(I say "so-called" because the
"Progressives" are not actually progressive, and the
"Conservatives" are not actually conservative. Those labels are
Orwellian double-speak, designed to mask the disastrous consequences of each
ideology's actual policies.)
Let's begin by
stipulating that ideology, any ideology, is an intellectual and emotional
shortcut that offers believers ready-made explanations, goals, narratives and
enemies without any difficult, time-consuming analysis, study or skeptical
inquiry. This is the ultimate appeal of ideology: accepting the ideology
relieves the believer of the burdens of analysis, skeptical inquiry,
uncertainty/doubt and responsibility: all the answers, goals and narratives are
prepackaged and mashed together for easy consumption.
This is one of the core
messages of Erich Fromm's classic exploration of ideology and
authoritarianism, Escape
from Freedom.
And what is the essential
foundation of authoritarianism? A central state. This is not
coincidental.
What few grasp is
the teleology of the centralized state: by its very nature
(i.e. as a consequence of its essentially unlimited powers), the central state
is genetically programmed to become an authoritarian state devoted to
self-preservation and the extension of its reach and power.
This is why the Founding
Fathers were so intent on limiting the powers of the Central State. They understood
the teleology of the centralized state: by its very nature (i.e. as
a consequence of its essentially unlimited powers), the central state is
genetically programmed to become an authoritarian state devoted to
self-preservation and the extension of its reach and power.
You can't cede unlimited,
highly concentrated powers to the central state and then expect the state not
to fulfill its teleological imperative to protect and extend its
powers. The state with unlimited powers will be ontologically predisposed
to view any citizen that seeks to limit its expansion of power as an enemy to
be suppressed, imprisoned or marginalized.
The state with unlimited
powers will be ontologically predisposed to protecting its powers by cloaking
all the important inner workings of the state behind a veil of secrecy, and
pursuing and punishing any whistleblowers who reveal the corrupt, self-serving
workings of the state.
The state with unlimited powers
will be ontologically predisposed to view any other nation or alliance as a
potential threat, and thus the state will pursue any and all means to disrupt
or counter those potential threats.
The state with unlimited
powers will be ontologically predisposed to create and distribute propaganda to
mask its self-serving nature and its perpetual agenda of extending its powers,
lest some threat arise that limits those powers.
Democracy and a central
state with unlimited powers are teleologically incompatible.
Though they piously claim
to desire a limited State, conservatives cede it essentially unlimited powers
because they want that state to be powerful enough to impose their agenda on
others and reward their constituencies.
Conservatives are masters
at projecting a preachy devotion to a limited state, democracy, liberty and
free enterprise while their support of the Central State undermines every one
of these values. Conservatives are like the preacher who issues stern sermons on
righteousness every Sunday while skimming big money from pimping sordid,
destructive policies Monday through Saturday.
Conservatives claim to
want to limit the Central State, but their slavish support of Medicare, Social
Security, the Pentagon, the National Security State, the Federal Reserve (and
thus interest on the national debt), farm subsidies to Big Ag, law enforcement
and the War on Drugs Gulag means they support virtually 100% of the Central
State's unlimited powers. Their proposed "cuts" are farcically
tiny slices designed for propaganda purposes--out of $4 trillion Federal
budget, conservatives preach "austerity" while leaving the Empire and
their crony-capitalist cartels entirely intact.
Conservatives claim
devotion to national defense while actually having no interest in actual
defense. Their sole interest is supporting their favored cartels and
projecting a politically useful facade of being pro-national defense. In the
real world, they support the revolving door between the Pentagon and defense
contractors and profitable but ineffective weapons systems. Conservatives
happily shove weapons systems down the nation's throat the Pentagon doesn't
even want, all the while masking their crony-capitalist agenda behind pious
claims of supporting the military.
That is particularly
Orwellian: ignore the military's true needs in favor of funneling profits to
your crony-capitalist pals. The same Orwellian agenda powers conservative
support of the banking sector (conservatives never met a banking subsidy they
didn't love), Big Ag, Big Pharma, Big Everything--conservatives will support
any Big Business at the expense of the taxpayers and the national commons.
The one essential tool
conservatives need to force their crony-capitalism on the citizenry is an
powerful Central State--and so they support the essentially unlimited powers
of the Central State with gusto, even as they bleat piously about the Founding
Fathers.
The Founding Fathers had
two primary concerns: foreign entanglements and the dangers of an unlimited Central
State. So-called Conservatives are blind to the gap between the reality
of their support of a Global Empire and an all-powerful Central State and the
fantasy that they even understand the Founding Fathers' concerns, much less
actively pursue them.
Conservatives are against
Big Government except when Big Government benefits their constituencies. Boost the Pentagon
budget by 10% a year, rain or shine, to counter every possible threat to the
Empire, boost the National Security State (Homeland Security, NSA, etc.) every
year, boost the War on Drugs Gulag annually, leave Medicare, Social Security
and interest on the national debt as sacrosanct, and guess what--you've created
a self-liquidating monster State.
Behind their preachy
facade, conservatives have turned democracy into an auction of political
favors. As they belly up to the limitless trough of central State revenues
and power, conservatives have embraced the auction as the true mechanism of
governance: banking statutes are written by banking lobbyists and then signed
into law.
What is the difference
between a so-called Progressive who tells us Congress has to pass a
crony-capitalist healthcare law to find out what's in it and a so-called
Conservative who pushes a banking law penned by lobbyists? There is none: both
are pimps.
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