5 Comments

-Wait, parliamentary democracy is just consumerism?

-Always has been

This was a really great explainer on The Concept of the Political. I listened to all 3 parts today while at work today and I probably need to listen through again or read the written articles without distraction.

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Glad you enjoyed them. A lot of current day political dynamics and priorities make a lot more sense after reading this work. Why does it seem like the government is always selling the people out to business? This is why. I found it good for me to go back through them and do the recordings a year+ after writing them.

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The larger the economy, the larger the administrative bureaucracy that is required to govern it. In your opinion, can we say that as the external expansion slows down, (or even reverses) this administrative bureaucracy is going to be looking inwards for ways to sustain itself by further limiting people’s access to resources (forcing the decrees in consumption) somewhat similar to 20th century economies of Eastern Europe.

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Thank you for a great podcast, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The notion of a commercial/criminal enterprise masquerading as a nation, gives an interesting perspective on the current political developments.

Perhaps we can make a argument, derived from Schmitt’s theory that the decline of individual liberties, which we are currently witnessing has been the result of a reduction in commercial opportunities an individual can pursue.

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Glad you enjoyed it. I would argue that that the reduction of the individual’s liberty and freedom to pursue private commercial interests has waned as the power of larger corporate commercial interests has grown. Without a meaningful idea of the state (which derives its power from a meaningful idea of the people), there is no entity capable of protecting the people. When combined with insights from Ellul, the administrative state works hand in hand with larger corporations against the welfare of the citizen. In a sense, the state (in both its government and corporate forms) is the enemy.

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