Coolidge-ism cannot fail. It can only be failed.

Gutting the federal budget takes us several big steps closer to the Thiel/Yarvin/Srinivasan envisioned Network State. Tiny autocratic techno-feudal cities that rule the surrounding territory in the same way Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, the Sinai Peninsula, and east Iraq are controlled from Tel Aviv. We’re going to balkinize America, folks.

I don’t disagree with you – I believe their line of reasoning was along the lines of getting all the operating funds needed for the ‘government’ from revenue generated from tariffs. One reason for aggressively slashing social support systems could be that they want to shift people’s dependency for those programs more directly to corporate interests such as Google and Apple – many tech companies have ‘interests’ in the medical field after all. The one area they would likely still want to maintain govt functions in, are military in nature – the theory is that they want what are essentially geo-distant corporate city states that are connected via the internet, and protected by orbital weaponry / nuclear arms. Setting up a few blocs of this nature, and having them constantly feign conflicts with each other, will help to keep people placated as well, in a sort of horribly Orwellian sense. That sort of concern isn’t really something for the ultra wealthy to be bothered by though, which’s one reason oligarchies are so dangerous.

Still looks like the USA is sorta heading in that direction a bit, though obviously any of my musings are just guesses based on conspiracy theories I find plausible – so I doubt it’d play out that way any time soon or anything. If there were ‘real’ flags of that sort of thing being imminent, I imagine some people in the govt would be making even more noise to us commoners, hah.