You win a war against America by creating a monetary system that has investors chasing the next word or deed from the Federal Reserve Bank, instead of innovating the production of goods and services. You win a war against America by destroying the energy industry while propagandizing and subsidizing the non-existent "cheap and abundant clean energy". You win... by destroying our stock of human capital with the miseducation and corrupted hiring practices of DEI. You win a war... by teach the citizens that all economic value derives from govt programs, that what the classical economist call "added value" is nothing bu exploitation of people and the Earth.
You win a war against America by voting for the Democratic Party and by failing to consider that sometimes when the insiders have led us to an unthinkably bad place that maybe we need to look at leaders who are outsiders
I don’t know if that is true - honestly, it surprises me that every democrat votes in lockstep as if no discussion or moral decisions are involved. If someone is a democrat you know how their vote is going to go. The republicans do have some back and forth between members - but I think that shows to some of stent that they are making decisions based on thoughtful consideration - and also I think to some extend that some of the republicans are not in line with what the base wants - which is that they try to protect the welfare of the American people. How this is controversial I don’t understand - if the American leaders don’t stick up for their own people then what are they doing there?
GOP is struggling because it has lost its equitable share of the educated elite, and is in the throes of reinventing itself as the party of the regular Janes and Joes instead of, or as well as, capitalism and big business. Trying to figure out where they will land in representing somewhat contrary constituencies is hard. At least they are still, predominately, a party that believes in America as an ideal, instead of a nation of oppressors and oppressed, that needs to be torn down and torn apart, where anyone who is climbing up, on the back of drive and creativity and ability and effort, must be slowed or even pulled down in the name of equality of outcomes.
What's your definition of elite? I mean those with college educations and corporate jobs, particularly those from the most prestigious schools and at the most prestigious companies. The perception from the media, my personal (necessarily limited) experience, and the evidence of woke policies being instituted in companies, the compliance of government agencies in supporting Democratic goals (though maybe this is just anti-Trump), suggests the vast majority of educated and influential employees are woke supporters or too scared to say otherwise. I think you'd find they heavily skew Democrat.
….. it surprises me that every democrat votes in lockstep as if no discussion or moral decisions are involved…
Great observation and excellent point. On so many major issues the Democrats vote in a 100% bloc. The fact that there is often no dissent is an indicator of the independent thinking and critical analysis present. They do as they’re told.
Well said. To this I would add you win a war against America by regulating to the point of micromanagement of every human endeavor, whether individual all or business enterprise.
I’m a big fan of a16z. Substack is a shining example of one of their portfolio companies. But if American Dynamism is to prevail, as the author framed it in this essay, a16z and other VC’s are going to have to do two things: (1) join the battle against the rot that is destroying our institutions, and (2) find and fund founders to build mission critical technology for the US military, an example of which includes Elon Musk and what he is doing with SpaceX, which crushed the cost plus regime that is the Military Industrial Complex.
It sounds as if America is already lost. Not only has the Left done all the things on her list of how to win a war against America, they've largely succeeded in those endeavors beyond any repair.
A lot of this comes down to what Americans value, and based on this essay, too many of them no longer value much of anything worth having. It *is* nihilism all the way down.
Reversing this damage would require extraordinary acts of leadership. Not only do we seem to be lacking in leaders, the Leftist media is quick to destroy anyone who threatens their hegemony.
How, in these circumstances, could we hope to win?
Two hundred years is about the average. Hard times create hard men. Hard men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create hard times.
Not hard to tell where we are in this cycle. Mind you, the hard men have not all disappeared, their voices have been silenced by the Nancy-boys. The question then becomes: will they be available to save the day when necessary? Or will they look around themselves and decide the freaks and weirdos really aren't worth saving? I'm in the latter camp. I'll be okay. Screw the misfit majority. Let them fall. Good and hard
True. We keep electing people who want to vilify and shame those creating and producing and contributing to American Dynamism...you didn't build that, fair share, white privilege, etc. Until the dynamic in the voting booth is upended, I continue to be fearful for our future.
This is one of the most encouraging essays I've seen in a long time, precisely because we are seeing a leader step up to fight the cancer that is killing us. The only thing more depressing than the capture of our educational institutions by the ideology of victimhood has been it's capture of our businesses. Ms Boyle is to be congratulated, and hopefully her voice and example (along with others such as Elon Musk), will inspire others to stand up and fight for historically great American ideals.
Let's start with rebuilding our education system from the ground up. It is clear that our youth are being misled about our American values and have fallen under the sway of false narratives imposed on them by doctrinaire radicals. Let's get back to the basics and the teaching of civics that emphasizes American exceptionalism.
