Democracy doesn't work in America.
By democracy I mean the "liberal" and "electoral" kind we've come to expect in western nations, whether under a republic or constitutional monarchy. It's increasingly clear that this was a thing of the past.
Democracy only works when people are fundamentally on the same page with only slight disagreements. When we all agree on first principles, all share similar religious beliefs and a similar pattern of life, determining things through elections is possible. When you have nothing but strife and identitarian conflict, one side has to win and the other side has to lose, not in the sense of a "friendly competition" but as an actual battle between enemies in the strictest sense of the word. The United States is currently being crudely held together by a tapestry of old legal norms and performative acts that signal normalcy. Day by day these acts become less relevant and less legitimate in the eyes of most people. So what comes next?
Call me cynical but I don't see a return or revitalization of anything from our recent history. It won't be a return to 1950s morality or 80s consumerism or old school fire and brimstone preaching. It will be something analogous to the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. Here's the story I envision:
A charismatic, deeply perceptive leader takes power in a way that signals the end of constitutional norms. The people are at this point fed-up with the American experiment and desperately ready to accept anything that works. The leader, wanting to create something with more longevity than a mere dictatorship, establishes a wide array of social norms that impact every aspect of life. More than this, he establishes a new way of viewing the world. A new cosmos. Probably something analogous to a new religion or at the very least a new interpretation of one. The leader will shun the cult of personality in favor of a cult of impersonality, downplaying his own ego and presenting himself as a sort of inevitable phenomenon. From that a new period of coherence and cohesion comes into being. Within a generation or two the vast majority is on the same page, dutifully building a culture around the new set of ideas that are only bubbling beneath the surface in our time.
That's my prediction.
It's going to be difficult to get a leader nowadays who doesn't have a cult of personality. I agree with you that we need a strong leader, maybe even an emperor at this point, but I am wary of the repercussions when it comes to going down that path. What you are describing is the anti-christ and false prophet regime that so many people in the US believe in and fear. We won't get a new religion without a major world-wide catastrophe happening (and it can't just be the power going out or losing internet). It would have to be a devastating disaster that causes the world's population to contract to, I don't know, maybe 500 million people. At that point people will not believe in or will start to have strong second thoughts about the three Abrahamic faiths. That's a path I do not wish to go down. I believe we need something simpler. A new gold back currency for one would boost the economy and get people believing in the US economy again (albeit it may take a year or so to go through the growing pains). A temporary time of martial law with a strong leader, such as Trump, to clean up DC and then every state in the union IMO (WHs will probably only clean DC and leave the State govts to the people to clean up to avoid civil war...big mistake IMO). And when I mean clean up DC I don't just mean arresting the corrupt trash. I mean actually closing down useless departments and significantly downsizing the federal govt. Downsizing back down to the barebones so we the people can start over. During the downsizing I would also start changing the US culture. But to do that we need to destroy the old paradigm. Outing the celebrities who worship Satan and participated in child sex trafficking would be a major shock to the general US population. This is a major systematic shock needed in order to change US culture. However, I suspect the WHs are doing everything in their power to avoid this since the choice to know will be up to us. IMO this is a stupidly dangerous and naive way of thinking. WHs tell us to "have faith in humanity" while they don't have faith in humanity themselves. Speaking of which, the Satan worship and child sex trafficking info needs to come out before a Trump return in order to have any affect at all. The WHs are slowly releasing the info and I pray to God that they will officially release nearly everything in 2024 or else when Trump gets back in and the general US population still doesn't see the horrors of the massive child sex trafficking ring in Hollywood and the US govt, then a civil war is inevitable when the cleansing starts. Right now it's up to the people to do their own research about the child sex trafficking. This is not enough. They need to be told what's going on.