Statism Has You

The tendency to bury our worthy causes beneath the schemes and mechanisms designed to realize them was the problem to begin with. In place of our dreams of liberation, whether from feudalism or theocracy or absolute rule, we erected new cages within which to confine us.

Tax-funded, militarily-enforced monopolies, mostly consisting of vast but disparate networks of ministries or agencies, employing an army of civil servants, directors and commissars working to micro-manage the affairs of their subjects (but rarely each other)—all of this machinery has essentially run on autopilot since then.

Reason might suggests that, sooner or later, the generations raised within this sort of incubator would come to outgrow it. It might also suggest, like Friedrich Engels did in regards to his vision of socialism, that the state would eventually wither away, become unnecessary, and the people would come to manage their own affairs without the need of it.

If such a miracle were to happen, communities might take care of their sick, their old, their poor on their own initiative, instead of pretending that paying a tax, funding some bureaucracy to do for them, and turning a blind eye to the end results is true compassion.

Of course, like everything, Engels was wrong. The following generations would only come to depend upon the state more than outgrow it. Our inherent desires for liberty and self-sufficiency and to be left alone would be replaced by what the state taught us to desire: safety and dependency. Though these establishments, bureaucracies, state powers, and institutions of central planning would, in due time, far outlive the people they were designed to liberate, they have only grown in size and power. Rather than wither, the state has only expanded.

The declining birthrates in developed countries—our upside-down family trees—suggest a decline in the supply and demand for these services, and as a corollary, a decline in the necessary funding required to keep our cages from dissolving.

But rather than finally reveal itself as moribund, and resign themselves to their fate, the states and the bureaucrats employed by them have only redoubled their efforts long after forgetting their aim.

As Louise Arbour, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for International Migration, said upon learning of the countries that refused to sign the UN’s immigration compact:

”There are many, many countries in the world today that will need to import a part of their workforce. The demographics are suggesting that if they want to maintain their current economic standards or even grow their economy, they're going to have to receive well-trained foreigners to meet the labour market demands in their countries”

Now, in their search for more servants, importing the supply and demand by way of immigration and population control is their new means of finding necessary generations to exploit. And here we are.

a reply to: Propagandalf

If such a miracle were to happen, communities might take care of their sick, their old, their poor on their own initiative, instead of pretending that paying a tax, funding some bureaucracy to do for them, and turning a blind eye to the end results is true compassion.

My mother grew up in dire poverty. I'm not talking poverty like American poverty, i'm talking real third world starvation. I was shocked to hear that she often misses the old days, and old ways. She said even though people had little to nothing where she grew up, when someone got a treat or something special they would always share. Always. There was a closeness that is not seen today.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: Propagandalf

If such a miracle were to happen, communities might take care of their sick, their old, their poor on their own initiative, instead of pretending that paying a tax, funding some bureaucracy to do for them, and turning a blind eye to the end results is true compassion.

My mother grew up in dire poverty. I'm not talking poverty like American poverty, i'm talking real third world starvation. I was shocked to hear that she often misses the old days, and old ways. She said even though people had little to nothing where she grew up, when someone got a treat or something special they would always share. Always. There was a closeness that is not seen today.

That's a very keen point. Statism does seem to remove the human element of community. We've rely on the state where we used to rely on each other.

The flow of spice must continue at all costs. While we consume the spice, our controllers consume us.

I wonder, does the removal of a chance of failure/hunger/death in this reality make us less human and easier to control in the end? Is our own fake compassion used against us? Will our fake compassion further lead to degradation? Maybe the more we move away from reality, the more pain we will experience.

a reply to: ClovenSky

I suspect that's true.

a reply to: Propagandalf

I also wanted to say that there is a big difference between voluntary sharing and forced sharing.

To ClovenSky

Maybe the more we move away from reality, the more pain we will experience.

Yes, we are so far removed from so many things. I love the Victorian period and back then families helped prepare their dead for burial. Of course I think that is gruesome, but the reality is that people in that time had to face those types of realities head on. I think they had a different appreciation for life because of it.

Same with food, I think too many people are truly unaware of how real food is produced. People don't realize that roundup is actually sprayed right on the crops. We just don't want to have to think about it.

a reply to: Propagandalf

importing the supply and demand by way of immigration and population control is their new means of finding necessary generations to exploit. And here we are.

Seems like a catch 22. However below the surface the only ones whose standard of living improves in such a situation are the super wealthy. They've already outsourced manufacturing, they need the immigrants to clean their houses, cheap labour.

Everyone else just gets their savings eroded away, services costing more & providing sub standard service, inflation.

With the falling birth rate its already too late. A countries Cultural coherence and identity is diluted.

Servicing interest on debt Governments will invariably dip into Social programmes & retirement funds.

There is no happy ending in this picture of Western countries race to the bottom.

a reply to: ClovenSky

Interesting points. What happens when consciousness/identity gets uploaded into a machine? Will the controllers retain their power ( through backdoors ) by manipulating pain/pleasure as a reward mechanism.

I think we were doing a lot better in the sixties and seventies with taking care of the poor. There were not that many people on Welfare back then and costs of healthcare were way cheaper in relation to a person's income. Many businesses paid for health insurance too, after Obamacare, most smaller businesses dropped their healthcare around here and gave employees a little raise. But the deductible is so high that we all lost.

When the government gets involved everything gets expensive and the quality of the service for the amount invested goes way down. The Dems seem to want everyone a hundred percent reliant on the state, that means our freedoms and opinions are suppressed to those of a surf or slave.

a reply to: TheConstruKctionofLight

How do you know we aren't already in a machine getting those rewards/punishments? I corrupt my reality enough to think there is a major tie-in with a soul, for us machines to be conscious and aware. I don't think the machines/AI that we create will possess a soul unless our technology advances enough to understand the links between the spiritual and material world.

I am not really worried about the machines or AI, I worry about the programmers and controllers. If the point is to experience pain and suffering for personal growth, trying to make a better society is a sin against creation. Maybe I just need to view the vampires that try to control me and extract my wealth as marvelous saints that are just trying to help. You know what they say, Goldman Sachs does Gods work.