In Dewey and Lippmann’s famous discussions about the nature of a public and democracy, they agreed on one…

In Dewey and Lippmann’s famous discussions about the nature of a public and democracy, they agreed on one critical thing. That only problems bring a public into being. As I say, only catastrophe creates the ‘we’ that is the public. 1/3 https://t.co/ceJrg3VTBd

The ‘we’ that we grew up with, through our public institutions, was only a remnant legacy of the cataclysm of the first half of the 20th century. Two world wars, a pandemic and an economic collapse. We’ve been living off the fat of those catastrophes ever since. 2/3

Now the fat is gone. We’re back to pure status games, to restore a king and his court. The pattern of all human history. /end