In this superb Law & Liberty essay entitled “The Descent into Tyranny,” Daniel Klein (of George Mason University) and Michael Munger (of Duke University) ponder a troubling question: How close are we to the tipping point? That is to say, the point from which there is no righting our canoe, where the forces of statism have won and use their power to extinguish opposition to their power.
Our “progressives” are certainly doing their utmost to bring that about.
I particularly like the way the authors note that, before the Civil War, the unjust rulers in the South became increasingly authoritarian in their efforts at preserving slavery and that we’re seeing something very similar among our current crop of authoritarians in power.
The authors write, “A tyranny — once capacities for control and despotism are constructed, in some cases including expansive government employment, dependency, and largesse—can be nearly impossible to reform. The key to the descent into tyranny, and the stability of tyranny once it is achieved, is this: Tyrants use tyranny to fortify their keep and to protect themselves against the sanctions due them for their crimes.”
That is precisely what Biden, Schumer, Pelosi et al have in mind — using governmental coercion to cement themselves into permanent control. The cracking down on freedom of speech, the expansion of the IRS, the threats to judicial independence, the weaponizing of the federal bureaucracy against the opposition, etc. are all part of a project meant to solidify leftist control so it can never be reversed.
Read the whole thing.