Righteousness, Force And Totalitarianism

Why Righteousness Trends Toward Totalitarianism

Righteousness is always impossible to enforce without tyrannical measures trending toward totalitarianism. This is because righteousness attempts to tackle problems so large that massive state intervention is required. The bigger the problem, the more state intervention, coercion, is required.

This is why the current iteration of righteousness and force is so insidious. It attempts to untangle the Gordian knot of human inequality. Not equality before the law or equality of opportunity. But human inequality as such.

The current crusade of righteousness is using the levers of state power, which are now capable of reaching every corner of the globe and monitoring virtually all private communication, to chase after a totally flat, “equal” society without any divergence of the outcome.

This type of equality means kneecapping some people and is arguably the final result of the stages of righteousness and force outlined above. Righteousness and force in America first attempted to tackle an economic problem, Abolitionism; then a moral problem, Temperance; followed by a political problem, Progressivism.

It now attempts to solve the problem of why some people have more than others, more health, wealth, fame, beauty, etc…

Such radical leveling requires highly invasive state power. Such power is dangerous on its own but also invites sociopathic personalities to pursue it. The people who desire it most deserve it least.

Once this impulse is let out of the cage, it is very hard to get the genie back in the bottle. History teaches us this with outbursts of righteousness-driven force such as Mao’s Red Guards or the violent American radicalism of the 1970s.

Righteousness and force have become universalist. Any deviation from a specific form of political organization or way of life is seen as prima facie evidence of electoral chicanery or tyranny.

This offers insight into the $64,000 question: Why can’t San Francisco just leave Oklahoma City alone? For that matter, why can’t California cities leave the more rural, suburban, and conservative parts of California alone? Because of this universalist drive for an extremely abstract notion of human equality effectively without limits.

Any variance from their all-encompassing notion of righteousness requires force, not persuasion, to correct.

The riots of 2020 were not terribly different from how death squads work in banana republics. The leftists were allowed to burn, loot, pillage, and assault at will, but any response in defense would result in arrest and criminal charges. Thus, there is the quasi-religious nature to the movement, expressed in the exuberant fanatical violence of last summer. These riots act as something of a victory dance and an act of war – is it not clear that the righteous were able to increase their social and political power in the United States by rioting?

The COVID cult introduces fear into the mix, a form of coercion, with an eye toward gaining compliance and assistance from those not otherwise predisposed toward ideological flights of fancy.

The pandemic provided an opportunity for otherwise diffuse forces to band together in the name of controlling every aspect of human behavior. It also provided insight into just how many restrictions on human freedom people were willing to submit to.

Weaponized Righteousness Cannot Be Reasoned With

But the righteous want total control over every aspect of social and private life, and they are satisfied with nothing less and will do anything to get it. Their desires for control are an insatiable black hole, an endless quest for new dragons to slay.

Further, they do not respect the notion of rights as you and I understand them. Rights, for the militantly righteous, are positive values provided by the government in the service of moving the world closer to their utopia. Rights are not boundaries to be respected but are instead manipulated as a means to an end.

Finally, because their ideology has a quasi-religious nature to it, there is no arguing with them. Arguing with the righteous over whether or not America is an inherently racist country is a bit like arguing with a brick wall over whether or not the moon is made of green cheese.

The cynic can be reasoned with or even bribed. For the true believer, there is no acceptable result except for total and complete victory. Those seeking to ensure freedom for themselves, their family, their community, and their future would do well to form a clear picture of how militant, weaponized righteousness has worked in the past.

Righteousness and force didn’t end last summer – we can see it in the digital pages of our electronic newspapers almost every day. The attempts to decide what is right for you and yours, and to enforce such at gunpoint is the essence of armed righteousness. The reader will ignore its ever-changing manifestations at his own peril.