"ALL CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE."

Friday, July 25, 2008

They've seen this in Berlin before....

From Michael Zak, money quotes from Hayek:
The Obama speech at the Hitler Monument

Obama salute

One People !!

One World !!

One Leader !!

"At the core of the socialist outlook on life is what Friedrich Hayek described as 'the fatal conceit.' Far from any conscious or conspiratorial intent, a socialist's fatal conceit stems from his egotistical assumption that any problem would disappear if his will could triumph over it. Government employees, whom he projects would somehow act on his behalf, serve as the proxy for imposing his will on society.

A faceless bureaucracy is too impersonal, however, for some socialists, who prefer a proxy with a face. These people prefer to focus their aspirations on some charismatic leader, whose cult of personality attracts people from across the political spectrum who otherwise might not agree on anything else. What does matter to these socialists is that they can all dream about how The Leader would impose their own will on society if only he were in charge of everything!

Relieved of the burden of having to think for themselves, these fascists -- yes, that's who they are -- can easily find their political passions unrestrained by reason. For both mainstream socialism and the fascist variant, reality is an enemy. Attempting to stay one step ahead of reality is the mechanism by which the expansion of socialist policies knows no bounds."

See also: Jonah Goldberg...

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