The Smallest Minority

From Michael Walsh:

One of the things that has gotten America into such cultural and moral trouble is the Left’s ability to seize and transform words into what they would like them to mean, instead of what they actually do mean. So powerful has this movement been, so successful, that perfectly innocent words like “stereotype”—and morally positive words such as “discriminating”— have taken on an entirely negative connotation, while formerly negative terms such as “tolerance” have instead been elevated to cardinal virtues. – “Zero Tolerance for Tolerance,” – Michael Walsh 4/24/22

‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.’
‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’
‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master – that’s all.’ – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, 1865.

Edited to add this example:

And one more:

And once again a UK outlet scoops the U.S. “news” on a story damaging to the Democrats:

Whistleblower who handed Hunter’s abandoned laptop to congressmen and DailyMail.com reveals he has 450 gigabytes of DELETED material including 80,000 images and videos – and has fled to Switzerland fearing retaliation from White House

Excerpt:

According to the New York Times, files from the laptop are now part of the evidence in Hunter’s federal prosecution for alleged tax fraud, money laundering and illegal foreign lobbying.

Among the files on the laptop are a raft of emails and documents showing Hunter’s dealings with Burisma, a Ukrainian gas firm that became the center of Trump’s first impeachment in December 2019.

‘The FBI had this on the ninth of December 2019,’ he said. ‘I suppose the first person betrayed was a sitting US president in an impeachment hearing, when the FBI had the exculpatory evidence in their hands to have that end instantly, and they did nothing.

‘The second group of people to be betrayed were all of the Democratic candidates in the spring primaries that year,’ he added.

As is usual, nothing will come of it.

As Thomas Sowell approaches the age of 92, his work is getting noticed by younger people on YouTube, giving me some hope for the future. This image is very appropriate:

Over the Hunter Biden Laptop scandal:

The New Authoritarians by Alex Gutentag, Tablet Magazine, March 29, 2022.

Excerpt:

It is only by painting themselves as victims fighting against their oppressors that college-educated professionals can rationalize their own authoritarianism. The cult of victimhood conjures the specter of fascism, misogyny, or white nationalism in order to justify blatantly repressive measures. This is why, for example, the professional class consistently portrayed unvaccinated people as Trump supporters even though in many major cities vaccine passports mostly excluded Democrat-voting Black residents from indoor establishments. Under the guise of combatting anti-vax extremism, woke liberal politicians embraced segregation and the exact kind of “systemic racism” they claimed to oppose. While considering themselves to be on the side of righteousness and rationality, commentators called for hospitals to reject unvaccinated patients, and some even celebrated their deaths. This is precisely the type of punitive, regressive tendency that progressives warned would be a consequence of Trump’s election.

RTWT.

Indiana becomes the 24th state to sign Constitutional Carry into law. Three states in the first quarter of 2022. One shy of half the country.

The gun-banners are gnashing their teeth.

Alabama joined the family of Constitutional Carry states, or at least it will as soon as the law goes into effect on January 1, 2023, and it is joined by Ohio where Gov. Mike Dewine signed their bill into law, effective June 12, 2022. Indiana’s law is sitting on its Governor’s desk waiting to be signed.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Here’s the current map of progress in concealed carry law nationwide. At present there are 21 “Constitutional Carry” states, 21 “Shall Issue” states, 8 “May Issue” states, and none that are “No-Issue” by law (though try to get one in New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, etc.)

And now there will be 22 “Constitutional Carry” states: Alabama House Approves Bill to Let People Carry Concealed Handguns without a Permit. Of course there’s always the wailing of the gun-ban crowd about Wild-West shootouts in K-Mart over blue-light specials:

Susan Kirkpatrick, a volunteer with the Alabama chapter of Moms Demand Action, said in statement last month as the bill advanced through the Republican-dominated legislature that lawmakers “ignored research, reason, and expertise — choosing violence over public safety and jeopardizing the wellbeing of our communities.”

“This vote has moved us another step in the opposite direction of where we should be headed,” she added.

Which has never happened anywhere “shall-issue” has passed. But they can’t give up on it. It’s all they have.

The original question was: “What lies at the root of the authoritarianism that seems to be asserting itself in free societies in today’s West?”

Here’s my answer:

The same root that causes irritating busybodies to take over Home Owner Associations. Some people have a lust for power. Government is the ultimate well of power. Author Frank Herbert expressed it well:

“All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible.”

Also:

“When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movements become headlong – faster and faster and faster.”

Leftism is itself a religion, complete with an Eden (Earth), an original sin (Capitalism), and a god (government – aka “power over others.”) Another quote I’m fond of by a gentleman by the name of Glenn Wishard:

“The rise and fall of the Marxist ideal is rather neatly contained in the Twentieth Century, and comprises its central political phenomenon. Fascism and democratic defeatism are its sun-dogs. The common theme is politics as a theology of salvation, with a heroic transformation of the human condition (nothing less) promised to those who will agitate for it. Political activity becomes the highest human vocation. The various socialisms are only the most prominent manifestation of this delusion, which our future historian calls “politicism”. In all its forms, it defines human beings as exclusively political animals, based on characteristics which are largely or entirely beyond human control: ethnicity, nationality, gender, and social class. It claims universal relevance, and so divides the entire human race into heroes and enemies. To be on the correct side of this equation is considered full moral justification in and of itself, while no courtesy or concession can be afforded to those on the other. Therefore, politicism has no conscience whatsoever, no charity, and no mercy.”

When your quest is to drag the rest of the world, kicking and screaming, into your utopia, authoritarianism is the way to get there. Never mind that you’re enabling the most greedy, rapacious and psychopathic to grab the levers of power.

In short, it’s human nature.