The attack on Trump Musk administration’s laws and decency will be passed. History shows that the public will win over its abuse at the expense of tragic setbacks and great struggles. Institutional collapse will cease. Something more stable will become more established. It defines “progress,” rather than inevitable, but unthinkable ideas are seen as viable and necessary. Constitutional treaties are being discussed. Ranked optional votes and proportional representation are used. Civic gatherings test whether everyday people can shape the law, such as New York’s participatory budgets and deliberation panels in Oregon and Massachusetts. Interest grows beyond traditional elections to democratic practices.
Meanwhile, I turned to DagØsterberg, a little-known Norwegian scholar, to further understand these times. His work developed decades ago, making it difficult to cut back on, and gave shape to what many are feeling now. As the ground changes, what is important is lost.
In an age of algorithms and systems that are economic, bureaucratic and digital, Østerberg shows that individuals remain not just cogs but agents, shaping outcomes rather than simply reflecting great power. The emphasis on the richness of living experience is reduced against the habit of reducing it. He would see it as an attempt to replace the system’s “soul” along with its own absolute morality, that is, the system’s “soul”: meaning, ambiguity, and openness to criticism.
A few years ago, I was sitting at a public meeting in a small town. This issue was minor. The decision to zoning was barely noticed by the wider world. But in that room, people spoke in an urgent manner. They disagreed, but they listened. No one screamed. A woman stood up and said, “I don’t like listening, but I want to understand that.”
It sounds unlikely now. Today’s Iliberalism undermines liberal institutions, including free elections, courts, press, protests, and more by corroding the habits that sustain them: tolerance, objections, and procedural trust. It often speaks of security, tradition, or moral clarity. Its appeal makes it urgent – how to provide certainty in the midst of confusion and a sense of belonging within disorientation. People who speak to nuance are seen as weak. Those who speak clearly are more trusted, even if they are false.
When freedom loses contact with the structure that once gave meaning, Iliberalism arises. There is drift not only institutions, but also in what passes for mental habits, how to speak, and certainty. Political speeches were once shaped by debate, but now they are reflected like advertisements. Today there is confusion between complexity and betrayal. People who speak to nuance are seen as weak. Those who speak clearly are more trusted, even if they are false.
The grand inquisitor of Dostoevsky glorifies. People exchange freedom for comfort and safety and appreciate captors exchange. Østerberg might call this a control of reflexes. Language begins contracts. Words are no longer tools of thought, they are signs of loyalty.
There’s no need to look far. The violence that took place during the attack on the US Capitol in January 2021 was horrifying. The most impressive thing was the confusion. People wandered the halls like movie sets. It’s not a traditional rebellion, but an erosion of shared reality, a symptom of something deeper.
The following is not oppression, but thinning life. Public life is a stage of gesture rather than material. Thinking becomes a response. Even when unharmed, the agency begins to reflect the atmosphere of the commander rather than the discipline of deliberations.
Liberal democracy with all the noise and confusion remains a more durable path. Its strength lies in its ability to hold differences rather than forced unity. It will not erase the conflict. Become visible and available for conflict, challenge, change. Iliberalism thrives at the freedom it betrays. It challenges it, rebrands it as unity and turns on a system that allows it to rise.
Defences of democracy are not only legal or political, but also symbolic, but also seek a kind of hearing, conversations that allow for interruption, and open silence rather than empty.
The structure of society is not outside of us. They are built from repeated choices, how we respond to things that allow us to ignore ourselves, and those that resist simplification. Democracy relies on things that don’t present themselves, such as attention, care, and the ability to remain uncertain. And so are us.
These habits are now very disruptive to rancor. Recovering them requires effort, not certainty. It’s not another big answer, it’s a better way to face big questions.
Notes and reading
[*] DagØsterberg (1938-2017) was an influential Norwegian sociologist, philosopher and musicologist who served as a professor at the University of Oslo, making a central contribution to the discussion of postpositivism, and his philosophical work “forms of understanding” was standardized in Norwegian sociology. The quote is summarized from Metasociologies: An investigation into the origin and validity of social thought (1990), 264. Also, DagØsterberg: Dialectics of Post-positivism, All OTNE (March 2006). JSTOR.-Østerberg: “Individual experiences are not what social life is created; social systems constitute one’s ontological realm” (the reality underlying individual thoughts and things to do).
> Ranked Choice Votes and Proportional expression – A comprehensive focused resource for understanding both, often discussed together as a way to improve representation. FairVote and Ballotpedia.
> Transformative advocacy – Reclaiming our democracy: A guide to all citizens – Sam Daily Harris (2024). Daley-Harris is the founder result and Citizens’ courage.
> Maria Russa – How to stand up to the dictator (2023). “You don’t know who you are until you’re forced to fight for it.” Nobel Peace Prize winner and journalist Russa has been arrested 10 times, helping to inspire a massive mobilization. Popular Authoritarian rules in the Philippines. The Philippines was also a democracy with a Bill of Rights, modeled on our own.
The history of lost liberalism: from ancient Rome to the 21st century – Helena Rosenblatt (2018). – “Liberalism should reconnect with the resources of liberal traditions to restore, understand and accept its core values.” Rosenblatt is a history professor at the Graduate Center at New York University.
Tip #198 – Supernatural as a modern invention
Tip #197 – Heron at Dawn
Approx. 2 + 2 = 5
Source: 2 + 2 = 5 – williamgreen.substack.com