It's too far gone... Unless you are saying to create a new system. The Texas House voted to remove school vouchers from a massive education bill https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/16/texas-house-school-vouchers/ The teachers unions are too powerful. They will take down any politicians who vote against their interests. Look what they did during COVID. They did not care about the kids. Homeschooling is on the rise. Maybe those families will be the start of something new and better.
I've been depressed about this problem, but this voice gives me hope. If leaders in business would loudly and proudly stand for positivity and optimism, of visions of greatness, it would give our young people hope instead of despair, and they would reject those curriculums that advance the latter and choose those that advance the former.
(If we combined this with a reform of our student loan system, so that loans could be bankrupted without government guarantees for lenders, we would see lenders refuse to fund degrees in social justice and despair, and redirect funding towards programs that actually improve people's economic opportunities directly, one person at a time, while preparing them to contribute to a dynamic economy!)
I like your point about student loans. I agree that we should not be using public funds to support programs that do not advance public needs and that actually undermine civic pride and responsibility.
We will not win this war so long as a significant percentage of young women want jobs that require lots of money for as little work as possible. See all the articles about girls wanting to be Influencers. And now the influencers have become political analysts weighing in on genocide, apartheid, colonialism, oppression, terms they throw around frequently yet cannot define. Social media has changed the game and unless Katherine and others are able to blunt it or reverse course our new lost generation and the ones to come will continue to lead the nihilistic charge.
True that social media is a major problem. Kids today don't get news and opinion from informed, seasoned seniors; rather, they get opinion (without much in the way of news) from the most vain glorious and narcissistic of their inexperienced and largely uneducated peers.
You also win by reasserting universal values and showing that people do do things for the betterment of humanity.
Trevor Phillips in today's Times of London details the recent breakthrough in the treatment of sickle cell anaemia, a condition which concerns him greatly as he is a carrier. Although the treatment cost is currently huge, it will come down and it will benefit hundreds of thousands of people, mostly of West African descent. He points out that in the 8 decades that it took, hardly anyone involved in the quest actually would benefit directly from the treatment. In other words, the scientists cared beyond their tribe as defined by Progressive Separatists and Identity enthusiasts (something which strict adherents of Identity Grouping believe can't happen). They did it in the pursuit of knowledge and for the betterment of the human condition.
The breakthrough has made him rethink the phrase he has used in the past “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it” because it isn't necessarily true in any meaningful sense. He uses the recent Barbie movie as an example. "Yet if the lesson offered by Barbie world is that our role models need to look, sound and behave like us, something is wrong. Our heroes should expand our possibilities rather than shrink to fit our prejudices."
We need to get back to expanding people's possibilities (Something the America of my youth to be rather good at btw ) rather than shrinking futures to fit roles determined by Identity Grouping.
To make your own archive go to archive.is or archive.ph. In the search for saved snapshots, insert your desired url and it will do a search. Click on the link that comes up. It is useful for most urls.
I wish I could double love this article! This is the type of company worth working for! So impressed with the two essays I’ve read through the FP. This gives me a lot of hope- thank you!
I hear a lot of influential people like Katherine Boyle talk big. That's great and all and it's been going on for a while. But who's actually DOING anything about it? Even in this article where she's saying we should push back, she offers no answer. None at all. Just a few short vague paragraphs at the end about building things but completely devoid of solutions. Where's the movement that we the people can get behind? I really, really hate to say this but so far the only one actually offering any movement where we the people can join is the Trump campaign.
Yes, Trump policies exemplefied all that was mentioned. But the Left has made any association with Trump evil. Gas lighting. He opted to remove America from all these institution that stood for anti American values.
You know who is doing something about this - small groups of volunteers and communities but we are small in number. If more people got involved in civic life directly, we'd be less in a pickle than we are currently. All of the civic organizations I belong to are overrun by white middle class elders like myself where is everyone else? Too many people are glued to their screens and not volunteering and getting out into the community. We aren't taught history, or civics. People don't anything about the political system that runs this country. Politics has become a dirty word because it is associated with corruption and lies. And yet according to Aristotle, it is the foundation of civilization. Civic engagement should be considered a duty not an option or a choice. If we want a democracy to flourish, we have to be willing to walk to the Agora and be willing to defend the true, the good, and the beautiful. Just my two cents.
