People all around the political spectrum love to look at the other side and point out tyrants. The right points to the likes of Stalin and Castro while the left to Franco and Pinochet and both point out Hitler and try to claim he's on whatever side the spectrum they're not. The thing about individual tyrants though is that their tyranny doesn't outlive them. Franco and Pinochet left free nations in their wakes and to be fair we don't yet know what Castro will leave behind. We do know what Stalin left behind. Russia continued to be tyrannized for several decades after his death, and that leads me to my point.
No, it's not to say communism is bad, though anyone who knows me knows I believe that. It's something much more generally useful than that to identify, and something very relevant as to why current scandals in the United States government are so very important. Something I call "institutionalized tyranny". yourdictionary.com defines tyranny as "a government or ruler with total power". Institutionalized tyranny is when a government and not just one person has total power. This is what Soviet Russia suffered under, and it made it such that the tyrants could not simply be waited out. There were institutions in place guaranteeing the tyranny would continue no matter who was in charge.
The reason this point is so much bigger than saying "communism is bad" is because institutionalized tyranny threatens all of our modern forms of government. Everyone all around the political spectrum and all around the "free world" must be on watch to prevent it from taking hold wherever we live. We must be able to recognize it when we see it, both when it's forming and when it's already here to some degree.
The easiest and most useful sign of institutionalized tyranny is the use of the term "greater good". e.g. "So you're forced to do something you don't want, it's for the greater good." The "greater good"'s more legitimate but also dangerous cousin is the "lesser evil". The "lesser evil" unfortunately exists at times like in war for example, but the "greater good" doesn't ever, at least not in a civil context.
The greater good is simply a lie, or in some cases a dangerous delusion. It's premise is that some great objective is so good that other competing goods should be forced aside. The problem with this is that the greatness of a good is not an objectively measurable quality. It's a subjective thing, and more dangerously it can be manipulated.
Get enough people to believe there is such a thing as a greater good and we have just made the first big step towards institutionalized tyranny. The second and near final step is to convince them that some cause championed by their government is that greater good. Now their government can do anything it wants as long as it can in some way be made to seem as though it's doing it for this greater good.
So the threat of the most lasting tyranny doesn't come from out of control generals or dictatorial thugs, for these people don't inherently have the power to convince nations of people that there is some greater good, and without doing that they're ability to tyrannize is limited by both their immediate resources and the lengths of their lives.
Beware the academics and media people who tell you there is such a thing as the greater good. We must remember that once we allow ourselves to believe in such a thing, whoever has the power to decide what that is will have total power. And they will not only be tyrants but their ideas will become institutionalized and their tyranny will be able live on after they die.
All government is based on the sound assumption that we must give up something in return for some civil stability. "Good government" is the lesser of evils between itself and civil disorder. A better term for this would be "best government" as there really isn't such a thing as "good government" as government requires that we give up some of our freedoms and resources. Even the communist utopia would do away with government once everything was essentially perfect. That's because even the creators of communism agree that government is at best a necessary or lesser evil.
But there are some who believe government can be good or "cool" as President Obama termed it when he was first running for president in 2008, and we should beware of people like this. Believing that government can be "cool" or good is yet another big step towards institutionalized tyranny. For once the lesser evil of government is seen as good, all the good things we currently give up or may later be asked to give up for the things government provides us will by necessity be defined as lesser goods and government's good goals the greater good. Once we get to that point the vehicle of tyranny will have been assembled, warmed up, and waiting in the driveway for someone to take for a spin.
There is no way government can be good. To believe it can is to have a mindset that enables tyranny, and only human perfection could make that tyranny avoidable.
So in the battle for individual liberty verses tyranny it is essential that we reject the ideas of a greater good and good government. They are amongst the most dangerous of lies and they lead quickly to tyranny. Necessary and lesser evils do exist and best government is one of those things, but there is no such thing as good government and most especially no such thing as the greater good.
No, it's not to say communism is bad, though anyone who knows me knows I believe that. It's something much more generally useful than that to identify, and something very relevant as to why current scandals in the United States government are so very important. Something I call "institutionalized tyranny". yourdictionary.com defines tyranny as "a government or ruler with total power". Institutionalized tyranny is when a government and not just one person has total power. This is what Soviet Russia suffered under, and it made it such that the tyrants could not simply be waited out. There were institutions in place guaranteeing the tyranny would continue no matter who was in charge.
The reason this point is so much bigger than saying "communism is bad" is because institutionalized tyranny threatens all of our modern forms of government. Everyone all around the political spectrum and all around the "free world" must be on watch to prevent it from taking hold wherever we live. We must be able to recognize it when we see it, both when it's forming and when it's already here to some degree.
Tyranny's Champion
The easiest and most useful sign of institutionalized tyranny is the use of the term "greater good". e.g. "So you're forced to do something you don't want, it's for the greater good." The "greater good"'s more legitimate but also dangerous cousin is the "lesser evil". The "lesser evil" unfortunately exists at times like in war for example, but the "greater good" doesn't ever, at least not in a civil context.
The greater good is simply a lie, or in some cases a dangerous delusion. It's premise is that some great objective is so good that other competing goods should be forced aside. The problem with this is that the greatness of a good is not an objectively measurable quality. It's a subjective thing, and more dangerously it can be manipulated.
Get enough people to believe there is such a thing as a greater good and we have just made the first big step towards institutionalized tyranny. The second and near final step is to convince them that some cause championed by their government is that greater good. Now their government can do anything it wants as long as it can in some way be made to seem as though it's doing it for this greater good.
So the threat of the most lasting tyranny doesn't come from out of control generals or dictatorial thugs, for these people don't inherently have the power to convince nations of people that there is some greater good, and without doing that they're ability to tyrannize is limited by both their immediate resources and the lengths of their lives.
Beware the academics and media people who tell you there is such a thing as the greater good. We must remember that once we allow ourselves to believe in such a thing, whoever has the power to decide what that is will have total power. And they will not only be tyrants but their ideas will become institutionalized and their tyranny will be able live on after they die.
A Slightly More Subtle Route To Tyranny
All government is based on the sound assumption that we must give up something in return for some civil stability. "Good government" is the lesser of evils between itself and civil disorder. A better term for this would be "best government" as there really isn't such a thing as "good government" as government requires that we give up some of our freedoms and resources. Even the communist utopia would do away with government once everything was essentially perfect. That's because even the creators of communism agree that government is at best a necessary or lesser evil.
But there are some who believe government can be good or "cool" as President Obama termed it when he was first running for president in 2008, and we should beware of people like this. Believing that government can be "cool" or good is yet another big step towards institutionalized tyranny. For once the lesser evil of government is seen as good, all the good things we currently give up or may later be asked to give up for the things government provides us will by necessity be defined as lesser goods and government's good goals the greater good. Once we get to that point the vehicle of tyranny will have been assembled, warmed up, and waiting in the driveway for someone to take for a spin.
There is no way government can be good. To believe it can is to have a mindset that enables tyranny, and only human perfection could make that tyranny avoidable.
So in the battle for individual liberty verses tyranny it is essential that we reject the ideas of a greater good and good government. They are amongst the most dangerous of lies and they lead quickly to tyranny. Necessary and lesser evils do exist and best government is one of those things, but there is no such thing as good government and most especially no such thing as the greater good.
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