Conservatives, Society, and Real Totalitarian Threat

It is a common theme among Republican politicians in America, Conservative politicians in UK, and Liberal politicians in Australia (the word "liberal" in Australia meaning "conservative") to want economic freedom and social totalitarianism. They justify the latter by claiming that "family" or "tradition" is at the root of these nations' societies. There are many reasons why their claims on this are a pack of lies.

First of all, conservatives do not believe that there is such a thing as society, and that anyone who says that there is such a thing as society is a commie. In the words of Margaret Thatcher, "There is no such thing as society, only individuals." So in invoking society, the conservatives are invoking what they do not believe exists. Which makes of them liars and conmen, but we of course already knew that.

Secondly, while governments are elected, societies are not elected; and in invoking an unelected, unchecked, unbalanced, and unaccountable authority, what they are creating is totalitarianism de facto. While the governments in Western democracies are official, accountable, checked and balanced, societies are neither of these things. As such, they can be as corrupt and tyrannical as they want to be - and in most cases they are. So to give power over people's lives to unofficial, unaccountable, unchecked and unbalanced authority is to impose tyranny and corruption in countries meant to be free of both. And that is a far greater danger to such countries than any amount of socialism.

Third, the conservatives claim to want small government; but in wanting, while being in the government, to legislate for the sake of an unofficial, unaccountable, unchecked and unbalanced entity, which they assume to be on their side, they in fact create a vast and invasive government that is entirely out of line with what they claim to want government to be. There is no more justification for government controlling people's private activities than there is in the government controlling people's economic activities. In fact there is far less justification for it, as economic activities directly affect others than people who are performing them while people's private behavior does not.

The people of constitutional democracies do not require an omnipotent society to run their lives any more than do the economic entities in constitutional democracies require an omnipotent bureaucracy to run their operations. Freedom means freedom, and that means especially over one's private affairs. And while the economic activities, when conducted in short-sighted, polluting or fraudulent manner, have direct effect on the rest of the world, people's private activities do not have such an effect. Which means that there is more of a case for controlling people's economic activity than there is for controlling people's personal behavior.

In appealing to an unelected, unofficial, unchecked, unbalanced and unaccountable authority, the Republicans are practicing a totalitarian power grab. If an entity is to be invoked in political discourse, it must be one that is official, elected, and subject to check and balance and accountability. Until one can cast a vote for or against society, in any aspect of it, no one has the right to claim it on their side. And that is especially true for the party that claims to be a party of small government and individual freedom.

Small government is not the government that dictates to people what kind of life they can live, what kind of relationships they can have, or what religion they can practice. Small government is not the government that dictates to people that not only do they have to be in a nuclear family but that they can only be in one kind of a nuclear family. To claim the same to be the foundation of society, is to assume and claim to speak for an authority that is not subject to check and balance. Which means that to make such a claim is to impose effective totalitarianism.

The people have been manipulated to see totalitarian threat in precisely the wrong place. There is no totalitarian threat coming from Obama, but there is a vast totalitarian threat coming from Republicans. Know who these people are and know their precise intent. And be vigilant in the defense of actual freedom - your own and that of the next person.