People don't feel safe when other people try to upset the existing order in times of crisis, particularly when they're told it's for their own good. There is a centuries long tradition of democracy, people tie their entire identities to their vote. Suddenly being told that you can't vote anymore or learning that your vote has been stolen is a good way to incite reactionary violence against the new authoritarian regime trying to establish itself. I don't see why the executive power would be more influential than it was when electricity existed; it might become a more frenzied actor but more than anything, things are likely to decentralize as communication infrastructure collapses and people turn to their immediate communities for safety and security. Not every social dynamic can be broken down into "freedom vs. security", the relationship between neighborhoods, cities, states, the federal government, and other, non-civil sources of authority is more complex than that.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fo...1/are-millennials-giving-up-on-democracy/amp/
I highly suggest you read this article.
In addition look at Europe during the Nazi invasions. Denmark and Norway both had quite a bit of democratic traditions and surrendered quite easily to the Nazis, even France, known for its liberty, had a significant amount of public support behind the Vichy government.
Most Americans don’t vote. When your clinging to life, you voting isn’t your top priority. And if it is, well, you won’t live long.
If you have democracy like government it would be like Greek city states.
We have written history everywhere. You can find a library with ease in a town of 10,000 people. Education would suffer a blow but people generally enjoy learning.
Regardless, I don't see how more or less education necessarily means raider tribes being common. That to me seems like it would depend more on scarcity of food, ability of authorities to respond to such things, and access to lawless, livable space to retreat to. Being a raider to live is a pretty shitty lifestyle that doesn't generally appeal to many people. If you can survive by farming or by being part of a subsistence network, then most people are going to try for that. True, most people don't know how to farm but a lot of people do. Word would get around and people would figure things out. I would be very surprised if the reason most people chose a life of piracy historically was "no one ever taught me how to farm so what else was I gonna do".
Why would people idolize law enforcement any more than they would farmers? Kids would, maybe, but again I don't really see why the position toward law enforcement would necessarily be anything more than "I appreciate you doing your job and will continue to appreciate you as long as you continue doing your job." People are pretty used to freedom and attempts to establish the rigid, hierarchical, authoritarian state that you seem to think would likely come about would result in pushback, primarily for the same reasons it would and does generate pushback today, but also because the disappearance of the types of technology that can make oppression more sustainable will make it harder to impose and establish such an order.
When I say writing history I’m implying most people won’t be able to read a few generations later. There’s absolutely no point in learning to read if you don’t first know all the other traits needed to survive in the situation you find yourself in.
Raider tribes would be present solely due to the lack of food. Kids would likely take up the profession of whatever their parent should had. This would often mean being raiders if their parents were. Most farming nowadays relies heavily on machines. With all of those gone you will be totally screwed and unable to feed a city. A single farmer who initially fed thousands could now barely feed dozens. Raiding would be intensely common. It’s so much easier to pillage then to spend the time cultivating farms. Stealing is so common today because of necessity and ease of stealing. If it meant keeping my family alive I would most definitely steal in any situation.
And as to why would you idolize law enforcement any more than farmers, are you totally blind to the culture surrounding the US military? Even today little kids pretend to be knights and fight each other, and in America we have never had a feudal society, yet we idolize things like chivalry, and nobility is heavily influenced in our culture.
Riding a horse isn't that hard. It's hard to get really good at, but is pretty straightforward if you just need to saunter to the next town over. In any case, there's precedent for democracy before the advent of trains and automobiles. This would probably lead to decentralization, yes, but again I don't exactly see why this has to mean dictators any more than it did in the early 19th century, unless slavery is making a comeback. But it's not and it wouldn't so I still have trouble seeing where this would-be dictator derives their authority from and why these would-be peasants see a reason to respect such authority, particularly if it costs them their freedom and is as brutal a dictatorship as Russia's.
Insofar as the military goes, I have sufficient faith in the US military that military dictatorship would not become the norm, particularly without access to weaponry that they're used to and having been trained to provide humanitarian aid in crisis situations and having sworn to protect and uphold the constitution while in uniform. And I usually don't give the military the benefit of the doubt. But these are Americans interacting with other Americans here, there's reason to doubt that everything would turn to Machiavellian horror wherever a US military base exists. Could someone who's served in the armed forces provide their input here? Whether I'm entirely right or entirely wrong, I'm curious to know how folks who have been in the military think the military would react to such an event.
I’m not saying it’s hard to ride a horse. I’m saying there’s a big lack of horses compared to people, and that because most people have no idea how to ride a horse it would be reserved for people who actually know how.
Dictatorships were also extremely common in the 19th century, even among states that professed democracy. I think Latin America is proof of that. As for authority, it’s extrodinarily simple. Leaders are present throughout all of society. Most leaders will derive their authority through force, or previous successes in managing the group. In a survival situation, demanding to be given liberty or death, will result in death 99 times out of 100. Sure the first couple of weeks before the supermarket food starts running out might be fine if you live next to a military base. (Of course people would rush to the stores to try and take everything they could, people already kill each other occasionally on Black Friday, and seriously injure other people, and that’s over who gets the last plasma TV.)
Also the US military in a given area
will declare martial law. A de-facto military dictatorship will occur, except in perhaps DC or state capitals. Now if this dictatorship is merely a transitional government is entirely up to if the military can supply enough food to the people.
If they can’t, you’ll have riots, rebellions, and paranoia run rampet, and order will be maintained through force, or it will totally disintegrate. The military will provide aid of course, but that aid and order is at the cost of liberty.
If you think the military isn’t above forcefully suppressing other Americans in crisis situations. Just look at the suppression of Habeas Corpus in Maryland and the military governments in the Confederacy following the civil war.
If you can justify those, then you can justify sustaining a military dictatorship over the people when chaos hits.
If you want more modern examples, look at Japanese internment camps, the putting down of riots with the national guard, etc.
Also on the offchance you somehow think the American people will not totally freak out over everything they know just going poof, let me remind you of the Y2K and 2012 fiascos, look at the build up and how many people prepared for the apocalypse, even if it was just storing up on food. So many people filled their bathtubs with water in preparation in some cities that the city in questionwould literally run out of water the night before Y2K. And the metaphorical “end of the world” didn’t even happen in those situations.
Also Russia is far from a “machiavellian horror”. If you don’t like my comparison to Russia I can give several other similar examples, including any colonial non-dominion portion of the British or French empires. Japan and Germany in the next few years following WWII. Almost every state in Eastern Europe following WWI. Essentially every presidential dictatorship in Latin America. The Thailand military coup. Any modern absolute monarchy.
Democracy can, and
will erode, even in our world today unless adequate measures are taken to prevent it from occurring.
That's exactly what I was going for and it's meaningful to me that one of my readers picked up on it so completely.
