You've probably been hearing about the "deep state" recently, with some pundits saying it's a danger and others saying it doesn't even exist.
It's real, but it's not the conspiracy theory some would have you believe. Its reality shouldn't be controversial; it's there for everyone to see and experience.
The "deep state" is, in simple terms, the government bureaucracy. It is all those parts of government which don't change from one presidential administration to the next.
When presidents change, the new president hires new people to run the various government agencies, but most employees in the massive agency keep their job. The new boss depends on the experience of those who have been in the job through multiple administrations to keep things running.
Since their jobs are safe they get entrenched, and in some positions, feel invulnerable because of their experience and years in the job. When no one else even understands or knows for sure what they do, how can they be replaced?
Thus, you have a "deep state".
Some people want to turn this recognition of reality into evidence of paranoia.
Sure, when you involve powerful agencies such as the CIA and FBI, opportunities for abuse are probably irresistible. It's likely that some will come to see themselves as the real power behind the scenes and see the elected officials as figureheads to be tolerated as long as they don't upset the status quo too much. Some of them undoubtedly act on this power.
Scenarios of "deep state" presidential assassinations and other undemocratic schemes are thrilling, but the majority of the damage is done to your liberty by the everyday governing which goes on openly, in front of microphones and cameras.
The state, both deep and broad, has been tightening the noose around the necks of Americans almost from the beginning.
The state has been preventing the people from choosing to uncouple from an out-of-control federal government since Mr. Lincoln's war to repeal the Declaration of Independence. It has been violating the Second Amendment since at least 1934. The state keeps the tax records which are used to entrap and enslave the people. It steals, compiles, and stores your private data. All in the name of governing you.
Yet people worry about what the mysterious parts of "deep state" might do to other parts of this enemy organization? This seems like displaced concern to me.
You seem to be using a different definition of "deep state" than I've seen it used:
ReplyDelete"Deep State has since come to mean any unelected "shadow government" operating behind the scenes of a democracy."
OR
"a group of unelected government and military officials who secretly manipulate or direct national policy"
So, the NSA dredging up info from their servers in Utah to blackmail a government official into not cutting their budget, or voting a certain way on a SCOTUS appeal -- deep state.
If you can see them, and hear them speak about policy, they're not the deep state. They're not the puppet masters.
I'm probably wrong, but... If they are unelected, they are the bureaucracy, aren't they? And there is no part of government more bureaucratic than the military. The unelected folks do what they want regardless of the elected government's ("officials") wishes, for the most part. Isn't the NSA just a giant bureaucracy of spies?
DeleteEither way, my point is that people should worry about the violations being committed openly before worrying about things they can't know for certain.
"If you can see them, and hear them speak about policy, they're not the deep state."
DeleteSo what's with the popularized deep state narrative? Is it not characteristic of every other kind of narrative subtly introduced to the public?