Remember This

     I’m going to start following David Strom:

     [Jacinda] Ardern wore out her welcome as New Zealand’s Prime Minister and abruptly resigned in January, and is staying far away from the New Zealand elections that are occurring next month. Her Xi-like approach to fighting COVID and the free flow of information made her a very unpopular figure in the country, and as with so many political leaders of the Left she has managed to fail upwards, bringing her failed policies and preferences to the rest of the world.

     After her resignation the transnational elite rushed to embrace her, showering her with prestigious positions including a sinecure at Harvard and memberships of Boards. And, of course, a prime speaking spot at the United Nations in which she warned that the world is at war and hence must fight misinformation.

     Because of course it is. The world is always at war. There is always a crisis. If wars and crises were the reason for shutting down freedoms there would never be any–and in fact, that is precisely the goal.

     There’s a wealth of insight in the above – and it’s only a snippet of an excellent column. I don’t have to quote Orwell this time. I have another fiction writer in mind, and the very first story for which he won the then-prestigious Hugo Award:

     EFFECTIVE 15 JULY 2389, 12:00:00 midnight, the office of the Master Timekeeper will require all citizens to submit their time-cards and cardioplates for processing. In accordance with Statute 5557-SGH-999 governing the revocation of time per capita, all cardioplates will be keyed to the individual holder and–

     What they had done was devise a method of curtailing the amount of life a person could have. If he was ten minutes late, he lost ten minutes of his life. An hour was proportionately worth more revocation. If someone was consistently tardy, he might find himself, on a Sunday night, receiving a communique from the Master Timekeeper that his time had run out, and he would be “turned off” at high noon on Monday, please straighten your affairs, sir.

     And so, by this simple scientific expedient (utilizing a scientific process held dearly secret by the Ticktockman’s office) the system was maintained. It was the only expedient thing to do. It was, after all, patriotic. The schedules had to be met. After all, there was a war on!

     But wasn’t there always?

     [Harlan Ellison, “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman”]

     War is, of course, the ultimate in crises. In wartime, the State can “justify” anything, all the way to seizing you bodily, thrusting you onto the front lines…and executing you for “desertion” should you elect to abdicate the role of cannon fodder. Never forget that. Never forget what Randolph Bourne said, either:

     Why else would politicians and their flacksters strain to speak of the current “crisis” – almost always something brought about by governments in the first place – as a “war?” “War on Poverty.” “War on Drugs.” “War on Terror.” Jimmy Carter’s characterization of the “energy crisis” – again, entirely an artifact of governments – as “the moral equivalent of war.” And of course today we have the War on Climate Change. Watch for it at a theater near you!

     When will the mighty “We” realize that this con job called “government” has gone on long enough?