The Fourth Republic
Serious down time here at the office. Pro was surfing Salon, one of his favorite sites, and came across this piece. It posits that the election of Barack Obama heralds the start of a fourth “Republic” of the United States of America. Republics are 76-year periods — the first 36 years dominated by nation-builders, the second 36 characterized by small-government “Jeffersonian” backlash.
The other three Republics were started by George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt, the article says. And even more telling is how the Republics end:
The final president of a republic tends to be a failed, despised figure. The First Republic, which began with George Washington, ended with James Buchanan, a hapless president who refused to act as the South seceded after Lincoln’s election. The Second Republic, which began with Abraham Lincoln, ended with the well-meaning but reviled and ineffectual Herbert Hoover. The Third Republic, founded by Franklin Roosevelt, came to a miserable end under the pathetic George W. Bush.
The author paints a portrait of American history in broad swaths, leaving the story open to nitpicking. The thesis is nonetheless intriguing.
This “Forth Republic” theory makes perfect sense, though I never would have been able to put it into words until after reading this article. I’m assuming by “Republic” the author is speaking of the Socratic notion of a Republic that Plato wrote about, which is the characterization of a political community. He’s dead on with the transitions from one political climate to the next being initiated by the technology and economy of that time. Although, I disagree with him not including the new (or not so new, depending on what city you live in) knowledge-based industry/economy that is talked about by social economist Richard Florida as an influential factor. He called it “illusory,” which made me groan inside. There are a lot of people out their who still do not agree that knowledge-based industry and “know-how” is the new “manufacturing”. The new “product”. Sigh… I was diggin Lind until he went there. Thanks for the great read P-Funk!
You’re welcome, Ms. Prophetess!! And thanks for your input on Plato’s Republic. A few of the commenters on that article also took issue with Lind’s charcterization of the knowledge economy as illusory. I too believe that folks dismiss this new economy at their peril.
Comment by Marketing Prophetess — November 7, 2008 @ 6:34 pm