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12-Step Totalitarian Program: Step 1
It is a testament to the power of the human mind to create blind spots to the Truth that so many conservatives and classical liberals who deeply admire and respect Thomas Sowell can still fail to see what he sees. This is understandable, especially for those with public reputations. The mind is designed to protect our self-image and our view of reality. It screens out threats, especially ones that would upend all that we know.
I have no illusions that this essay will persuade the staunchly certain. The mind responds to such certainty by creating blind spots to anything contradicting those certainties. I can only hope this essay chips away at the certainties of many who believe that in America we still have Politics as Usual. That the good fight can still be waged by our elected representatives.
Those able to see the threat in plain sight have taken the time to study, among others:
Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism:
In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true. […] under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago (at least the abridged edition):
Oh, Western freedom-loving left-wing thinkers! Oh, left-wing laborists! Oh, American, German, and French progressive students! All of this is still not enough for you. The whole book has been useless for you. You will understand everything immediately, when you yourself — “hands behind the back” — toddle into our Archipelago.
Whittaker Chambers’ Witness:
“You don’t understand the class structure of American society,” said Smetana, “or you would not ask such a question. In the United States, the working class are Democrats. The middle class are Republicans. The upper class are Communists.”
Stephen Koch’s Double Lives: Spies and Writers in the Secret War of Ideas Against the West:
The aim was never to make Stalinist movies. It was to Stalinize the American glamour culture, while simultaneously giving the apparatus a cash cow capable of producing a large, untraceable supply of much-needed American hard currency to finance various operations around the world. It was also a refuge for favored cultural apparachiki like Bertolt Brecht and Hanns Eisler.
Theodore Dalrymple’s The Wilder Shores of Marx:
Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, not to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.
Mattias Desmet’s The Psychology of Totalitarianism:
The fact that, in the current social climate, there is hardly any latitude to expose this decay in the exercise of power is highly dangerous. This is precisely the detrimental influence of the rise of the masses: It is so radically intolerant of dissent opinions that it labels any analysis of dangerous influence from institutions, companies, and so on as “conspiracy theory.” La passion de l’ignorance (the passion for ignorance) is flourishing like never before. And paradoxically, fanatical conspiracy thinking contributes to this problem because it makes more nuanced analyses less visible and more prone to stigmatization. They are tarred by the same brush and guilty by association.
If there is a gap in your reading, you owe it to yourself to fill that gap. Perhaps the 12 steps that follow will encourage you to do so.
But more importantly, consider what actions you are prepared to take when the no-turning-back escalation begins. And much sooner than you think.
_____
Step #1: Corrupt Education
As explained by 1980s-liberal Walter Karp, in 1905 J.E. Russell, then head of Columbia University Teachers College, pointed out, “How can we justify our practice in schooling the masses in precisely the same manner as we do those who are to be their leaders?”
That same decade, Woodrow Wilson, then president of Princeton University, made the point more explicit: “We want one class of persons to have a liberal education and we want another class of persons, a very much larger class of necessity in every society, to forgo the privilege of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks.”
A corrupt education, controlled by our betters, simply means keeping the larger population as workers and slaves. By taking over the Teachers Colleges, government can ensure that in K-12, children can remain mostly children by denying them the reading, writing, and thinking skills that would liberate them. 
By now, the absolute corruption of “public education” by totalitarian ideology is obvious to all. Yet many still believe that such corruption is more due to ideology or ignorance rather than part of a long-term decentralized plan.
State control of education is the core feature of every totalitarian regime. And we have been tolerating it for decades. Talk to any kid in K-12 about what they learned in a public school that day and note how rare it is to hear any answer that relates to reading, writing, mathematics, real science, real history, and critical thinking.
Although written in 1981, Richard Mitchell’s The Graves of Academe (free online) nailed it:
Schools do not fail. They succeed. Children always learn in school. Always and every day. When their rare and tiny compositions are ‘rated holistically’ without regard for separate ‘aspects’ like spelling, punctuation, capitalization, or even organization, they learn. They learn that mistakes bring no consequences.
