There is much to think about in this well written piece, but I take issue with a couple of the author's assertions - the US citizenry has not so much lost its way as it has reverted to its essence. At no time in US history, has there ever been a well informed electorate or anything that an ancient Athenian would remotely recognize as Democracy. The patterns of non-voting need more scrutiny - in a society that has created legendary levels of inequity, people vote in direct proportion to their financial status. The very poor vote at much lower rates than the so called middle class, and the very wealthy vote at the highest percentage. This is verifiable fact, and has little to do with Trump's discovery that the electorate can be mutilated and the inconvenient elements discarded. The US empire has been murdering, plundering and absurdly promoting its genocidal zeal as moral virtue. We have "attempted" to bring "Democracy" to the savages of Vietnam and Iraq, and with each US military defeat our elites have been more focused on stripping its own subjects at home for spare parts. Think of a starving family that butchers its own pets. The idea that the US may find a path to reclaim its former ideals is nonsense. The level of citizen cluelessness in the US had its zenith in the past. There are probably more people in America at this moment than ever before who recognize that we are seriously fucked. Obviously, not enough, but it is, however, possible to finally recognize that we have been deluded for 250 years, and in some tiny way compelled to fight for redemption.
Are you sure about your statement that "the majority of the American people... cannot identify all three branches of government... or more than one of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution"? The most recent (2025) iteration of the Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey found that 70% of respondents could identify all three branches of government, and that 79% of respondents could name at least one right guaranteed by the First Amendment (and significant minorities could name multiple rights). Are you aware of competing studies that show something different?
There were a variety of studies, some of them from Annenberg, from 2015 to 2020 showing that upwards of two-thirds of Americans could not name all three branches. Perhaps, my information was out of date, but it is curious that the numbers would completely flip in such a short period of time, especially absent of civics educational programs in public schools.
If the Annenberg studies are reliable, then I think it hasn't so much been a matter of the numbers completely flipping in a short period of time as of them gradually improving over multiple years. (And it's also important not to overstate the crisis in civics education. Do we need more and better civics education in our public schools? Absolutely. Do most states require civics education in their public schools? Yes. https://www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/research/docs/Craiutu-Ngalande_StateCivics_web-241213.pdf)
I think of Alisdair MacIntyre's book After Virtue, where he describes ethical grammar being kenotically emptied out over the march of time. I have no doubt that I'm one of the civically vapid rubes the author and DFW indict in this great piece but my issue with contemporary political vocabulary is the "floating signifier"-ness of it all. Often, when someone uses words like "democracy" or "fascism", it's just assumed we all know what's being invoked without further explication. But words and meanings move fast, the center cannot hold under the fragmenting nature of industrialized postmodernity (oh trust me, I'm aware of the irony of me using such a notoriously unpindownable word). Us idiots need some grounding and while it's easy to (mostly rightfully) castigate the seemingly performative cringe of right-wing flag waving and "founding fathers" rhetoric, it's hard for me not to be jealous of their engagement in some kind of form of American mythos, no matter how perverted I find it ultimately to be. It feels like they _believe_ in things. So perhaps the _meaning_ of principalities at work in American political life must transcend the political domain in some way and be (re)injected with something like the sacred. America being America, the collective will to believe is not gone, but dispersed and distracted, being funneled into ideology and fandom. Perhaps something like a Great Awakening is needed but now within Bellah's civil religion.
Imagine what a mind as subtle and logical as Wallace's would have made of Oct 7, a far more manageable deconstructionist exercise than 9/11 to be sure.
Really loved this. Thank you for sharing once more. So much to think about and comment on but one thing above all stood out. January 6th was not the “sort of disaster” previously thought. In my opinion, much worse is to come.
There is much to think about in this well written piece, but I take issue with a couple of the author's assertions - the US citizenry has not so much lost its way as it has reverted to its essence. At no time in US history, has there ever been a well informed electorate or anything that an ancient Athenian would remotely recognize as Democracy. The patterns of non-voting need more scrutiny - in a society that has created legendary levels of inequity, people vote in direct proportion to their financial status. The very poor vote at much lower rates than the so called middle class, and the very wealthy vote at the highest percentage. This is verifiable fact, and has little to do with Trump's discovery that the electorate can be mutilated and the inconvenient elements discarded. The US empire has been murdering, plundering and absurdly promoting its genocidal zeal as moral virtue. We have "attempted" to bring "Democracy" to the savages of Vietnam and Iraq, and with each US military defeat our elites have been more focused on stripping its own subjects at home for spare parts. Think of a starving family that butchers its own pets. The idea that the US may find a path to reclaim its former ideals is nonsense. The level of citizen cluelessness in the US had its zenith in the past. There are probably more people in America at this moment than ever before who recognize that we are seriously fucked. Obviously, not enough, but it is, however, possible to finally recognize that we have been deluded for 250 years, and in some tiny way compelled to fight for redemption.
Hey David,
Thank you for writing this article. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
Best,
Mahdi
Barthes may or may not be famous. More importantly, he was interesting and right.
Are you sure about your statement that "the majority of the American people... cannot identify all three branches of government... or more than one of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution"? The most recent (2025) iteration of the Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey found that 70% of respondents could identify all three branches of government, and that 79% of respondents could name at least one right guaranteed by the First Amendment (and significant minorities could name multiple rights). Are you aware of competing studies that show something different?
https://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/americans-knowledge-of-civics-increases-annenberg-survey-finds/
There were a variety of studies, some of them from Annenberg, from 2015 to 2020 showing that upwards of two-thirds of Americans could not name all three branches. Perhaps, my information was out of date, but it is curious that the numbers would completely flip in such a short period of time, especially absent of civics educational programs in public schools.
If the Annenberg studies are reliable, then I think it hasn't so much been a matter of the numbers completely flipping in a short period of time as of them gradually improving over multiple years. (And it's also important not to overstate the crisis in civics education. Do we need more and better civics education in our public schools? Absolutely. Do most states require civics education in their public schools? Yes. https://www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/research/docs/Craiutu-Ngalande_StateCivics_web-241213.pdf)
I think of Alisdair MacIntyre's book After Virtue, where he describes ethical grammar being kenotically emptied out over the march of time. I have no doubt that I'm one of the civically vapid rubes the author and DFW indict in this great piece but my issue with contemporary political vocabulary is the "floating signifier"-ness of it all. Often, when someone uses words like "democracy" or "fascism", it's just assumed we all know what's being invoked without further explication. But words and meanings move fast, the center cannot hold under the fragmenting nature of industrialized postmodernity (oh trust me, I'm aware of the irony of me using such a notoriously unpindownable word). Us idiots need some grounding and while it's easy to (mostly rightfully) castigate the seemingly performative cringe of right-wing flag waving and "founding fathers" rhetoric, it's hard for me not to be jealous of their engagement in some kind of form of American mythos, no matter how perverted I find it ultimately to be. It feels like they _believe_ in things. So perhaps the _meaning_ of principalities at work in American political life must transcend the political domain in some way and be (re)injected with something like the sacred. America being America, the collective will to believe is not gone, but dispersed and distracted, being funneled into ideology and fandom. Perhaps something like a Great Awakening is needed but now within Bellah's civil religion.
Imagine what a mind as subtle and logical as Wallace's would have made of Oct 7, a far more manageable deconstructionist exercise than 9/11 to be sure.
Really loved this. Thank you for sharing once more. So much to think about and comment on but one thing above all stood out. January 6th was not the “sort of disaster” previously thought. In my opinion, much worse is to come.
This is really really something. Thank you.