I had to share this with my grown kids…who all too often think I’m just a Senior Conservative Retired White Dude (i.e. SCReWD) with outdated values…and maybe I am. But I know that the direction we’re now going is far more dangerous than anything I’ve witnessed before. I worry about this not for fear of what’s in store for me but what’s in store for my grand kids…and my country.
Yip, we better be very afraid, if we don’t stand up now it will be the end of America as we know it. Stand up for faith, flag and country that’s what our grandchildren need!
Nothing like an inspiring read on a Monday morning - kudos to the author and thank you very much. I think Musk said it best when he narrowed down to: the current battle is between the Humanists and the Extinctionists. For me, this would be the same as saying Good versus Evil.. It will be a struggle but I hope America's dynamism will be restored.
A great, real, courageous, no-nonsense speech. America is not only defined by its dynamism, it is also a great experiment in the philosophy of government...a real-time application of John Locke's and Montesquieu's ideas on the nature of Man, Natural Law, and why we organize into governed societies. Three cheers for Katherine Boyle...and let us get on with it.
You win the war against America thru excessive credentialism. Peter Drucker warned against this more than 50 years ago. Himself born in Austria, he said that one great advantage America had over Europe is that here, the important jobs were not reserved for the graduates of 'elite' universities. Today, we have lost a lot of that advantage.
You win a war against America by creating a monetary system that has investors chasing the next word or deed from the Federal Reserve Bank, instead of innovating the production of goods and services. You win a war against America by destroying the energy industry while propagandizing and subsidizing the non-existent "cheap and abundant clean energy". You win... by destroying our stock of human capital with the miseducation and corrupted hiring practices of DEI. You win a war... by teach the citizens that all economic value derives from govt programs, that what the classical economist call "added value" is nothing bu exploitation of people and the Earth.
You win a war against America by voting for the Democratic Party and by failing to consider that sometimes when the insiders have led us to an unthinkably bad place that maybe we need to look at leaders who are outsiders
What is the alternative - the GOP is more interested in petty bickering than even remotely thinking about governing
I don’t know if that is true - honestly, it surprises me that every democrat votes in lockstep as if no discussion or moral decisions are involved. If someone is a democrat you know how their vote is going to go. The republicans do have some back and forth between members - but I think that shows to some of stent that they are making decisions based on thoughtful consideration - and also I think to some extend that some of the republicans are not in line with what the base wants - which is that they try to protect the welfare of the American people. How this is controversial I don’t understand - if the American leaders don’t stick up for their own people then what are they doing there?
GOP is struggling because it has lost its equitable share of the educated elite, and is in the throes of reinventing itself as the party of the regular Janes and Joes instead of, or as well as, capitalism and big business. Trying to figure out where they will land in representing somewhat contrary constituencies is hard. At least they are still, predominately, a party that believes in America as an ideal, instead of a nation of oppressors and oppressed, that needs to be torn down and torn apart, where anyone who is climbing up, on the back of drive and creativity and ability and effort, must be slowed or even pulled down in the name of equality of outcomes.
virtually all of the modern educated elite is in the gop.
the left are not elite but instead have only the pretense of it. they're wearing their mother's dress because they can't lift their father's axe.
What's your definition of elite? I mean those with college educations and corporate jobs, particularly those from the most prestigious schools and at the most prestigious companies. The perception from the media, my personal (necessarily limited) experience, and the evidence of woke policies being instituted in companies, the compliance of government agencies in supporting Democratic goals (though maybe this is just anti-Trump), suggests the vast majority of educated and influential employees are woke supporters or too scared to say otherwise. I think you'd find they heavily skew Democrat.
….. it surprises me that every democrat votes in lockstep as if no discussion or moral decisions are involved…
Great observation and excellent point. On so many major issues the Democrats vote in a 100% bloc. The fact that there is often no dissent is an indicator of the independent thinking and critical analysis present. They do as they’re told.
You win a war against America by rewarding financial tinkering at the margins more highly than actually producing anything.
Well said. To this I would add you win a war against America by regulating to the point of micromanagement of every human endeavor, whether individual all or business enterprise.
" instead of innovating the production of goods and services"
agreed that this is important. But you are blind if you don't think that includes clean energy
I’m a big fan of a16z. Substack is a shining example of one of their portfolio companies. But if American Dynamism is to prevail, as the author framed it in this essay, a16z and other VC’s are going to have to do two things: (1) join the battle against the rot that is destroying our institutions, and (2) find and fund founders to build mission critical technology for the US military, an example of which includes Elon Musk and what he is doing with SpaceX, which crushed the cost plus regime that is the Military Industrial Complex.
