Four Centuries of Surveillance: From Privy Councils to FISA Courts

Via Timothy

As the song [1] says, “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”

State power, i.e., power derived from the “political means” of acquiring wealth through force, is nothing more than a pestilence sapping the peace and prosperity of all humankind, and has been manifest in many cruel and unique forms. Whether it be the whip on the back, the sword on the throat, the gun in the face, or grand global hostage taking via the threat of nuclear destruction, it is clear that state power is nothing more than immoral aggression — logically posterior, parasitic, and subservient to economic power, i.e., power derived from the “economic means” of acquiring wealth through production and voluntary trade. Whereas economic power creates wealth and shares this fruit, state power steals wealth and squanders its spoils.

Yet, despite these self-evident truths about the rapacious nature of state power,[2] some people consider state power to be the “boss” of economic power. Even the most ardent believer in that old chestnut, “we are the government,” cannot seriously suggest we are literally the government. Even those who see the government as a “social club,” a “social contract,” or some mystic representation of “the people,” must admit the club needs an executive committee, the contract needs drafters and enforcers, and the people need enlightened leaders (hence in each case a ruling caste).

At the root of the matter all such euphemisms are merely an insidious form of apologia — a means to obfuscate whilst upholding the idea that state power is the “boss” of economic power. It is a trick of language used by wolves and sheep alike, giving the wolves an excuse for their predation and the sheep a reason for their fleecing. Put differently, it is a way for the rabble to render their own chains, and with gilded hope and love, give “themselves” the reins. Such egalitarian doublespeak is a crucial tool used by the modern nation state to apologize for state power’s predation upon economic power, allowing the state’s agents to act as tyrants while calling themselves “servants.”

What a perversion of the truth and the law!

More @ Mises