"If you want a picture of the future,

imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever."

George Orwell

Totalitarian Collectivism Part 2 – STATE

TOTALITARIAN COLLECTIVISM

Much of western civilization political thought is devoted to the nature of the STATE. Centuries of experience and aspiration are embroiled in the fundamental dichotomy between the individual and the state. When the understanding of this chronicle is applied to the American Saga, a central question emerges. By what authority does the state claim legitimacy?

If we really believe that authority stems from the consent of the governed, how is it possible that in today’s Totalitarian Collectivism governance is taken as an inescapable inevitability? Wikipedia says "Consent of the governed is a phrase synonymous with a political theory wherein a government's legitimacy and moral right to use state power is only justified and legal when derived from the people or society over which that power is exercised."

Under the most tortured perversion of logic, "We the People" are supposed to accept the claim that society has determined that the form of government that controls our country is legitimate, even when only the most avid toady claims it is moral. The existential scope of the demise of our nation is real and a present danger. At present, as events proceed there is the assumption and appearance of inescapability. Yet is it inevitable?

As long as you have not been living under a rock, you know that the march of progress has been a retreat into oblivion. People rationalized that society takes two steps forward for everyone back. By any objective measure, progress is now equivalent to the advancement of enslavement.

The American Saga bleeds with betrayal of the American Revolution. How fond a world it would be if all we had was the petty oppression of King George III assaulting our birthright? In the beginning, there were Federalists and ant-Federalists. Alexander Hamilton won the infidelity prize and betrayed the American Revolutionary War much more than Benedict Arnold. For all the reasons, review the essays on Inherent Autonomy. The anti-Federalists understood the predictability for tyranny of the central government under the U.S. Constitution. Those who force a constitutional convention wanted to substitute their rule and vision of Imperium, for that of a British Empire. Ratification of that constitution was not a noble act, but was a treacherous renunciation of the very reasons rebellion occurred and the principles of liberty.

Fast forward to the 21th century. The A-Z Index of U.S. Government Departments and Agencies is but a partial database of the executive bureaucracy, on the federal, state and local level. Such a list never encompasses a final total. The living organism, especially the federal executive branch, is not even able to list all the alpha soup entities in the budget. Is this the end result of consent of the governed or even representation in a republic? Legal scholars endlessly debate precedent, jurisdiction and equity; but the law never addresses the purpose why the nation was born out of a blood struggle to achieve sovereignty. Governments want you to accept that sovereignty means their legitimacy for controlling you. Autonomy requires self-governance under any form the STATE may design for organization.

Totalitarian Collectivism regimes all share common traits. Force is the ultimate stick. Compliance is the objective with state dependency as the means. A government check, benefit or inducement, are all methods of achieving a docile and obedient public. Degrees of payment vary by the level of cooperation. Federal employees become a ‘privileged class’ because they own their economic existence to the ultimate criminal syndicate, the STATE; and are willing to employ the levers of coercion and force against the populace.

The American Saga is a tragic example of a capitulation to the elements of fascism. Consent can be positive if government respects the individual liberty of citizens. Consent can be negative if individual citizens assume the function of cogs in a wheel of an all-powerful controlling governing octopus. Government agencies act as overseers above citizens, with virtual impunity from accountability. The executive apparatus actually designs and administered the rules, outside the constraints of judicial review, legislative oversight and public indignation.

Who among us believes that this system of oppression is legitimate? Sadly, the majority treats this repression as a fait accompli. They resign their fate to the whims of faceless masters. Henry David Thoreau, once again, has it correct, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.  “What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.” This communal despair is indicative of the latter days of the American Empire. The eternal optimism, that is so often associated with the founding of the country, is fading into a shadow of past times.

The STATE degenerates into a prison for the masses. The elites, especially the “Beltway Oligarchy”, bond with the “Plutocrat Overlords”, in a collaboration of malefic dimensions. Scores of authors have named names and documented the dealing of the “Masters of the Universe”, in every age. Up to now, Americans viewed themselves to be different. The scourge of other empires would not destroy their own country. The government would protect us. A democracy is a superior form of rule. A U.S. global presence is a force for good. How many times have you heard this argument defending the system?

Well, does this viewpoint reflect the reality of the current state of world affairs? More to the point, is this a reasonable conclusion based upon the facts of a diverse society and the deeds of a dominating government? Since our form of government is supposed to be a republic, what role does the citizen retain in a system that now operates by fiat pronouncements?   

In order to answer these questions, presuppose that people share an intentional willingness and responsibility to attain a meaningful degree of self-reliance and authority over government. The goal is to achieve liberty, both personal and for the nation.

Today, the STATE effectively extinguishes the objective of liberty. Besides the elites, who else shares the blame for allowing the viral contamination of the body politic? The malignant disease that facilitates and allows the elites to dominate government and manipulate our lives originates in the minds of commonplace citizens. Call it apathy, denial, rationalization or sloth. It all translates into the same results. The excuse that one “I cannot fight City Hall”, leads to the inept justification that “I was just following orders”.

The Peter Principle is the principle that "In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence." Apply the standard of citizenship and you get, people lose their dignity when they allow bureaucrats to dictate and enforce illegitimate regulations. In any level of organization, incompetence is the norm. Adherence to ethical measures risk discipline and retribution, while obedience to autocratic administration enhances upward mobility. The subtle acknowledgement that ineptitude is a prerequisite for qualification into the civil service, is well established. However, the Peter Principle breaks down when the gears of Totalitarian Collectivism plays upon the inadequacies of the public. ‘TC’ requires a ‘PC’ politically correct culture to move the public into submission.

All individuals are flawed and most are prone to peer pressure. The STATE excels at destroying personal initiative and independence, using the most incompetent tools that money can buy from the government coffer. Notwithstanding the marginal caliber that is attracted to implement government dictates, the plan to exert total compliance and mastery, is brilliant in its evil composition.

The STATE purports to be innate, intrinsic and normal, while it consistently violates the natural rights of human beings. Governments want you to accept that its authority is instinctive, for no other reason than it is in charge. So what is immutable about the STATE, when the only possible legitimacy for government, rests upon the conveyance of authority to it, by individual citizens? Of course, the answer is that the STATE retains only conditional authority.

America is not the government. The country is not the STATE. Moreover, the nation is certainly not the tyrannical regime that seeks to establish a global New World Order.

The ‘TC’ mentality that permeates the culture is a direct result of the lack in public courage to overturn an irrational devotion towards the STATE. The enormous capacity of government to punish is real and horrifying. Nevertheless, the inborn spirit of the power in human dignity and individual self-worth is much greater than all the torment that the STATE can muster against citizens.

The Patriotic movement long ago understood this simple adage. "A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government." Edward Abbey. Morally founded in natural law, individual independence and inherent human rights; the means of that defense should maintain non-violent resistance and civil disobedience. The STATE seeks to demand divine reverence. It deserves continuous vigilance from ‘TC’ oppression and continual defiance when it becomes a tyrant.

SARTRE – 03/14/10

http://www.batr.org/totalitariancollectivism/state.html