[Authoritarianism] is a psychology at once absolutist and schizophrenic. That is why health insurance and restrictions on carrying loaded weapons in public are intolerable tyrannies, while all-encompassing surveillance, life in prison for growing marijuana, or assassination without judicial process are praiseworthy. Paradoxically, the authoritarian personality embodies anarchic rebellion and craven submission at the same time. It is, as Richard Hofstadter said, a disordered relationship to authority, "characterized by an inability to find other modes for human relationship than those of more or less complete domination or submission."...
The seductive power of authoritarianism is particularly strong during times of economic and social stress. Seemingly, the reptilian brain becomes dominant in a crisis; for every government that instituted a New Deal or something like it in the wake of the Great Depression, a half dozen fell into fascism, military rule or some other authoritarian form of "national unity."...
The virus of authoritarianism is a flight from reason, a goose-stepping reflex and a search for simplistic, usually conspiratorial, explanations for complex events. It is no wonder this mindset esteems institutions that are based on hierarchy and various forms of coercion, regardless of those institutions' success or failure. That this mindset derides institutions of self-government and enlightenment and fails to see its own responsibility for those institutions' serious shortcomings is equally significant and bears watching.Truthout | Op-Ed
The Authoritarian Seduction
Mike Lofgren
I dont think this guy really understands true authority vs what he may see is what I might call 'lawlessness'...
ReplyDeleteHe gets some of it correct but other parts wrong imo.
The correct view of authority vs. libertarianism is required to understand so-called 'modern monetary systems".
Most who remain hopelessly out of paradigm are basically blind to authority and this is their main problem even more than a certain cognitive shortcoming in mathematics they also can possess imo.
You have to get the authority right or you might as well surrender it all back to gold/silver/copper.
(FD: I am authoritarian...)
rsp,
Joe used the word I think very well in his latest piece in response the the Lovoie paper here are some excerpts:
ReplyDelete"I’ll just assume for purposes of this discussion that the system comprised of these institutions and their interaction as created by the Congress, is part of the Federal Government under the full authority of the Congress to regulate."
"Article One of the Constitution provides Congress with the authority to create money without limit and to appropriate spending with or without borrowing. That authority is a fact. And it is important for people to recognize that any constraints on the authority to create money without issuing debt instruments that may exist in current practices are, as MMT says, self-imposed constraints.
Second, apart from existing constitutional authority to delegate authority to the Treasury to spend without borrowing, ..."
" an act passed in 1996 provides the authority to mint platinum coins of arbitrary face value to use in the process of gaining seigniorage..."
"The reason is that the power and authority of the consolidated Government to create reserves is unlimited,..."
"but the Consolidated Government, viewed as whole, ultimately enables and facilitates the Treasury’s spending through exercising its collective authority to create reserves by fiat in the TGA in response to Treasury’s tax, debt instrument sales, and seigniorage-producing activities. It does not “finance” its spending ..."
Joe gets MMT and Joe gets the authority correct here too.
Ignoring authority is 'lawlessness'.
For instance the LAW authorizes platinum coins so what do these morons do????? They ignore it...
They are "lawless" morons, not "authoritarians".
rsp,
Here's from his bio: " He served 16 years as a professional staff member on the Republican side of both the House and Senate Budget Committees."
ReplyDeleteProbably thinks "We're out of money!"... "We're borrowing from the Chinese!".... "We're a debtor nation!" .... "We're a bankrupt country!" .... "We're leaving our debt to our grandshildren!"... guaranteed.
Ok I swear I didnt even look I knew it here you go:
ReplyDelete"The failure of our leaders to offer realistic budget proposals was a major reason I decided to retire after 28 years in Congress, most of them as a professional staff member on the Republican side of both the House and Senate Budget Committees. My party talks a good game, railing about the immorality of passing debt on to our children. But the same Congressional Budget Office that punctured Obama's budget also concluded that the major policies that swung the budget from a projected 10-year surplus of $5.6 trillion in 2001 to the present 10-year deficit of $6.2 trillion were Republican in origin...."
blah, blah, blah,......
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jun/26/opinion/la-oe-lofgren-budget-republicans-20110626
Another moron blind to authority.... how much longer do we have to be plagued by these idiots... glad at least he left govt...
The website shouldnt be "Truthout" it should be "Falseout".
ReplyDeleteMatt,
ReplyDelete"He gets some of it correct"
Accidently on purpose.
PK heads are spinning out of control, chasing the beginning of the circle…
…the circle begins with the authority of the federal government.
Matt,,
ReplyDeleteReligious inspired authority scares the shit out of me.
Mal,
ReplyDelete"Religious inspired authority"
I think that phrase is technically an oxymoron....
God never authorized "religion" except for Israel perhaps...
Looks like He grants "faith" now:
"God parts to each the measure of faith." Romans 12:3
And faith is measured by one's ability to recognize authority:
9 "For I also am a man set under authority, having soldiers under me, and I am saying to this one, 'Go,' and he is going, and to another, 'Come,' and he is coming, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he is doing it."
10 Now, hearing it, Jesus marvels. And He said to those following, "Verily, I am saying to you, With no one in Israel so much faith did I find." Mat 8:9-10
So these 'religious' among us have to calm down and seek faith imo rather than come up with these human reasonings that lead to sectarianism and false doctirines and dogmas.. you know, the stuff folks like you are terrified of as you probably should be...
(FD: I am outside of the orthodoxy of Christendom...)
rsp,
rsp,
Here's your government-enforced monopoly money supply, Franko:
ReplyDeleteAnd it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six. Revelation 13:15-18 New American Standard Bible (NASB) [bold added]
Matt,
ReplyDeleteI like you. Please don't take what I said as being aimed at you.
F.
ReplyDeleteThat reads like this "mark" is some sort of license, a 'traders license' of some sort...
I dont see a direct connection to the monetary arrangements or the 'monetary system' there... ie there is still 'buying and selling' which can be accomplished utilizing "money", but unless you have a 'mark' you wouldnt be able to do it or something, this sounds like a license...
The whole chapter there reads like there is a return to pagan forms of worship or something so imo we are no where near those conditions at least around here today...
Look, even if we get things straightened out wrt our authority to operate our economic systems (incl the specific monetary arrangements) we still are in bad shape as far as what authorities we DONT have today...
We still have to deal with, disease, drought, famine, natural disasters, wickedness, death.... its bad enough without we ourselves surrendering this one authority we DO have...
the monetary details are a part of an overall economic (house-law) system that is just an accounting system we use to help us deal with all of the REAL problems we have foisted upon us at this time. We have been granted COMPLETE AUTHORITY to conduct our economic affairs entirely as we see fit, dont let anyone tell you differently.
"15 Be observing accurately, then, brethren, how you are walking, not as unwise, but as wise,
16 reclaiming the era, for the days are wicked." Eph 5
We should seek to reclaim this era.
These are wicked days .... lets be wise and not discard the one authority we DO HAVE I say.
rsp,