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<blockquote data-quote="wkmac" data-source="post: 433401" data-attributes="member: 2189"><p><strong><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><span style="font-size: 22px">How the State Co-opts the Opposition</span></strong></span></strong></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>by <a href="mailto:anthony1791@yahoo.com"><span style="color: #0000ff">Anthony Gregory</span></a></strong></span></p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 12px">At the twilight of one president’s term and with the ascent of the next we see our neighbors’ attitudes toward the nation’s politics dramatically shift. Conservatives now claim that dissent is patriotic. Liberals now see the presidency as the best proxy for American progress. </span></span></strong><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">It is a fine time to contemplate how, no matter how much the people seem to hate the government as it is, that energy all too often ends up to the state’s benefit.</span></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">Both Bush and Obama have used the word "liberty" on multiple occasions. They are tapping into the libertarian spirit of the country, for the purpose of promoting its opposite. Nearly all Americans have an anti-state strain to their political thinking. The most exciting and inspiring tenets of both left and right are anti-government. </span></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">The conservatives had some great moments in the 1990s. At least some of them did. There was at least a considerable faction with moderately libertarian attitudes toward taxes, the IRS, gun control, Waco, federal meddling, and even the warfare state. Some conservatives could be heard questioning the drug war, as well. With the Cold War over, and a dread "liberal" in the White House, some conservatives indeed sounded radically anti-state a good 80% of the time. The right even protested when Clinton’s government killed, often louder than the center left did.</span></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">It is true, of course, that conservatism is not libertarianism. It is furthermore one of liberty’s greatest enemies at times. But many who identify more with the right than left can be, overall, opponents of the regime. </span></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">Some of the good conservatives survived 9/11. Indeed, some have taken civil liberties and empire seriously. But most of them have been nothing if not supporters of the Bush state, which has eroded American liberty enough to put it in the pantheon of the five or six worst presidencies in U.S. history.</span></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">The left, in contrast, has sounded much more libertarian since 9/11. For the last few years, perhaps on most issues of the utmost importance – war, torture, indefinite detention, surveillance, the police state, corporate welfare, even deficit spending – the left has been much less in support of the current state and its most conspicuous areas of growth. </span></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">Yet now we see the left warming back up to the federal government, but perhaps with a vengeance. They had been rightfully attacking Bush for asserting dictatorial prerogative, but many are now much more fixated on what Obama will do with government power than with what he will do to undo Bush’s legacy of power grabs. They laughably say Bush’s fictitious anti-government philosophy is what has brought America to economic crisis. They see in Obama a chance for another New Deal, more than they see any retrenchment of state power.</span></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">Those struggling for liberty and in the name of liberty often end up co-opted by the state. Democracy is particularly good at producing this result. America might be the best example.</span></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">The Founding Fathers were co-opted by the temptations of their own power structure. By the late 18th century, the government instituted among revolutionary men was as oppressive toward Americans as the Crown ever was. The Jeffersonians were great out of power, but in power were shameless expansionists and promoters of belligerent American nationalism. The Hamiltonians, too, had their best moments when they were critiquing from the sidelines – such as with their dissent from James Madison’s war in 1812. Altogether, the founding generation’s lasting legacy, in terms of actual government, has been an empire that dwarfs the one from which they seceded. The limited, constitutional state they formed has become the least limited one on earth. </span></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">Many abolitionists and those who opposed the aggressive war against Mexico and the expansionism in the name of slavery and Manifest Destiny went along with those two great state projects of the 19th century: Civil War and Reconstruction. Meanwhile, many