The Social Credit Security State – The American Mind

President Ronald Reagan famously said, the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, I m from the government, and I m here to help. But as I ve argued, many modern conservatives are now more concerned about Angelo Codevilla s harrowing description of our new American oligarchy as an amalgam of public and private enterprise. We must conclude that the new most terrifying words are, I m from the ruling class, and I m here to subjugate you.

That, in a nutshell, is the telos what Blackstone might have intuited as the ratio legis, or reason of the law of the Biden National Security Council s new pamphlet inaugurating a National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism. The document seizes a post-January 6 moral high ground, invoking what Pedro Gonzalez calls a socially constructed specter of an all-encompassing and insurrectionist white supremacist threat. On this one foundation, the Administration lays the entire groundwork for a sort of American social credit system that will be weighted decisively against the deplorable half of the citizenry. Clear-eyed American patriots may rightfully decry the vile Chinese Communist Part

via americanmind.org

I would have said a few months ago that this sort of rhetoric was wildly exaggerated. It funny how a good attempted cancellation focuses the mind, however. I would no longer say it’s wildly exaggerated. I’ll just say somewhat optimistically that it’s exaggerated. If you can put it in print that your federal government is about to impose a social credit system upon you, and that you’re living under an oppressive tyranny, then probably neither is true. But that’s not what this piece is actually saying. It is saying that the administration is fixing to become a one-party state, and an even more oppressive tyranny. In some respects, I agree with that. Our friends in the WH, the CIA, NSA, DOJ, FBI etc., etc. are busy, busy bees. So take the “insurrection.” January 6th was indeed a bad thing and PDT and the whole ht mess of his legal challenges to the election, not the challenges themselves but the amateurish way they were carried out, made it all much worse. There’s plenty of blame to go around. But that said, what the Democrats are doing in response to January 6th does indeed seem most sinister. And our friends up at Claremont do seem to be among the few people who get that.

My hope is that the GOP will take back the Senate and the House in 2022 and we will see an almost miraculous transformation in the American mood; it will all be sunshine and ponies, like 1980 all over again. But this is unlikely, I suppose, except maybe 2022 will suggest the Dems went way, way too far in their efforts to make 2020 the last meaningful election. We’ll see. Looks like we’re in for a rough ride, cowboys.