How It All Ends — Part I: The Quiet Drift

As federal cohesion weakens, power doesn’t vanish—it redistributes. State and regional authorities aren’t rebelling. They’re replacing.

I’ve just published the first part of a long-form essay series called How It All Ends on Substack. This project began as a thought experiment, not a prediction: What happens when a federal government slowly stops working—not with a revolution or collapse, but through neglect, mismanagement, and quiet withdrawal?

Part I, titled The Quiet Drift, focuses on the erosion of federal cohesion in the United States. It traces how state and regional governments have, in many cases, already begun taking the lead on infrastructure, health care, disaster response, and even fiscal policy—often out of necessity, not defiance.

This isn’t a dystopian rant. It’s a systems-level analysis rooted in my background as a soldier, sailor, and consultant with nearly four decades of experience. It’s also informed by my academic grounding in political structures (thank you, University of New Mexico!). I knew that Poli Sci degree was good for something.

The core question isn’t whether the country breaks apart overnight—but whether it’s already breaking apart in ways we’ve simply normalized.

It’s long, yes. But the stakes are high. If you’ve felt like something fundamental is coming loose in how this country operates—or why things feel so directionless—I hope this gives you a framework to think it through.
​
🔗 Read Part I on Substack: How It All Ends — The Quiet Drift

---