Charlie Pierce Esquire
Charlie Pierce Esquire

I have lived through more than a few revolutions. Sometime around half past Woodstock in the 1960s, revolution became a very effective marketing tool, and suddenly we were up to our Bakunins in revolutions meant to sell us things. In no particular order, I have lived through the Civil Rights Revolution, the Sexual Revolution, the Youth Revolution, the Reagan Revolution, and the Gingrich Revolution. I have lived through the Genetic Revolution and the Digital Revolution. I have lived through a couple Jesus Revolutions, and I am currently living through the Social Media Revolution. I’ll let you know how that last one turns out.

At the moment, however, and for the foreseeable future, we are also living through an extended period of what can justly be called the Phantom Revolution, in which we rebel against threats to our liberty that don’t actually exist but that we create for ourselves.

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