In the American dystopian sci-fi movie “Equilibrium” (2002), all windows in the totalitarian state are covered with a dim film, preventing people from seeing any sunrises, sunsets, or other natural phenomena. An inexplicable mandatory drug is widely used to block all emotions.
The protagonist in the film stops taking the drug and gradually feels the need to explore the truth. He collaborates with an underground organization to overthrow the tyrannical authoritarian rule.
In a crucial scene, the main character scrapes off the film on the window and observes the outdoor scenery. It is raining, and the windows seem to be crying, just like he is crying, feeling the sincere emotions prohibited by policies. He experiences a unique feeling, a mix of sadness and joy, believing that with determination, anything is possible.
As I reflect on this extraordinary and historically significant moment in the life of this beautiful country, this scene keeps replaying in my mind. In my memory, the divisions and discontent among various factions have been escalating, particularly since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. The authoritarian surveillance states have shown increasingly intrusive behavior, bureaucratic powers continue to rise, and even politics itself seems no longer a means of change.
Bureaucratic management inevitably divides people, as it is indifferent to the randomness of human experience, institutionalizing it. Every organization needs to do this, but too much bureaucratic management can cage people in institutional rules, imposing meaningless regulations that lack any sense of human spiritual freedom. These regulations can crush people’s souls.
Bureaucratic institutions, supported by the ambitions of weaponized expert classes, are expanding unrestrained through coercion and experimental virus vaccines, even trying to fully control the microbial kingdom, regulating our private lives to achieve stable control over the entire planet.
The so-called “woke” ideology has pushed authoritarianism to absurd new heights, dividing people into increasingly blurred identity political groups. Everyone is being categorized as either friend or foe. The cohesion of the officially defined victim class is strengthening, even within the military, viewing any group wanting to lead a normal life as a clearly targeted group.
Historians will surely be shocked looking back at these years, perhaps like we look back at the last days of ancient Rome or the monarchal society before the French Revolution (1789-1799). They will wonder why all these insane behaviors have persisted for so long and been controlled by so many elites.
For years, I have been asking myself the same questions. We know how the Soviet Empire disintegrated and the upheavals in different Eastern European countries during 1989-1990. What we do not know is how a similar disintegration will manifest in Western industrial democracies. Before the US election night on November 5th, I had no answer to this question, only referencing the relentless decline of the Spanish Empire from the late Middle Ages to the 19th century. Clearly, it is a depressing historical analogy.
Now, we see a different scenario, a more hopeful one. The Founding Fathers seem to have succeeded in stopping the revolutionary system through the ballot box. Millions registered to vote, setting aside their doubts and cynicism toward the system, going out to express their social desires.
In the end, the election results completely overturned all predictions. The media was wrong, the polls were wrong, the experts were wrong.
Donald Trump, about to enter the White House for the second time, is the biggest beneficiary of an overwhelming victory in modern electoral history. His Republican Party not only won the presidency but also swept both houses of Congress, Senate and House of Representatives, as well as winning the popular vote. He won every swing state, reinstated voting rights for young people, transcended all racial and ethnic barriers, achieved what seemed impossible, and filled Americans with hope for the future.
Over the past week, I am sure that many readers have noticed this change. Not everyone who voted Republican agreed with every policy or priority. There is great diversity within the winning coalition. Importantly, this revolution is an endogenous revolution of the social order, achieved through methods established by the Founding Fathers. It is worth noting that many founding principles once questioned by certain political factions.
After the election, joyous emotions filled every corner of American society. This can be felt on the streets, in conversations, in the stock market, and through consumer behavior. Last weekend, I saw many people celebrating shopping, preparing for a better future.
Politically, the closest analogy in US history to the 2024 election is the 1800 election, where Thomas Jefferson emerged victorious, defeating John Adams seeking re-election as the leader of centralizing, surveillance, and industrialist tendencies trying to consolidate control. It was a populist revolution that secured America’s status as a free nation for a long time, showing that the Bill of Rights (1789) and the Constitution (1789) themselves are classic legal documents governing the United States.
Of course, there is a significant difference between the two elections. The 1800 election was tightly contested in the House of Representatives due to a tie in the vote count. In the 2024 election, all results were unquestionable, and the public was very clear on what it all meant.
I see evidence that even some intellectuals are rethinking things now, as they have been shocked out of the economic bubbles and feel the need to understand what just happened. Obviously, things are not as we heard in the final week of the campaign, that Trump supporters are political garbage, supporting Orange Hitler or anything they said. In fact, things are quite different.
As many have observed in American politics, class plays a far greater role than ideology. With social mobility stagnant in two-thirds of the lower society, wealth and power increasingly flow to the upper society, a real rebellion has become evident. However, even then, no one truly knew it was possible. Perhaps the outcome of this election will, like all others, be manipulated by insiders to maintain the status quo.
From the election results and the impact on public sentiment, I believe five major insights emerge.
1. Realize you are not alone. Just look at the county maps across the nation, apart from the coastal and heavily populated areas, nearly all are red. This means that the ranks of the deeply dissatisfied are much larger than what mainstream media reports. If you have doubts about the policies of the past four years, then you are not alone. All along, those holding such thoughts have been the vast majority, yet no one told you.
2. Recognize that our authoritarians are a very small minority. Who are they? They exist in the media, corporate elite, government, non-governmental organizations, major foundations, and academia. They occupy all high grounds of opinion. On this glorious day of this year’s election, both they and we realized it was not enough. The government system needs the support of the public to continue to develop. Without the support of the public, the government cannot maintain political dominance.
3. The future may be better than the past. Ordinary people have not truly believed this for a long time. For decades, the income and standard of living of the American middle class have not seen a sustained improvement. Our freedoms are diminishing, and the previous Trump government was just getting started when interrupted by an experimentally controlled virus of dubious origin. Now, we have hope to move in the right direction.
4. Real signs of imminent social change. If all goes as expected, the incoming Trump administration seems likely to seriously address the end of the review system, control and containment of the administrative state phenomenon, ending the immigration crisis, curbing globalist hegemony, and taking action against waste, abuse, corruption, bloating, and ideological excess within the government. All of these will help restore our social order.
5. New freedom will be born from the ruins of old despotism. This is the most exciting part. People are talking about cutting personal income taxes, curbing the power and influence of the central bank, strengthening American manufacturers, making food supplies closer to home, and so on. Patriotism seems to have returned to tradition, to the source!
All of this brings to mind the US Declaration of Independence, born in 1776. Nearly 250 years later, the following words in it continue to inspire and drive us:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
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