Gadfly/172: Codevilla’s The Character of Nations is not just a long essay (maybe you were reading an excerpt somewhere?) but a full-fledged book published in 1997.
“The Character of Nations”

It’s excellent. Particularly interesting is the middle portion of the book surveying the regimes of various countries, the common theme being the debilitating effects of government coercion in economic life. It’s been several years since I read it but iirc Codevilla seems to think that all modern governments foster in their people habits of social and political atrophy. (Read the book for further elaboration on this point; it’s terribly interesting.) I don’t know exactly how optimistic he really is about America’s prospects, but the very last sentence on the last page – as you quoted, “Even in America, there is only one regime at a time” – underscores the crucial point: this current regime has got to go!

In addition to ridding ourselves of the current regime, government itself must shrink, and shrink drastically. Somehow government has to be stripped of the power to bestow goodies on special interests/favored groups; otherwise, nothing will change and we’ll just keep on heading down the road to the abyss. If we can’t find the will and the way to shrink the size and power of government, then there really is no hope. With so many people now accustomed to turning to government for aid and/or favors, well, that’s a lot of people in need of redirection.

BTW, I have found out from personal experience over the past couple of springs/summers just exactly how unbelievably DIFFICULT it is to grow your own food. I tell you, the ground is truly cursed. Not to mention all the bugs and blights.