George Packer's Four Americas
"The Four Americas", George Packer, The Atlantic, October issue.
George Packer’s recent article in The Atlantic is not only an interesting read, but also a very useful tool for deciphering an awful lot of public discourse in America. He breaks down the current ideological landscape into 4 distinct categories. While it need not be taken as gospel, when applied to the chaotic and often contradictory nature of political speech these days, Packer’s breakdown can be quite helpful. His groups, using his own nomenclature, are as follows:
Smart America: the so-called “meritocracy”, which has almost completely hardened into a hereditary aristocracy, but pretends not to notice. Often cosmopolitan in outlook, and distant from the concerns of the America they have left behind. Packer is particularly insightful here, as he is close to home. Think Ivy League, Silicon Valley, Hollywood, Wall Street, Beltway Insiders.
Just America: the sons and daughters of Smart America, soured on a system that has closed down, raised barriers, and lost meaning. They have embraced identity politics and social justice at the core of their concerns. Well-meaning, but inward-looking, prone to group-think, and often morally intolerant and vindictive, leading to endless witch-hunts.
Free America: An intellectual current that goes back to the origins, combining libertarian philosophy with the myth of the lone frontiersman, utterly self-reliant. Tends to see freedom as a rejection of any constraints on individuals, or the businesses they pursue. They resent government, despise regulation, think of social welfare as an abomination. Think Ayn Rand, William F. Buckley, Ronald Reagan.
Real America: essentially, Sarah Palin, and now MAGA. White, tribal, “Christian”, blood and soil. They feel exploited from the top and the bottom: the fat cats, who live off the labor of Real America, and the shiftless (non-white) parasites nipping at their heels, who never really belonged.
In Packer’s dynamic, the fundamental fault line in the country is between Free and Smart, but both are faced with their own internal, mirror-image secessionist movements. As he sees it, even a “national divorce” would replicate many of the same tensions on a smaller scale. The way forward looks fractal.