I recall Ayn Rand wrote an article back in the 1970s with a title along the lines of, “The Establishing of an Establishment.” I think her prediction was that all the subjectivism of the 1960s would ultimately lead to a more authoritarian and rigid government/social Establishment than anything the 60s hippies rebelled against. How right she was. Her point (as I understood it) was that it’s psychologically inevitable: the supremacy of feelings (developed full force starting in the 60s) over reality and reason is untenable, so inevitably you need a powerful government or some kind of authority to control everyone, now that people are helpless over their feelings.
Think of all the snowflakes coming out of government schools and universities. They’re helpless, most of them. It’s exactly what’s happening. Millions of people turn blindly (climaxing with COVID) to a compliant, dishonest media and a feckless government to tell them what to do. They’d literally rather die, if it comes to that, than be forced to think for themselves. “Shut up! Wear a mask! Get the vax! Stop thinking! Who are YOU to think objectively, or independently? Shut up or we’ll censor you. Or take away your job. Maybe even jail you.” Such a mentality cannot sustain a free country. I realize that maybe 20-30 percent of us (at most) are free thinkers, and objective thinkers, who utilize reason and common sense on personal, social and moral issues … but that’s not enough to keep a country free, tragically. That’s why the rational among us are either shrugging, in our own way, or simply withdrawing or going underground.
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