{"id":2244913,"date":"2024-05-15T08:29:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-15T12:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-total-state-warns-tyranny-has-already-triumphed\/"},"modified":"2024-05-15T08:34:30","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T12:34:30","slug":"the-total-state-warns-tyranny-has-already-triumphed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-total-state-warns-tyranny-has-already-triumphed\/","title":{"rendered":"The Totalitarian State Warns of Triumph of Tyranny"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-total-state-warns-tyranny-has-already-triumphed%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2244913&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The\u200c article discusses the themes \u2062in Auron MacIntyre&#8217;s book, &#8220;The \u200dTotal State,&#8221; highlighting the author&#8217;s views on\u2064 the shift towards a\u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/reclaiming-civil-society-from-voluntary-servitude-to-parallel-polis\/\" title=\"Reclaiming Civil Society: From Voluntary Servitude To \u2018Parallel Polis\u2019\">soft totalitarianism<\/a> in liberal democracies. MacIntyre presents compelling\u2064 arguments \u200cabout the decay\u200c of moral \u200band social values, citing examples\u200b of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/following-the-science-means-ending-restaurant-lockdowns\/\" title=\"\u2018Following The Science\u2019 Means Ending Restaurant Lockdowns\">government overreach<\/a> \u2064and societal breakdown. The\u2062 text delves into the impact \u2063of ideologies like &#8220;the\u2063 cathedral&#8221; and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tucker-carlson-the-promise-being-made-by-abortion-advocates-is-as-old-as-time\/\" title=\"Tucker Carlson: Abortion Advocates' Promise is Timeless.\">raises thought-provoking questions<\/a> about the future of \u2064governance and \u200dsocietal norms.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>There\u2019s a wonderful scene in <em>The Fellowship of the Ring<\/em> where Frodo tells Gandalf that he wishes the Ring had never come to him. Gandalf replies, \u201cSo do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.\u201d After reading Auron MacIntyre\u2019s recent release, <em>The Total State<\/em>, I found myself feeling a bit like Frodo.<\/p>\n<p>MacIntyre, who is a BlazeTV host and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AuronMacintyre\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">entertaining tweeter<\/a>, makes an extended case that our liberal democracies \u2014 which we are constantly told are the freest societies in human history \u2014 are in fact forms of soft totalitarianism, a \u201ctotal state.\u201d Like so many, Covid was MacIntyre\u2019s \u201cred pill\u201d moment. He watched as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ohio-professor-who-refused-to-use-students-preferred-pronouns-can-sue-university-after-being-disciplined-federal-appeals-court-rules\/\" title=\"Ohio Professor Who Refused To Use Student\u2019s Preferred Pronouns Can Sue University After Being Disciplined, Federal Appeals Court Rules\">constitutional protections<\/a> were swept aside under the pretext of \u201cpublic safety.\u201d This \u201cstate of emergency\u201d lasted three years, notwithstanding mounting evidence that Covid was not nearly as dangerous as it initially seemed. After all the lies and excesses, there were no apologies, fines, or charges. Just a desperate attempt by elites to memory-hole it all.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-951474756\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-3f654f9b68ec3d2317421fce7b49f72a fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-3f654f9b68ec3d2317421fce7b49f72a\"><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Different Political Lineage<\/h2>\n<p><em>The Total State <\/em>makes some familiar, almost indisputable arguments. Our administrative state has become bloated, unaccountable, and self-interested. The revolving door between public and private service can lead to moral hazards and corruption. Tastemakers at elite institutions \u2014 Hollywood, Harvard, Yale, The Washington Post, The New York Times \u2014 do not engage in Darwinian competition where only the best art and ideas survive. <\/p>\n<p>Instead, they march in lockstep, promoting identical messages and policies. The moral and social fabric is in tatters, the deep state is entrenched, but society\u2019s supposed infinite progress and growth are sputtering.<\/p>\n<p>This idea that liberalism is unraveling is well-trodden territory (see Patrick Deneen and others), and Rod Dreher\u2019s 2020 book, <em>Live Not By Lies<\/em>, drew explicit parallels between the Soviet Union and our modern \u201csoft totalitarianism\u201d in the West. But MacIntyre sets himself apart in how far his critique goes. Many felt intuitive discomfort at government expansion during the Covid lockdowns, but MacIntyre makes the case that Covid vindicated political theorists who were previously viewed as fringe or distasteful.<\/p>\n<p>This includes contemporary <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/neoreactionary-canon\/page\/n1\/mode\/2up\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">neo-reactionary<\/a> theorists like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unqualified-reservations.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Curtis Yarvin<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UDMVYNX9xPw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nick Land<\/a> but also <a href=\"https:\/\/plato.stanford.edu\/entries\/schmitt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Carl Schmitt<\/a>, a member of the Nazi Party. MacIntyre acknowledges that Schmitt had \u201cvery serious faults,\u201d but sees Schmitt\u2019s outsider status as helpful to his critique of the liberal understanding of politics. Whether you find these thinkers convincing or not, MacIntyre is willing to move past the typical talking points. One of Yarvin\u2019s slogans is RAGE \u2014 Retire All Government Employees.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-ea96060551b5f677864b92e00fa8b470 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-ea96060551b5f677864b92e00fa8b470\"><\/div>\n<p>Another foundation of neo-reactionary thought is Curtis Yarvin\u2019s concept of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/graymirror.substack.com\/p\/a-brief-explanation-of-the-cathedral\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the cathedral<\/a>,\u201d which is \u201ca decentralized network of organizations and individuals responsible for manufacturing a cultural consensus.