David Bernstein, writing at the Volokh Conspiracy, has some excellent thoughts on human nature and the compulsion for oppression. Reading it I am reminded of its application to current events. The public rise of Antifa. The open advocacy of the use of force to silence political opponents. The abuses of the bureaucracy in pursuit of partisan political gain. The inherited privilege of the ruling class exemplified in what has been colloquially defined as ‘The Swamp.’
Bernstein’s focus is the justification for racism, but when you look at it, you can clearly see that this rationalization manifests itself in many other forms all for a similar purpose. Securing power in the hands of a chosen elite. The exercise of despotism.
In earlier times, when “might made right,” things like slavery needed no justification. “We won the war and captured enemy prisoners and made them slaves” was quite sufficient. But once (classical) liberalism took hold, and people broadly accepted the premise that “all men are created equal” and are “endowed by their Creator with certain natural rights,” but they still want to maintain, say, African slavery in the American South, they have to create rationales as to why people of African descent aren’t really “people” in the same sense that people of European descent are.
Now, consider that every argument from the Left in favor of abortion turns on the rationale that what a woman carries in her womb is not a person. That the majority of abortions are performed on people of color. That the genesis of birth control was a form of social engineering, cultural gentrification – the minimizing of populations of individuals defined by progressive elites as being less human. Less worthy of passing on their characteristics to future generations.
More from Bernstein.
The same could be said for Jews in Europe once liberalism got a strong foothold there. Intellectuals could no longer justify hatred of Jews on religious grounds thanks to their belief in freedom of conscience, so they had to either accept Jews as fully equal citizens, or invent racist rationales to explain why Jews were different from those persons entitled to equal rights. In short, if (classical) liberalism notions take hold in a society, but large percentages of the population are not willing to abandon prior systems of oppression, the rise of racism will be the natural result as the defenders of oppression seek rationales for refusing to extend rights to minority groups.
The reasoning used to marginalized personhood to excuse past oppression is on full display today, not-unsurprisingly, from the same class of political persons. Those disposed to a larger more intrusive government. The political left.
The unborn are not people, therefore we can extinguish them at a whim.
Ideas or words to which the Left objects do not deserve the same protections as their words or ideas so they can and should be silenced.
Religious expressions and matters of conscience can be oppressed when they do not fit the approved template.
Public assemblies and associations that do not advance approved policies can be suppressed.
Keepers of such ideas or speakers of such words are labeled by the Left as monsters to devalue their potential for influence. Their oppression by sanctioned mobs and inevitably exercises of state power should they get the opportunity to exercise it, are necessary forms of oppression.
Put another way, because some folks don’t talk or speak or act a certain way they are not really people. It’s okay to treat them badly.
This is not new nor is it an exception. What is new is the notion that there was once upon a time a more sober and civilized exchange of ideas free from such exertions. Rubbish.
The urge to rule without interference is as old as the human race. And the American experiment, while still the most successful exercise in liberty and freedom from poverty in history, has always been at risk from that compulsion.
The urge to rule others is why our Founders drafted the US Constitution. To somehow protect us from ourselves. To secure our rights from what has become the tyranny of the Left; the accumulation and centralization of power and resources so that the inherited privilege of the ruling class could work without interruption. To rule us at our own expense.
The agenda of the left, their program for society requires you to do as they say and they are more than willing to use the power they have accumulated for themselves to make you obey.
Their (so-called) ideological superiority grants them a sense you lack which you demonstrate every time you question their methods or motives or object to their prescriptions.
Mr. Trump is the pinnacle of your objection to this state of affairs and you have seen how they responded to that.
What possible reason do you have to believe that should the Political Left get their way, should they return to majority positions of power, that their behavior toward you will be any different? That they won’t excuse the partisan weaponization of the intelligence community or the State’s police powers against you?
The Obama Administration spied on private citizens and the press. They fed donor lists to like-minded “non-profit” mobs to intimidate political opponents. They ignored lawbreaking by connected insiders. Honored groups committed to violence. Raided private businesses. Used secret courts to spy on political opponents. Broke the law because it wasn’t meant to limit them it was meant to limit us.
There is no circumstance where Democrat rule does not continue the practice of excusing oppression to secure political power. If you do not vote them out of office or keep them out of office, they will eventually find a way, too late most likely, to make you pay for your indifference. First with the fruits of your labor and then with whatever else they require.
There is only one party and only one prescription for the Left. Free Speech and associations are a barrier. The right to self-defense cannot be tolerated. Religious freedom interferes with it. The sovereign rights of states and people must be sacrificed on their altar.
If you do not follow them, you should expect to find the shadow of the ideological compulsion of their political ancestors to dehumanize those they wish to oppress upon your doorstep.
Do not act surprised when it comes (if it comes) and you did nothing now to prevent it.
Elections have consequences.
Refusing to vote to stop the Left is a vote in their favor.
Choose wisely.
