Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation understand that to choose one’s government is not necessarily to secure freedom. – Friedrich Hayek
Once again, for those who insist on being willfully obtuse: “authoritarianism” is not the opposite of “democracy”. The former refers to a governing philosophy; the latter to a method of choosing those who will implement the governing philosophy. Democratic elections can, and regularly do, produce authoritarian governments; if a “democratic majority” uses violence to impose its will on a peaceful minority, then the government produced by such a “democracy” is an authoritarian one. The US has been an authoritarian republic (with largely, though not wholly, democratic mechanics) since the founding; though many white Americans refuse to recognize this, Black Americans and American Indians usually understand. Furthermore, the US has become more authoritarian over time, such as when the elected majoritarian government decided it had the right to inflict violence on people for merely possessing certain substances, or for thinking certain thoughts while agreeing to have sex, or for crossing imaginary lines on a map. A boot is a boot, regardless of who chose the style. Or as I wrote once before:
When faced with a mob who wants to trample me, I don’t much care whether the leader of that mob was chosen by popularity contest or drawing lots, advanced bureaucratically, inherited the position from his dad or mom, or claims to have been appointed by the gods. I don’t care whether the members of that mob stomp first with their left boots or their right, or whether they employ ushers to ensure I’m trampled “equally”. I don’t care whether the majority of mob members are male, female, androgynous or sexless, nor do I give a damn about the relative darkness of their skins, what language they speak, or whose body parts they prefer to fondle or have jammed into their faces. Neither do I care about their supposed “reasons” for trampling me, nor whether they claim my trampling was “proper” or “fair” or “according to procedure”, nor whether some person they define as being like me in some way (important to them but not to me) was part of the mob. I just want the fucking mob to leave me the fuck alone.
Leave a Reply