Empire Of Democracy

The lecture begins after Napoleon. Source trail 0:001:27 Okay, so good morning. We are discussing the American Revolution today. So to review what we've done so far, after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, there are now four major civilizations that are competing against each o...And they were able to do this in order to redeem humanity from the prejudices, the atrocities of civilization. Okay? So that's the argument we will look at today. All right. So the history of the Americas begins when th... Four civilizations now compete for world domination: British, American, Russian, German. America enters through an Oscar Wilde joke, then becomes a serious problem. It went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between because it was not built to be civilization in the old sense. It was designed as the anti-civilization, a new government meant to redeem humanity from civilizational prejudice and atrocity.

The older New World model is Spanish extraction: conquest of Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas, gold and silver, sugar plantations, slave labor. Source trail 1:272:393:54 And they were able to do this in order to redeem humanity from the prejudices, the atrocities of civilization. Okay? So that's the argument we will look at today. All right. So the history of the Americas begins when th...And they engage in piracy. In 1588, the English Navy defeats the Spanish Armada. And this opens up the new world now for the Europeans to come and colonize it. Okay? The problem though. Is the Spanish. The Spanish contr... The English, French, and Dutch want in, but the best parts are already Spanish. Everyone else is left with cold, difficult North America, powerful Native peoples, disease, and decades of experimentation.

The British succeed because the movement is grassroots and settler-driven. Source trail 3:544:556:107:238:27 So there are three major nations that are trying to colonize North America. You have the French. And what they will do is they will establish the fur trade in Canada and in the Midwestern United States. They will basica...What makes Boston unique at this stage in North American history is that it is established by a company, the Massachusetts Bay Company, that has a charter from the English crown. Also they bring in families into this ar... Boston matters because families come, Puritans come, literacy comes, schools and newspapers come, politics comes. The colonies are not one thing: northern trade, southern agriculture and slavery, Quaker Pennsylvania, Catholic Maryland, and an early habit of diversity, openness, and religious tolerance all sit inside the same colonial field.

The break with Britain has three immediate pressures. Source trail 9:3610:5712:00 immigrants will be forced to move out west to settle territory in the western frontier of these colonies. Okay? But as you know, these areas are inhabited by Native Americans. And so this brings the Indians into conflic...In fact, at this stage in history, it is the British people, not the American people, that are paying for the defense of these colonies. In fact, the British people pay 50 times more in taxes than the Americans. Okay? T... The crown blocks westward expansion to keep peace with Native peoples. It tries to tax colonists for defense, because British taxpayers are carrying the cost. It also traps trade inside mercantilism, where state-directed commerce serves state wealth. The Americans resent all three because they are used to autonomy and expansion.

Then the lecture changes scale. Source trail 13:0114:0915:0416:04 Now, this is strange. And you ask yourself, why is it that even though England is industrializing far more rapidly than the Americans. Okay? Because they are British citizens, they're Americans. And also, Britain is an...And so, we're going to study his autobiography in order to get insight into the mentality of the average American at this stage in history. Okay? Now, Benjamin Franklin, by writing his memoir, he starts a new fad in Ame... Why are Americans wealthier per capita than the industrializing British? The answer is not just land. It is the American attitude toward life, shown through Benjamin Franklin. Franklin becomes the role model because he turns poverty into wealth, obscurity into celebrity, and life into method. His autobiography does not only tell you that he became rich. It teaches you how to become rich.

That method has a moral costume. Source trail 16:0417:0718:1019:01 Okay? So not only is he going to tell you how to become rich, but he will teach you how to become rich. So if you just do what he does, you'll become rich as well. So this is the American optimism. This is the American...And then he will compare and contrast. His work with that of the original work. And then he will make adjustments and refinements to his own writing. Okay? Now, if you actually know how to write, and if you actually met... Be honest, frugal, plainly dressed, industrious, and visibly unlike waste. Reputation is capital. Calvinist simplicity becomes market trust. Even writing becomes technique: summarize The Spectator, rewrite from memory, compare, improve. The lecture is skeptical that this makes genius, but the optimism matters. America says imitation and persistence can improve the self.

