Understanding US Consumer Behavior

However, unlike Bannonism-Leninism, Deneen's vision of deposing the American elite is founded on a broad intellectual framework. Regime Change revives Aristotle's political study of the Many and the Few, urging the balance of opposing class interests within a "mixed constitution". The political proposals all boil down to replacing a self-serving and ham-fisted elite with one that shares the qualities of the middle and working classes, such as a desire for stability, loyalty to family and religion, localism, patriotism, and so on. Deneen defines this as "the raw assertion of political power by a new generation of political actors inspired by an ethos of common-good conservatism". Elites will scoff at the term for no apparent reason. Something similar to Deneen's vision occurred in America when the Gilded Age of the robber barons gave way to the New Deal, causing many elites to fade into obscurity and a new middle class to emerge—a shift that Peter Turchin also sees as one possible path out of the current issue.But that's an extraordinarily tranquil example. More common in human history would be outright civil war, in which one group of elites kills another, or mass executions and exiles, such as those at the end of the Roman Republic, the Glorious Revolution in England, or the French revolutionary Terror. Deneen fears and condemns violence, but Turchin emphasizes that civil war is a serious possibility.

Despite historical precedence, I feel that in this age 

of intellectual paralysis and tiredness, civil war is unlikely to occur. Furthermore, the current non-aristocratic elite, unconnected to any particular location and gaining power through the manipulation of narratives and abstract concepts, would be difficult to track down and eradicate. However, they may be defeated, not by a new political alliance, but by the very market forces and long-term trends in which they formerly had so much faith.I'm thinking about rising interest rates, reindustrialisation, and demographics. The rising cost of money should indicate that investment in start-up jobs and hyper-financialization, on which the elite has thrived, will not last long. Recent layoffs in the media and technology appear to confirm this prediction. Off-shoring will evolve into "friend-shoring" as America and the West restructure supply networks away from China, and money will flow into expanding the American industrial sector. This will exacerbate resentment as technocratic elites become less relevant and progressively fall back into the middle class. The demand for blue-collar talents will rise, and these professions will become more rewarding. Meanwhile, Deneen's preferred cohort of more anchored, religious individuals will develop, as they breed more abundantly than other groups do. Meanwhile, the Baby Boomers—the largest generation in history and over-represented in the American elite—will die, freeing up space for their children and grandkids.

If I'm correct, the elite will inevitably diminish 

albeit the process may be difficult. Turchin and Deneen's darkest worries may not be realized; but, significant change will occur, whether we like it or not. But if we learn anything from these books, it is that left-liberal supporters merely want to maintain the current quo. They have become, in essence, conservative. The next revolutionaries are coming from the right. The Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy is a new policy think tank that focuses on Canadian civil society, democracy, and the country's core beliefs and values. Its first major publication is an essay collection called The 1867 Project: Why Canada Should Be Cherished, Not Cancelled. The Hub is thrilled to share weekly extracts from the book's essays in the following weeks.Ideas have the power to affect the course of individuals and entire nations. Ideas influence how people see and govern themselves and each other, from Adam Smith's concept of the "invisible hand" that helped spread free market ideas and prosperity to Karl Marx's opposing notions that fueled revolutions, repression, and entrenched poverty, to religious conceptions of any variety that have anchored cultures. Ideas have an impact that lasts beyond armies and civilizations.Immigrants, too, can have a significant impact on the culture and orientation of any nation-state, as they are "carriers" of ideas that can be realized by changing cultural assumptions and, in liberal democracies, voting habits. It is noteworthy, for example, that early Chinese immigrants to the west coast of North America in the mid-nineteenth century came from an enterprising region of China and brought a proclivity for creating businesses with them to California and British Columbia.

Given the significance of ideas and immigration

it is worthwhile to investigate the movement of both. Whether one's ancestors arrived 20,000 years ago, were of primarily European "stock" and arrived within the last 500 years, or came from any other area of the world since the 1970s, the origins and changes in Canada's demographic make-up are important, as are the reactions of other Canadians to that mix. That is because a nation-state must unify various people behind a vision of the "good life" and reach an agreement on how to rule itself. Making such decisions demands a minimal level of consensus on what "good life" and "good government" imply, as well as how they are implemented in policy.During the first several decades after Confederation, the vast majority of Canada's foreign-born population was from the British Isles, Europe, and Scandinavia. In 1871, these regions were home to more than 88 percent of Canada's foreign-born population. A full century later, the share had barely slightly fallen, to just about 80% in 1971.Beginning in the early 1970s, the composition of the immigrant population shifted dramatically. Since 1971, the number of non-European immigration source nations has increased, changing the ethnic composition of Canada's foreign-born population as well as the general demographic mix. By 2016, the traditional source of immigrant stock, primarily European and British, had reduced to little under 28%.