We now have more than one generation of children living in adult bodies. Children raising children. It is not an accident.
“In short, it is not merely that Johnny can’t read, or even that Johnny can’t think. Johnny doesn’t know what thinking is, because thinking is so often confused with feeling in many public schools.” Thomas Sowell, Inside American Education
CORRUPT EDUCATION
STATUS AS OF 2022: GOAL ACHIEVED
Yes, a truly great book. But just about everything Michael Walsh writes is great.
Jerry, when you think about totalitarianism, focus first of all on “total”: Totalitarianism is a system in which the Party or ruling class exercises total control over all aspects of life so that there is no private sphere and no part of life which is conducted by individuals as they see fit. The tyranny is a natural result of such a system, but the desire for total control comes first. Thus, the left’s takeover of schools and universities, changing their missions from education to indoctrination, is indeed a totalitarian thing.
You are right – there is a plan, and they’re following it. It’s not clear how much is organization and how much is just sympathetic nihilism. What I want is to be able to strike them.
Talk to any candidate for school board or the job of school superintendent, and note how rare it is to hear any goal that relates to reading, writing, math, or scientific or historical knowledge. You will, however, sometimes hear about critical thinking, which in that context means the ability to recite the opinions of the teaching establishment as if they were the students’ own.
Thank Harvard. They welcomed some from the Frankfurt School into their academia nut world then encouraged the spread of their Marxist critical theory.
FWIW,
Totalitarian is such a new word that my 1971 -1979 OED doesn’t even list it. Wikipedia says that Totalitarianism is: a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high degree of control and regulation over public and private life. It is regarded as the most extreme and complete form of authoritarianism. In totalitarian states, political power is often held by autocrats, such as dictators and absolute monarchs, who employ all-encompassing campaigns in which propaganda is broadcast by state-controlled mass media in order to control the citizenry. The concept gained prominent influence in Western political discourse during the Cold War.
And Authoritarianism is: a form of government characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political status quo, and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic voting. Political scientists have created many typologies describing variations of authoritarian forms of government. Authoritarian regimes may be either autocratic or oligarchic and may be based upon the rule of a party or the military.
It would appear that the US is either already an authoritarian state or is in the midst of developing into one.
This is why I built my online course and class. Students need to learn a different, better, more American and more human language (the language of freedom) than the woke propaganda that has been pushed for decades. I am glad you brought up the history of govt education in America – we think this is a new issue but has been decades in the making. Families must go around the system to foster liberty and a true education – they still think school and education are the same things. They are not! It is also mind-boggling to me that parents who want to complain about X,Y, Z don’t get involved enough in the educational process of their children. There is nothing more precious than the heart, mind, and spirit of your son/daughter, and in today’s climate nothing more fragile.
This is interesting. When trying to recall gender-forming kids in kindergarten by men acting outlandishly, dressed in outlandish multi-colored costumes reading to children from colorful books about outlandish sexual thinking, I couldn’t remember the authorized name for it, and I’ve always automatically called it Gay Clown Story Hour.
It seems like I was righter than I thought.
I think there may be some part of me that thought education system was a total loss and Childrens education was going to be sub-par. I watched Waiting for Superman documentary with a slight hope that people would wake up to the opportunities focusing on results.
https://www.amazon.com/Waiting-Superman-Geoffrey-Canada/
However now I feel like two big factors are pushing back on the school systems brought on by COVID lockdowns:
COVID Moms:
I was first introduced here to the movement: https://www.commonsense.news/p/revenge-of-the-covid-moms
There is a noticeable wave of moms who are fed up with the education systems and across the political system are pushing back. The Glenn Youngkin election helped solidify this movement, running on parents being in the drivers seat of their kids education. Desantis is putting reasonable measures in place for schools that’s well supported but making Newsom run ads against Florida.
