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The Continuing Crisis
Claremont Review of Books ^ | 02/16/21 | Michael Anton

Posted on 02/18/2021 7:05:06 AM PST by PoliticallyShort

What we now have, more and more, is a one-party oligarchy. This was the nemesis of the Trump presidency. Like all oligarchies, ours rules by coercion, not consent. It exerts its power primarily by constraining allowable, expressible opinion: it knows that the thing which cannot be said eventually becomes that which cannot be thought. And the chief thoughts it wishes to suppress are objections to its own misrule. When and where it cannot 'persuade'—that is, propagandize—it punishes, with the defiant fired from their jobs, made unemployable, cut off from the financial system, even, in some cases, shunned by friends and family.

This is not 'death,' exactly. But how much less cruel is it, really, to cut people off from human contact and the means of making a living? And how much real misery—and desperation—does it produce? Against recalcitrant groups, organizations, even whole states, our ruling class uses its control of communications to wage demonization campaigns akin to two-minute hates, except lasting much longer.

(Excerpt) Read more at claremontreviewofbooks.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: anton; biden; oligarchy; trump

1 posted on 02/18/2021 7:05:06 AM PST by PoliticallyShort
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To: PoliticallyShort

Ayn Rand and George Orwell were correctt


2 posted on 02/18/2021 7:29:35 AM PST by Don Corleone (leave the gun, take the canolis)
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To: PoliticallyShort

Best post-election summary so far. Excellent!


3 posted on 02/18/2021 7:39:11 AM PST by MHT
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To: Don Corleone

“Ayn Rand and George Orwell were correctt”

Another who was correct - Sen McCarthy.

All three, and the (Congressional) Office of Un-American Activity.


4 posted on 02/18/2021 8:03:53 AM PST by patriotfury ((May the fleas of a thousand camels occupy mo' ham mads tents!) )
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To: MHT

It’s a good summary, but short on recommendations to counter the oligarchy.

The Left lost big in the Selection and had to win by crime. They relied on intimidation and extortion to prevent anyone from uncovering their methods and actual crimes, and that battle is still ongoing.

The real Right needs a way to counterattack that doesnt depend on Leftist infrastructure, and as Anton said, is organized and timely in its counterattacks.

If we cant figure it out, we’re done. And the aliens will deport us, not them.


5 posted on 02/18/2021 8:09:25 AM PST by Regulator (It's Fraud, Jim)
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To: PoliticallyShort

Awesome article.

It is how this time period should be written in the history books. But it won’t. It’ll be re-written to conform to the left’s narrative.

Hopefully, we aren’t done yet.


6 posted on 02/18/2021 8:16:30 AM PST by toast
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To: PoliticallyShort

Sadly, Mr. Anton’s analysis seems to be rather astute. We on the Right weren’t diligent enough in heading off the disaster that was the 2020 election and didn’t do a good job of managing the aftermath. (For those who don’t remember he was the author of the famous “Flight 93 Election” piece before the 2016 election; also, he wrote The Stakes about this one.) The Left in the person of John Podesta told us what they were planning well before Nov. 3, and Molly Ball’s recent article in Time brags about what they did. It’s a sanitized account, of course - they “protected” the massive illegal votes. Nevertheless it’s clear from her piece that there was a truly massive conspiracy to steal the election. We can blame some of the Republican politicians, but for a considerable time it’s been clear that they have to be pushed to get things done.
It seems now that all the levers of power are in the hands of the Left, and they are wasting no time using them. We have just lost the “indispensable man” (as Mark Steyn described Rush Limbaugh at his Website). We shall not see his like again - he was unique, and we were blessed to have him for so many years. However, we should be grateful that we still have this site (I just registered but have been lurking here for many years and have come to rely upon it).


7 posted on 02/18/2021 9:15:30 AM PST by PersonOfNo Consequence
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To: PoliticallyShort

Best autopsy of the mess I’ve read so far.


8 posted on 02/18/2021 9:26:16 AM PST by bluejean (Living one day at a time in the national psych ward.)
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To: Regulator
What we now have, more and more, is a one-party oligarchy. This was the nemesis of the Trump presidency. Like all oligarchies, ours rules by coercion, not consent. It exerts its power primarily by constraining allowable, expressible opinion: it knows that the thing which cannot be said eventually becomes that which cannot be thought. And the chief thoughts it wishes to suppress are objections to its own misrule. When and where it cannot “persuade”—that is, propagandize—it punishes, with the defiant fired from their jobs, made unemployable, cut off from the financial system, even, in some cases, shunned by friends and family.

What constantly mystifies me is how the press enthusiastically back a party hellbent on suppressing the First Amendment (among others). The Election Steal may be the biggest story of our time and all we get is a skewed piece in 'Time' describing it as patriotic and it's conspirators heroes.

Perhaps that extended joke is true: Those who can't teach become reporters.

9 posted on 02/18/2021 4:06:00 PM PST by MikelTackNailer (First Rule of Fraud Club is punish any talk about Fraud Club.)
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