Open Letter on Political Consequences: Kevin Phillips, Barack Obama, and the Work of Ordinary Citizens

By Cliff Potts, CSO, and Editor-in-Chief of WPS News

Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines — September 12, 2026

The American political realignment of the late twentieth century is no longer a subject of speculation. It is documented history. Among the architects of that realignment was Kevin Phillips, whose strategic thinking helped guide the Republican Party toward a new electoral coalition that reshaped national politics.

Years later, Phillips himself became one of the most prominent critics of what that coalition ultimately produced. His 2006 book American Theocracy warned that the United States was drifting toward a dangerous fusion of religious populism, oil-driven economics, and debt-fueled financial policy (Phillips, 2006).

His warnings were serious and, in many ways, prescient. But they also raise a difficult question that deserves to be addressed openly.

Inviting a Constituency

Political coalitions do not form by accident. They are built deliberately through messaging, strategy, and long-term electoral planning.

The modern Republican coalition that Phillips later criticized did not suddenly appear in the twenty-first century. The voters who became its backbone—particularly conservative Southern voters and religious traditionalists—had long existed within American political culture. Their worldview, their theology, and their political priorities were not new phenomena.

They were invited.

The realignment strategies associated with the Nixon era deliberately sought to bring those voters into the Republican Party. That effort succeeded beyond what many observers may have expected.

The consequence of success is ownership.

If a political party intentionally courts a constituency and builds its electoral strength around that constituency, it should not be surprising when that constituency eventually exercises real influence within the party. When that happens, the result is not an accident of history. It is the predictable outcome of strategic political decisions.

In that sense, modern political developments within the Republican Party cannot be separated from the realignment strategies that helped create its modern coalition.

Prayer and Work

Another criticism frequently directed at religious voters is that they prefer prayer to effort. In American Theocracy, Phillips suggested that some Americans had come to expect divine intervention where practical work was required.

That criticism deserves examination.

Prayer and work are not mutually exclusive. In fact, many individuals who maintain religious practices are also engaged in sustained intellectual, creative, and professional labor.

Over the past two decades, I have built what began as a small online newspaper and evolved into a growing archive documenting political and cultural developments of the era. The project includes essays, research, and published books. It is a long-form documentation effort intended to preserve a record of the time in which we are living.

The financial return on that work has been minimal.

Across multiple publications since 2004, the total income generated has amounted to roughly $154. The work, however, continues.

The point is not personal recognition. The point is that the assumption that religious people avoid labor is contradicted daily by individuals quietly producing work that often goes unnoticed.

Archives, historical records, research collections, and independent journalism are frequently built by people working outside the institutions that typically define prestige.

Yet these efforts matter.

History is often preserved not by institutions alone, but by individuals willing to document their time carefully and persistently.

A Note to President Obama

Former President Barack Obama once remarked that when people enter rooms filled with powerful figures, they often discover that many of those individuals are not as impressive as the public imagines (Obama, 2017).

The observation was intended to encourage confidence among ordinary citizens. It was a reminder that leadership positions are held by human beings, not mythical figures.

But the statement also invites another question.

If ordinary people build substantial bodies of work—historical archives, research projects, documentation of the political era they have lived through—should that work be considered unimpressive simply because it was created outside the traditional centers of influence?

Many of the historical records modern scholars rely on were not created by presidents or strategists. They were compiled by writers, archivists, clerks, and observers who carefully documented their surroundings.

Their work did not look impressive at the time.

Yet without them, the historical record would be incomplete.

The Value of Quiet Work

American politics is often dominated by high-profile figures—strategists, elected officials, and media personalities. Their influence is undeniable.

But the broader record of an era is rarely created by those figures alone.

It is built piece by piece by countless individuals who record events, analyze developments, and preserve the details that might otherwise disappear. The quiet labor of documentation may not attract attention in the moment, but it often becomes the foundation of historical understanding.

Political architects shape institutions. Presidents shape policy.

Writers and archivists shape memory.

All three roles matter.

References

Obama, B. (2017). Remarks on leadership and civic participation. Various public speeches and interviews.

Phillips, K. (2006). American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century. Viking.