Peterson implies the “dark tetrad” is emerging on the non-interventionist right, cloaking their real intentions with conservative rhetoric. Interestingly, however, a historical parallel exists in neoconservatism, whose intellectual roots are deeply rooted in Machiavellianism.
The modern state, unlike the medieval monarchy, does not merely tax to sustain itself or to defend the nation. It taxes to reshape society and to manage an increasingly restive population.
The existence and use of taxation broadly, and of tariffs specifically, are immoral. Any government deploying this so-called policy tool is trespassing upon property rights. As a result, human beings are in a word: dehumanized.
There are no “good wars,” rather, there are wars with varying degrees of destructiveness. The American War Between the States was especially destructive, and the scars have not fully healed 160 years after it ended.
Don’t Be A Panican, But Question Government Shenanigans
Ours is in an age when people panic. Governments benefit from panicked citizenry, which is why we should question those political decisions that can turn our lives upside down.
Rothbard’s “Anatomy of the State” introduces the state as a unique, coercive institution, distinct from society. The latest Misesian expands on this view, examining historical commentary on the state’s emergence and its central role in modernity.
