When Libertarians define state power we typically ascribe the source of that power to the explicit threat of violence. If the state could only operate according to this principle the power it would exercise over society would be far less grave. Indeed, the majority of the state's influence comes from subtle corruption and bribery. Not the sword, but bread and circuses. Indeed, it seems the entire purpose of discretionary spending is to secure state power in an age where it is increasingly irrelevant. To the people receiving federal money, all seems well and prosperous. What they don't realize is that the same money which benefits them also extends a sinister tentacle of control into their lives. It is impossible for the state to extend the smooth hand to give without also extending the rough one to control.
The eternal fallacy of statism is to believe that one can receive benefits by living at the expense of others without also suffering the proportional consequences of state control. In private life, we know nothing is ever really free, and so it is with the state. Being a monopoly on government, the state always secures its power by imposing rules for the use of its 'free' money. Rulers promise to help communities, but they only do this in search of approval. The incentive is to target a demographic, not to provide services that help people. The people distributing the money have the power to do good and to do evil, and they have goals and an orientation toward control. Of course, there are always strings attached. Money is only doled out with the stipulation it will be used to further the ends of the ruler.
What do we mean by control? state control of what? The beneficiary, that sector of the economy? the market? all government? society? the lives of every individual in its jurisdiction? No, it must control all of these. The claim of the modern state is sovereignty, by definition, it controls its subordinate units. By nature the state has rejected local independence, it favors centralized power as a fact of its existence. The main tendency of the state is to consolidate federal power, and believe it or not, there are no effective checks on the growth of state power. As individuals, rulers always want more power to suit their ever-expanding ends. An empire can never grow so large and tyrannical as to satisfy a ruler.
The best way to envision the ways of the state is to view them as a web of control. The charity of the state, like the silk of a spider, exists to trap their source of power. Rulers wish to feed on you their prey and swell the body of the state. A shining promise hangs above the web, hiding everything in its glare. The web of silken strings is only seen by the prey once they fly straight into the creature's lair. like Eros the bugs near the light, not knowing they can never have what it offers, there are always webs of strings attached. The creature that weaves this web feasts and swells with new power. Observers might not even blame the spider for feeding in this manner, but nobody can deny how it has captured its source of power.
Let us be charitable to the statist and assume all of his theoretical rulers are perfectly benevolent and altruistic. They have put a lot of time and money on the line toward a goal. That money HAS to have strings attached, otherwise, it might be used for something not so desirable. Laws are a form of string, they stipulate how the money can and cannot be used. Even if the money is given as discretionary spending there are certain ways it has to be spent, and certain things are required of the recipient. Imagine billions of dollars were doled out with no strings attached, all you can see is corruption and scandal. In fact, such a policy would cause the ruler to lose legitimacy, the opposite of their goals. No, for rulers to be legitimate and attain their 'benevolent' end the money needs to have labels, like infrastructure or homelessness. Inside the state, oversight by incompetent bureaucrats is seen as the best way to prevent this, even if it is stupid. The outcome is the same either way, waste, embezzlement, and misallocation. The difference is that politicians can say they spent a few extra millions on infrastructure or homelessness, some token topic. So even if rulers claim to be benevolent, the underlying incentive structure of state aid lends itself to control and corruption.
To see the full and terrifying consequences of this we need to look no further than the reservation system. However you choose to see reservations, either as some form of benevolence or attempted genocide, they are appalling. It is hard to pin down exactly how much is allocated to the system, but most sources put it between two and twenty billion dollars. With this amount of money, undereducated observers might expect serious benefits. However, the results are just the opposite. Native Americans are among the poorest and most underserved communities in America. Where does all the money go? And why have native Americans remained so poor on reservations faithfully managed by the state? It has to do with this appalling web of threads woven with money. The offer of Federal stewardship is the light that attracts the flies, but they get caught by the web made with strings laid by the spider. Once the public is hooked on that offer it becomes caught in the web of rules, regulations, and entitlements the state weaves. Once the offer is accepted the people become slave vassals who only exists to feed the bureaucracy. The state tear into the very being of personality with its imposed law and manufactured justice. The system of reservation camps are said to be independent, but reality is far from it. The promise of democracy is that citizens will be cared for by the bottomless pocketbook of the state, but the truth is that the state owns them. The state holds an impossible claim to all land, all wealth, and all freedoms, even the very personality of the individual is claimed by the state. For the price of all being, they receive nothing because the state does not exist to serve them, its motivation is to feed on them. Any money spent is beyond touch, it disappears with corruption, waste, and embezzlement. This is the reality of your Democratic peoples state!
Despite all objections, it is impossible for the state to extend the smooth hand without the rough. Promises of aid conceal the more sinister realities of state rule. Masters have ever-expanding fanticies of power, there is no rest in the lust for power. No kingdom can ever satisfy a tyrant, and altruism suffocates the world like an overbearing mother. Tyranny never doubts her ways, once began, a policy of control is never relinquished. Every law, every act, and every decree works to feed the beuacracy, to feed the state, to give sucor to the tyrant. These promises of candy cottages for every little girl and boy are a great wool over the eyes of the people. A witch stands at the door and promises everything in the world, but it only wants to feast on innocent flesh. If our nation is to prosper it cannot make insane promises of every kind on this green earth. Our people cannot not permit scheming politicians to fleece the nation again and again for whatever they desire. The politics of plunder can lead only to a suffocation by tyranny and the death of all that makes us great. The people of this once great nation must cast off the great illusion before it is too late! America must embrace freedom, it must embrace liberty rather than death!
- all it does is create corrupt lies
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