Bigger and bigger Government is the not the panacea and may be pressing the self-destruct button.
There are some things only Government can do. Like defence, and they are self-evidently not much good at that.
The more Government does, especially when it interferes officiously, the more the populace loses the muscle memory of self-reliance, personal discipline and responsibility, and autonomy.
It is more or less a zero sum game.
This progression, or rather regression, is not necessarily benevolent. It can lead to zombification and infantilisation.
It can make a population more docile, compliant, subservient, gullible, suggestible, manipulable, and amenable to coercive control, whether by that same Government or another or by an internal or external bad actor.
It is possible that Government becomes so megalomanic and hubristic that it parts company altogether with reality and totally disintegrates—as in Sweden and the USSR in the early nineties. Putin seems en route to a repeat in Russia.
This seems to be what Burnham is selling. A Socialist Utopia where the Magic Money EcoForest grows in profusion.
The Romans’ strategy for pacifying the restive Plebians was “Bread and Circuses”.
But it is not just the Stakhanovite headbangers at Conference or in Islingtonia and Camdenia who are lapping it up. For a while it will fool many desperately hoping for something in the UK to work again.
The Leave Voters of Makerfield who helped Andy’s parachute to land so safely may already be disillusioned by the impending Brexit reversal. He told them it was off the table—and now it isn’t.
What actually lies at the end of this particular rainbow is a vast vat brimful of faecal matter.
Thank you.
Pleasure. Lovely writing.
👏👏👏 An article that was a treat to read by Tyrell Bowman!
Suggest reading David McGrogan (Uncibil) as a useful counter to this.
Bigger and bigger Government is the not the panacea and may be pressing the self-destruct button.
There are some things only Government can do. Like defence, and they are self-evidently not much good at that.
The more Government does, especially when it interferes officiously, the more the populace loses the muscle memory of self-reliance, personal discipline and responsibility, and autonomy.
It is more or less a zero sum game.
This progression, or rather regression, is not necessarily benevolent. It can lead to zombification and infantilisation.
It can make a population more docile, compliant, subservient, gullible, suggestible, manipulable, and amenable to coercive control, whether by that same Government or another or by an internal or external bad actor.
It is possible that Government becomes so megalomanic and hubristic that it parts company altogether with reality and totally disintegrates—as in Sweden and the USSR in the early nineties. Putin seems en route to a repeat in Russia.
This seems to be what Burnham is selling. A Socialist Utopia where the Magic Money EcoForest grows in profusion.
The Romans’ strategy for pacifying the restive Plebians was “Bread and Circuses”.
But it is not just the Stakhanovite headbangers at Conference or in Islingtonia and Camdenia who are lapping it up. For a while it will fool many desperately hoping for something in the UK to work again.
The Leave Voters of Makerfield who helped Andy’s parachute to land so safely may already be disillusioned by the impending Brexit reversal. He told them it was off the table—and now it isn’t.
What actually lies at the end of this particular rainbow is a vast vat brimful of faecal matter.
Enjoy!