Is it Worse to be Ruled by Yankees or by Stalin?

In The Fourth Stage of American History, the ZMan describes American nation in four major epochs. First was the colonial stage. The successful war of independence ushered in the constitutional stage, where there was some balance of power between north and south, with presidents tending to arise from the near south. The Civil War gave political dominance to Yankeedom (and to some extent the Midlands), which is where we find ourselves today.

There were 15 presidents before Lincoln. Six of them were from Yankeedom or the Midlands. The rest were from the Tidewater or the South. Virginia used to be called the Cradle of Presidents because seven pre-Civil War presidents were from there. Only one post-Civil War president, Woodrow Wilson, has been from Virginia. Of the 30 since the war, 25 have been from Yankeedom or from the Midlands. There have been 19 from parts of the country that fall into the dark blue portion of that linked map.

Since the Civil War, America has been dominated by one region of the country. It stands to reason that politics would be rooted in this region as well. Because Progressives, in various manifestations, are dominant in the North, they have been the driving force in America politics and culture as a whole. Naturally, any reaction to this would be culturally rooted in the North as well. Put another way, politics in America has been a lover’s quarrel between the two halves of Yankeedom since the Civil War.

That Yankeedom should rise to dominance is perfectly understandable given the way we think about things around here. Democracy's Demographic Demonry gave a look at how different regions of the country were settled. In Hawaii, the natives were displaced by imported laborers from Asia, which, when coupled with the imposition of head-count style democracy, led the Hawaiians to constitute a powerless minority in their own homelands. A similar thing happened in the south. The natives were evicted, but then African slaves were imported. The rest of the country behaved similarly. In the southwest Hispanic labor is used in agriculture. The west engaged in the importation of Asian labor. In all these places, profit-seeking was the foremost concern, with little thought to long-term consequences.

Only in Yankeedom and the Midlands were things done the right way. Or in one of the right ways, anyway. It seems there are about three ways a nation can rightfully behave towards another with acceptable long-term results. The first is to respect their sovereignty. That is the peaceful option. The second is to evict them from some (or all) of their lands. That is the conquest option. The third is to dominate the nation by force or other coercion. That is the colonial option.

The second two options might not seem very "rightful" as they involve force and cruelty, but we're looking from the perspective of the long-term health of nations. Colonialism can actually preserve the subservient nation, and can help strengthen them. Many nations on earth today were drug into the modern era from a primitive state by western powers. Conquest is a dirty business as well. Nations may be evicted from their homelands, or eliminated entirely. But that is the natural order and we owe our existence to millennia of conquests, where more capable peoples ousted the inferior. It has been the primary driver of our evolution of higher intelligence.

Only in Yankeedom and the Midlands were things done rightly, through conquest. The invaders took the lands and used them for their own nation-building, and created something of far greater value than the natives had ever built. Nowhere else was one of the rightful approaches taken. Nowhere was the sovereignty of the existing nations respected. Nowhere in present-day USA were natives colonized and controlled, but otherwise allowed to persist. The Hawaiians would be been far better off had they been merely exploited, rather than demographically reduced.

So it stands to reason that Yankeedom would come to dominate. That's where the real nation-building was happening, and civilizations are build on the back of nations. So far this is all perfectly understandable. What is more confounding is why Yankeedom, in itself the most powerful and influential civilization that ever existed, would then become the host for liberalism, which now dominates politics in the US and even globally. It's troubling that they could, in just several generations, do everything right to create the world's foremost civilization, and then in just a few generations become intent on doing everything wrong to destroy itself.

What's troubling is that there seems to be something baked into the very core of humanity that doesn't allow us to do the right thing for very long. Success makes us soft and naive. You almost wonder if it would be better, in the long run, to be an exploited nation, rather than the exploiter. Ask yourself, if your goal was the long-term success of your nation, would it be better to be a dominant nation like America, or to be dominated by America? What about dominated by Nazi Germany? What about dominated by Stalinist Russia?

Clearly you don't want to be America, where the strongest political movement is all about national suicide as fast as possible. Being dominated by America isn't much better. Because then you're Western Europe and see national suicide as some sort of race. But, you might also be Japan, who have done very well keeping things together, so long as they can correct their serious fertility dilemma. So based on evidence, you're overall better being dominated by America than being America, because at least you have some chance. Being dominated by Nazi Germany would be very bad, because they were all about conquest and you were at risk of extermination. But what about domination by the Soviet Union? They were about political domination of their satellites. It was a form of colonialism. It was all very Russo-centric, but the dominated nations remained intact. Not only that, but we notice something peculiar. The nations formerly dominated by the USSR are the same ones acting with any sense of self-preservation today. In one of the greatest ironies of the world ever, communism turns out to have been an inoculation against liberalism. Although, give it time. They will probably rise to prosperity in the coming decades, only to fall prey to the same forces of decay.

Conquest is great for the conqueror but cataclysmic for the vanquished. A weak nation is replaced by a strong one. The world mourns and moves on. Colonialism & exploitation can be fine for national preservation, even great, so long as the stronger power isn't willing or able to destroy the vassal demographically or culturally. Being the dominant power helps protect against being invaded or exploited, but nevertheless leaves the host nation vulnerable to ultimate destruction. Why times are good, the people get soft. And no one is willing to do the legwork to maintain society when they are physically and materially secure. All social policy becomes viewed from the lens of economic utility. It's the great paradox of civilization. Too little and everyone is poor and destitute. Too much and the whole thing collapses. Under Yankees, everything is headed for collapse, and they seem hell-bent on destroying every western nation on their way out.