The Realignment: Is California the Future? Balaji Srinivasan's Network State, and Is War Brewing in Asia?
Supercast subscription pitch, this week's episodes, and background reading.
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Below you’ll find the all the links to written pieces we mentioned in the show this week.
There’s no discussion episode today, but we’ll be back next week. There’ll be plenty to talk about, but I’m particularly interested in discussing the themes of this week’s shows:
How we should position ourselves in the Asia-Pacific today, especially from a U.S. Navy perspective.
Unpacking our thoughts on Balaji Srinivasan’s Network State idea.
The degree to which we agree or disagree with Peter Leyden’s view that California’s a preview of America’s political future, and if that’s even a good thing?
We’ll also definitely cover former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe’s assassination, especially as the story continues to develop.
Comment below, reply to this email, or send us a note at realignmentpod@gmail.com for other thoughts on what we should cover.
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This Week’s Free Episodes
265 | Peter Leyden: Is California the Future of American Politics?
Materials
Here are the two series and attached written pieces that Peter and I discussed during today’s episode:
California Is the Future of American Politics
“I wrote a previous series in Medium that made the controversial case that the changing politics of California over the last 15 years - from paralyzed stalemate to progressively blue - prefigured the politics of America that we’re in now. This four-part series from 2017 proved very prescient as well as popular and is still worth the read.”
“My latest creation is The Transformation, a new series of six stories in Medium that tells the future history of America and the world from 2020 to 2050. This lays out the very positive yet plausible story of how America can solve the many challenges of climate change, economic inequality, racial inequities and political polarization. The story is told from the perspective of a member of Generation Z at the end of his life in 2100 as he explains not only how we solved those challenges but helped lay the foundations for a different kind of civilization that evolved through the entire 21st century.”
263 | Balaji Srinivasan: How and Why to Start New Countries
Materials
Get your copy of Balaji’s new book: The Network State HERE. It’s available for free in your browser/PDF download and can also be purchased for Kindle.
Description: Technology has enabled us to start new companies, new communities, and new currencies. But can we use it to start new cities, or even new countries? This book explains how to build the successor to the nation state, a concept we call the network state.
262 | Steven McGregor: Will the U.S. Win the Next Battle of Midway?
Materials
Steven’s book: The Silver Waterfall: How America Won the War in the Pacific at Midway, is available in our Bookshop below.
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I know that the Realignment doesn't do much pushbacks in your podcasts (which I think makes for a more civil rather than combative discussion found in other media). However, I agree that Mr. Leyden needs a reality check (or perhaps an appearance from Joel Kotkin?) Leyden's points about California being the future of America are pure progressive fantasy devoid of reality. I was one of the hundreds of thousands who joined the California exodus last year. First two years in recorded history that California had a net-outmigration. The middle class is fed up with California. Worst taxes in the country, highest gas prices, unaffordable housing, worst homelessness, some of the worst poverty rates in the country, worst wealth gap, distorted budget financed by benevolent tech billionaire class, some of the worst public school performance in the country, rampant crime, oh and the Governor, SF DA and LA DA all had/will have recall elections. Sorry for rant but absolutely poor governance and demonstrably awful quality of life. But the weather is great lol. If Leyden is right about California's blue governance model being the future of America, God help us all.
Mr. Leyden needed some push back during the interview. The big question concerning California is that there are fewer non-Hispanic whites living in California in 2022 than lived there in 1990. California has gone from a place where white Americans wanted to move in the post World War II era to a place where whites are moving out. How do middle class and blue collar whites fit in the future that Mr. Leyden envisions? Or does Mr. Leyden see the future as the U.S. being more like Mexico City or Rio with a small extremely wealthy patron class and a massive poor peon class?