From the standpoint of America’s blue meritocracy, this vision of the future is both humane and inevitable. Economic development is disempowering the many and empowering the few; and there is nothing that can be done about that. The only decent and fair thing to do is to make a trade. The few will be taxed for the sake of the many, and in return the many will accept the wise guidance of the few.
Your intelligent thoughts, pro and con, on the inevitability of this current-future social fate will likely require your reading the whole thing.
Bonus question segueing from Steve’s preceding post The Costs of War:
If the architecture of modern political economies (growing populations chasing ever-less-labor-intensive economic productivities) does render some sort of redistributive welfare state inevitable, what are the pros and cons of a martial welfare state – in exchange for federal monies, one works in some capacity for the federal military, understanding military to equally and interchangeably include demographic, economic, and cybernetic defense if not also offense – versus a non-martial welfare state with or without an economic quid pro quo?
Keep in mind that the nation state best able and willing to project its force (again, understood equally and interchangeably as martial, demographic [e.g., Mexico], cybernetic [e.g., China], and economic [e.g., China]) over other states without bankrupting itself in the process will maximize the global resources its citizens will be able to utilize and enjoy.
H. M. Stuart
Alexandria
The problem with parasitic welfare states and global military empires is that eventually you run out of other people’s money. See the Roman Empire, the British Empire, and the Soviet Union.
Tina Turner just became the latest to announce giving up her citizenship to escape the Obama confiscatory tax regime. And, no, it’s not just about wanting to live in Switzerland. You don’t have to give up your U.S. citizenship to live in Switzerland. Entrepreneurs are already starting to look outside America for the next free land. Check out sites like Sovereign Man and International Living.
Math is going to be a bigger check on the welfare state than the Constitution is.
Let me be the first to say it, Tina Turner is racist.
“The problem with parasitic welfare states and global military empires is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” And other countries’ territory within reasonably accessible distance to conquer and subdue. “See the Roman Empire, the British Empire, and the Soviet Union.” And the Ottoman Empire, and the Qing dynasty in China.
“Non-working foreigners resident in Switzerland may choose to pay a “lump-sum tax” instead of the normal income tax. The tax, which is generally much lower than the normal income tax, is nominally levied on the taxpayer’s living expenses, but in practice (which varies from canton to canton), it is common to use the quintuple of the rent paid by the taxpayer as a basis for the lump-sum taxation.[18] This option contributes to Switzerland’s status as a tax haven, and has induced many wealthy foreigners to live in Switzerland.”
Steve
Well, we’ll miss Tina Turner; maybe she and Phil Mickelson can get together and commiserate. As for Walter Russell Mead’s vision of the future, I have no idea for whom he thinks he’s speaking, aside from himself, when he says that “post-industrial liberals seem to see the common folk as a collection of sad and weak losers whom the strong must protect.” It’s possible that the “gentry liberals” with whom Mr. Mead spends time are, as he claims, “filled with pity for the incompetent losers, the untalented, those who will only be able to get jobs as pool boys and cocktail waitresses in the post-manufacturing world,” but the blue-collar liberals of my acquaintance don’t share that view, for obvious reasons. I don’t think the question here is whether or not such an economy is sustainable; I think the question is whether pity, thinly veiled contempt, and condescending paternalism will prove to be a winning political platform. I strongly doubt it. Excuse my language, but someone really ought to bitch-slap Mr. Mead.