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What Sort of Tyranny Will Americans Choose?

Dec. 21, 2012 12:00pm
Dr. Michael Ledeen is the Freedom Scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and an internationally renowned scholar, whose ideas and insights on  […]
Dr. Michael Ledeen is the Freedom Scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and an internationally renowned scholar, whose ideas and insights on the workings of the Iranian government have been a critical part of the policy discussion for decades. He is a highly regarded expert on Iran’s Green Movement and maintains close ties to opposition groups inside Iran. His scholarship on terrorism and international security and strategy have been sought after by those in and out of government and the intelligence community, the media, scholars and policy makers.
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Alexis de Tocqueville, the nineteenth-century French aristocrat whose Democracy in America remains the finest analysis of our politics and society, put it succinctly and thoroughly:  “The nature of despotic power in democratic ages is not to be fierce or cruel, but minute and meddling.”

Not, than, a tyranny of the Stalin or Hitler variety. Not a society ruthlessly dominated by secret police and a charismatic dictator. Instead, American democracy is menaced by something far more subtle, a minutely-regulated society that is endorsed by a citizenry that willingly chooses to be oppressed.

Tocqueville’s nightmare vision, written in the early 1830s foresees “an immense and tutelary power,” and its task is to watch over us all, and regulate every aspect of our lives.

We will not be bludgeoned into submission; we will be seduced. He foresees the collapse of American democracy as the end result of two parallel developments that ultimately render us meekly subservient to an enlarged bureaucratic power: the corruption of our character, and the emergence of a vast welfare state that manages all the details of our lives.
Ledeen: What Sort of Tyranny Will Americans Choose?

Painting of French Political Thinker Alexis de Tocqueville, by Theodore Chasseriau (1850)

That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent if, like that authority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks on the contrary to keep them in perpetual childhood. It is well content that the people should rejoice, provided they think of nothing but rejoicing. For their happiness such a government willingly labors, but it chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter of that happiness; it provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal concerns, directs their industry, regulates the descent of property…what remains, but to spare them all the care of thinking and all the trouble of living?

The metaphor of a parent maintaining perpetual control over his child is the language of contemporary American politics, and hardly a day goes by without evidence of the state’s growing authority and ambition. Two recent stories would produce a sad nod from Tocqueville:
The  ”immense tutelary power” is very hard to fight, precisely because there is no single battle to wage against it. It spreads slowly, and is justified by appeals to our grievances, our desire for comfort and security.
The hell of it is that we choose this new kind of tyranny, and all too often we ratify it, as in the presidential elections. Others have done the same. Clare Lopez reminds us that people do indeed choose despotism. She cites the Iranians’ enthusiastic endorsement of the Islamic Republic in 1979 and 1980, and we can see the same voluntary subjection of millions of people at work today in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and even Jordan, and in the last century even two of the most culturally advanced countries in the West–think Italy and Germany–chose tyranny, and supported it until defeated in a world war. It’s easier to see the pattern in those countries, because hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets, and the leaders openly proclaim their dictatorial intents. But the same process is at work here, albeit in a much different context, and our chances of defeating the would-be oppressors are much better.

Our best chance is to challenge the advance of the power of the federal government at the state level, where the Republican Party holds thirty governorships. As federal power advances regulation by regulation, the states can challenge it. This is taking place today in the states refusing to create Obamacare “exchanges,” and we’ve seen advances in freedom in states like Wisconsin and Michigan, where unions’ efforts to impose their will on workers were defeated. Similar campaigns need to be waged against the “official culture” of political correctness;  if open debate is silenced by speech codes, we will eventually be unable to define the central issues of freedom and tyranny.
Finally, all of us who participate in the fractious debates that define American politics–now as ever–need to challenge the expansion of state power whenever and wherever we can. Eric Holder’s quiet approval of the NCTC’s ability to monitor the behavior of millions of Americans would have gone unnoticed if two women in Homeland Security hadn’t challenged it, and their stories weren’t reported by the Wall Street Journal. Now we know. And now we can challenge it.

It’s going to be a very tough fight.

Comments (4)

  • breiten
    Posted on December 23, 2012 at 8:24pm

    It would be easier to stand up against tyranny if it was an outside force invading us, cos we can see them and shot, but it is totally harder to stand up against tyranny when they are from with-in the system and using the laws already established, the military and police. Oh we can point them out, but it is easily ignored by the population until it is too late. Rethink about the reaction of 911, united we stand. everyone was on fire — but not now against this “hidden” take over.

    They create the fear of people vs. people and let the “authority” handle it style thinking – most will agree and willingly give in.

    The communists just have to use set policies in place to control and take over: say it is national security, for the public safety, controlling civil disobedience, check points for ……, protecting the people, taking out anti-government groups, assaulting an officer, they are harassing people and police, and fighting home counter terrorism, ie Homeland Security, a catchy name, should be renamed to Communist Homeland Security. They can eliminate the opposition by using “privacy laws.”- very covenant if you are in their concentration camps.

    Report this comment

    breiten  
  • E. Goldstein
    Posted on December 22, 2012 at 8:37am

    We lost this fight a long time ago and did not even know it was going on. For generations propaganda has been accepted facts; the facts have been turned into conspiracy theory; the goodies have been passed out as Social Security and Medicare; parents have turned over their children to the state to educate and surprise,they have been indoctrinated. New your city is ground zero for the prototype new American; docile, not just accepting instructions on how to behave, demanding everyone obey. Fearing others being able to protect themselves more than the thugs, they help enforce gun control. Being told obesity is governments problem, they support diet police. The list of their serfdom goes on and on. They are not simply all socialists now, they are willing serfs.

    Report this comment

    E. Goldstein  
  • donkeykong
    Posted on December 22, 2012 at 3:55am

    “A tough fight”….

    And likely, the most important fight ‘we the people’ will ever face.
    And this time, it’s for “all the marbles”. We have to make a stand
    soon, because there is no new continent to go to in order to
    escape an oppressive government, as we did in the 1700s.
    No new planet that we have ready for colonization. No, we
    have to make a stand HERE.
    But, I have little faith – we have by all measures lost control
    of our government – which is now all too powerful and
    all too self-serving to ever be controlled by us again.
    The scales have been tipped, and those in power now
    have all the aces in their hand. The “vote” every 4 years
    is now just a “feel-good” move they allow us, to pacify us,
    and yet lead us further into their control. I’m glad
    I am old….so that I won’t witness the collapse.

    Report this comment

    donkeykong  

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