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Redstate
We
get the government we
submit to
By John Hayward
September 30th, 2013
An old chestnut holds that
we get the government we deserve. To some degree, that’s true. The
American public has a huge amount of theoretical leverage over
its Ruling Class. Broadly speaking, no nominally free population can
be eternally bound by any system of laws it profoundly disagrees
with. Any aspect of law or government could be changed. The
Constitution has been amended many times.
But as a practical matter,
it would be more accurate to say we get the government we submit to.
The government is not a force of nature, or a disinterested party, or
– contrary to currently fashionable liberal rhetoric – the “one
thing we all do together.” It’s not an organic expression of our
popular will. The government is a special interest, the largest
“lobbyist” on the planet. It lobbies itself endlessly for more
power and money. It uses its power to shape popular opinion, in a
highly inefficient feedback loop that wastes a great deal of money,
but accomplishes its mission of engineering the populace to accept a
constantly growing State. Uncle Sam is not our humble servant, or a
responsible and loyal steward of our trust. He has his own agenda,
he protects his interests against troublesome sectors of the
population, he punishes his domestic enemies, and he’s always
looking for opportunities to expand.
The American people don’t
come together for reasoned debate, after which their representatives
carefully vote to authorize some new power or spending, mindful of
the cost in money and freedom (which are ultimately the same thing.)
No, we get new programs because the Ruling Class desires them. The
government demands the right to move into a new area of our lives,
railing at dissenters for daring to deny it. We’re on the
defensive, forced to explain why we should be able to keep control
over each threatened aspect of commerce or liberty, expected to
justify our defiance of the all-wise, all-knowing, all-caring State.
When we refuse to submit, we’re anarchists; when we refuse to pay
our tithe, we’re greedy; our liberty is a frigid wasteland upon
which the hapless Little People will surely perish.
Of course, the State has
plenty of help. Rent-seekers, cronies, political hustlers,
dependents… there are a lot of people who profit from each new
expansion of the State. Questioning the motives of political
opponents, and sniffing out traces of hidden self-interest, is a fine
old political sport. But no one dares ask if the State and its
favorite dependents are acting in their own greedy self-interest when
they want to take money and liberty away from others. Every opponent
of “global warming,” for example, is denounced as a paid shill
for Big Energy. But isn’t it obvious that the proponents of global
warming have an immense financial interest in its success, too? Isn’t
it obvious that politicians love a theory that puts the
government in charge of vast resources, granting it the authority to
issue scads of micro-regulation… and, better yet, special
exemptions for its very special friends?
At this point, given the
immense size of the federal government – a $3.6 trillion dragon
curled upon a fools-gold hoard of $17 trillion in accumulated debt –
is it not fair to say that everyone involved in any major policy
debate has their own agenda, their own interests to protect? It’s
absurd to let the acolytes of the State posture as selfless
do-gooders when they, and their allies, so clearly profit from their
ideas. (Never mind that it’s all too easy to be “altruistic”
with other peoples’ money.)
For the rest of this
article and more, go to Redstate
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