The book club is the political hinge. Source trail 19:0120:0121:05 That if you do work hard, if you are honest, and if you save a lot of money, then it's possible for you to become rich. Okay? And this is the common mentality right now at this stage in America. Okay. He continues. I ou...Also, this is important because these book clubs will become the foundation of the American Revolution. Right? Right? So these brothers will meet in these clubs. And they will conspire to seek independence from Britain.... Franklin and his peers read Locke, Hobbes, Rome, Athens, Sparta, Carthage, the Dutch Republic, and the British Constitution. Deism gives them a mission: God created the world and left humans responsible for perfecting it. Self-improvement becomes nation-improvement. The same men who improve themselves begin to imagine founding America.

Jefferson writes the Declaration as Locke in American form: life, liberty, rights from the Creator, government by consent, and the right to abolish failed government. Source trail 22:0823:1324:1525:28 The Russians are here as well. But over time, the Americans will push everyone out. And this is what they call Manifest Destiny. Okay? All right. So 1776, America declares independence from Britain. And again, this is a...Okay, guys. So what does this mean? It means that Thomas Jefferson, in writing the Declaration of Independence, which is the founding document of the United States, he is just copying, word for word, basically, John Loc... Washington is revered because he could have become king and did not. But the genius of the Revolution is Hamilton, because Hamilton sees where America can go.

Jefferson and Hamilton are two strands of America. Source trail 25:2826:4227:40 He's really the one who has the vision of where America could go, of what America could be. Okay? His name is Alexander Hamilton. And he is in conflict with Jefferson. These two individuals represent two competing stran...The British are trying to impose an army on them. And because the British are trying to limit their trade. Okay? So, in order to get everyone to fight, they create something called the Articles of Confederation. Which l... Jefferson wants individual rights, democracy, agriculture, and suspicion of central power. Hamilton wants empire, industry, revenue, army, trade control, and a strong central government. The Articles of Confederation cannot support that power, and Shays Rebellion proves the weakness dangerous. The Constitution is Hamiltons answer; the Bill of Rights is Jeffersons restraint.

The economic contradiction is sharper. Source trail 27:4028:4629:42 Where farmers are now trying to overthrow the government. And so, the solution was to create something called the Constitution. Which would grant more power to the central government. Especially to collect revenue. To c...Because, obviously, you need people to man the fields and grow the crops. Okay? And that's why, if you want to have agriculture, you have to bring actually a lot of slave labor from Africa. But, if your focus is in indu... Agriculture uses slave labor. Industry wants free labor, differentiated skills, and market rewards. You cannot have slave labor and free labor at the same time. The North chooses free labor and industry. The South keeps slave agriculture. The lecture treats this contradiction as the root of the Civil War, already present in 1789 and postponed until 1861.

The Constitution is the clean-slate experiment. Source trail 30:5031:5633:0134:0335:0936:0037:03 Okay? America is a clean slate. It's a tabula rasa. The Americans can do whatever they want. So, they study all the previous Republican, Democratic, Monarchal, Aristocratic systems, and they decide to imitate Montesquie...Each is meant to inhibit the overextension of the other. That is the American system of government that is basically stolen from Montesquieu. All right. The other check and balance is the division between federal, Washi... America studies republics, democracies, monarchies, aristocracies, and Montesquieu, then builds checks and balances: president, Congress, Supreme Court; federal, state, local; Senate vetting; public embarrassment as a restraint on favoritism. It is not only idealism. It is risk management, a machine built to prevent anarchy, civil war, alienation, and despotism.

Manifest Destiny says the whole Western Hemisphere belongs inside the American mission. Source trail 37:0338:1539:23 What's the risk of government? Well, you could have anarchy where people reject the government. You have civil war where the states go to war against each other. You're going to have a perpetual alienation of the states...The Western Hemisphere is entirely American. Okay? So, he says, Europe are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers. The Western Hemisphere is henceforth not to be consi... The Monroe Doctrine tells Europe to stay out. Louisiana is bought, Native peoples are eradicated, Canada is fought to stalemate, Mexico loses Texas and California. Even Trump-era talk about Canada and Greenland is presented here as continuity, not novelty.

