The Peril of the Savior State

In demanding that our rulers provide for all our material needs and rescue us from the consequences of our own folly and the normal risks of existence, we are paving the way for a totalitarian regime that strips us of the last of our rights and enslaves us to the ruling oligarchy. Charles Hugh Smith at Of Two Minds warns of the dangers to our basic civil rights and constitutional freedoms in his latest post, When the Savior State Becomes the Enemy of the People. 

Smith reminds us that we can't have it both ways. If we desire to retain the liberties guaranteed us by our constitution, then we have to be willing to pay our own way, take our our risks, and accept the results of our actions and judgments.

He says,"In granting the state the power to become a Savior State, you also grant it the power to be a repressive regime or corrupt kleptocracy which openly serves an Elite and is accessible only via bribes/ political donations."

Where would you say we are now on the Nanny State Enslavement Scale? Are we now a "corrupt kleptocracy"  where the citizens exist to serve a dominant oligarchy empowered to strip them of their remaining wealth by means of government force? And at what point will the "corrupt kleptocracy" become a "repressive regime"? A convincing argument could be advanced that that is exactly what we are now and have been for quite a while.

If so, we became so with the enthusiastic co-operation of our citizens, who traded away their rights for the illusion of security and perpetual plenty regardless of the means used to maintain the facade, or the price paid for it. People who want the benefits of a Nanny State should consider if they're willing to front the price- the invasion of our privacy by maintaining health records (the national health plan), the suspension of our constitutional rights for a specious security (the USAPATRIOT Act), the seizure of our property for the sake of the "public good" or "economic development" by eminent domain, or hundreds of other abuses and outright violations of our constitutional rights that have become commonplace and acceptable.