America’s Core is sick and fundamentally unaccountable. We are living through one such cycle of reaction. Ronald Syme, an historian of Rome, remarked that “the strength and vitality of an empire is frequently due to the new aristocracy from the periphery.” Those who embrace the Frontier also threaten the power of the Core, which acts to protect itself - the Senate kills Caesar. In the final days of the Empire born out of that chaos, Rome was eventually consumed by the barbarians of the Frontier. Caesar, Antony) who had amassed strength leading its legions on the Frontier. In the final days of the Republic, the morally weak capital of Rome itself was consumed by the men (e.g. Sometimes it was looking outward, and sometimes inward. Over the centuries, Rome cycled between domination by its heart and by its periphery. The classic example of the Frontier-Core cycle in history is Ancient Rome. New technologies render old ones obsolete new battle techniques are tested, refined, and wipe out old one the new ideas and organizations of the people excelling on the Frontier can replace others. New things get created at the edge of the empire, and they replace the old things. The philosopher Karl Popper said that any real science has to be falsifiable: “it must be possible for an empirical scientific system to be refuted by experience.” Of course, it isn’t just science in which falsification is useful: the lasting transformations of history are forged through falsifiable iteration. As a result, the ideas, systems, and people that emerge out of the Frontier tend to be more resilient. One virtue of the Frontier versus the Core is that it is a falsifiable environment - an environment of true accountability. But the Core is more stagnant than the expanding and open Frontier. The core is necessary - stability and rigorous processes are a healthy counterpoint to the volatile frontier.
It is stationary, oriented toward itself - the buildup of institutions, of rules, of lawyers and bureaucracy. The opposite, we can call the Core it’s the center, the established order. That spirit created and sustained our country. But it creates the possibility of greatness. You have to be a little crazy, or believe you’ve got Providence on your side, to leave home and venture out into the New World, or into the Wild West. Every little thing matters, and you could lose it all at any moment. The Frontier isn’t just geographic extension or physical adventure it isn’t just the spirit of experimentation and exploration. America is a Frontier nation, and for centuries our national greatness has been inextricably linked to the Frontier.
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