One only needs to be relatively educated on U.S. history to see the clear trends.  Liberty has now reached a pathetic condition.  The amount of liberty recedes at a constant rate and is kicked into high gear during “emergencies.”  There are periods where the state expands, thanks to Robert Higgs, we know this is called the ratchet effect—but never returns to previous levels.  Fear has overcome good judgment.  As Lord Acton pointed out, in the political realm, great men are usually bad men.

Of course, there will always be anti-social individuals, bad men.  However, democracy virtually ensures only these bad men rise to the top.  Outside of a few individuals, nobody wants to associate with these bad men.  What happens when these bad men gain control of the state?  So, you’re not just associating with these bad men, but they oversee you in every way.  It is a farce to think they are acting with your best interest in mind.  This is all part of the great fiction.

To go along with this farce is to tolerate the total destruction of civilization.  The myth of the social contract is just absurd, which I’ve explained in more detail in a prior article.  The modern warfare state has turned into a killing machine.  Little time has gone by without an intervention.  Of course, this couldn’t happen if counterfeiting wasn’t legalized i.e. the Fed.  A few people with discretionary powers over many is not the answer.

A large democratic state has become a religion.  Democracy was viewed as “mob rule” by the Founders, there wasn’t one exception.  The people in power will point out a new Hitler or Hitlerite sympathizer that has to be dealt with.  “Emergencies” can go on forever.  People are dehumanized so the intervention can go forward.  This is then paid for with counterfeited money.  Tacit support is support.

The masses are raised in complete subjection.  When they grow up, they are told this is natural.  Not different from the excuse to support slavery. How then is freedom achieved?  Étienne de La Boétie answered this over 300 years ago, “Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break in pieces.”

Reference

Robert Higgs; Delusions of Power