The New Collectivism of Big Government Elites

 The Fault Line

• The primary fault line in our current political climate is that between a belief system rooted in law and policy championing the primacy of the individual and the various isms seeking societal advancement through collective action
• In the 20th century, debate centered around whether economic collectivism - in the form of socialistic governance - could deliver superior and/or more just material outcomes and could better optimize civic comity in comparison to mercantilist, market-oriented, or mixed economies containing significant spheres of private commercial activity.
• Since then, the playing field has shifted. In the 21st century, collectivism is no longer primarily (or even) about delivering or redistributing economic outcomes; its aspirations now often run counter to such objectives
• Climate crisis, social justice, and public health in the face of pandemic now animate the centralizing impulse of the new collectivists
• Government as the vehicle for policies beyond that of the provision of public goods and wealth redistribution is poorly understood and arguably more insidious than the transparent economic Marxism of old

https://spectator.org/new-collectivism-big-government-elites/