Then the internal contradiction explodes. Source trail 39:2340:2341:24 Again, because of Manifest Destiny, America sees Canada as part of its territory, but the British don't agree and this leads to the War of 1812. It's a stalemate. Okay? And after stalemate, basically, the British and th...It was not about slavery. It was mainly about state rights. Okay? It was really about democracy versus empire. In a democracy, the states can do much more than empire. The central government is able to dictate a lot of... The lecture provocatively says the Civil War is not mainly about slavery but about states rights, democracy versus empire, Jefferson versus Hamilton. The North wins because it is industrial, wealthy, and powerful. But victory leaves a terrible question: why did brothers kill brothers, and what could make that sacrifice meaningful?

Lincoln answers through Gettysburg. Source trail 42:2843:2444:2545:22 Okay? This is 1863. Um, the Battle of Gettysburg was one of the bloodiest war, bloodiest battles in the American Civil War. And he, and I'm, we're gonna read all of it, okay? It's because it's a very short speech and it...In the Civil War, it is meant to destroy this experiment. Okay? So, we must persist in this experiment. We are met on a great battlefield of that war, Gettysburg. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a fi... The dead cannot be resurrected, so the living must continue the work for which they died. Independence is no longer just separation from Britain. It becomes a revolution in human affairs, an experiment in human liberation. Lincoln says the Hamilton-Jefferson conflict is not a contradiction after all. America is born in liberty, fights for liberty, and will spread liberty. It is an empire of democracy.

After the Civil War, America industrializes, buys Alaska, defeats Spain, takes the Philippines and Cuba, defeats Germany in World War I, becomes global hegemon in World War II, and after the Soviet collapse lives as Pax Americana. Source trail 45:2246:32 Okay? So, so again, with Hamilton it's about empire for Jefferson it's about democracy. There's a conflict, right? What Lincoln does which is revolution is say no, this is not a conflict because we are an empire of demo...Alright? America now controls the Philippines as well as Cuba. Then um, World War I America goes and defeats Germany. World War II is when America becomes um, the global hegemon of the world. And then after Soviet Union... The Lincolnian mission is complete enough that the whole world must ask what an empire of democracy actually is.

Tocqueville enters as the critic who can explain America from the outside. Source trail 46:3247:3448:43 Alright? America now controls the Philippines as well as Cuba. Then um, World War I America goes and defeats Germany. World War II is when America becomes um, the global hegemon of the world. And then after Soviet Union...In 1835 he publishes Democracy in America. And he's trying to explain why is it that American democracy works? And why is it destined to eventually conquer the world? Alright. Um now there's a lot of debate about this b... He asks why democracy works and why it is destined to conquer the world, but the reading here is dark. America is the first mass democratic middle-class country. Because of that, its people become selfish, conformist, and unimaginative. As America conquers, the world becomes atomized, uniform, and mediocre.

The middle class is anxious because nothing is stable. Source trail 48:4349:4350:38 Atomized just means that we live in our own world than ourselves. Uniform means everyone thinks the same way and mediocre means that well no one is striving for greatness anymore. If you think about it okay the world we...This is different from history where if you're born poor you stay poor. If you're a noble person you could have no money but your status stays with you. Okay and it goes passes on to your children and your grandchildren... In aristocracy, status is inherited. In the middle class, status must be earned against competitors, and wealth can vanish. That uncertainty produces obsessive self-control, cleanliness, accumulation, and achievement. Franklin now looks different. His simple living is not just virtue. It is anxiety trying to protect itself from falling.

Democracy promises to soften extremes: less brilliance, less misery, fewer great heights, fewer terrible lows. Source trail 50:3851:3952:3453:35 Well why is he focused on such a simple living? Why does he constantly want to achieve? It's because of the anxiety of being middle class. You're born poor you get you you earn a lot of money you become wealthy but how...There would be more vices and fewer crimes. Okay let's look at to understand. So what he's seeing is this in aristocratic societies in most societies there's a huge gap between the rich and the poor. Okay and there's a... But America does not simply replace aristocracy with happy equality. It destroys inherited tradition and keeps law, but law without reverence is thin. People respect superior persons more easily than abstract rules. The king disappears, but the majesty of law does not fully take his place.

