The Storm Before the Calm: America's discord, the coming crisis of the 2020s, and the triumph beyond

Political passion rests on believing that it matters. In the 2020s, regardless of whether President Trump is reelected, indifference coupled with cynicism will dominate.

The university is the battleground of the crisis of the 2020s because it is the system that fuels the broad social bureaucracy.

of the federal government will be questioned.

and those technocrats who must be disrupted in order to rebuild an efficient government and public life.

Therefore, as in all social fears, there will be an increasing belief in the coming decade that the federal government is in the hands of conspirators. Such a conspiracy was unthinkable in the two prior institutional cycles, because federal power was simply not that vast. But in the 2020s the image of the federal government will make deliberate col

But accepting the idea that expertise can result in failure will require a stunning shift in the public’s perspective, even though holding the government in contempt has long been part of the culture. This is a key threat to the institutional structure of the third cycle and the technocracy that controls the institutions.

The institutional shift will weaken the credibility of the technocracy heading into the 2028 election.

Common sense, the ability to see consequences far removed from the technical issues, has been banished.

Politics isn’t the engine pushing the system. The system is pushing politics.