The Dying Citizen

1. Citizenship Requires Economic Independence

The majority of the population cannot exercise and protect its rights of unfettered speech and behavior without the material security that only economic self-reliance and autonomy of the middle class ensure.

Economic autonomy is vital. True citizenship requires economic independence, allowing individuals to exercise their rights without being beholden to the wealthy or the state. The decline of the middle class, marked by debt, joblessness, and stagnant wages, creates a new form of "peasantry" dependent on government assistance or the wealthy elite.

The middle class is shrinking. The American middle class has been losing economic ground for nearly half a century, burdened by mounting household debt, static wages, and record student-loan burdens. This erosion leads to a society bifurcated into modern masters and peasants, where the government's role shifts from ensuring liberty to subsidizing the poor and exempting the wealthy.

Economic dependence endangers freedom. Without a strong middle class, participatory democracy, social tranquility, and cultural stability are threatened. The government's function shifts from ensuring liberty to subsidizing the poor and exempting the wealthy, who reciprocate by enriching and empowering the governing classes.

2. Citizenship Transcends Residency

Citizenship is synonymous with our freedoms and their protection by law and custom, which transcend individual governments and transient leaders of the day.

Citizenship is more than just living somewhere. Citizenship entails specific rights and responsibilities rooted in a shared history, culture, and legal framework. The increasing conflation of residency with citizenship, driven by mass immigration and the erosion of civic education, dilutes the value and protections afforded to citizens.

The quid pro quo of citizenship. Historically, immigrants were expected to assimilate, adopting a new American identity in exchange for freedom and opportunity. However, this bargain is threatened by the belief that residing in the U.S. without legal sanction guarantees the benefits of citizenship, while many citizens neglect their civic responsibilities.

Erosion of civic knowledge. The lack of civic education and the rise of identity politics contribute to the erosion of citizenship. When citizens are unaware of their constitutional rights and responsibilities, they become more vulnerable to government overreach and the erosion of their freedoms.

3. Tribalism Undermines National Unity

Once any nation goes tribal, however, eventually even those without easily identifiable ethnic ancestries or tribal affinities seek to reconstruct or invent them, if for no other reason than to protect themselves from the inevitable violence and factionalism on the horizon.

Shared identity is essential. A common culture and a collective civic sense of self are crucial for sustaining a unified nation. The rise of tribalism, where ethnic, racial, and tribal identities take precedence over national identity, fragments the idea of an American citizen and fuels social division.

Assimilation is key. The brutal bargain of assimilation, where individuals give up their primary identities for a shared American identity, is necessary for maintaining a cohesive society. Without it, superficial differences become recalibrated as essential, leading to violence and factionalism.

Tribalism's dangers. When loyalty to one's ethnic group or family supersedes loyalty to fellow citizens, a constitutional republic cannot exist. The absence of a collective civic sense of self leads to the fragmentation of the inclusive idea of an American citizen.

4. Unelected Bureaucracies Threaten Citizen Sovereignty

If the citizen cannot elect officials to audit, control, or remove the unelected, then he has lost his sovereign power.

Bureaucratic power is growing. An unelected federal bureaucracy has absorbed much of the power of the US Congress, creating more laws and regulations than elected representatives. This permanent bureaucracy outlasts elected officials, often at the expense of the citizen's sovereign power.

The deep state's influence. The permanent bureaucracy has overwhelmed even the office of the presidency, with elected officials often lacking sufficient knowledge to control the deeply embedded legions within the state. This bureaucratic elite believes it can and should preempt any elected official it deems dangerous.

Loss of control. The rise of the unelected bureaucracy threatens the citizen's ability to hold their government accountable. When citizens cannot elect officials to audit, control, or remove the unelected, they lose their sovereign power.

5. Evolutionary Ideologies Seek to Remake the Constitution

They envision an always improving, changing, and evolving Constitution that should serve as a global model for a vast, ecumenical brotherhood, requiring a global administrative state to monitor and enforce its ambitious idealism.

The Constitution is under attack. Some elites believe the Constitution is in dire need of radical alterations to fit the times, envisioning an always improving, changing, and evolving document that should serve as a global model for a vast, ecumenical brotherhood. This perspective often leads to calls for larger government and a more commanding administrative state to guarantee a mandated "equity."

The "evolutionaries" seek radical change. These "evolutionaries" feel Americans are currently stymied by an eighteenth-century constitutional albatross, one far too redolent of old, white, male, Christian values that supposedly have no relevance today. They accuse the Founders of lacking modern wisdom and the benefits of a constantly improving human nature.

Beyond classical citizenship. The evolutionaries are not shy in explaining why the Constitution, along with centuries-old traditions that followed from it, are now either inert or obstructive. They insist that we must formally scrap and replace many such fossilized concepts and even founding documents, in a trajectory toward a 51 percent, majority-vote-rules nation, without sufficient constitutional and long-accustomed guardrails.

6. Globalism Can Erode National Allegiance

On the one hand, they are cynical critics of American exceptionalism and nationalism. On the other, they wish to extend American-style democracy and liberal tolerance across the globe—but without much thought about where such singular ideas arose or why so much of the world has always resisted them.

Globalism prioritizes the world over the nation. Some Americans prefer to be rebranded as "citizens of the world," embracing an ancient but unworkable idea of cosmopolitanism driven by privileged utopians empowered by twenty-first-century global travel, finance, and communications. This perspective often leads to a focus on the distant and anonymous abroad, less so on concrete Americans nearby.

American interests are sacrificed. Globalism's architects focus on the distant and anonymous abroad, less so on concrete Americans nearby—as if theorizing about such misdemeanors as the use of plastic bags or natural gas use abroad can compensate for the failure to address the felonies of American homelessness, eroding wages, drug epidemics, and crushing student debt in their midst.

American exceptionalism is undermined. Globalists are often cynical critics of American exceptionalism and nationalism, yet they wish to extend American-style democracy and liberal tolerance across the globe—without much thought about where such singular ideas arose or why so much of the world has always resisted them. In the end, globalization may not westernize the planet so much as internationalize America.

7. The Erosion of Citizenship: A Modern Crisis

Contemporary events have reminded Americans that their citizenship is fragile and teetering on the abyss—and yet the calamities can also teach, indeed energize, them to rebuild and recover what they have lost.

Citizenship is under threat. The year 2020, in the manner of other revolutionary years, has peeled away the veneer of complacency and self-satisfaction, reminding Americans that their citizenship is fragile and teetering on the abyss. This crisis stems from a combination of economic, political, and cultural forces that are eroding the foundations of American citizenship.

The forces of erosion. These toxic forces and pernicious ideas have brought American citizenship—a 233-year-old idea able to transcend the conditions of its birth and accept women and those of races and ethnicities different from the majority culture fully into the political commonwealth—to the brink.

A call to action. Despite the challenges, the calamities can also teach, indeed energize, Americans to rebuild and recover what they have lost. By understanding the forces that are undermining citizenship, Americans can take steps to preserve and nourish it for future generations.

Last updated: February 23, 2025