It sounds as if America is already lost. Not only has the Left done all the things on her list of how to win a war against America, they've largely succeeded in those endeavors beyond any repair.
A lot of this comes down to what Americans value, and based on this essay, too many of them no longer value much of anything worth having. It *is* nihilism all the way down.
Reversing this damage would require extraordinary acts of leadership. Not only do we seem to be lacking in leaders, the Leftist media is quick to destroy anyone who threatens their hegemony.
How, in these circumstances, could we hope to win?
Two hundred years is about the average. Hard times create hard men. Hard men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create hard times.
It's our turn.
Not hard to tell where we are in this cycle. Mind you, the hard men have not all disappeared, their voices have been silenced by the Nancy-boys. The question then becomes: will they be available to save the day when necessary? Or will they look around themselves and decide the freaks and weirdos really aren't worth saving? I'm in the latter camp. I'll be okay. Screw the misfit majority. Let them fall. Good and hard
Yip it’s our turn we must step up the time is now!
True. We keep electing people who want to vilify and shame those creating and producing and contributing to American Dynamism...you didn't build that, fair share, white privilege, etc. Until the dynamic in the voting booth is upended, I continue to be fearful for our future.
This is one of the most encouraging essays I've seen in a long time, precisely because we are seeing a leader step up to fight the cancer that is killing us. The only thing more depressing than the capture of our educational institutions by the ideology of victimhood has been it's capture of our businesses. Ms Boyle is to be congratulated, and hopefully her voice and example (along with others such as Elon Musk), will inspire others to stand up and fight for historically great American ideals.
Let's start with rebuilding our education system from the ground up. It is clear that our youth are being misled about our American values and have fallen under the sway of false narratives imposed on them by doctrinaire radicals. Let's get back to the basics and the teaching of civics that emphasizes American exceptionalism.
It's too far gone... Unless you are saying to create a new system. The Texas House voted to remove school vouchers from a massive education bill https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/16/texas-house-school-vouchers/ The teachers unions are too powerful. They will take down any politicians who vote against their interests. Look what they did during COVID. They did not care about the kids. Homeschooling is on the rise. Maybe those families will be the start of something new and better.
If that happened in Texas then the schools are lost forever. That is sad.
Then take matters into your own hands. We are home schooling our children.
I've been depressed about this problem, but this voice gives me hope. If leaders in business would loudly and proudly stand for positivity and optimism, of visions of greatness, it would give our young people hope instead of despair, and they would reject those curriculums that advance the latter and choose those that advance the former.
(If we combined this with a reform of our student loan system, so that loans could be bankrupted without government guarantees for lenders, we would see lenders refuse to fund degrees in social justice and despair, and redirect funding towards programs that actually improve people's economic opportunities directly, one person at a time, while preparing them to contribute to a dynamic economy!)
I like your point about student loans. I agree that we should not be using public funds to support programs that do not advance public needs and that actually undermine civic pride and responsibility.
Ron Desantis has actually proposed putting universities on the hook for guaranteeing the loans. Not exactly what I'm suggesting, but similar.
Not a bad idea. I'd be happy limiting federal student loans to only STEM degrees and waiving interest on those who work in those fields for ten years.
We will not win this war so long as a significant percentage of young women want jobs that require lots of money for as little work as possible. See all the articles about girls wanting to be Influencers. And now the influencers have become political analysts weighing in on genocide, apartheid, colonialism, oppression, terms they throw around frequently yet cannot define. Social media has changed the game and unless Katherine and others are able to blunt it or reverse course our new lost generation and the ones to come will continue to lead the nihilistic charge.
True that social media is a major problem. Kids today don't get news and opinion from informed, seasoned seniors; rather, they get opinion (without much in the way of news) from the most vain glorious and narcissistic of their inexperienced and largely uneducated peers.
You also win by reasserting universal values and showing that people do do things for the betterment of humanity.
Trevor Phillips in today's Times of London details the recent breakthrough in the treatment of sickle cell anaemia, a condition which concerns him greatly as he is a carrier. Although the treatment cost is currently huge, it will come down and it will benefit hundreds of thousands of people, mostly of West African descent. He points out that in the 8 decades that it took, hardly anyone involved in the quest actually would benefit directly from the treatment. In other words, the scientists cared beyond their tribe as defined by Progressive Separatists and Identity enthusiasts (something which strict adherents of Identity Grouping believe can't happen). They did it in the pursuit of knowledge and for the betterment of the human condition.
