I think the people who “rule” America have so little capability with governing philosophy that they can’t bind any living soul by voluntary agreement. They have to psychologically abuse people and live in a perpetual hell of victimizing each other because it’s the only way they can think of to “not” be at war forever. They have no superior hedonism, no particular replacement for it, and no real idea what they’re doing. They put themselves willingly into a pit, and anyone who might subsequently have a sufficient resilience to help them is a threst to be destroyed.