Libertarians who support Big Government "Border Security" remind me of the Nigerian scammers who start their emails saying "Dear Beloved, May God's peace shine on you".
Maybe they are sincere, but I don't trust them. There's something "off" about them. Alarm bells go off in my head when they show up. There's always that appeal to the State's "protection"; lending an unearned air of legitimacy to the State.
They remind me of abolitionists who don't really want to get rid of all slavery, just the slavery they don't like.
Or teetotalers who drink moonshine "for medicinal purposes only".
Yet, I sympathize. It's scary to not have a dangerous Big Brother at your back when you fear you may not be enough to meet the threat. Even if the threat is mostly in your head, the fear is still real.
Borderism-- big government welfare statism by another name-- is apparently a very seductive cult, leading a lot of liberty supporters down into its depths, from which there seems to be no escape.
Statism, "for security purposes only", is still full-blown statism.
depending on state security, and refusing to acknowledge the dependence- is a gap in understanding.
ReplyDeleteand once acknowledged, then the choice is to (a) remain dependent, or (b) to evolve to security independence.
remaining dependent, is not liberty.
{ food, water, shelter, security } form the base of the "hierarchy of needs".
DeleteMaslowe's "hierarchy of needs":
------Self Actualization
----Psychological needs: relationships, accomplishments
--Basic needs: food, water, shelter, physical and financial security
"Higher needs" ASSUME the foundation is solid.
Depending on a state/gang/cartel for { food, water, shelter, security } makes the entire hierarchy vulnerable to that "dependence":Being a tenant farmer on some one elses plantation- A slave to their whims. A serf to the overlords. They can raid your shelter and do as they please; erasing your life's work, because they can. They can manipulate your finances and exchange rates; and erase your life's work, your ability to plan for your food, water, business, and for your family's future. Wannabe 'slave massah' imposes dependence, as a method of control. If/when 'massah' owns YOUR security, then he maintains a gun to your head in all things.
Dependence is not Liberty.
Acknowledge the 'dependence trap' as a method of slave control.
Understand your vulnerabilities, and endeavor to provide your own basic needs: food, water, shelter, physical and financial security.
Dependence is not Liberty.
and- If you do not have the capability to provide for your own, then you remain dependent on the state/gang/cartel. and if the state/gang/cartel is doing a bad job of providing security- then that undermines all of the folks in that state.
Deleteinvading armies change things, and end civilizations.
just look at Byzantium.
or north america, when the siberian invaders came in across the landbridge and wiped out the native american cultures. invasion sucks for the targeted individuals.
well said: "Statism, "for security purposes only", is still full-blown statism."
ReplyDeletemost accept it, and assume it; rather than building capability to deter the state- as the free people of Lexington and Concord did.