Gefira 88: Protection or protectionism?

In modern states, the control of those in power over the population is becoming ever greater. This applies not only to China or countries that are described as dictatorships by Western rulers, but to Western countries themselves. The EU countries have long since joined the ranks of the “surveillance states” by passing laws that enable mass surveillance and grant the security and intelligence services greater powers. The leftist terror of virtue knows no mercy in the West, so that in the modern version of George Orwell’s “thought crime”, people can be convicted for acts that have little to do with the actual crime (with crimes being redefined and acts or attitudes that were previously considered normal now being condemned all at once). The terror of virtue punishes anyone who thinks, writes, speaks or acts differently from the mainstream. And all this under the banners of protecting citizens, under the banners of fighting against imaginary enemies, against racism, misogyny, anti-vaccinationists, climate deniers, Putin’s trolls, diesel drivers, carnivores, North Korean hackers, right-wing extremists – the list of enemies is longer than in any dictatorship before. So we must defend our rights. Fight for freedom of speech again. We should not focus too much on the dilemma of left or right. The Democrats or the Republicans. No. This election is not the most important. We should pay attention to the ideas of libertarianism.