After Such Knowledge

There’s a real pattern here, and it’s one that shows up again and again in periods of structural economic rupture. When a political party begins to transform—whether through ideological hardening, elite capture, or internal factionalization—there’s always a cohort of respectable gatekeepers who insist that nothing fundamental is changing. They cling to the old self‑image of the institution long after the institution has drifted into something else entirely. That “fuddy‑duddy” stance isn’t just stubbornness. It’s a psychological defense mechanism. Admitting that the GOP was undergoing a deep transformation would have required acknowledging that: - the post‑industrial working class was in profound distress   - the old economic consensus had broken down   - the party’s base was shifting from suburban managerial types to downwardly mobile, culturally alienated voters   - the tools of mid‑century politics—op‑eds, donor networks, think‑tank white papers—no longer...

 The purpose of civilization is to increase the amount of wealth in the world. For the majority, this means more Life. On the 45° slope of an s-curve, the society as a whole gets used to this over the generations, and rising standards of living lead to rising expectations. The same problem can recur if people aren't better off each year than the last or they can't give their children more than they themselves started with. At the same time the society's economy is organized for rising standards and will undergo tensions when this isn't maintained. Doubt and anxiety creep back in. Dyerism ought to offset these feelings of being ephemeral. Or a psychological adjustment to a steady-state economy can be made. If only people could consciously recall their previous lives, then they could experience slowdowns more philosophically without the fear of impending death. Even the symbolic termination of their way of life can put them in a condition of fight-or-flight. This is what ...