Luke Ford

Watching this Frontline doco is like watching a priest cry over spilled communion wine—except the wine is a Senate confirmation hearing or some obscure bureaucratic rule.

They speak of “democratic norms” the way I talk about Torah.

If you took a drink every time they say “norms,” you’d be dead before they got to Watergate.

“Our democracy almost died…” No, your brunch plans died. Democracy was never invited.

I’m Orthodox. I know what sacred looks like.

It’s divine fire, sexual boundaries, and not tweeting on Shabbos.

You wanna make Congress sacred? Start with mikveh for lobbyists.

2. Hero Systems in America

A “hero system” is Ernest Becker’s way of saying: This is how people prove their lives matter in the face of death.

We all want to be heroes in some story. The trouble in America? We’ve got at least 12 competing sagas—and no shared mythos.

Here’s a lineup of major American Hero Systems, and how they sacralize life:

A. Woke Heroism

Sacred object: Identity and inclusion

Sin: Microaggressions

Ritual: DEI training, pronoun updates, land acknowledgments

Martyrdom: Getting canceled for a cause

Joke: “I identify as exhausted.”

B. MAGA Heroism

Sacred object: The Constitution (selectively), the Flag, Trucks

Sin: Globalism, coastal elites, almond milk

Ritual: Boat parades, flag capes, fighting the deep state on Facebook

Martyrdom: Getting banned on Twitter

Joke: “They stormed the Capitol like it was Walmart on Black Friday. But with more camo.”

C. Careerist Heroism

Sacred object: The LinkedIn page

Sin: Wasting potential

Ritual: 6 a.m. Peloton, 10 p.m. Slack messages, reading Atomic Habits quarterly

Martyrdom: Dying at 39 with three promotions and no friends

Joke: “She died doing what she loved—grinding.”

D. Wellness/Spiritual Heroism

Sacred object: Organic food, mindfulness, morning routines

Sin: Gluten

Ritual: Yoga in national parks, intermittent fasting, posting your trauma story

Martyrdom: Getting heavy metals out of your liver chakra

Joke: “She didn’t need religion. She had adaptogens.”

E. Orthodox Religious Heroism (my people)

Sacred object: Torah, community, continuity

Sin: Chillul Hashem (desecrating God’s name)

Ritual: Shabbos meals, daf yomi, feeling guilty

Martyrdom: Sending your kids to $30k/year Jewish day school

Joke: “I’m not scared of death—I’m scared of Pesach prep.”

F. Techno-Utopian Heroism

Sacred object: Innovation, data, progress

Sin: Bureaucracy, inefficiency, fossil fuels

Ritual: Burning cash, hiring PMs, launching beta

Martyrdom: Dying from self-driving car on principle

Joke: “They disrupted taxis, hotels, and human connection.”

G. Social Justice Heroism

Sacred object: Liberation

Sin: Oppression (as defined by most recent discourse)

Ritual: Marches, GoFundMe links, unfriending

Martyrdom: Going viral for getting arrested at a protest

Joke: “She was intersectional until she inherited a house.”

H. National Security Heroism

Sacred object: The Republic

Sin: Leaks

Ritual: Briefings, surveillance, solemn oaths

Martyrdom: Testifying before Congress in uniform

Joke: “He took a bullet for the Constitution. Then the NSA flagged his browser history.”

3. Why the Conflicts Happen

You can’t have brunch with someone who thinks brunch is a decadent symbol of late-stage liberalism.
You can’t share a nation if your sacred cow is their barbecue.
One man’s hero is another man’s heretic.
One woman’s DEI consultant is another’s Babylonian exile.

It’s not just culture war. It’s ritual combat between rival faiths.

I’m not saying we need to agree on everything. I’m just saying that the more we have in common, the better.

You can’t make brunch holy, democracy infallible, and your trauma a sacrament. That’s not a society. That’s a cult buffet.

And I didn’t survive all of my own self-destruction to eat from that salad bar.

Sacralization—whether of Torah or “the rule of law”—tends to shut down scrutiny. The Frontline documentary reflects a liberal hero system where institutions (especially legal-bureaucratic ones) are treated as sacred and any challenge to them becomes a moral offense.

It’s particularly easy to do this when your side, the left, dominates these institutions.

Ernest Becker argued that all cultures create “hero systems”—frameworks that give individuals symbolic immortality by aligning them with a sacred cause, story, or identity. In secular societies, these systems substitute for traditional religion.

Here are the dominant hero systems in America today:

1. The Progressive Clerisy

Sacred objects: Civil rights, equality, DEI, climate justice, LGBTQ+ affirmation, “our democracy.”

Sacred texts: The 14th Amendment (reinterpreted), Supreme Court rulings, NYT op-eds, academic consensus.

Priesthood: Journalists, academics, bureaucrats, nonprofit lawyers, HR departments.

Afterlife promise: You are on the “right side of history.”

Conflicts: Views dissent as heresy. Labels populist or traditionalist resistance as hate, ignorance, or disinformation.

2. MAGA Populism

Sacred objects: The Constitution (as imagined by originalists), the flag, family, nation, border.

Sacred texts: Founding documents, the Bible (especially in evangelical contexts), Trump’s speeches.

Priesthood: Trump, Bannon, right-wing influencers, “ordinary Americans.”

Afterlife promise: Restoration of lost greatness; vindication of “real Americans.”

Conflicts: Views the liberal state as corrupt and illegitimate. Distrusts media, academia, and courts.

3. Technocratic Meritocracy

Sacred objects: Science, data, rational planning, expertise.

Sacred texts: Peer-reviewed studies, public health guidelines, Silicon Valley manifestos.

