In Political Order & Political Decay (Part 2), Francis Fukuyama talks about a national narrative. It is a political tool for citizens to have a common understanding of their history, which then leads to a common understanding of its future. With this common understanding, the people become more unified, thus enabling the nation to accomplish many great things.
In these two previous articles of this series, I talk about the national narrative of the Russian people. This narrative tells Russians that they have great part of a great destiny.
What if You were Born in Russia?
What the Russians Can Teach Us
In essence, the Russians had their own version of Manifest Destiny. That narrative enables Russians to run roughshod over the many other ethnic groups that fell under the Russian domain. Good for Russians, not-so-good for everyone else.
The Americans also have their national narrative. It is about rising against a repressive regime to form a new nation with a new identity, using a unique political document to guide its destiny.
Both of these nations became strong economically and militarily. They have dominated world affairs for the past two centuries. Their respective national narratives have helped unify their citizenries to achieve their big share of world dominance.
Today, the Russian national narrative is failing the Russians. They are losing a war they should be winning; their economy is faltering; they are losing influence in the world; they won’t be able to hold the ethnic regions in line much longer.
Today, the American national narrative looks like it is failing. Two political demographics are strengthening themselves to dominate the nation, with each wanting to exclude the other. Try to unite these two groups by reminding them how they overcame British repression. That narrative is collapsing.
When the dust settles on Ukraine, Ukraine will have a new national narrative. It will be about how the Ukrainian people defeated their oppressor of three centuries. This narrative will drive Ukrainians to new heights for the next century, and hopefully in a non-militaristic way.
I lived one year in Slovakia. Slovaks are good people, who are not scared of hard work and enterprise. But a big part of their national identity is how they were oppressed by Hungarians for 900 years. Somehow, I think their narrative forces the Slovaks to prove their nation — now without Hungarian rule — is strong to the world.
Canada has changed its narrative as time marched on. For decades after the independence in 1867, Canadians considered themselves both independent of British rule and subjects of Britain. In the decades after WW2, the link to Britain has been weakened. Now, a good part of our narrative is “we are not American” and “we have public health care.”
And demographics within Canada have their own narrative. The Quebecois have their own unique identity, but demographic trends are not on their side; the female Quebecois are not producing enough Quebecois babies. Our First Nations are finding their narrative, and it will be interesting to watch as they find more unity in their communities and national institutions. And my province of Alberta likes to believe that it had johnwayned its way to whatever success it has today: we just had a provincial election, and John Wayne won.
National narratives almost seem inevitable. They give us a sense of belonging to a bigger group than ourselves. But the narratives usually bend the truth. Often too much bending. While narratives provide some degree of unity to propel a society forward, they are often oppressive to those not directly living in the narrative.
And too often, narratives serve as propaganda to keep overly ambitious people in high positions. Narratives have an uncanny ability to distract many of us away from the things we really have to fix.
We need some new narratives. I have a new narrative.
National Narratives and Tiered Democratic Governance
Yep, I can see eyeballs rolling backwards in many Medium readers’ heads: “There goes Dave with his alternative democracy again, telling me to get to work on building it.”
Well, actually there won’t be many eyeballs turning inside out. Medium has relegated me to be a bottom writer, which means my stuff does not show up on feeds for very long. I have annoyed too many people by telling them they have the power to really change things and it is time to stop hoping and wishing and casting blame and waiting for someone else to fix things for us. People don’t want to hear my nonsense. Sad, but true.
But I have digressed, haven’t I?
So, for the 10 of you casting your eyes on this bottom writer’s text, I shall get this essay back on track.
One of my TDG jingles is: “Building A Kinder, Wiser Democracy.” You might see that phrase as a shallow platitude. I agree.
But maybe it could be the start of a new national narrative. Just imagine a society whose psyche is shaped by positive attributes like “we take care of the elderly,” or “we provide first-rate education for all children,” or “we support universal basic income so no one is destitute” or “we work co-operatively with the environment.” Are not these narratives much better than “We kicked the British out” or “We subjugated the descendants of Genghis Khan” or “We’re not American”?
The first task of the early TDG builders will be to write their own local constitution. While I give a basic outline of this document, I let each local TDG design itself — to give important practice for TDG governance. We really need to learn and practice new ways.
I suggest that each local TDG constitution has a section called “Humanistic Principles.” I recommend including two short clauses about the elimination of racism and misogyny. My main reason for these two clauses is to keep toxic people away from the TDG in this early TDG stage. The early builders should not have to deal with this toxicity lest they get distracted or frustrated. When TDG skills are better developed, then the TDG can challenge errant thinking.
But here’s another reason: these two clauses could become part of a new national narrative.
Local TDGs will merge with each other. As they enter negotiations for the merger, they will see their humanistic principles not quite in line with each other. This means discussion will be required to bring the two “narratives” together. After the merger negotiation and approval, the merged narrative will be better than the narratives of the individual TDGs before the merger.
In essence, the TDG will be creating a new national narrative as it is building itself. More mergers improve the narrative. When the TDG is ready to assume governance, it will have cultivated a positive national narrative. And this narrative will affect the psyche of we — the people.
National narratives have worked in past in unifying the people under those narratives. We just need to develop better narratives. Building the TDG will be a great forum to create new positive narratives.
It is really all up to you. But are you ready to hear this?
Published on Medium 2023
Toto: I have a feeling we aren't in the 1960s anymore
Russian vs. Western Colonialism
