The problem with ruling by fear is that from time to time the people stop being afraid. And then unfortunate things happen. The intimidators become the intimidated. The fear gets transferred in a different direction.
"Distrust anyone in whom the desire to punish is powerful" Friedrich Nietzsche
“Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties: 1. Those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes. 2. Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depositary of the public interests. In every country these two parties exist, and in every one where they are free to think, speak, and write, they will declare themselves. Call them, therefore, Liberals and Serviles, Jacobins and Ultras, Whigs and Tories, Republicans and Federalists, Aristocrats and Democrats, or by whatever name you please, they are the same parties still and pursue the same object. The last one of Aristocrats and Democrats is the true one expressing the essence of all.”
– Thomas Jefferson (Letter to Henry Lee, 1824)
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. — Thomas Jefferson
I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive. — Thomas Jefferson
Government’s Greatest Trick - Making you a slave to your fears. - MSimon
I have come to the conclusion that the left works the way most people in fear work - i.e. working hard to make their fears come true. Of course the right is the same about the things it fears. - MSimon
Tao Te Ching
The best rulers are scarcely known by their subjects;
The next best are loved and praised;
The next are feared;
The next despised:
They have no faith in their people,
And their people become unfaithful to them.
When the best rulers achieve their purpose
Their subjects claim the achievement as their own.
http://www.chinapage.com/gnl.html
The wheel turns. The punishers become the punished. That is the trouble with trying to keep the lid on. It is endless work and inevitably there comes a time when there is not enough force to maintain the pressure and things explode.
I was prompted to think of this by:
Republicans are Shifting on Social Issues
and
Rand Paul: "I don't want my guns registered in Washington or my marriage"
And just to finish with my currently favorite topic:If the Republican Party has a future, it's going to look and sound a lot more like Rand Paul than Ted Cruz or Bobby Jindal. We're in a Libertarian Moment—one that embraces increased choice and individual preferences in everything—precisely because the old right-left, conservative-liberal, Republican-Democrat dyad has failed us spectacularly in the 21st century. Authority, knowledge, power—it's all decentralizing and the old politics of command and control have less and less relevance with every passing day.
