https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/a-divided-america-should-avoid-war-in-ukraine/

The article per the title is that a divided America should avoid war in Ukraine because such war could not heal America's internal division. But it offers a lot more. It is a historian's meditation on American history. And it reveals a lot about
Americanism although not the motherhood and apple pie kind.

First of all, it is about American dynamism.

"The American experience is replete with fresh beginnings. On the one hand are various “Great Awakenings,” both religious and secular, undertaken to purge the nation of injustice, inequality, and evils of various kinds. On the other hand are
countless armed conflicts, typically styled as crusades on behalf of liberty, even if informed by overt or covert imperial ambitions. String together these various new beginnings and there emerges a triumphal narrative sufficient to command the fealty of
most Americans most of the time, at least until recently."

Background:
Let me introduce a book entitled "A Nation of Salesmen: The Tyranny of the Market and the Subversion of Culture." Salesmen, including political leaders who try to sell his candidacy and/or policy, are intrinsically a subversive force.

Why subversive?
Mike Pompei's has got subversion right with his "We Lied, Cheated and Stole." Of course, one could also view the whole thing more positiively.
Subversive is just another way of saying creative destruction per Joseph Schumpeter.

Another necessary condition for a nation of salesmen is an attention deficit citizenry. James Bovad wrote a book entitled "Attention Deficit Democracy." But attention deficit is not limited to the political realm. Successful salemanship needs attention
deficit buyers.

Of course, victims lied to, cheated and stolen by other would not be happy. Here came the “Great Awakenings,” both religious and secular, undertaken to purge the nation of injustice, inequality, and evils of various kinds.

What next? Another cylce of subversion and great awakening. As long as the country is target rich and/or has a target rich international environment, the cycle could repeat itself indefinitive.

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