By the end of post you wrote what intrigue me most, who can tell what is what and label something as such, i can see some logic in that trio as possible needed balance in society but thing it is crumbling in front of us as concept, i reffer on west, usa particulary as they are still world leaders and norm makers (that particulary pisses me off), that is why i have opinion that we are moving fast towards postliberal constructs but still have no clear picture how it will look, first glimps does not paint it bright.
It is a long subject to get into (US and Western politics and system).
Overall thing I have found with extended study is there is a mismatch going on w.r.t how Western societies used to grow (when the system was set up) and how they grow now....w.r.t such things as wealth and innovation...and the much higher capital concentration needed increasingly now (compared to before) to do this.
Earlier it was lot more naturally "grounded" and accessible (w.r.t work you put in and seeing quite directly how you have improved your livelihood compared to your father and his etc....as the work and livelihoods available diversified and shifted away from farmland to other activities).
The original constitutions and modern nationstates formed from western enlightenment era correctly saw the value of the individual and put many rights at that level...to have a system of first principles from the base of the pyramid.
What they could not predict is such things like the collectivisation of banking by the state (i.e a Central bank i.e the Fed in US case) and what would be needed to handle this from the constitution side (say staunch balanced budgets)
Without a well indexed referencing and basis (especially after gold standard was removed after the expensive vietnam war), certain levers moved from the collective good (of such centralisation) to a more speculative one rewarding political gain and vested interests of the wealth being created and where these were concentrated (and feeding into the political system)
Add to this, the crucial recent years (for the US) where the greatest enemy was defeated in early 90s (quite peacefully too) and a new one was not on the apparent horizon....affording a huge window of ego to build and not self-correct.
It was after all the bipartisan cooperation within the US that this enemy brought...that extended the impetus so that the flaws of the floorboards beneath did not surface during that time. The US did not realise this sufficiently, when they should have right after the Vietnam war.
It was during this 90s decade and the next one that several crucial mistakes were made that the system really was not and is not designed to handle on top of the existing problems.
A massive peer competitor was underestimated (China) in the name of wall street greed and easy promise/projection of further continued assured innovation done by the US/West only.... (and assumption that the Chinese would stay in their economic lane and understanding always...and just provide cheap labour and nothing else).
The US then launched into not one but two expensive foreign wars that brought about the deficit spending and huge debt again.
There is just no easy way to grow/innovate without huge capital investment (that needs inevitable wealth concentration) these days...so it is catch 22 how do you allocate such resources when there are pangs and calls from more and more people for populist redistribution (while you engage in massive war spending that does not benefit them).
Thus the whole progressivism for progressivism sake also caught up big time (increasingly devoid of classical liberal referencing and relying on identity politics and wedge issues instead ), having been seeded and gestated all through the cold war already. This has brought about a huge reactionary countermovement as we saw in the most recent decade.
These are huge challenges. A Babylon situation is taking shape. We will see if they are able to deal with this all (they have much inertia and strength to harness still)...and what happens. I dont judge those that are either pessimistic or optimistic or neutral....they all have varied perception to be. I feel we simply do not know.
But path is much more clearer for growing countries that have lot more growing to do IMO....as they can better harness where they came from (in recent times) and where they are going to. This is such a fundamental thing in the human psyche.
So maybe long term, squashing up against the "easy" ceiling after you have filled your belly and forgotten a lot of your thin days..... is probably what will govern most cycles for societies in general....because how exactly are the needs to concentrate and push frontiers (when there is nothing "easy" left to get your people involved in) going to balance well with needs and clamour of the larger population that want more and more guaranteed? One needs to be very in tune to this....how the psyche changes downstream, what are the impulses and narratives shaping it compared to before.
So no my friend, the west is in absolutely no position to dictate or preach about their way being the best or some absolute standard. In the end every society is made of individuals that are good, neutral and bad. It is thus about learning from the larger system's good points but also the bad points. This goes for every society....there is no exclusive direction here.
Consequently IMO, it was the desired molding of others in their image (excessively) was the party time haze of the 90s to now (by the US and west political class)....while being ignorant or deluded about notable real problems outside and within already back then (and now grown even more).
This is what happens when you get too downstream of the principles that brought you success....you take it for granted and develop an ego....and ego is folly....maybe the biggest folly of all.
This is what I mean by a huge hypocrisy and dishonesty w.r.t neo-cons and neo-libs. They put ego above the principles they "inherited" and claim to hold. They hope everyone focuses on their words and deceptions, rather than actions and results. This is the dystopia in the power realm that can then extend to a larger one on the ground.
@Yankeestani