Guest Post by Jeffrey A. Tucker
The message and optics of Joe Biden’s address from September 1, 2022, were startling in our supposedly enlightened times. In the mid-1930s, however, both were conventional politics. This was a time in which the most menacing discovery of modern times came to be perfected in political rhetoric. That discovery was that the most successful path to regime stability is to unify political friends around loathing and hatred of some domestic enemy.
Who the enemy is can change. What matters most is that the enemy is seen as an existential threat to the friends of the nation. It must be called out, rooted out, disabled, and even eliminated. And the masses of people must go along with it, even participate in it. They must be driven to feel a kind of bloodlust – a phrase that perfectly embodies the fullness of the insight.
The point deepens and extends Niccolò Machiavelli’s prescription for political control. In his view, the priority should always be on crushing competitors to the throne. Only in this way can the Prince sleep well and the people live lives of peace.
Continue reading “The Return of Carl Schmitt and His Scheme for Regime Longevity”
