“The West is stagnating because it has grown neglectful of freedom.”
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Samizdata quote of the dayDecember 22nd, 2022 |
 9 comments to Samizdata quote of the day |
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The West is not stagnating – it is being destroyed.
And the West is being destroyed because liberty is being destroyed – not neglected, actively being destoyed.
The West is not dying a natural death, the West is being murdered.
@Paul Marks: The quote of the day seems accurate to me. Unfree people are mentally weak and will not defend themselves, even if physically able to do so. It is easy to kill the undefended.
I heard the other day that in terms of GNP per capita (dodgy metric though it is) Estonia has overtaken Spain. Estonia only escaped from the USSR in 1991, Spain, after some impressive growth in the 1960s under Franco, has stagnated to the extent that it has been surpassed economically by a fellow EU member despite having had a 30 year ‘head start’.
But it is not neglect, it is wilful rejection of freedom. In Spain’s case, at the economic policy level, an inordinate fondness for bureaucracy and regulation.
It is stagnating because it is not being maintained. Deliberately so by people that are so risk adverse that when ambulance drivers go on strike advise people to stay in, don’t drive, don’t drink, take no risks. We are feminising our society thinking that safer is better. If these people were in charge in the stone age we would have rocks banned and still be living in caves.
Mr Ed – Estonia is being dragged down, to join the rest of us in decline.
For example, Estonia was the last country in the European Union not to have “Hate Speech” laws – but it was forced to join the parade.
Contrary to Snorri, Anglos are not “delusional” about Continental countries – freedom is collapsing, even Freedom of Speech.
If Snorri had, instead, replied “freedom is also collapsing in Common Law English speaking countries” – then he would have correct.
The decline of the West is general.
Still – in a “great blow for freedom” (sarcasm alert) Paul Marks is back on Facebook.
Now the “Woke” can be horrified by me posting videos about African swords, or sharing videos from friends about how one could move easily in medieval armour.
Clearly I am a terrible threat to young minds – I must be hunted down and exterminated, for “the common good”
Nevermind the propaganda, the media, academia, the courts, big business, social media, and the rest. It comes down to one simple fact: the West has had it too good for too long and hasn’t had to fight for freedom on any real scale since 1945. Yeah there have been internal struggles like the Civil Rights movement, but any real struggles for freedom have been in Africa, Asia, or south of the Rio Grande; basically proxy wars and out of sight, out of mind.
We haven’t needed to fight to stay free so we just quit valuing it.
Steven R – I will stay silent about the Civil Rights movement.
However, I agree with you that most Western people have not had to fight for their liberty for a very long time – and, worse, liberty is not clearly defined.
For example, “capitalism” is defined as the interests of the vast corporations (supported by the Credit Money of the banking system), such as BlackRock (there is ten Trillion, yes Trillion, Dollars worth of investments). These Corporate entities hate and despise liberty – and wish to wipe liberty off the face of the Earth. They do not care about providing good quality products, at affordable prices, that people want to buy – they care about POWER, about the broad cultural and political agendas.
In the case of the Dutch farmers, they (the Pension Funds and so on) want the government to force the farmers off the land – so they can build a megacity there.
And before Snorri calls me “delusional” or says that I am not listening to what people actually say (only to what I think they are saying) – the megacity proposal even has its own website “Tristate” (because this abomination of a mega city is supposed to stretch into Belgium and Germany as well as the Netherlands).
These Corporate State types do not even try to hide their totalitarian plans any more.
And they lie without shame – for example the Corporate, and government, media are saying that the terrible cold in the United States (below minus 40 degrees in some places) is due to Global Warming – and is another reason why people must be denied “fossil fuels”.
“Our side” is not really up to opposing the agenda of the Collectivists – for example the videos of the IEA (Institute of Economic Affairs) on YouTube are well meaning (I am sure they are well meaning) – but not very good.
There was a recent one inequality – I had a look at the video, expecting it to be about how Credit Money expansion tends to concentrate income and wealth (and political power) in a few hands – the “Cantillon Effect”, named after Richard Cantillon.
Instead the video seemed to be saying that British pensions are too high and the old get expensive medical care – and that this was the cause of inequality. I know some old people – they are not living in luxury, rather the reverse. And the medical care they get (when they get any at all) is not lavish either.
I am no fan of the government interventions into old age and health care – but to say this is the driving force of inequality, totally ignoring the Cantillon effect (the evils of fiat money and Credit Bubble finance) is not good. Indeed it was sick.
We remember how the IEA, and (to be fair) almost every other “liberty” group as well, let us down during the lockdowns – not opposing any of the obvious lies. Now they seem to specialise in sneering at Liz Truss, as if her limited proposals to reduce tax rates where “taking a hacksaw to the head” of the British people – something not said once by the IEA types, but again and again. And they talk of “the markets” as if they we free markets – not a handful of politically motivated Corporate entities backed by the Credit Money (which is what “the markets” now are). “The markets” support all the wild government spending, but as soon as someone suggests reducing tax rates “the markets” go nuts – does not anyone on the “pro freedom” side, among all these Institutes and what-not, understand that this shows that “the markets” are POLITICAL? The playthings of a few vast Woke corporations.
It is all deeply frustrating.
When a politician does try and do something decent – all the “pro freedom” institutes line up, not to support then – but to stab them in the back.
No wonder, most politicians do not bother to even try – they know they are not going to be supported if they try, indeed they know they would be betrayed.
So the Corporate State types (including “The City” and “Wall Street” – people talk as if these places were markets of independent self employed traders, and partnership banks, all that has GONE – the corporations rule these places now) continue to win and civilisation continues to decline.
The west is transitioning from democracy to bureaucracy, rule by bureaucrats, and the opinions of the demos, neglectful or otherwise has nothing to do with it.