2/17/2022
The Hazardous "Side Effect" of the Fight against Tyranny.
Throughout the 20th Century the USA and the Western democracies fought tyranny. World War I, World War II, Cold War and its hot subsets Korea and Vietnam, then War on Terror. The sad “side effect” of fighting tyranny is you have to play by the by the rules of the tyrants to win. Freedom often has to be suspended and censorship and control on what is (was?) normal society expanded for the “good” cause. All are also the tactics of who you’re fighting. As the leaders fight the tyranny they can be tempted to become tyrants themselves.
The infrastructure and institutions for war take many government resources and then gain constituencies within the government. The latest tyrant is Covid19 as the tactics to fight it seem eerily similar to that done before in history in battle with human tyrants. The necessity for “temporary” power in these crises seems more and more less than temporary and in danger of rapidly becoming the “new” normal.
One "side effect" we now face is, freedom, free speech and the rights guaranteed in our Founding Documents, once championed by the Old Left have almost overnight been redefined as “Alt-Right.” #RustyIrony.
