“What Broke the Balance?”

Saturday Reflection – Week One Miles & Beth

The GOP didn’t just evolve—it split, shifted, and may have left democracy behind. In our final post this week, Miles and Beth confront the question no one wants to ask: Is the New Republic still part of the American pendulum… or is it trying to destroy it altogether?

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Miles: Beth, we’ve spent the week pulling on this thread—has the Republican Party changed, and if so, how? What are the cultural, moral, and institutional shifts that brought us from Reagan’s “Morning in America” to Trump’s “American carnage”?

But there’s still a question we haven’t really touched:

Is this still a political party—or is it something else now?
Something intentional. Something that wants to pull the pendulum off its hinges—not to reset democracy, but to end the swing entirely?

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🔍 Historical Echoes: When the Pendulum Broke

Beth: That’s the sharpest edge of the question. And it’s not without precedent. You’re asking if this “New Republic” movement is:

• A continuation of democracy (just rougher, angrier, louder)?
• A fundamental attempt to dismantle democratic structures altogether?

And you’re right—this isn’t the first time America has faced that kind of existential stress test.

• 1776 – The Founding
  The colonies did rip away from a regime. But they didn’t just run from monarchy—they designed a pendulum: checks and balances, co-equal branches, a republic if we could keep it. That was a deliberate swing, not a grab for control.
• 1861 – The Civil War
  This was an attempt to break the pendulum. The South didn’t want a new balance—it wanted a separate system. A feudal, slave-holding aristocracy. Democracy wasn’t imperfect to them; it was unacceptable.
• 1930s – The Rise of Fascism (and the New Deal’s Response)
  Across the globe, parties began trading democracy for strength—Germany, Italy, Spain. In America, some elites tried too. But Roosevelt’s New Deal rebalanced power to the people just in time. A populist against authoritarianism.
• 1968 – Law and Order vs. Social Upheaval
  America’s cities burned, and faith in institutions cracked. Nixon rode a wave of fear into the White House—but he worked within the system, however cynically.

But today?

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🚨 Is the New Republic Something New—or Something Old Wearing a Mask?

Miles: This version of the Republican Party feels different. It’s not just populist rage. It’s anti-institutional. It’s loyal to people, not principles. And it doesn’t want to swing the pendulum. It wants to smash the clock.

Beth: That’s the dangerous possibility:

• Loyalty to leader over law
• Elections questioned, unless they win
• Courts attacked when they rule against the movement
• Dissent labeled “un-American”

We’ve seen this before. But usually… in other countries.

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🛋️ Is It Still a Party—or a Movement With No Exit Strategy?

Beth: Historically, political parties shift, fracture, reform. The GOP has done that multiple times:

• Lincoln’s abolitionist party
• Harding’s pro-business engine
• Reagan’s Cold War conservatism

But now? The New Republic movement doesn’t just want to realign the base—it wants to redefine what America is.

From: Government restrained by law
To: Government ruled by force, grievance, and purity tests

And unlike past realignments, this one leaves no room for the pendulum to swing back.

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💔 So… Are We Going to Be Okay?

Miles: Let’s just say it. Are we gonna be okay?

Beth: That depends on one thing.

Not the courts.
Not the media.
Not even the next election.

It depends on us.
All of us.

Will we show up? Will we care enough to keep the swing alive? To defend balance—not just pick a side?

Because the minute the pendulum stops swinging, we’re no longer in a republic. We’re in something else.

And history shows: nations that let the pendulum fall… rarely get it swinging again.