The Weird Cycle: How America drifted from revolutionary self-governance to media spectacle

The Weird Cycle

How America drifted from revolutionary self-governance to media spectacle—and how we can return to our founding principles

The Revolutionary Promise

When the founders declared “We the People” as the source of legitimate government power, they weren’t just rejecting King George III. They were making a radical claim that ordinary citizens could govern themselves without aristocrats, priests, or kings telling them what to do. This was a revolutionary reimagining of human possibility.

Contents

The Weird Cycle
The Revolutionary Promise
From Revolution to Media Spectacle: Seven Phases of American Government
We’ve Been Trapped in a Weird Economic Cycle
How We Lost Our Revolutionary Principles
Breaking the Cycle: Returning to Revolutionary Principles
Revolutionary Principles in Modern Application
Making “We the People” Real Again
References / Further Reading

Yet today, most Americans feel powerless in the face of government that seems to serve everyone except them. How did we get here? And more importantly, how do we get back to that revolutionary vision?

The answer lies in understanding the historical arc of American government—from its founding principles through seven distinct phases that have brought us to our current crisis of democracy. More crucially, it lies in recognizing the economic cycle that has trapped us and the path forward that our revolutionary principles still offer.

From Revolution to Media Spectacle: Seven Phases of American Government

Revolutionary Foundation (1760s–1780s)

The colonists wanted more than independence—they wanted to prove that people could govern themselves. The Declaration of Independence established core principles: popular sovereignty, rejection of concentrated power, civic virtue, economic independence, and local self-determination. Even the failed Articles of Confederation represented a genuine experiment in distributed power.

Constitutional Framework (1780s–1820s)

The Constitution created a framework, but the early republic’s real innovation was the culture of civic virtue. Public office was seen as temporary sacrifice for the common good. George Washington’s voluntary stepping down from power shocked the world—kings simply didn’t do that. Government service meant serving the public, not building personal wealth or power.

Democratic Expansion (1830s–1890s)

Andrew Jackson democratized politics but introduced the spoils system—the idea that elections should determine who gets government jobs. As the country expanded westward and industrialized, concentrated wealth began influencing government. The seeds of our current problems were planted during the Gilded Age, when robber barons first discovered they could buy political influence.

Progressive Reform (1890s–1920s)

Progressives like Theodore Roosevelt responded to Gilded Age corruption by creating expert administration. They established regulatory agencies, civil service systems, and professional public service. The idea was that trained experts working in the public interest could counterbalance concentrated private power.

The Public Service State (1930s–1970s)

The New Deal transformed government’s role entirely. Rather than just maintaining order, government took responsibility for economic security and general wellbeing. World War II proved government could mobilize massive resources effectively. The postwar era saw unprecedented public investment in infrastructure, education, and research that created broad-based prosperity and built the American middle class.

This was the result of deliberate policy choices to use public investment for shared prosperity rather than concentrated wealth.

Business Logic Integration (1980s–2010s)

Ronald Reagan introduced market principles into government operations. The idea was that business efficiency would improve public services while reducing costs. Citizens became “customers.” Government should be “entrepreneurial” in solving public problems. Privatization and deregulation became the default approach. It didn’t work. Deficits exploded under Republican administrations, the middle class was hollowed out, and inequality soared. Democratic administrations would partially repair the damage through targeted public investment and regulatory reform, only to see the next Republican administration dismantle these efforts in what became a destructive political seesaw that prevented sustained progress.

Media Performance Era (2010s–Present)

Then Donald Trump came along. He represented a departure from business logic into something entirely different: governance as media spectacle. Rather than optimizing for efficiency or customer service, government became about personal brand-building, viral content, and entertainment value.

Policy decisions were increasingly made based on their potential for generating attention rather than their effectiveness at solving problems. Qualified public servants at the federal level were replaced by media personalities whose primary qualification was television presence rather than governing experience. Career professionals who understood how government actually works were dismissed and replaced by appointees selected for their ability to generate headlines and defend the administration on cable news rather than their competence in managing complex public services. This wasn’t business logic taken to its conclusion—it was the replacement of any coherent governing philosophy with the dynamics of reality TV and social media.

Nonetheless, the government media moguls wanted wealth as well as fame, and supported the policies that moved money from the middle class to the rich, as a means to get some for themselves.

We’ve Been Trapped in a Weird Economic Cycle

Here’s the pattern that emerges when you look at the last fifty years:

Republican periods focus on business-friendly policies that inevitably end in economic crises: Reagan and Bush Sr. presided over the Savings and Loan crisis. Bush Jr.’s deregulation contributed to the 2008 financial meltdown. Trump’s pandemic mismanagement created both health and economic disasters.

Democratic periods focus on public investment and recovery efforts: Clinton oversaw economic recovery in the 1990s. Obama implemented stimulus spending and financial reforms after 2008. Biden has emphasized infrastructure investment and rebuilding public capacity.

