Totalitarian Democracy
Bill O'Neill, an objectivist correspondant in Holland, PA, sent me this piece about the infamous Kelo case. Of course, such a thing wouldn't make a scandal in France, where it is well understood that the government can do anything in the name of the public good. America may be becoming a Totalitarian Democracy, France already is one. Démocratie Absolue de Droit Divin. Oh well.
NB: so as to provide a disincentive for people holding political power to destroy liberties too obviously, you may join this pledge, or at least consider visiting the hotel when (and if) it is built.
Correct name for our style of government: Totalitarian Democracy
by Bill O'Neill
Let's admit it: America is a Totalitarian Democracy.
The recent Supreme Court case; Kelo v. New London was only a continuation of a long chain of government land grabs, Takings in legal terms, usually from the poor. The introduction of Zoning was an early move towards government taking private property but lets not blame the Supreme Court for being the first to discover how to steal land. That first happened when Adam and Eve were kicked off their property.
George Washington made a big mistake when he sent the signed copy of the Constitution to the printers instead of the trash can, which is the only place in America to find information about a Constitutional Republic. Today government types pay little attention to the Constitution which has far more restrictions against government than the two phrases, Due Process and Taking private property for public use, the two arguments the Supremes used against the now extinct idea that property should be protected against the whole world, not just against the public or government.
The Supremes forgot to read the entire Constitution which was supposed to control the government and keep liberty alive but when the Constitution or anything is read as a collection of phrases without remembering the whole thing, anything goes. It's like reading Ayn Rands great book Atlas Shrugged and saying it is about the Atlas clause.
The nine Supremes disagreed over Public Use, and utterly failed to protect fifteen citizens and their property. Each Supreme agrees government can take whatever property is wants, just like Karl Marx promoted, so long as it's for the public.
Remember that every tyranny, every dictatorship claims to use it's power for "the public". Even though the Constitution limited the immense powers of government, a government which is supposed to restrain itself and protect from itself the property of each person, the Supremes confined their crazy analysis to Public Use. The Supremes, like tyrants and useful idiots around the world agree anything can be taken from an owner if the public needs it.
But the Constitution made power conditional. Unfortunately, the recent Supreme decision revealed, government power is total, so long as a reason can be invented to cover it.
When everything is controlled, there in no possibility to live free, to live as a human. The dictatorship of the people has replaced Freedom. The idea that the vote will control power is lunacy. Voting is an empty idea when government has all the power and the people are disarmed. What is there to vote about except to change the names of the dictators? The idea of voting for different oppressors is the only thing left that makes America a democracy, a Totalitarian Democracy.
What proof? Point to something. Government is involved. Women's bodies, fertilized eggs, contraception, air, water, farms, open space, pills, hospitals, doctors, cars, roads; all controlled by government, - not voters. Voters without power are useless voters. That's a tyranny.
Bad government, like bad court decisions oppose freedom, which is why wrong law and totalitarian systems are crimes against humanity with or without voting. Voting is not an escape route from oppression.
Government makes this clear. - It has no duty to protect you. The idea that government protects the public is eyewash. Look at the Oath of the President and Congress. They swear to protect the Constitution, not the citizen.
Public control of private property does not belong in a free society. June 16, 2005 will live as nightmare a moment when America went further down the totalitarian road. The Supreme Court, (again), took property from A and gave it to B in the name of the public.
There is no control of or protection against power-lust except correct ideas. When so few people understand Liberty and the steps needed to protect it, thugs take over, Liberty disappears, and the people are oppressed. The vote is no protection from leaders who elevate the public, the public good or their own purposes over the individual but there is a name for that system of government.
Totalitarian Democracy.