Homeschooling and Charter Schools
Schools that show results are going to be a big draw as the impact of COVID school lockdowns will be seen across the US. Seeing the increase in homeschooling (now 3.7 million kids) that my family transitioned to during the COVID and realized we directly took funding away from schools. The increase in charter schools (beyond the Supreme Court win) that’s happening across the nation (special shout out to Tennessee for picking up Hillsdale).
https://timcast.com/news/hillsdale-college-to-open-50-charter-schools-in-tennessee/
Is it going to be hard to turn the tide? Is it easier to sit on the sidelines? Sure, but parents had a huge wake up to what’s being taught at the schools and the teachers/administrators lack of care was in full display. Highly encourage listening to the Take Back Our Schools Ricochet podcast- It’s a shot in the arm to hear there is progress – this one was especially great:
https://ricochet.com/podcast/take-back-our-schools/training-women-to-take-back-their-kids-schools/
https://amgreatness.com/2022/07/10/democrats-want-a-tyranny-of-the-majority/
You hit on something essential, Chuck, perhaps unintentionally. The first step in any 12-step program is to acknowledge that there is a Higher Power whose help is essential to our well-being and without whom we are nothing.
So I see one of the 12 steps described in the post. Was it “The Graves of the Academe” or “The psychology of Totalitarianism” that explains the others ?
More separate posts to come. Sometime this week I’ll post step 2. I was aiming to do all in one post but it got too unwieldy.
Thank you for letting me know, Mark.
Behind the WSJ pay wall, but the title is all you need:
Build a Charter School, Get Sued by the Teachers Union
Ian was interviewed on the Ricochet podcast, and it was a fabulous discussion. Peter teased him about how he could have made so much more money on Wall Street. He is quite an amazing, dedicated man.
Luke 6:46 + Matt 22:36-40
Yes we had good public education. It was local, taught and funded by members of the community. It grew, had to be funded by a bigger entity and over almost a century changed to what we now have. Folks didn’t understand about public funding and public unions, but many learned and now we have to undo the monstrosity we created but don’t seem to know how. It’s simple. Abolish it, with parents funding most and freely choosing where to send their kids and teachers running them and competing for kids .
so I was in one of the local used book stores last Saturday and something really warmed my heart. See there were these three young ladies, I’d say 15-ish browsing the science fiction shelves and…
…and I went past them to the Econ section (the girls were in the way, I asked then to move) and found this for the princely sum of $8!
I’ve got a copy on my shelf.
Yes, as well we all should.
However, who else out there in R-land has one that was “pre-owned” by the Massachusetts’ J.B. Society? Eh? How cool is that?!
Uh, yeah. Missed that small but VERY IMPORTANT detail. That’s pretty sweet!
How many folks know and are prepared to support our only option if Democrats steal the next election?
If it’s the only option I’m against it.
Nothing is the “only option.”
We have “our only option” or we else passively fall into the clutches of the Monsters Running The Show with their option.
It is quite well explained, this Monstrous Option of Smart Cities and Trans Humanism:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1550585751947051010
Pay attention. This Dutch farmer gets it.
I quit watching after 2:32, after he successfully knocked down a straw man. He needs to be a little more honest about the problem with nitrogen runoff from agriculture, and what the problems are with it. Yes, we’ve been talking about it for 30 years, but the fact that cities are still standing is not really relevant. A lot of farmers have been dealing with the problem just fine since they became aware of it 30 years ago. But not everyone has. I know of communities in two states that have to buy drinking water from elsewhere, at high monthly cost to residential households, because of nitrate contamination from local agriculture.
I’m not saying the Dutch farmers don’t have a lot of legitimate gripes about high-handed regulation, but this isn’t helping their cause.
So we can all starve.
By stopping early you missed the crucial parts.
You should have watched a bit longer. The farmers are prepared to make modifications, but are not being permitted to. The stated issue is not the true issue. They want the farmers off of the land, because they want the land.