The Year of World Revolt

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rump. Talking about how “crazy” his presidency is or quoting the Chinese proverb “may we live in interesting times” has become almost cliché. But with all this focus on Trump and his crazy tweets, many people are missing maybe the biggest changes in American politics in years. The traditional, left/right divide that has structured American politics since the ‘40s is beginning to crumble. Trump will hasten its demise.

Donald Trump likes to say he’s opposed to the system. But he is a product of it. Wealthy. From New York. He attended an Ivy League School. He used to a be a corporate liberal and then became a corporate conservative. This critique of Donald Trump’s supposed populism is common, coming from the “progressive populists” who backed Bernie Sanders during the primary. But Bernie Sanders is also a product of the system. After attending the elite University of Chicago, he became the mayor of the largest city in Vermont, a congressman and a senator. During the ‘90s he toed the party line and helped destroy the New Deal. These are leaders who are entirely tied to the system. And yet men and women in America are willing to vote for them because they are moderately less “establishment.” That indicates a large populist fervor which is not going away.

The failure of Donald Trump to deliver on any of his most contentious promises, the integration of Bernie Sanders in the establishment and the overall weakness of the administration will almost certainly lead to an opening for true anti-establishment options. Trump ran on a program that combined conservative positions on certain social topics with economic nationalism. But Trump’s major promises to his electorate have not been accomplished. The major planks of his proposed program, which brought him a surge of support across the Midwest, were building a wall, reducing the role of the American military abroad, restricting free trade and reforming infrastructure. But Trump hasn’t definitively changed the Republican Party at all. It is still neoliberal, Zionist, interventionist and pro-Wall Street, just like before.

For some on the left, the failure of Trump represents an easy opening for liberals. After Trump fails to deliver, liberals can swoop in without changing any of their positions. Trump will have been so bad that even the toxic mix of war and globalism served up by the liberal establishment will seem better. Unfortunately, aside from the isolated success of Doug Jones, the men and women of this country feel so betrayed by mainstream Democrats that they will rarely vote in the liberal bourgeoisie ever again, as the failure of Jon Ossoff in Georgia clearly showed.

So if the both the liberal and conservative establishments are doomed, what will rise in its place? We may see in 2018. But if we want a glimpse of might happen to American politics, France is a good example. In 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy, ran a populist campaign as the candidate of the official center-right. He defeated a moderate liberal woman who would have been France’s first female president. But Sarkozy failed to deliver on his promises to restrict immigration, reduce the powers of the EU and help restore a dying industry. His failure helped lead to the appearance of new alternatives, the right-wing populist National Front and neoliberal “in motion” movement. France has now descended into a chaos of political infighting that could give rise to fringe movements.

Could America descend into that type of chaos? With the lack of dialogue between the two parties, it is all too likely. So how can we as Americans stop this chaos? It may require that we question the basis of our republic. Our nation was formed as one of the first countries in the world without a king or an emperor. And while we have remained stable so far we may not for much longer. No republic has lasted as long as the great monarchies of the world, from Byzantium to Imperial Russia. So perhaps the best solution to America’s problems is one of the most improbable: an “elective monarchy.”

Let me be clear that I am not advocating for a traditional, European-style hereditary empire. After all, which family would govern us? The British royal family? The Bush family? The Trump family? I doubt it. Instead, this “elective monarchy” would give the president more powers and enforce respect for our institutions.

We would embark on a massive reform of institutions. Instead of the weak system we have now that only leads to misery and deadlock, we would have a system with a president who can truly act to unify the nation. In order to do this, several changes would have to take place. Congress would become a more limited body instead of the all-powerful swamp of corruption it is today. The president would propose laws, and Congress would simply vote yes or no instead of the long legislative process we have now. The Supreme Court would have a massively reduced role, and its leaders would only be appointed to short terms instead of for life. Rather than having long legal challenges, the Court would issue a simple ruling on the constitutionality of every major law. The president would have wide-ranging powers and would be elected for one seven-year term and thus would never have to face re-election. Political parties, which divide the nation, would be banned and all elections would be non-partisan.

I have no illusions that these massive changes will occur this year. But I hope that in 2018, the American people realize that they have been bamboozled. The system we live in has produced a failing society, dominated by demagogues and heading for crisis. Only action now can ensure the survival of this country through the 21st century and into the future.