Rise of the Effete Authoritarians
Western progressives & neoliberals learn to use their iron fists (this article originally appeared on mises.org)
Here in the West, particularly in countries such as the United States and Canada, we have experienced radical political and cultural changes over the past several years, and the pace of these changes seems to have accelerated since 2020. In the minds of many, there is an almost palpable feeling that a switch has been thrown, and that the relationship between citizens and the State has been permanently altered.
Perhaps the most salient revelation in the wake of these changes is that there is a highly diminished pretense of State legitimacy in Western liberal “democracies.” In the Platonic ideal, this legitimacy flows from the citizens’ belief that their democratic government – ostensibly comprising peers and fellow citizens – effectively and uniformly administers justice and serves the needs of all citizens. These critical needs include protecting individual citizens and their property from foreign adversaries and domestic criminals. And needless to say, in this ideal, citizens rest assured that “their” government (which, as Barack Obama would say, is “all of us”) would never turn its destructive wrath upon its own constituents.
It is now June of 2023, several years after populist groundswells such as Brexit and Donald Trump’s victory in 2016, and -- despite what elites and erstwhile “true believers” may claim -- fewer and fewer people actually believe that we are still striving in unison toward the idealized vision of a liberal, Western democracy. Mostly peaceful, otherwise-law-abiding citizens are being targeted for relatively minor offenses and political transgressions, while radical leftist agitators and drug-addled street criminals who terrorize cities are quickly forgiven and, in some cases, characterized as victims of an unjust, bigoted society. Some might even consider this state of affairs to be anarcho-tyranny.
Nations that were once liberal paragons of “democratic” values such as tolerance, pluralism, free speech, freedom for political dissenters, and religious liberty, are now mostly led by effete, tone-deaf cosmopolitans or malevolent geriatrics who are cracking down on those they consider to be backward, superstitious, racist troglodytes. (The “Q-Anon Shaman” guy could not have been a more perfect culmination of left-liberal stereotypes even if he were plucked right out of Central Casting.) It is a strange time in these Western democracies, though, because the effete Ruling Class are still learning how to brandish their iron fists. Crackdowns are increasing not only in frequency but also in intensity. Things are not progressing in a linear way; the tyranny is ramping up in awkward fits and spurts.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has activated his authoritarianism whenever he has deemed it necessary, while simultaneously claiming the mantle of enlightened defender of liberalism. He gets the privilege of proselytizing about tolerance in between episodes of cringe-inducing cultural appropriation and the unfortunate, semi-regular appearances of old photos depicting him in blackface. His battle against Canada’s truckers is a prime example of his newfound authoritarian tendencies.
In early 2022, the Freedom Convoy began as a protest against Canada’s vaccine mandates, but quickly grew into a national populist movement against draconian Covid policies and distant elites who controlled the lives of residents in Canada’s heartland. In some cases, truckers traveled thousands of miles to Ottawa, to park their trucks in the capital city as a mass civil protest against Trudeau’s regime. This level of populist civil disobedience was once rare in Canada, and soon the politicians became desperate to squelch the movement. They began arresting truckers who had peacefully assembled near Parliament, and Trudeau’s government began shutting down access to bank accounts, blocking access to cryptocurrency, and threatening to suspend the truckers’ insurance. This was all done without criminal convictions, traditional due process, or the normal window dressings of enlightened democracy that the liberal West has always congratulated itself for. The Emergency Act was invoked for the first time by a Canadian prime minister, in order to veil the nascent despotism.
Desperate to avoid being labeled as a dictator, Trudeau claimed that the crackdowns on rogue, freedom-seeking truckers were just temporary and that things would soon return to legal/constitutional norms in the country. These hallowed norms will surely be respected until the next “crisis” comes along.
Over the past few years, there have been many other instances of Covid-related, progressive tyranny in Canada, including shutting down Christian churches and even arrests of intransigent pastors. Most recently, a teenager has been arrested for distributing bibles and confronting transgender activists on a public sidewalk in Calgary.
