One of the many refrains of the nouveau (purported) “Right” is that the conservative movement and/or GOP were the “surrender caucus” who pretended to opposed the march of the Left, but then happily joined in when it became a fait accompli. Ironic, then, that those nay-sayers are by and large embracing the socialism and welfare state of the Left. Such is the case with the desire to turn poor married couples with children into a new welfare class, dependent on the “Right”-lead government for their largess.
To these people, an all powerful welfare state that empowers the government to shape society according to the dictates of the enlightened elite was not the problem, only that they weren’t the elite who get to mould society according to their ideal. They have fully accepted that socialism is here, but that it ceases to be socialism under their leadership and their vision of society-to-be.
As Ronald Reagan would say, this isn’t a choice—it’s an echo.
The mistake mad is the assumption that government must be a tool to impose someone’s idea of morality and what is the “common good”, and if you don’t impose it on others, then others will impose it on you.
Limited government exists to restrain this false dilemma fallacy.
The only “choice” is what cog in which machine they’d prefer to submit to. Either which way, Leviathan calls. That society and the economy should be moulded to some fantasy “common good”, “justice”, or some other trite slogan is considered a given, with only the specific superficial form in question. But when it comes to promising free stuff and an uplifted society, it’s Johnny-come-lately vs. the entrenched faction. Or, to put it another way, it’s the “Diet Coke of socialism”. Slapping on a superfiscially moral paintjob doesn’t change the collapsing wreck beneath.
The two are no more on different ends of a spectrum than a horseshoe bent to the point of making a circle. It is the same type of difference between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, Hitlerites and Strasserite, or the Judean People’s Front and the People’s Front of Judea.
To double down on the socialism, President Trump has promised “dividends” of $5000 be paid to Americans from a source that doesn’t involve the taxpayers (perhaps in the form of Monopoly Money).
In both cases, fallacious assumptions are made, including: Individuals can not rule themselves, but some who are “more equal” can rule the rest; society can be remade/fixed/transformed into a permanent good by imposing the desired outer form; that imposing the preferred superficiality will transform the people according to the fantasy of the imposers; that such transformed people will become what the Soviet’s called “The New Soviet Man”; and that empowering government without limit, fetters, or the restraints that comprise our American heritage can not and will not backfire or empower their enemies.
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