The "governmentalization" of society

I don't remember which Italian author wrote that "bureaucratism" was more dangerous than communism. He was of course observing the "governmentalization" of Italian society by the Fascists but, when I read that in the 1960s, I saw parallels in the South Africa in which I grew up.

White people in South Africa lived in a culture that was relatively free of government interference and resented any limitations on their individual sovereignty but, as apartheid had to be enforced with ever-increasing government regulations, they saw their cherished freedom begin to be affected by "governmentalization."

For instance, up until the 1960s, whites used to hire blacks to work in their businesses and homes without any sort of documentation but then laws were enacted that made it illegal to hire blacks without proper identification and documents proving that they had "permission to be in a white area." The police force was expended to enforce these new laws and it soon became obvious to all intelligent people that, by curtailing the freedoms of blacks, whites had limited their own freedom. That was when I began to oppose apartheid, came under the scrutiny of the Special Branch of the police force (the secret police entrusted with enforcing the increasing apartheid laws) and, after being jailed, left South Africa and went to England.

In my innocent mind, England was the home of Western Civilization, the country of Shakespeare and of all that was refined and cultured. And, yes, in the 1960s, it was a very free and open society in some ways but, by the 1970's under the Socialist Party (and Harold Wilson's second term as Prime Minister) I started seeing hints of 1984 in the huge high-rise subsidized housing projects that were being built, in the dependence of a whole class of people on government handouts and the increasing acceptance of more rules, regulations and red tape.

A similar thing happened when I came to the USA. In the 1970s California was still a fairly free and open society but, in the 25 years that I lived their, the increasing "governmentalization" of society by socalled "liberals" eventually made it impossible to do business there. Not only the government's rules, regulations, red tape and exorbitant fees and licensing requirements made it hard to do business but so did the growth of "political correctness."

"Political correctness" is when the citizens decide to to police their own culture. Taken to extremes (as has happened in San Francisco) it creates a police state almost as effective as one run by armed thugs in uniforms. San Francisco is no longer a "liberal" city. It is a hard-line socialist city with a government which is almost as oppressive as Fascism.

San Francisco (and other bastions of "political correctness" throughout the USA) may be extreme examples but I've watched as nearly all Americans have come to accept curtailment of their individual sovereignty through bureaucratization or "governmentalization." We now accept government interference in our everyday lives on a scale that I never thought could ever happen in the USA.

Part of this has happened because, since 9/11, we have entered into a security-minded phase, but most of it has happened because we have given government increased power to "help" us and, in so doing, have given it increased power to control our private lives. "The government that is powerful enough to give you everything, is powerful enough to take it all away."

At this rate, we will soon be living under European-style "governmentalization." It's happening so subtly, hardly anyone is noticing. Only the conservative "pundits" and bloggers seem to have realized that something is wrong when the party of Reagan, individual sovereignty and self-reliance becomes the party of Huckabee, "the common good" and "entitlements."