\u201d The media, the deep state, and the universities all share a belief in progressive liberalism, forming a sort of \u201catheistic theocracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So there\u2019s no secret cabal making decisions \u2014 because there doesn\u2019t have to be. When anyone steps out of line, they are made an example of, and those in power continue to act in their own interests. As George Carlin says in <a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/nIh9sc4bP_A?si=ju4oxJ1tpJV4QcSY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">that famous clip<\/a>, \u201cYou don\u2019t need a formal conspiracy when interests converge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To MacIntyre, this rot at the heart of American society is irremediable. Unlike some post-liberal critics, MacIntyre does not advocate for a constitutional revival or for conservatives to seize power and right the ship. Instead, he argues that we are living at the end of an empire, and most likely that will mean the slow ceding of power to competent regional authorities and a reduction in our standard of living.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Hanlon\u2019s Razor<\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s a saying attributed to Robert Hanlon: \u201cNever attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.\u201d While many would nod along as MacIntyre describes government overreach and America\u2019s cultural decay, his attributions of motive will lose some readers. Because \u201cthe cathedral\u201d is a \u201cdecentralized\u201d network operating without coordination, there can be no smoking gun. But by the same token, some of MacIntyre\u2019s claims are unfalsifiable.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-55a80a50fc70a1f6e2c523f7cab3f208 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-55a80a50fc70a1f6e2c523f7cab3f208\"><\/div>\n<p>For instance, MacIntyre notes that \u201cevery organ of power in the United States seems obsessed with introducing sexual and gender identity to children.\u201d He goes on to argue that this is because the state wants to dissolve the authority of the parent, which competes with the authority of the state. Arguments for \u201cthe autonomy of the child\u201d are \u201can incredibly useful tool for the regime because it can serve as a reliable wedge between kids and their parents.\u201d Here, one might ask whether trans activists are state actors or merely the misguided descendants of a morally hollow society.<\/p>\n<p>MacIntyre frames the elites as waging war on all competing social spheres \u2014 church, family, middle-class property ownership \u2014 for the sake of accruing greater power. And here one too might resort to Hanlon\u2019s razor as well. How much of America\u2019s breakdown is the result of elite scheming compared to the moral vacuum left by Christianity\u2019s decline?<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Then Shall We Do?<\/h2>\n<p>Indeed, one of MacIntyre\u2019s most intriguing threads is viewing America\u2019s decline through a spiritual lens, as an almost demonic plot:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>With the metaphysical underpinnings of the nation now dependent on a dry and dusty document instead of a living and vibrant tradition, a new animating spirit rushed in and filled the void. This was the progressive spirit many call \u201cwokeness.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Conservatives love to <a href=\"https:\/\/founders.archives.gov\/documents\/Adams\/99-02-02-3102\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">quote<\/a> John Adams: \u201cOur constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.\u201d This can be used to argue we need to restore proper constitutional government, but MacIntyre says that such an argument gets the causality backward. It is our lack of moral and religious life, not our lack of constitutional fidelity, that is the problem. Our governmental dysfunction is merely a symptom.<\/p>\n<p>If you find \u201cthe cathedral\u201d far-fetched, there are some who would argue the breakdown of society is <a href=\"https:\/\/megmittelstedt.substack.com\/p\/a-cunning-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">more easily attributed to spiritual forces<\/a>. We have created a society of incredible comfort that simultaneously seems in permanent crisis. Nuclear war, AI extinction, civil war \u2014 we seem to have quite a few credible existential threats, and that\u2019s not even mentioning the national debt, birth dearth, and other quotidian crises.<\/p>\n<p>The good news is, whether you believe MacIntyre is hysterical or dead-on, the answer is much the same. For most of us, rebuilding our local community, church, and family as a counterweight to the atomizing forces of modernity will be the most important work we do. In the end, MacIntyre believes the total state is doomed to fail because its premises of endless expansion and replacing all natural bonds with state dependence are inherently flawed.<\/p>\n<p>To return to Gandalf, he offered some other wise words that are worth pondering in our age of seemingly intractable problems:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The cover of <em>The Total State <\/em>looks like a mechanized Eye of Sauron. For those who feel stifled or saddened by America today, we should remember Gandalf\u2019s counsel, lest we succumb to despair. Tolkien\u2019s term for a decisive, unexpected break toward the good was a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/future\/article\/20221005-eucatastrophe-tolkiens-word-for-the-anti-doomsday\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">eucatastrophe<\/a>.\u201d We could use one of those. Until then, we must endure.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-6d95e58884fd1f4fc46987a3a8f7311d fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-6d95e58884fd1f4fc46987a3a8f7311d\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a poignant moment from The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo expresses regret over bearing the Ring. Gandalf responds, &#8220;Many feel the same in dark times. Our choice now is how to act in this moment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1418,"featured_media":2244914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Copy-of-Book-Cover-Featured-Image.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2244913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Copy-of-Book-Cover-Featured-Image.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2244913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2244914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2244913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2244913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2244913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}