Ever since @Nils Gilman published an essay in @American Interest in 2014 it’s been stuck in my mind. 1/10 At the time it was one of the best warnings on the developing force dynamic at odds with liberal democracy - our nation, country and society. Plutocrats and criminals.

2/10 In a general sense most of our public debate ignored the signs (Cassandra’s curse is as much a cultural problem as ingrained reductionism). The signs of not just insurgency, but a transition towards insurrection were there. Still, for the most part we saw a twin insurgency.

3/10 If you’ve ever read @Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR) ‘s reconstruction of America’s paradox, the competing claims of equality and subordination woven into the nation's fabric and identity, the patterns of insurgency and insurrection will strike a chord. goodreads.com/book/show/5204…

4/10 The essay by @Nils Gilman - The Twin Insurgency - is something we really should revisit. the-american-interest.com/2014/06/15/the…

5/10 It’s an essay well worth taking the time to sit down with. It put a finger on a proverbial pulse, signalling the presence of patterns detrimental to stability & continuity of that liberal democracy generally taken for granted in those days.

6/10 To consider, the essay was published in 2014. Take a moment to go over events since that time. If you say it feels like a lifetime, I’ll agree. What once appeared as a twin insurgency has turned out to be more complex yet, and in many ways not an unknowing synergy.

7/10 I’m curious how different the essay might be if it were written today, with a costly benefit of reflection as our public debate persists in reductionism. Insurgency has once again demonstrated itself to seek Insurrection, where presence of agency and agenda is inescapable.

8/10 From above, from below, from what was perceived as a center. With narrative, strings and money - in that order - driving all. Knowingly, wilfully, purposely. There’s one line in the essay which strikes me most:

9/10 “The central difficulty that both plutocratic and criminal insurgents face is that it is unclear whether the political objective they seek can produce stable equilibria of governance”.

10/10 Maybe it is time to consider that sensitive presence of agency, agenda, belief systems & methodologies. As Hannah Arendt and Joost Meerloo remind us, stability is never what authoritarian force dynamics seek. It is in fact what they must avoid. To gorge, control & rule.