Statism is the belief that the State is supreme (i.e. The Ruling Class in Power) and that the very concept of Individual Freedom and Equality does not exist. It is the oldest organized religion, coming about shortly after the Dawn of Civilization. It is the belief that the ruling class is somehow superior and elite, and is entitled to inflict their actions on their subjects. This irregardless of how they came to power, either by Coup, Conquest, or election.
The modern rationalization for this comes from the philosopher Hegel, who believe that Man's utility was derived from his usefulness to the State, and was not a free and equal individual. In Hegel's time, Christianity was a binding influence in Western Society, so one of his assumptions was that ruler's would act according to Christian morality, and would rule as a type of "Enlightned Despot", and be bound by the Morals of Christianity. This was merely a rationalization of an age-old concept, as rulers have always sought to seek moral validation of their rule, usually by manipulation of existing religious beliefs on order to manipulate the subjective morality of a society. If we look back through history, the examples are obvious. The creation of the early "God Kings" throughout history in common, as rulers use religion to rationalize their tyrannical pseudo-elitism. Often creating the mythology of semi-divinity, simply asserting that one of their ancestors either was or mated with a God, so as to rationalize the divine nature of their rule and consequential moral superiority. Once a ruler is "Divine", to oppose what they say ceases to be a political difference and instead becomes a religious issue, with the opposition being able to be religiously demonized, and opposed on a moral basis, rather than an intellectual one. That's why the typical religious response to opposition is Deny, Dismiss, and Demonize, rather than intellectual rebuttal or refutation. Comrade King is the best example of this on this board.
Roman Emperors, starting with the attempt by Julius Caesar and achieved by Augustus are excellent examples of the creation of the God-King/Emperor concept.
After the fall of Rome and the firm establishment of Christianity in Constantinople the Christian Church was used to validate rulers, so strong was the influence of Christianity in Europe. The Dogma of the "Divine Right of Kings" is the example for this. This continued up to the Reformation, when Roman Christianity was rejected due to widespread corruption with Protestantism asserting that Man could have an individual relationship with God, and the the concept of Catholic intercession was not required. It was during this time the the concept of a Free and Equal person or citizen was first asserted in the modern sense, although the English had somewhat started the concept of "Rights" with the Magna Carta in earlier times.
Jumping back to Hegel. Hegel was a great admirer of Napoleon, as well as the early Prussian State, but he considered both bound by a christian sense of morality, the "Enlightened Despot" concept. One thing is certain, Hegel led to Marx. Marx demonized Capitalism and the concept of individual freedom. We still see this today, which leads us to the next, and current version of Religious Statism, that of Soviet Union Communism. In reality there was little that was "Communistic" about the Soviet Union, Communist rule was really a form of sociopathic feudalism, where an enslaved populace was held in thrall and ruled over by the neo-nobility of the Communist party, which exploited the populace for their own gain. In was merely rationalized by Communist Doctrine, and indoctrinated using the Soviet social science of Psychopolitics, which is merely a sociopathic religious dogma, or a faith-based belief taught on a strictly subjective morality basis, rather than any form of objective reality. It was/is a moral rationalization for enslavement, and the tyranny of a pseudo-elitist ruling class.
What is happening in America today is purely psychopolitical, and even though the Soviet Union (another classic example of a historical failure) is long gone, the ideology indoctrinated, starting mainly in the 1920s-1930s, still marches on. It's home is now the Democrat party, Obama is clearly an example of statist, religious, pseudo-elitism, as he doesn't consider that the individual exists, and is free to inflict whatever sociopathic dogma he chooses on free and equal individuals.
Now you can see why Obama's opposition is demonized according to faith-based statist morality, and why statist religious ideologues are able to simply deny, dismiss, and demonize opposition rather than actually respond intellectually.
Last edited by Ken61; 10/06/14 12:20 PM.