The democratic danger is conformity. Source trail 53:3554:3955:4656:57 respect and revere ideas and things and laws does that make sense okay so in theory America is a rule of law nation but people don't really understand these laws and people don't revere these laws as much as they would...out and you speak speak what's unjust people will follow you in a democracy in middle class society which is conformist you're not you're not allowed to question popular opinion and therefore no great man can arise if y... In aristocracy, injustice can be named and great individuals can gather followers. In middle-class democracy, popular opinion presses down anyone who questions the system. The heroes become business people, not generals or leaders. The human purpose shrinks from dying for civilization to making money and buying things.

That is the consumer slave. Source trail 56:5758:04 new bromo hosts of men all alike and equal endlessly hastening after petty and vulgar pleasures with which they fill their souls over these men stand an immense tutelary power which assumes sole responsibility for secur...in all its other parts has always struck me as an ethereal monster okay we think we live in democracy we think the government is a democracy that's in charge and that's a monster the vice of those who govern and the imb... If all you care about is buying things, no liberal, energetic, wise government can emerge from you. Democracy becomes an ethereal monster: republican at the head, monarchical everywhere else. The prophecy is that America, as structured, cannot last forever. It will either renew free institutions or return to the feet of a single master.

The final summary defines civilization as history, culture, and values. Source trail 59:051:00:29 what we've learned to give you a broad framework for understanding the nature of American society okay sorry all right so I apologize I I know that today was very fast um but let me just summarize what we've learned and...right it's a stubbornness inflexibility it also limits immigration okay does that make sense okay this is the nature of civilization throughout most of human history now this is a problem for America why because as I me... It tells people to maintain, protect, and defend a shared world. But civilization also produces prejudice, war, inflexibility, and limits on immigration. America cannot live that way because it is immigrant, diverse, open, and dependent on ideas stolen from Europe. So it does not build a civilization. It builds a game.

The Constitution is the rule system. Source trail 1:01:541:03:05 that's the idea of the US Constitution what's the game the game is this first of all we need to have game masters game masters is the government but the problem is for the game to work it has to be fair it has to be cle...yours forever it's yours it's yours but it's also your children's okay you understand this is a game that America has constructed if you think about it this is great because now you can bring in as many immigrants as yo... Government is the game master. The game must be fair, clean, transparent, winnable, and rewarding, because people play only when they believe they can win. The purpose is material acquisition. If you win money, it is yours by law and it is your childrens. Private property makes the prize durable.

This is why the game can absorb immigrants and innovate quickly. Source trail 1:03:051:04:03 yours forever it's yours it's yours but it's also your children's okay you understand this is a game that America has constructed if you think about it this is great because now you can bring in as many immigrants as yo...to school because we need to get an education go to America get a degree we can become rich when we become rich we can buy things right we're playing this game we've all been brainwashed to play this game okay the probl... Everyone wants to play. America sees itself as a new civilization, but the lecture insists it is really an anti-civilization that becomes wealthy enough to conquer the world and install the game everywhere. Even Chinese students are inside it: school, America, degree, wealth, consumption. We have all been trained to play.

The flaw is built in. Eventually the few win everything. Source trail 1:04:031:05:15 to school because we need to get an education go to America get a degree we can become rich when we become rich we can buy things right we're playing this game we've all been brainwashed to play this game okay the probl...white Christian democratic nation again let us restore the vision of Thomas Jefferson right okay that's it so this is just an introduction to America we'll continue this topic as we move further and further along the co... Inequality makes people ask what the game was for. They begin to miss civilization: clear identity, clear duty, sacrifice for the greater good. MAGA is read through that nostalgia. It wants to restore America as a white Christian democratic nation, the Jeffersonian civilization inside the anti-civilization.