Thread by @EmpireinWinter

'Streets globally have filled up with people demanding an end to mandates and lockdowns, calling for accountability, pushing for resignations, denouncing privileged corporations, and crying out for a recognition of basic freedoms and rights.'
theepochtimes.com/now-is-the-tim…

'Note too that these movements are spontaneous and from “below”: They are populated mostly by the very workers whom governments shoved to face the pathogen two years ago while the ruling class hid behind their laptops in their living rooms.'

'For a long time, the workers complied bravely but have been forced to accept medical shots they neither wanted nor believed they needed. And many are still being denied freedoms they took for granted only two years ago'

'People turn on the radio and television to listen to lectures by ruling-class elites who claim to be channeling the science that always ends in the same theme: The rulers are in charge and everyone else must comply, no matter what is asked of them.'

'But then it became screamingly obvious to the world that none of it worked. It was a gigantic flop, and the sky-high cases of late 2021 in most parts of the world put a fine point on it.'

'We’ve seen what revolutions look like against monarchies (in the 18th and 19th centuries), against colonial occupation, against totalitarian one-party states (1989–1990), and against banana-republic strongmen (20th century).'

'But what does revolution look like in developed democracies ruled by entrenched administrative states'

'The argument made for such a system is that it allows for peaceful change of a ruling elite, & this is far less socially costly than war & revolution.

There are many problems with matching theory & reality...people with the real power in the 21st century aren’t those we elect'

'There are many strange features of the past two years, but one of them that stands out to me is how utterly undemocratic the trajectory of events has been. ....When they imposed vaccination mandates, it was because they were sure that this was the right path for public health.'

'There were no polls. There was little if any input from legislatures at any level. Even from the first lockdowns in the United States, occurring March 8, 2020, in Austin, Texas, there was no consultation with the city council.'

'Neither were citizens asked. The wishes of the small-business people weren’t solicited. The state Legislature was left out entirely.'

'It was as if everyone suddenly presumed that the whole country would operate on an administrative/dictatorship model, and that the guidelines of health bureaucracies (with plans for lockdowns that hardly anyone even knew existed)...'

'trumped all tradition, constitutions, restrictions on state power, and public opinion generally. We all became their servants. This happened all over the world.'

'It suddenly became obvious to many people in the world that the systems of government we thought we had—responsive to the public, deferential to rights, controlled by courts—were no longer in place.'

'There seemed to be a substructure that was hiding in plain sight until it suddenly took full control....Lockdowns and mandates gave them full power, not only over the one or two sectors they previously ruled but the whole of society and all of its functioning.'

'They even controlled how many people we could have in our homes, whether our businesses could be open, whether we could worship with others, and dictate what precisely we are supposed to do with our own bodies.'

'Whatever happened to limits on power?
....They gave us constitutions and lists of rights, and the courts enforced them.'

'The administrative state with permanent bureaucrats could achieve things that legislatures couldn’t, so they were gradually unleashed under various pretexts (war, depression, terror threats, pandemics).'

'Moreover, governments gradually learned to outsource their hegemonic ambitions to the biggest businesses in the private sector, which themselves benefit from increasing the costs of compliance. '

'The circle has been completed by enlisting Big Media into the mix of control via access to the class of rulers, to receive and broadcast out the line of the day, and hurl insults at any dissidents within the population (“fringe,” etc.).'

'This has created what we see in the 21st century: a toxic combination of Big Tech, Big Government, Big Media, all backed by various other industrial interests that benefit more from systems of control than they would from a free and competitive economy.'

'We’ve been assured by David Hume (1711–1776) and Étienne de La Boétie (1530–1563) that government rule is untenable when it loses the consent of the governed. '

'That’s inspiring, but what does it mean in practice? What precisely is the mechanism by which the overlords in our time are effectively overthrown? We’ve seen this in totalitarian states, in states with one-man rule, in states with unelected monarchies.'

'But unless I’m missing something, we’ve not seen this in a developed democracy w/ an administrative state that holds the real power....when elected leaders aren’t the real source of power, & when the elections are too far in the distant future to deal with a present emergency'

'One very easy and obvious path away from the current crisis is for the ruling class to admit error, repeal the mandates, and simply allow for common freedoms and rights for everyone.'

'As easy as that sounds, this solution hits a hard wall when faced with ruling-class arrogance, trepidation, and the unwillingness to admit past errors for fear of what that will mean for their political legacies.'

'The people on the streets today, & those willing to tell pollsters that they are fed up, are saying “no more.” What does it mean for the ruling class not to get away with this nonsense anymore?'

'Presuming that they don’t resign, they don’t call off the dogs of mandates & lockdowns, what is the next step?'

'The obvious answer to the current instability is mass resignations within the administrative state, among the class of politicians that gives it cover, as well as heads of media organs that have propagandized for them.'

'In the name of peace, human rights, and the renewal of prosperity and trust, this needs to happen today. Bury the pride and do what’s right. Do it now while there is still time for the revolution to be velvet.'

@threadreaderapp unroll