The Great Dictator

David Cameron told the CBI yesterday that he wants a war economy, with himself as Winston Churchill, to pull the country out of recession.

Of course, it’s all ridiculous, prep school nonsense. The only real war is being fought by British troops in Afghanistan, despite public opposition. No-one in the UK is going to be shot or bombed by the fiendish forces fought against in the war on non-growth. Many of us are actually relieved to have some respite after decades of seeing our communities ravaged by developers and weekenders wielding their fat-cat cheque-books.

In putting the war analogy into play, Cameron’s aims are two-fold. Firstly, to cut through all the democratic safeguards that prevent his chums in the commercial sector lording it over us, slashing social and environmental protection, and in effect rebuilding feudalism. Clearly, Cameron is no historian. Otherwise, he would know that a real total-war economy involves massive, detailed State control of every aspect of productive activity. Which is about as far removed from his real intentions as can be imagined. For him, the job of the State is simply to smash any opposition to the new national infrastructure needed to crush the provinces still further and speed their exploitation. Not in the public interest but in that of the global system to which he has devoted his service. A system that views democracy and liberty as irksome irritations.

Secondly, Cameron’s rhetoric has the same menacing tone as George W. Bush’s ‘you’re either with us, or against us’. He wants to anathematise any alternative to his own bleak vision. Like all the London politicians, he starts from the premise that, of course, EVERYONE supports growth. The corrupt financial system that bankrolls his party can’t cope with its absence. So the only question is what destructive practices are to be introduced next in order to stimulate it. Those who fail to acknowledge the ‘seriousness’ of the situation and submit accordingly are to be regarded as traitors. Watch out for Regulation 18B.

Veteran Republican Congressman Ron Paul said, in his valedictory speech this month, that real patriotism is not blind loyalty to the government but a willingness to challenge it when it’s wrong. We can see that with idiots like Cameron at the wheel, there’s a whole lot of challenging to be done.