Priesthood: Tech founders, scientists, think tank wonks.

Afterlife promise: Optimization, progress, transcendence (via AI, biotech, etc.).

Conflicts: Often allied with the progressive clerisy but impatient with its moralism; despises populist irrationality.

4. Market Libertarianism

Sacred objects: Individual liberty, private property, the market.

Sacred texts: Hayek, Friedman, Ayn Rand.

Priesthood: VC bros, hedge funders, Cato/Reason types.

Afterlife promise: Personal autonomy, wealth, escaping the nanny state.

Conflicts: Hates regulation from the left and authoritarianism from the right.

5. Identity-Based Moral Orders

Each major identity group now often operates its own hero system:

Black identity politics: Civil rights martyrs, systemic racism as original sin, redemption through activism.

Queer heroism: Coming out = ritual initiation; allyship = sacrament.

Feminist mythology: Smashing the patriarchy = spiritual warfare.

Trans activism: Gender affirmation = salvation; misgendering = blasphemy.

These systems overlap with the progressive clerisy but operate with their own rituals, taboos, and saints (e.g. George Floyd, Marsha P. Johnson).

Result: Conflicting Sacred Orders

Modern America is fractured because people live inside incompatible hero systems. To one group, Trump is a tyrant desecrating sacred norms; to another, he’s a messianic figure reclaiming a desecrated nation.

Consequences:

Political conflict becomes moral war—disagreement is treated as evil, not error.

Dialogue is impossible—because questioning someone’s sacred object is blasphemy.

Institutions can’t mediate—they’re now battlegrounds for rival faiths (see: SCOTUS, the FBI, school boards).

Law becomes theology—with constitutional interpretation serving as scripture wars.

I love this new book.

1. “Industrial Policy” is my new pickup line.
I go to synagogue and tell the ladies: “I believe in protecting American industry. Want to vertically integrate over kugel?” It’s not working yet, but I think my policy just needs more tariffs.

2. America outsourced its manufacturing… like I outsourced my dignity.
In the ’80s we lost steel jobs to Japan. In the ’90s we lost microchips to Taiwan. In the 2000s, I lost my girlfriend to a guy with a working HVAC. It’s all part of the same decline!

3. I believe in economic nationalism—because nobody’s gonna offshore me.
Except emotionally. Every girl I’ve dated has emotionally offshored me to some finance bro in Tel Aviv or a Burning Man DJ in Silver Lake.

4. Marc Fasteau says we need to pick winning industries. I say: pick me, dammit!
I’m high value. I’m a legacy industry. I’ve been operating at a loss since 1997, but that’s just because I’m undercapitalized!

5. America doesn’t have an industrial policy. You know what I have instead? Vibes.
My vibe is: “emotionally unavailable but economically protectionist.” I’m trying to protect domestic production of serotonin. It’s not going well.

6. They talk about a national industrial strategy. I can’t even get a personal strategy.
Their goal is full employment. My goal is any employment. I once put down “thought leader” on a job application and they replied, “That’s cute.”

7. Industrial decline is real. I’ve lived it.
Once I had a big vision, a great haircut, and a 2004 Volvo with 160k miles. Now I’ve got back pain and a blog no one reads. My last job was being ghosted by girls who quote Walter Russell Mead.

8. Economic security is sexy.
You want to get girls back into traditional values? Give ’em a guy with a defined-benefit pension and a mortgage he didn’t inherit from his bubbe. That’s the real hero’s journey.

9. I told my rabbi I’m committed to reindustrializing America. He said, “Can you start by reindustrializing your life?”
Apparently wearing the same pants three days in a row isn’t a form of economic protest. Who knew?

10. These guys want “high-value industries.” Bro, I want to be a high-value industry.
I’ve got comparative advantage in Talmudic guilt, anti-woke rants, and making women uncomfortable by quoting Carl Schmitt on first dates. Why won’t Helen Andrews profile me?

11. They talk about “reshoring jobs.” I’m trying to reshore dignity.
I used to think I was just down on my luck. Now I realize I’m an abandoned textile mill in the Rust Belt—gutted, haunted, and full of pigeons.

12. The book says we need to invest in public goods. I am a public good!
I’m the kind of guy who’ll watch your kids, quote Tocqueville, and defend Western Civilization before breakfast. But can I get a date? No. All the girls want crypto bros or trauma doulas.

13. America’s got brain drain. I’ve got soul drain.
All my friends went to work in AI or defense contracting. I went into reading Leo Strauss in parking lots and asking if it’s too late for a heroic aristocracy.

14. “We need industrial champions,” says the book. I yell, “I volunteer as tribute!”
I’ll be the national champion for celibate traditionalism, moral panic, and economic revanchism. I just need a woman to overlook my vibes and my Google history.

15. The authors call for a new economic order. I’ve been ordering the same economy special for 20 years: Sad Boy with Side of Righteous Fury.
Nobody wants it. Not even Uber Eats. I tried rebranding as a “sovereigntist,” but Bumble said I looked too angry in my profile pic.

16. America has no strategy, no vision, no will to win. Just like me at speed dating.
Some guy with an Etsy brand of “artisanal solvents” is getting action while I’m ranting about the Chicago School and currency manipulation. No justice.

17. We’ve got too many MBA consultants and not enough machinists.
Same in dating: too many “polyamorous UX researchers” and not enough women who get turned on by trade policy and moral clarity. I want a partner in industrial nationalism, not another yoga witch who ghosted me after reading Righteous Victims.

18. America has abandoned the working class. So have most of my exes.
I’m the guy they date before they get serious about buying property. One called me a “life detour.” I said, “No, I’m a Jeffersonian interlude!”