For a comparatively small window of time in this history, the West saw an unusually centralized control structure. Between about 1940 and 2010, most mainstream ideas were filtered through a few media outlets, megacorporations, and movie production companies.
However, as I write this in the mid-2020s, we are reverting to the natural state of humanity, with every group constantly fighting amongst themselves. At any time, factions will endlessly split and create new attempts to dominate their opponents.
To survive, everyone who isn’t leading their own faction (and some that do) must pick a side. We’re at the beginning of a new era, and must craft our way forward.
With some exceptions, the past few hundred years have given us the advantage of our history showing most of the political systems that we could possibly make, with the only exceptions coming as subdivisions or specific government ideas that use new technology.
Decay from inside
Even when organizations add non-negotiable value, they all decay from the inside:
- The strong leaders who built the thing eventually must retire or expire.
- Weaker leaders who didn’t need to be as strong replace them.
- The organization loses its focus and O’Sullivan’s Law sets in, and the group adopts more liberal ideals.
- This cycle perpetuates until the organization becomes a starkly leftward organization.
- Without the organization rewarding merit anymore, everyone breaks into tribes that create new factions.
- Any large-scale attempts to reconcile with those factions will fail. This is because factions usually stand on principles or rebellion, and groups can’t admit they’re wrong.
- A new group arises, rebuilt in the image of its faction’s leader.
In other words, the standard for every new group is a type of dictatorship, and the group loses its way when its dictator leaves.
Awful by design
This may be controversial in the Land of the Free, but God didn’t design us for self-governance. God Himself sees us as helpless without His guidance (Matthew 23:37).
However, we don’t even need the Bible to prove that. We can look at history to see how insufficient we are at running ourselves.
- Capitalism works, which proves a constant selfishness that doesn’t care for the needs of the lowest-ranked within society.
- Democracy never works at scale because people are easily swayed by convincing lies. We know people will delegate their vote to so-called “experts“, which will devolve into choosing between a few factions.
- Every attempt at leftist government leaves the wealthy dead and the poorest more oppressed.
Even idealized political systems fail to recognize what history already teaches us.
- Communists fail to see that every class of citizen sins, and it’s not simply because they’re oppressed.
- Libertarians and anarcho-capitalists fail to see that most people will gladly submit their power to the most convenient source for them, not the most effective or moral.
- Even when everyone arranges an amazing political system, the citizens will eventually give their power away out of fear for their safety.
- In other words, no system can withstand convincing liars.
In effect, the dominance hierarchy re-arises in each instance, with us eventually all submitting to a king. Sometimes the term is “bureaucrat”, “judge”, or “manager”, but that authority structure never leaves us.
In this situation, every political experiment will inevitably fail, with some type of “king” always winning out.
Designed that way
This is not a coincidence. We are clearly designed to have a benevolent king run our lives.
While the word “king” may be controversial, the key addition here is benevolent. I guarantee everyone would be quite satisfied with a king who protected them and assisted in every form of public service, provided he fully honored our natural rights.
In the context of how God designed us, this makes perfect sense:
- From the beginning onward, His design has been for a political system grounded in a loving relationship, similar to healthy parenting (Genesis 2).
- Jesus came as a servant-king with the purpose of leading by example, even though it wasn’t time to lay hold of everything (Matthew 28:18).
- And, at some point in the future, when God is ready, we will see the fruit of this designed mechanism.
Beyond physical needs, we need His righteousness and grounding, and Jesus considers it a clear blessing if we desire it (Matthew 5:6).
However, we live in a fallen state without God’s presence. This means most people in this world are “anorexic” in desiring righteousness, and the symptoms represent themselves the same as any other addiction:
- Withdrawal from any connection with God to pursue whatever we feel like at the moment that isn’t God (Romans 1:18-21).
- Severe recklessness in idolatry over something else (Romans 1:22-23).
- God gives us what we want, and we descend further into a spiral of shame and gratification in the wrong way (Romans 1:24-32).
Beyond this unnatural state causing us tremendous present suffering (Romans 8:22), this situation represents a very real political problem:
- Every person is corruptible, so every king needs some sort of accountability.
- However, every king who has the power to maintain control will want to keep control, rendering the accountability system worthless.
- When a righteous king arises, he will do well for everyone, assuming he doesn’t get corrupted by the power over time.
- Even if he stays a good king for many decades, he will eventually die and leave a power vacuum.
- The corruption of this world means there’s not enough wisdom for a wise king to have a perfect succession plan.
- Irrespective of when, an evil king will eventually arise. Once the people or king’s nobility are displeased enough, they will revolt and overthrow him.
So, as long as this world exists without our King, we will have an endless parade of political instability.
He’s waiting
While we’re all designed for a King, He’s also benevolent enough that He wants our willing consent. In other words, we must accept we need His guidance and peace, since He’s not going to waste time giving us spiritual guidance if we’re not going to follow it.
Therefore, as any citizen of any nation, we must submit to a greater King, preferably every moment, but starting with every day (Matthew 16:24).
In fact, most of the issue with this world is because He’s absurdly patient before He brings judgment (2 Peter 3:9). The answer is simple, but we don’t want it.