A Foreign Philosophy

Vin Suprynowicz has an unusually good rant on, called Please don't call it 'State Socialism' that points out that most of what we have come to think of as American innovations were actually German innovations from a century earlier.

The modern Prussian police state was built by Bismarck and others in the 19th century on a Spartan model, giving the central government vastly greater control over the individual than had ever been considered possible before.

From government control of the schools to health care, the whole idea was to create an obedient populace that would man the factories and produce large and obedient broods for the armies without every questioning the orders of the central authority.

Bismarck’s program centered squarely on insurance programs designed to increase support for the ever larger and more powerful government. The program included health insurance, Workman’s Compensation, disability insurance, and old-age retirement pensions, all innovations at the time.

Starting with the model of Prussian compulsion schooling, American “educators” starting with John Dewey and Edward Thorndike eagerly imported this Prussian model to America.


Trained to accept such state control (and now the new “Green” religion) in the schools for most of the last century, then made dependent on government insurance programs (Social Security, Medicare) as surely as the pimp makes sure his young ladies are dependent on the needle and the fix only he can provide, slavery to the state soon appears inescapable, even ordained by God and nature.

Why, it’s a good thing! In exchange for the possibility of ever becoming truly exceptional, of growing rich based on our own efforts, it rewards us with … “security.”

And so we come to love our chains.

All very good for the Germans. But ours was to be a Constitutional Republic, and we were supposed to be citizens, not subjects. We, the people, do not work for the state, but for ourselves. I have met people, who say to me when I talk about the need to reduce spending "well, just don't touch my social security," then give a little giggle, as if they know their attitude is wrong. When I ask, "But even if it means your children and grand children will be in debt?" they just change the subject. And so we come to love our chains.