The fundamental truth that gets lost in this cycle: the economy is public health, not just stock market performance. When we measure success by stock prices and corporate profits rather than whether ordinary Americans can afford housing, healthcare, and education, we’ve lost the plot. When half the country’s money is in the pockets of 3% of the population, our country is sick.

Real Americans have experienced wage stagnation, crumbling infrastructure, and reduced opportunity while being told the economy is “booming” because asset prices are high. This disconnect between economic statistics and lived experience fuels the political polarization and anti-government sentiment that perpetuates the cycle. When people can’t afford basic necessities despite being told the economy is thriving, they become susceptible to political movements that promise to tear down existing institutions rather than reform them.

How We Lost Our Revolutionary Principles

The trajectory is clear: we’ve evolved from revolutionary self-governance to media performance spectacle. We’ve shifted economically from public investment that created shared prosperity to business metrics that serve concentrated wealth.

We’ve lost the revolutionary principles that made America possible. Fortunately, the founders knew that times would change, and built in processes to keep the Constitution a working, living document.

Popular sovereignty became voting every few years while feeling powerless between elections

Rejection of concentrated power became acceptance that wealthy donors and corporations call the shots

Civic virtue became professional politicians building personal brands

Economic independence became economic insecurity for most Americans

Local self-determination became federal polarization and gridlock

The founders understood something we’ve forgotten: economic independence enables political freedom. When most people are economically insecure, democracy becomes vulnerable to demagogues who promise simple solutions to complex problems.

Breaking the Cycle: Returning to Revolutionary Principles

The good news is that our revolutionary principles still offer a path forward. But it requires understanding that democracy is not just about elections—it’s about active, ongoing citizen participation in governance.

Institutional Reforms: Rejecting Concentrated Power

Strengthen Professional Civil Service: Create protected career paths with expertise-based advancement, insulated from political pressure. The founders feared both mob rule and aristocratic capture—professional civil service prevents both.

Campaign Finance Reform: Public financing of campaigns reduces dependence on wealthy donors. When candidates don’t need to court millionaire donors, they can focus on serving ordinary citizens.

Congressional Capacity Building: Restore Congress’s independent governing capability through better staffing, research capacity, and institutional knowledge.

Democratic Participation: We the People Sovereignty

Civic Education Revival: Teach both rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Democracy requires informed participants, not just voters.

Participatory Budgeting: Give citizens direct control over how public resources are allocated. Start locally and expand.

Town Halls and Citizen Assemblies: Create regular, structured forums where citizens can hold officials accountable and participate in policy-making.

Economic Independence Enables Political Freedom

Public Banking Options: Community-serving financial institutions that prioritize local economic development over maximum profit extraction.

Cooperative Business Models: Worker ownership and profit-sharing distribute economic gains more broadly.

Infrastructure as Public Investment: Recognize that public goods create the foundation for private prosperity. Roads, schools, research, and broadband benefit everyone.

Media and Information: Self-Governance Through Informed Citizens

Public Media Expansion: Support journalism that covers governance substantively rather than as entertainment.

Transparency Requirements: Real-time disclosure of government activities, lobbying contacts, and policy development.

Digital Commons: Publicly supported platforms for civic discussion that prioritize productive dialogue over engagement metrics.

Long-term Thinking: Governing for Posterity

Generational Impact Assessment: Analyze policies for their effects on future generations, not just the next election cycle.

Regional Governance: Address problems at the appropriate scale, reducing federal polarization while maintaining necessary coordination.

Revolutionary Principles in Modern Application

These aren’t utopian dreams—they’re practical applications of our founding principles:

Popular Sovereignty: Participatory budgeting and citizen assemblies restore direct democratic control
Rejection of Concentrated Power: Civil service independence and campaign finance reform prevent capture by wealthy interests
Civic Virtue: Education and transparency enable informed citizen participation
Economic Independence: Cooperatives and public banking distribute economic power more broadly
Local Self-Determination: Regional governance and community control
Long-term Vision: Generational thinking and constitutional reform for posterity

Making “We the People” Real Again

Breaking this cycle requires understanding that government reform is not a political project—it’s a cultural project. We need to rebuild civic infrastructure that enables ongoing citizen participation in governance.

The ultimate goal is not perfect government, but active democracy. The founders understood that liberty requires vigilance. They created a system that assumes citizens will be actively engaged in holding government accountable, not passive consumers of political entertainment.

This means recovering the revolutionary understanding that democracy is not something that happens to us every few years at the ballot box. Democracy is something we do, continuously, together, as citizens.

The choice is clear: we can continue the cycle of business logic alternating with media spectacle while ordinary Americans struggle economically and feel increasingly powerless politically. Or we can reclaim our revolutionary inheritance and build a government that actually serves “We the People.”

The tools exist. The principles endure. What’s needed now is the revolutionary courage to use them.