Upside Down Revolution

April 10, 20026

The pattern of popular uprisings throughout history has been one in which the masses overthrow the ruling system/government/monarchy/etc. Common people are pushed to the point where they can’t take it anymore and find strength in numbers to foment change. All too often however, even when successful in toppling the ruling elites du jour, the movement fails to implement lasting change because they don’t have a plan. They’ve been so focused on — often swept up in the collective frenzy of — tearing down existing systems that little thought was put into what happens next, leaving a vacuum that is all too easily filled by an echo of the past. And so the repressive cycle begins again.

What if that pattern is being turned on its head now? As the American experiment in democracy approaches its 250th anniversary, many agree the system is flawed — although there’s no clear consensus on exactly which parts are flawed. One man’s flaw is another man’s privilege. Nevertheless, after 250 years any system could use a thorough examination to assess what’s working and what’s not, what is still relevant and what is obsolete. We’re (over)due for another Constitutional Convention; one that brings together representatives of ALL the American constituencies to share perspectives and ideas; to challenge the status quo to see what has staying power and what needs to go; to re-draft a Constitution for the 21st century and beyond.

It’s good to have a dream….

That would be the peaceful, cooperative way toward evolution, but it ain’t happening any time soon in a country so divided and angry. Many believe (myself included, at times) that a more violent revolution is in the making. We are quite “divided and angry” after all; key ingredients for revolution (or perhaps civil war). Here’s where the skeptics (myself included, at other times) wonder if the American people are actually up for revolution. For one thing, who would revolt against whom? In a country so divided, are we more likely to turn on each other than to recognize our common foe — the ruling elites in Washington, Wall Street, Silicon Valley — and band together to take back the system that is supposed to be of the people, by the people, for the people?

Then again, maybe we don’t need to answer the questions above at all because another revolutionary scenario actually appears to be playing itself out. The ruling elites themselves are actively dismantling the system, and in very obvious, often violent, and indiscriminate ways. Metaphors of chain saws and wrecking balls are not overdramatic these days. And I have a sickening feeling there is much more being dismantled quietly behind the scenes, the impacts of which will come as a devastating shock once we realize yet another system we blithely relied upon is now gone. Far from needing a popular uprising to topple the system, the ruling elites are dismantling the system for us. But not really for us.

Most certainly, some among them have a plan (Project 2025 come to mind) to re-make the system according to their own designs. Most certainly, they will NOT bring together representatives of all the American constituencies to share perspectives and ideas; to challenge the status quo to see what has staying power and what needs to go; to draft a Constitution for the 21st century and beyond. Their plan is set, and it serves a select few, not the multi-faceted populace of America today.

Their plan could work. In fact, it probably will, at least for a while. But I find myself wondering if their wanton dismantling is going too far, are they cutting away flesh not just fat. Far more importantly, is this all just proverbial rearranging of deck chairs on the Titanic as crises beyond their limited scope of imagination loom ready to sink the American ship that’s too big to turn at this point. I’ve been asking for 30 years if we are living through the decline and fall of the American empire. Despite the ridicule and outrage of some of my family members when I ask that question, I continue to believe that we are.

So what comes next? Serious thinkers have made compelling predictions of another Dark Age following the combined effects of empire collapse, bursting market bubbles, AI domination, and, oh yeah, climate change. And many others have made perhaps less serious but no less entertaining predictions in myriad dystopian novels and movies. We have no shortage of depictions of what “the day after” could look like.

But what if we don’t let it get to that point?

What if the popular revolution comes in the nick of time? Between the final collapse and the slide into a Dark Age. Theoretically there would be an interstitial period between the dates chosen by future historians that pinpoint the end of empire and the start of darkness, right? Importantly, this is the period in which we will still remember, and hopefully still have access to, the good that humankind is capable of, before it is forgotten in the collective amnesia that inevitably comes with the aftermath of massive collapse (that’s why it’s called a Dark Age, after all). This is not necessarily a comforting “what if scenario” because it accepts that a collapse is indeed proceeding apace and there’s not much we can do to stop it.

But it is hopeful.

To avert a future Dark Age with new systems that are not only of/by/for the people but are truly inclusive and in partnership with every thing and every one on this planet — now that would be revolutionary.