We are living at a pivotal time in human history. For the past 100 years the world has been driven by the spread of democracy and capitalism. It could be framed as the rise of the American empire, based on these two ideologies. At this time both of these systems are facing a crisis which calls their viability into question. Both ideologies have been placed on a pedestal where no one questions their viability or examines the assumptions on which they are built. Some are suggesting we are in the End Times of these ideologies, corresponding to the fall of the American empire. We’ll start by examining them at a deeper level in order to understand some inherent flaws.

In his book “End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites and the Path of Political Disintegration”, Peter Turchin paints a picture of what is really happening in our political system. It is not the battle between Liberals (blue) and Conservatives (red), instead what he calls the Elites vs the Counter-Elites. Simply put, the Elites are those in power and the Counter-Elites are those who want power. In our current system we have an overproduction of Elites, those wanting power, in a world where there are a limited number of positions.

Consider the game musical chairs, instead of removing a chair each round, more people are added. In other words, you have more and more people competing for a limited number of chairs. The focus becomes the acquisition of the chair, not the responsibility the chair represents. This is why our political system can’t get anything done. We see this in the financial system where the 1% exercises influence over everything. We see this in academia where peer review limits new ideas and thinking stagnates. We see this in governance where bureaucracies grow out of control, expanding their charter without accountability.