John Hayward Profile picture
Feb 22 16 tweets 3 min read
The free world long ago gave up any pretense of putting muscle behind its vision of what makes a government "legitimate."

The authoritarian world, led by China and Russia, are now putting muscle behind THEIR concept of legitimacy through brute strength.
Decades ago, we could have made membership in global economic and political organizations conditional on democratic legitimacy. Want to hang with the big dogs of the postwar world? Here's a list of human rights you must respect. It's an exclusive no-dictators, no-savages club.
Instead, we pursued "engagement." We'll let the world's worst actors, its most ruthless dictators and toxic ideologies, have respected seats at the table. We'll make China's tyrants rich beyond belief, but in the process we'll infect their societies with liberalization.
And once we've engaged those ugly dictatorships and dungeon states, we'll gain the leverage to protect human rights and the "rules-based order" through sanctions. They won't dare risk their newfound prosperity by committing dastardly deeds that prompt harsh sanctions!
Obviously, that didn't work. The opposite happened: the tyrants gained leverage over US. The free world became infected with THEIR ideology. They took full advantage of "engagement" to plunder us for technology and riches, and now authoritarianism is the world's rising ideology.
Legitimacy is now defined by dictators. If your regime is useful to Beijing or Moscow, you're "legitimate," and they are working hard to weaken any possible sanctions imposed by the free world against you. If you're a problem, then boom, you're not a legitimate nation.
This applies to cultures and social groups within nations, too. Those with power decide which page of the history books "legitimacy" begins on. The whole point of Wokeness is that America's European-descended cultures are illegitimate and unworthy of respect.
Putin's crazy rambling speech about Ukraine yesterday was all about rejecting both its historic legitimacy as a nation, and the validity of its current government. Putin, as a dictator with physical power in play, will decide what page of history the Ukraine story begins on.
And thanks to globalism, China has the economic muscle to undermine sanctions to a considerable degree. It is a top, and quite explicit, goal of Chinese foreign policy to eliminate sanctions as an instrument of international affairs, especially pertaining to human rights.
The Western world's miseducated, politically correct elites are completely unprepared to deal with a new world order where ethnic solidarity and nationalism are deciding factors. They're busy trying to "fortify" democracy by harnessing authoritarianism for "enlightened" goals.
For generations, we've supposedly been "proving" that international virtue is demonstrated by explicitly rejecting our own national interest. Why, America is barely a nation at all! That's why you can trust us as business and political partners - we're totally selfless!
The authoritarian world responds that our approach makes us unpredictable, easily taken advantage of, and functionally insane as world actors. Instead, you should put your trust in ruthless tyrants who can be counted on to pursue their clearly-stated national interests.
The tyrants spent the past 30-odd years proving beyond all doubt that the new technology of the Internet is no threat to their power. It's not going to destabilize them or facilitate revolutions. No, they've harnessed that power to spread authoritarian ideals instead.
Instead, it's the democracies of the free world that look shaky, destabilized, and tottering on the edge of devastating revolt. Tyranny is strong, it makes long-term plans, it secures its interests. It understand and embraces nationalism for internal security and external power.
Democracies don't even know what their interests ARE. They can't build anything or make long-term plans. They teach their children to loathe their own nations and reject their own history. They're dissolving into ugly tribal squabbles over racial and sexual divisions.
That is the impression we need to work on changing - and it's not just an impression, it's an unfortunately reality. We need to improve both the product and sales pitch for democracy and capitalism, which are inextricably linked. Alas, we begin on the back foot. /end

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More from @Doc_0

Feb 23
The myth of Benevolent Authoritarianism is second only to the myth of Honest Big Government in terms of dangerous ideological delusions.

Authoritarianism cannot be harnessed to "fortify" democracy, any more than wolves can be taught to guard sheep.
The "Great Reset" is supposed to make democracy stronger by making it smaller. High walls of authoritarian power will be constructed around the shrinking meadow of liberty. The walls will be policed by wise, compassionate autocrats and their business partners.
Sure, there is a growing list of things you Little People don't get to vote on, but don't worry - those are issues you're not smart enough to understand. The notion of middle-class boobs or trailer-park rubes daring to defy the Consensus of Experts is absurd.
Read 14 tweets
Feb 16
If you're a young person looking for your first job, congratulations! You're about to participate in capitalism. The hours of your labor are probably the first capital you've owned. Treat that capital as a valuable resource that employers should be eager to buy from you.
Take good care of that capital, and do everything you can to make it more valuable, as you would nurse a small flame into a roaring fire. Those hours of labor belong to YOU. Treat them like the valuable property and precious investment they are.
Will you view your employers as customers renting those valuable hours from you, approaching them with good honest salesmanship and customer service? Will you view them as senior partners in an enterprise you have chosen to join?
Read 10 tweets
Feb 16
You are not "free" if you get one chance every four years to choose between two aspiring dictators. Voting is not a magic elixir that justifies every abuse of government power because ballots make it look like the ever-growing State enjoys the "consent of the governed."
Your vote means steadily less anyway, as more power is shifted to unelected, reform-proof bureaucrats, and the "consensus" of "experts" is invoked to force mandates upon you. The growth of the Leviathan State is like political hyperinflation that devalues our ballots.
The essential principle of Great Reset authoritarianism is that a growing list of subjects are beyond the understanding of the common man, so commoners should have nothing to say about them, and no ability to question or resist the decrees of the Experts.
Read 10 tweets
Feb 15
Authoritarianism is the hottest political product in the world right now. Western elites believe their governments must become more dictatorial in order to compete with technocratic despotisms like China. Public submission is the most desired commodity.
Perpetual states of emergency have replaced perpetual states of war as the preferred vehicle for increasing authoritarian power. In the old days, statists thought the hot ticket was using the language of military conflict to push social policy, i.e. "The War on Poverty."
Until recently, we were always "at war" with various ills. We were told to view ourselves as conscripts into these social wars, and politicians as our generals. They were always vowing to fight-fight-fight against social ills and shadowy conspiracies.
Read 12 tweets
Feb 10
The special privileges afforded to lefties - Dems flaunting the mask mandates they ruthlessly impose on children, Whoopi getting a two-week paid vacation for vicious on-air bigotry - are a key part of how totalitarian ideologies work. Party membership must have benefits.
These privileges must be flaunted. It is vital for the public to see that carrying a Party card confers special treatment and extraordinary benefits. Everyone must understand that the rules are different for Party members. Vulgar displays are sometimes needed to drive this home.
Totalitarianism is the politicization of everything. It's exhausting for the people who must live under its ever-growing, ever-changing rules. This is by design. An exhausted populace, worn down by perpetual fear of saying or doing the Wrong Thing, is easier to control.
Read 13 tweets
Feb 7
The Wuhan coronavirus arrived just as people across the free world were losing trust in the integrity and competence of their elites.

The pandemic response richly justified that loss of trust... but also gave the Ruling Class what it needed to strike back and subdue the masses.
After the endless pandemic debacles, people have less faith in "experts" and institutions than ever - but it doesn't matter. Your faith is no longer required. In the never-ending state of emergency, you are not allowed to disobey decrees or vote against those who enforce them.
You'll still be allowed to vote on some peripheral issues, swapping out a few politicians now and then for choices from a pre-screened, pre-approved stable of alternates, but you will not be able to vote against or disobey a growing core of untouchable bureaucracy.
Read 8 tweets

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