Modern Tyranny

Is the smell of tyranny in the air here in America? Or is that just more mad ramblings from the conspiracy minded muh freedumb crowd, a group I consider myself a proud, card carrying member of by the way.

Tyranny can be difficult to imagine in our modern culture because it brings up images of things that happened a long time ago and far away; the Stasi secret Police banging on doors in East Germany, or the Russian KGB disappearing people in the middle of the night or China subjecting outspoken dissidents to forced organ donation and/or horrible beatings. Actually this still happens in China.

But in today’s America? I argue yes, not only is tyranny alive and well here on our Western shores, but thriving. Mind you, I’m not expecting a knock at the door in the middle of the night (not yet anyway), but the amount of government control over nearly aspect of our lives has grown tremendously over the last few decades. This, combined with the public’s incessant need for safetyism and an enormous deep state filled with unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats has brought us to a dangerous tipping point.

The recent controversy over banning gas stoves is a perfect example. The push for this was hatched a few years ago by major climate action groups whose very well funded coffers flow freely to the Democratic Party. They commissioned some junk studies on gas stoves and health risks, which the press dutifully published without an ounce of critical analysis and a very naive section of the public already frightened by 3 years of Covid hysteria ate up.

Politicians of course eagerly embraced this too, using it as yet another wedge issue to beat up mean Republicans with (they want asthmatic children to die!), while raking up more campaign dollars and appearing empathetic. And don’t kid yourselves with the Biden administration’s denials on this, they really do want to take away your stoves. In fact there are already laws on the books in blue states like California and New York to prevent you from installing any type of gas appliances.

For more on Tyranny, let’s jump over to insanitybytes222 site and check out her excellent post, Tyranny is? Here IB expounds on both the political and personal ways tyranny can grow unchecked. I especially liked her tying in fear with the need for more personal control. This of course opens the door to more government involvement with the promise of increased safety. She also expounds on an awesome definition of tyranny by Citizen Tom from his equally good post, The Thoughtlessness of the Standard Liberal Democrat.

“Tyranny is making choices for others that those others have the right to make for themselves. What are those choices? In a free country we debate such matters. In a tyrannical state the tyrant decides. In a free country, we humbly admit that none of us have the either the wisdom or the right to run the lives of people who know their own situation better than we do.”

My own comment on IB’s post was that tyranny is something we should be discussing more. It’s been increasing for years here and a serious debate is long overdue. Our catastrophic pandemic response with its casual shredding of civil liberties just added jet fuel to this slow burn and has created a lingering atmosphere of oppression, which is stifling.

“It’s the threat though that the switch could flip again at any time where we find ourselves once again under new mandates that is oppressive and depressing. That is why I firmly believe that accountability for the monstrous shredding of civli liberties that occurred during Covid has to come about. Nobody who was responsible for it or who dutifully complied of course even wants to talk about it let alone expose the wrong doing and enact protocols to prevent it from happening again.”

It’s not just about the threat of reoccurring Covid mandates, although I would not rule that out. It’s that this casual dismantling of our freedoms with 0 acknowledgement from anyone involved that this was absurdly and grossly wrong, will happen again for any number of reasons. Not if, but when.

This tweet by conservative journalist Helen Andrews sums my feelings up well here:

Even though things are mostly back to normal after lockdowns, I still haven't regained my sense of America as a free country. I saw what people were capable of, with the slightest excuse, and now it just feels like a return to that kind of social control is only a matter of time.

— Helen Andrews (@herandrews) January 19, 2023

Which brings us to the most important bulwark against a creeping and opportunistic tyranny; the people themselves. As I wrote in a post from 2016, Does Society Still Value Freedom?

“I know so many good and otherwise intelligent people that are completely willing to hand over their personal power to that inept blob of bureaucracy we call the federal government and for what? Some sense of security I suspect and the false impression that large, intrusive government programs equates to compassion.

“In reality most (programs) do not. As the government permeates in to society, the mission becomes about protecting and benefiting the managing bureaucracy and the cottage industries that support it. The needs of the people who use these programs become secondary to growing the numbers and keeping them dependent, while their self worth and initiative erodes.”

Some of us stand agog at the tyrannical nature of many politicians today and wonder how they could keep getting reelected. It’s not hard to understand though when you consider the large number of people who believe the government is keeping them safe or who are dependent on it for basic needs. It’s a form of enslavement really, of which years and years of psychological conditioning has created.

This is a big problem with no easy solutions. Neither political party is addressing it really, not in any serious way so expect more of the same nonsense in the next election.