, emotionally, and strategically. Knowing this doesn’t mean it will be easy, but it is imperative that we arm ourselves with that information. If it does happen, we will be thrown into the storm. Organizing and creating movements and structures that do not exist will be chaotic.

Of course, the phrase “fall” brings with it so many terrible connotations. Suffering. Pain. Tragedy. And certainly we will have those. But we also need to understand that only through this fall will a better world be possible, a place where we can honestly reflect on these grotesque mistakes and these inhuman crimes and choose differently. We do not need to be chained to this dying, flailing behemoth any longer. We played our roles in this and we will need to make amends, but the larger blame doesn’t belong to us. We are free to grow and learn and thrive.