The Post-Partisan Emporium

Tyflocracy: The New Art of Oppressive Governance The Ethical Skeptic Imagine a new form of totalitarian governance, composed of non-elected officials who have been indoctrinated into believing that they hold a superior intellect and humanity to those whom they were appointed to serve. Imagine a new form of government so convinced of its own virtue mandate and the contrasting original sin of its constituents, that it has adopted the view that its own citizens are now a less-than-human enemy – no longer worthy of the full slate of human rights. Tyflocracy is the form of social agency (both government and non-governmental power) which manages by the blind or Nelsonian eye. It enforces both the absence of agency for, and the embargo of examination of – that which it opposes or wishes to exterminate. Imagine a single dominant Party which incites  Kristallnacht  violence in the streets, smashing windows and burning businesses, because they hold that The Party and their billionaire C...

State Power And the temptation of anarchism Carlos Ramalhete Image © Nieuw I do understand anarchists. Even more so rich anarchists. In a way, a First-World anarchist is like someone who only knew an abusive father, and ends up rejecting the very concept of family. If I lived in a place where all laws a Modern state tries to promulgate were enforced, the anarchist temptation would be indeed strong. Fortunately, I live in a country whose language has no expression for “law enforcement”, and where laws can “stick” (that is, be accepted and obeyed) or not. Most of them don’t, and absolutely nobody in Brazil would ever consider the possibility of mistaking mere State-promulgated laws for moral precepts. The problem, though, is not laws by themselves, but the whole package: the function of the State, its powers, its limits if any, what  Law  (or  a   law ) happens to be, and so on. As always, there is a long story; a quite big chunk of History leading to the present situa...