rebellious, anti-state Southerners ended up creating or supporting a homegrown nationalist regime much like Lincoln’s. Since then, many in Dixie have tragically become totally Lincolnized – dedicated to the Republican Party and expansionary U.S. nationalism as ends in themselves. </span></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">Many radicals who hated World War I supported FDR. FDR’s political victims went on to oppress the left when they got power. The first Americans to hate Communism for its collectivism ended up being the most collectivist themselves, because of the Cold War. Many who opposed the Cold War at first later supported it. Those who later opposed it went on to support Clinton’s imperialism. </span></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">As for civil rights, what began as a radical anti-state movement of free association and equality before the law over years morphed into something much more reliant and supportive of the central state. </span></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">The modern democratic state has developed the ability to perversely convince people to become involved and support the state’s expansion when at first it was the state’s harassment that led them to political interest. Power corrupts, and by giving just enough power to the people, democracy tends to corrupt the populace and convince them all that they have a stake in the burgeoning of government activity. Since people think they each have much more power over their democracy than they would over an autarchy, they end up blaming assaults on their liberty on their own inaction. They get involved. And they take over. The state co-opts the <em>demos</em>.</span></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">The public schools are failing and socially engineering in despicable ways – "we need subsidies for private schools and mandates for public schools to socially engineer in a different way." Social Security and tax levels are oppressive – "we need a new forced-savings program and a new tax system that will raise maximum revenue with minimum hassle." The war is immoral – "send more troops and internationalize the conflict." DC is irredeemably corrupt – "we should become more involved and take the reins of power." Government-connected financial institutions are insolvent and the government has ripped us off – "we need more bailouts and more regulation!" </span></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><span style="color: red">End Part 1</span></strong></span></p><p style="text-align: right"><span style="font-size: 12px"> </span></p> <p style="text-align: right"><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong><em><a href="http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory172.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: red">http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory172.html</span></a></em></strong></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="wkmac, post: 433401, member: 2189"] [B][SIZE=3][B][SIZE=6]How the State Co-opts the Opposition[/SIZE][/B][/SIZE][/B] [CENTER][SIZE=3][B]by [EMAIL='anthony1791@yahoo.com'][COLOR=#0000ff]Anthony Gregory[/COLOR][/EMAIL][/B][/SIZE][/CENTER] [B][SIZE=3][SIZE=3]At the twilight of one president’s term and with the ascent of the next we see our neighbors’ attitudes toward the nation’s politics dramatically shift. Conservatives now claim that dissent is patriotic. Liberals now see the presidency as the best proxy for American progress. [/SIZE][/SIZE][/B][SIZE=3][B][SIZE=3]It is a fine time to contemplate how, no matter how much the people seem to hate the government as it is, that energy all too often ends up to the state’s benefit.[/SIZE][/B] [B][SIZE=3]Both Bush and Obama have used the word "liberty" on multiple occasions. They are tapping into the libertarian spirit of the country, for the purpose of promoting its opposite. Nearly all Americans have an anti-state strain to their political thinking. The most exciting and inspiring tenets of both left and right are anti-government. [/SIZE][/B] [B][/B] [B][SIZE=3]The conservatives had some great moments in the 1990s. At least some of them did. There was at least a considerable faction with moderately libertarian attitudes toward taxes, the IRS, gun control, Waco, federal meddling, and even the warfare state. Some conservatives could be heard questioning the drug war, as well. With the Cold War over, and a dread "liberal" in the White House, some conservatives indeed sounded radically anti-state a good 80% of the time. The right even protested when Clinton’s government killed, often louder than the center left did.[/SIZE][/B] [B][/B] [B][SIZE=3]It is true, of course, that conservatism is not libertarianism. It is furthermore one of liberty’s greatest enemies at times. But many who identify more with the right than left can be, overall, opponents of the regime. [/SIZE][/B] [B][SIZE=3][/SIZE][/B] [B][SIZE=3]Some of the good conservatives survived 9/11. Indeed, some have taken civil liberties and empire seriously. But most of them have been nothing if not supporters of the Bush state, which has eroded American liberty enough to put it in the pantheon of the five or six worst presidencies in U.S. history.