So, while Donald Trump is beginning to name people to his Cabinet, protests are ongoing and Trump Electors are reporting that they are being harassed and threatened to get them to change their vote in the Electoral College. Despite this, Washington and the elite seem to be preparing for a transition of power. While the handover may end up being peaceful (if protested), the fact is that America as we have known it has changed in ways that it is not clear that we fully appreciate and in ways that we were not even aware of until this election season. Some of the ways that this change is manifesting itself are as follows:

1.)    Trump Electors are being harassed to change their votes.

The system that we have had for over 200 years is being called into question because some people don’t like the result. While they may say that they are doing this because “Hillary won the popular vote and should be President”, it is doubtful that they would be taking this action if Trump won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College. The lack of condemnation from the media & Democrats means that they approve of what amounts to terrorist tactics to try and overturn the results of an election conducted under an Electoral College system. This attitude appears to indicate that at least the Left only accepts the legitimacy of a system if it produces the result they want (i.e. the ends justify the means). If this attempt were to succeed (assuming that the country survived geographically intact), one could expect these tactics to be used after each election, and from both sides. The country would be sliding towards a literal shooting war.

2.)    The traditional media has been revealed, in large part, as a partisan operation, and a vicious one at that.

While conservatives have been complaining about “media-bias” for decades, this election season revealed (thanks to Wikileaks) that the media is/was coordinating with Democrat campaigns. While people instinctively understood this as evidenced by the low esteem in which the media was generally held, I think some were shocked by the revelations which vindicated talk-radio’s hyperbolic description of the “Democrat Media”. In addition, some in the media, far from engaging in sober and reasoned analysis, are defaming all 60 million voters as deplorable people whose very vote for Trump forfeits their right to be treated humanely. Whatever chance there was for the media to play a role in bringing the country together is now gone forever, as is their credibility to effectively oppose the Trump Administration. Conservatives, centrists, and even some liberals of goodwill will be questioning reports of Trumpian excesses, even if the media complaints are wholly justified. Furthermore, the behavior of the old media and their attitude towards Trump supporter means that they have few willing to stand up for them if Trump decides to infringe on their First Amendment rights.

3.)    Universities may be a large waste of taxpayer dollars.

While it has long been known and well-documented by conservatives, centrists, and liberals of goodwill, the academy has been known to discriminate against conservatives and their views. On some campuses, it isn’t even physically safe to openly hold conservative opinions. However, the collective meltdown in academia with safe-spaces and safety pins and protests indicate that campus society has reached a terminal stage. That this reaction isn’t being laughed off of campus with jeers and suspensions means that many of our elite colleges have become little more than daycare centers and ideological incubators for one side. The lack of respect for the rights of others to think differently, as well as no longer being a place for people of all ideological stripes to come and try and persuade people with reasoned and dispassionate argument, means that the case for taxpayer funds going to universities is weakened. The social good of producing an elite that is well-versed in reasoned argumentation as well as respectful of the rights of other is not happening in America. Consequently, expect those on the right and center to be indifferent when university funding is cut and howls of protests start.

In conclusion, these three are but three examples that illustrate that the United States as we have known it is not long for this world. The reactions to Trump’s election, and their underlying causes, means that we have a large fraction of the population that simply doesn’t believe in the ideals of this country. They clearly don’t believe that the rules should be followed regardless of the outcome in any specific circumstance. They don’t really believe that the other side should have the right to have their votes respected (they can vote, as long as they don’t actually win). And many of them don’t believe that their opponents should even be granted humanity. This view appears to permeated the elite college campuses, and the media as well, institutions that should be standing up for the ideals, even if they don’t agree with a specific outcome.

A country cannot survive when its institutions and large fractions of its population won’t support the system if that system doesn’t give them everything that they want all the time. A country cannot survive when its institutions see the political opposition as inhuman and deserving of all of the abuse that they throw at it, especially when that ‘deplorable’ part of the population is roughly 50% of the country.

This is not to say that there won’t be another Presidential election in 4 years, but the fact is that we are likely to see the U.S. go the way of the Soviet Union within our lifetimes. That is to say, the U.S. will still exist (as does Russia), it will still be relevant on the world stage (as is Russia), but it will be geographically smaller than it is currently. That process will be unstable and will move markets. It will have negative economic effects and will not be conducive to growth and prosperity.

We are living in interesting times.