Codevilla has encapsulated 99% of what we talk about on FR in this article,just as he previously correctly named the bipartisan enemy, aka “Americas Ruling Class” several years ago. He cuts to the core and exposes the rot underneath.
Regardless of how it makes you feel, I strongly encourage everyone to take 15 minutes and read this piece comprehensively. We are entitled to our opinions, but not to our own reality.
I agree that you can only fight today’s battle today and that it must be fought. I disagree that it’s winnable.
The only hope for decentralized government was the original plan where state power counterbalanced federal power. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments guaranteed a long march to what we have today and what’s in store for us over the horizon.
Even without those amendments, increasing complexity and technological developments would have presented a challenge to controlling central government growth, but at least the tool would have been available - its use would have depended on the public’s appreciation of their responsibility to vote on principals, not issues.
The reason it’s unwinnable is that today’s citizenry (I use that term loosely) has no concept of the principles of self government. If you don’t understand the principles involved in hitting a golf ball, you may hit one long and straight on occasion, but you could never do it consistently. And hitting a golf ball doesn’t involve clearing the path of others with bad motives.
http://www.claremont.org/crb/article/the-chosen-one/
Coming from anyone else, this would be tinfoil hat stuff, but Codevilla was a long-time senior staffer on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, so he knows a thing or two. Probably the best article I've ever read on the man called 0bama.