Political Expectations

The author argues that political discourse has become a matter of cultural tribalism and style rather than substance, and that this stems from an artistic class that turned toward individual self-expression after the 1970s. Citing Adam Curtis's documentary Hypernormalisation, the piece describes how New York's artistic class in 1975 embraced "cool detachment" while the city's debt crisis unfolded. It links this individualism to the Ayn Rand-inspired ideals of Silicon Valley and to a 1990s push, involving Alan Greenspan and President Clinton, toward market-driven policy. The author calls for a shared orientation toward substantive national vision and a new shared language to replace tribal discourse.