[/SIZE][/B] [B][/B] [B][SIZE=3]The left, in contrast, has sounded much more libertarian since 9/11. For the last few years, perhaps on most issues of the utmost importance – war, torture, indefinite detention, surveillance, the police state, corporate welfare, even deficit spending – the left has been much less in support of the current state and its most conspicuous areas of growth. [/SIZE][/B] [B][SIZE=3][/SIZE][/B] [B][SIZE=3]Yet now we see the left warming back up to the federal government, but perhaps with a vengeance. They had been rightfully attacking Bush for asserting dictatorial prerogative, but many are now much more fixated on what Obama will do with government power than with what he will do to undo Bush’s legacy of power grabs. They laughably say Bush’s fictitious anti-government philosophy is what has brought America to economic crisis. They see in Obama a chance for another New Deal, more than they see any retrenchment of state power.[/SIZE][/B] [B][/B] [B][SIZE=3]Those struggling for liberty and in the name of liberty often end up co-opted by the state. Democracy is particularly good at producing this result. America might be the best example.[/SIZE][/B] [B][SIZE=3][/SIZE][/B] [B][SIZE=3]The Founding Fathers were co-opted by the temptations of their own power structure. By the late 18th century, the government instituted among revolutionary men was as oppressive toward Americans as the Crown ever was. The Jeffersonians were great out of power, but in power were shameless expansionists and promoters of belligerent American nationalism. The Hamiltonians, too, had their best moments when they were critiquing from the sidelines – such as with their dissent from James Madison’s war in 1812. Altogether, the founding generation’s lasting legacy, in terms of actual government, has been an empire that dwarfs the one from which they seceded. The limited, constitutional state they formed has become the least limited one on earth. [/SIZE][/B] [B][SIZE=3][/SIZE][/B] [B][SIZE=3]Many abolitionists and those who opposed the aggressive war against Mexico and the expansionism in the name of slavery and Manifest Destiny went along with those two great state projects of the 19th century: Civil War and Reconstruction. Meanwhile, many rebellious, anti-state Southerners ended up creating or supporting a homegrown nationalist regime much like Lincoln’s. Since then, many in Dixie have tragically become totally Lincolnized – dedicated to the Republican Party and expansionary U.S. nationalism as ends in themselves. [/SIZE][/B] [B][SIZE=3][/SIZE][/B] [B][SIZE=3]Many radicals who hated World War I supported FDR. FDR’s political victims went on to oppress the left when they got power. The first Americans to hate Communism for its collectivism ended up being the most collectivist themselves, because of the Cold War. Many who opposed the Cold War at first later supported it. Those who later opposed it went on to support Clinton’s imperialism. [/SIZE][/B] [B][SIZE=3][/SIZE][/B] [B][SIZE=3]As for civil rights, what began as a radical anti-state movement of free association and equality before the law over years morphed into something much more reliant and supportive of the central state. [/SIZE][/B] [B][/B] [B][SIZE=3]The modern democratic state has developed the ability to perversely convince people to become involved and support the state’s expansion when at first it was the state’s harassment that led them to political interest. Power corrupts, and by giving just enough power to the people, democracy tends to corrupt the populace and convince them all that they have a stake in the burgeoning of government activity. Since people think they each have much more power over their democracy than they would over an autarchy, they end up blaming assaults on their liberty on their own inaction. They get involved. And they take over. The state co-opts the [I]demos[/I].[/SIZE][/B] [B][SIZE=3][/SIZE][/B] [B][SIZE=3]The public schools are failing and socially engineering in despicable ways – "we need subsidies for private schools and mandates for public schools to socially engineer in a different way." Social Security and tax levels are oppressive – "we need a new forced-savings program and a new tax system that will raise maximum revenue with minimum hassle." The war is immoral – "send more troops and internationalize the conflict." DC is irredeemably corrupt – "we should become more involved and take the reins of power." Government-connected financial institutions are insolvent and the government has ripped us off – "we need more bailouts and more regulation!" [/SIZE][/B] [B][COLOR=red]End Part 1[/COLOR][/B][/SIZE] [RIGHT][SIZE=3] [B][I][URL='http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory172.html'][COLOR=red]http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory172.html[/COLOR][/URL][/I][/B][/SIZE][/RIGHT] [/QUOTE]
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