What has happened in Canada is emblematic of what is going on in the United States and elsewhere in the West. Liberal politicians are now having to deal with their increasingly disgruntled, divided populace and a long-overdue backlash to their cosmopolitan, corporatist, and often militarist policies. The Freedom Convoy in Canada may have been peaceful, but as Trudeau reminded the world, the Canadian truckers held “unacceptable views.” That is the crux of the issue: Those who hold unacceptable views are no longer welcome to partake in the societies of Western liberal democracies.
And there you have it: One of the biggest changes the world has seen in the past few years has been the willingness of erstwhile-mild-mannered liberal political leaders to use brutal authoritarian tactics for a brief period of time, on an as-needed basis. At the end of these brief periods of repression, not at all unlike what we have traditionally witnessed in Communist and “banana republic” regimes, the political leaders then attempt to return to normal, liberal, ostensibly constitutional governance – perhaps hoping that nobody had noticed what just happened.
But in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidency, Brexit in the UK, and populist uprisings throughout Europe, things are different, and the proverbial toothpaste cannot be put back into the tube. The liberal authoritarians have now developed a metaphorical arsenal of different tactics and tricks, with which they attempt to control their unruly citizen hordes. It should be noted that these tactics/tricks are usually employed temporarily, or they are broad actions that are implemented sporadically.
In the United States, where citizens have lived under the constant threat of weaponized dementia since January 20, 2021, we have witnessed the ephemeral authoritarianism on many fronts, from Covid policies to federal law-enforcement tactics.
President Joe Biden initially admitted that the Federal government had no authority to implement vaccine mandates, yet several months later, he changed course and implemented them throughout the military, airports, and Federal bureaucracy, which affected more than 100 million Americans and foreign travelers. He went on to angrily chastise vaccine-skeptical Americans, warning them that he was growing tired of their resistance to the jabs: “We’ve been patient. But our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us.” These veiled threats appear to have been effective, with millions of Americans coerced into taking a Covid vaccine for fear of losing their job or incurring the wrath of a tolerant, progressive neighbor/friend/politician. Biden’s vaccine mandates were quietly ended on May 11, 2023, with no mention of an apology or financial settlement for those who were vilified, fired, and ostracized during the Covid hysteria.
Federal law enforcement in America has also seen its share of stochastic crackdowns and enforcement. Some non-violent January 6 protesters and trespassers have received relatively light sentences and probation for their alleged crimes, whereas others -- particularly those who had been active on social media in documenting and discussing the events of January 6 -- received much longer prison sentences. Compared to the relatively low numbers of arrests for 2020’s nationwide left-wing riots and acts of vandalism against courthouses and other government buildings, investigations and arrests of January 6 defendants have been methodical, thorough, and numerous.
The FBI has certainly been busy, recently. Aside from trafficking false intelligence reports and participating in the Clinton campaign’s attempt to implicate Trump in a Russian-collusion scandal, the bureau has also been raiding the former president’s residence, luring unsophisticated Midwesterners into outlandish kidnapping plots, investigating parents at local school-board meetings, and arresting pro-life activists. (Don’t worry, though; when they knock on your door, the sharply dressed federal agents will be professional as they interrogate you and your family.) The FBI will make sure that in the future, you think twice about voting for Trump, posting memes about Hillary Clinton, or praying outside of an abortion clinic. Unacceptable views, indeed.
Perhaps some of these authoritarian tactics are waning as we head into the second half of 2023. Perhaps the Covid lockdowns and vaccine mandates are fully shelved, for good. Perhaps the FBI and federal law enforcement have been brought to heel and will return to Constitutional limits on their power. But one thing seems certain: The effete political leaders of the West have learned that they don’t have to be full-time authoritarians in order to impose their will on the masses; they just have to wait for the next crisis and then move swiftly.
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