An article written 5 years ago on statism.
Statism, the belief that "
government" is a legitimate human endeavor, is a
religion. The most widespread human religion of all. It is a matter of faith to its followers and questioning the precepts is seen as an act of war. Those
outside the religion see it for the ridiculous and harmful myth it really is.
The statist's god, or
one of them, is the State. It is not an
exclusive religion since you can belong to other religions as well. Most other religions are no real threat since they
reinforce Statism rather than challenging it, ignoring the fact that the State requires you have no gods above it.
Statism makes the claim that since the State makes the rules-
defines the "sins", if you will- the State can do things that would be
evil if done by you or me, yet maintain its holiness in the eyes of its followers. While individual priests of Statism (politicians and state apologists) can sin, the State as a concept remains unquestioned, as does its sacredness.
Since the State writes the Commandments, the State exempts itself as being above them. The State forbids
you to murder, but the State can murder
many orders of magnitude more victims than Ted Bundy did. And the statists approve. The State forbids
you to kidnap, but the State can
kidnap, especially those who dare to reject the religion. Once again, the statists cheer. The State forbids
you to steal, but the State can steal, and kidnap or murder you if you resist. And the statists insist you
must cooperate and enthusiastically blame you for your own destruction if you do not.
The State can do just about
anything as long as the State makes the required adjustments to its followers' morality first. It does this by passing "
laws". As long as State actions have been "legalized" by the State, they are assumed to be "
right" by those who don't see through the smoke and mirrors. As long as the State gets to decide whether its
own actions are wrong, its actions will be judged, by
itself, as "just".
I am glad to be an "astatist".
And, in Albuquerque news, a sheriff's deputy
shot and killed a man who was supposedly threatening suicide. Suicide is a right, although an unpopular one. For
LEOs to intervene, and then decide he is a "deadly threat" to the deputies (who are where they have
no right to be) and kill the "suicidal" object of their unwanted attention, is twisted and wrong. The person who called the LEOs should be
ashamed, but obviously being a follower of the Statist religion, the person is probably proud of himself for doing "the right thing". The priests of Statism will agree.
http://www.examiner.com/article/statism-is-a-religion