The breakthrough has made him rethink the phrase he has used in the past “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it” because it isn't necessarily true in any meaningful sense. He uses the recent Barbie movie as an example. "Yet if the lesson offered by Barbie world is that our role models need to look, sound and behave like us, something is wrong. Our heroes should expand our possibilities rather than shrink to fit our prejudices."
We need to get back to expanding people's possibilities (Something the America of my youth to be rather good at btw ) rather than shrinking futures to fit roles determined by Identity Grouping.
The entire op-ed is worth reading. He quotes Edmund Burke at the end (the quotation which the head of Georgia delegation says in the musical 1776 and something worth considering in these troubled times) https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sickle-cell-breakthrough-offers-political-parable-pmm0c0h67 or https://archive.is/ktW9b
No way around subscribing and the archive link doesn't work.
To make your own archive go to archive.is or archive.ph. In the search for saved snapshots, insert your desired url and it will do a search. Click on the link that comes up. It is useful for most urls.
I wish I could double love this article! This is the type of company worth working for! So impressed with the two essays I’ve read through the FP. This gives me a lot of hope- thank you!
I hear a lot of influential people like Katherine Boyle talk big. That's great and all and it's been going on for a while. But who's actually DOING anything about it? Even in this article where she's saying we should push back, she offers no answer. None at all. Just a few short vague paragraphs at the end about building things but completely devoid of solutions. Where's the movement that we the people can get behind? I really, really hate to say this but so far the only one actually offering any movement where we the people can join is the Trump campaign.
Yes, Trump policies exemplefied all that was mentioned. But the Left has made any association with Trump evil. Gas lighting. He opted to remove America from all these institution that stood for anti American values.
Yip I’ve joined the Trump campaign a long time ago, I’m sure you remember the slogan Make America Great Again let’s get to work America🇺🇸🇺🇸🇮🇱🇮🇱
You know who is doing something about this - small groups of volunteers and communities but we are small in number. If more people got involved in civic life directly, we'd be less in a pickle than we are currently. All of the civic organizations I belong to are overrun by white middle class elders like myself where is everyone else? Too many people are glued to their screens and not volunteering and getting out into the community. We aren't taught history, or civics. People don't anything about the political system that runs this country. Politics has become a dirty word because it is associated with corruption and lies. And yet according to Aristotle, it is the foundation of civilization. Civic engagement should be considered a duty not an option or a choice. If we want a democracy to flourish, we have to be willing to walk to the Agora and be willing to defend the true, the good, and the beautiful. Just my two cents.
Excellent read. As someone who is in SaaS/ Tech, I greatly appreciate someone influential speaking up on American Dynamism.
Solid examples on the war against America. It's pervasive and sad.
I had to share this with my grown kids…who all too often think I’m just a Senior Conservative Retired White Dude (i.e. SCReWD) with outdated values…and maybe I am. But I know that the direction we’re now going is far more dangerous than anything I’ve witnessed before. I worry about this not for fear of what’s in store for me but what’s in store for my grand kids…and my country.
Yip, we better be very afraid, if we don’t stand up now it will be the end of America as we know it. Stand up for faith, flag and country that’s what our grandchildren need!
Nothing like an inspiring read on a Monday morning - kudos to the author and thank you very much. I think Musk said it best when he narrowed down to: the current battle is between the Humanists and the Extinctionists. For me, this would be the same as saying Good versus Evil.. It will be a struggle but I hope America's dynamism will be restored.
No mention of the media?
You win a war against America when you control the narrative; the national discussion; the MEDIA!
The 8th wonder of the world is why won't journalists do their jobs today? Why do they feel a need to destroy one man and protect another, at no cost?
You win a war against America by electing power-driven, win at all costs, corrupt Democrats.
The best post today thank you 234!
A great, real, courageous, no-nonsense speech. America is not only defined by its dynamism, it is also a great experiment in the philosophy of government...a real-time application of John Locke's and Montesquieu's ideas on the nature of Man, Natural Law, and why we organize into governed societies. Three cheers for Katherine Boyle...and let us get on with it.
The tech Cold War has turned hot. E/acc must prevail over ESG/DIE/EA. American dynamism for the win!
Fight for patriots like Hershey Miyamura: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/veterans-day-medal-of-honor-hershey-miyamura
You win the war against America thru excessive credentialism. Peter Drucker warned against this more than 50 years ago. Himself born in Austria, he said that one great advantage America had over Europe is that here, the important jobs were not reserved for the graduates of 'elite' universities. Today, we have lost a lot of that advantage.
Going to have to not buy into the war the left is going for with Musk. It’s wrong!