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    Analyzing the Roots of Leftism: Karl Popper

    Book Reviews Legacy AWOL Blog Marxism Science
    In my posts of 12/27/24 and 1/17/25, I examined the work of Friedrich Hayek, who with consummate skill helps us understand the ideological roots of the Left. Continuing in the same vein, below is my discussion of Karl Popper, whose work in this domain provides an excellent companion to Hayek. The post was first published in 2007, on the original AWOL Civilization blog.

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    Every period has a handful of commentators that grasp the essence of their era. In our time, one of them must surely be Karl Popper (1902-1994). Well-known as a philosopher of science, his writings in the sociopolitical realm are some of the most extraordinary of the twentieth century. Probably the most widely read of these is The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945). Impressive as the book is, I believe that Popper’s greatest achievement in this area is The Poverty of Historicism (1957).

    In this work, he deconstructs one of the founding myths of modern totalitarianism, a conceptual idol that underlies the thought of Hegel, Marx, and Lenin: historicism. This is the belief that there is a predictable regularity to history, that its course is based on immutable laws. As Popper puts it: “The belief…that it is the task of the social sciences to lay bare the law of evolution of society in order to foretell its future might be perhaps described as the central historicist doctrine.”

    This myth enabled Hegel to concoct his “world-historical spirit," in which history is a  “court of judgment" and “the exposition and the actualization of the universal spirit." This vague spirit has come to rule human affairs, as “the spirit in and for itself prepares and works its way towards the transition to its next and higher stage.” Popper shows that this sort of phony analysis is derived from a key error, that of mistaking trends for laws:

    “This, we may say, is the central mistake of historicism. Its ‘laws of development’ turn out to be absolute trends; trends which, like laws, do not depend on initial conditions, and which carry us irresistibly in a certain direction into the future. They are the basis of unconditional prophecies, as opposed to conditional scientific predictions.”

    Popper debunks the scientific pretenses of Comte, Hegel, Marx, and their disciples, who misapply the methods and lexicon of the natural sciences to social phenomena. It is one of the great essays on this subject, alongside Hayek’s Counter-Revolution of Science. To understand the ideological roots of the contemporary Left, Popper's masterpiece is a must-read.

    ​[Quotes from Popper taken from The Poverty of Historicism (1957), Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1960 edition, pp 105-6 and 128. Emphasis in original. Quotes from Hegel: Elements of the Philosophy of Right (1821), Cambridge University Press, 1991 edition, pp 372-3]
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    Memorable Quotes (no. 10)

    Marxism Memorable Quotes
    "Socialism is the visionary younger brother of an almost decrepit despotism, whose heir it wants to be....It desires a wealth of executive power, as only despotism had it; indeed, it outdoes everything in the past by striving for the downright destruction of the individual, which it sees as an unjustified luxury of nature, and which it intends to improve into an expedient organ of the community....[Socialism] needs the most submissive subjugation of all citizens of the absolute state....It secretly prepares for reigns of terror, and drives the word 'justice' like a nail into the heads of the semieducated masses, to rob them completely of their reason (after this reason has already suffered a great deal from its semieducation) and to give them a good conscience for the evil game they are supposed to play."

    — Friedrich Nietzsche
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    Europa, Europa

    Globalists Marxism Russia
    For the last two and a half centuries, Europe has been plagued by the machinations of socialist and other collectivist movements. These destructive ideologies flare up periodically, causing dislocation, death, and widespread mayhem. To list some of the more notable examples: French Revolution; upheavals of 1848; Paris Commune; Russian Revolution; Nazi regime; and the Woke totalitarian monsters of the current era.

    During most of this period, the United States managed to keep its head above water, and not succumb to the great temptation. Over the course of the twentieth century, however, and particularly in the twenty-first, a pernicious collectivist darkness spread itself over the North American land mass.

    One result of this phenomenon was an ideological convergence between the regimes in Washington, London, Brussels, Paris, and Berlin. In shockingly coordinated fashion, the “elites” imposed on their countries the mainstreaming of sexual deviancy; demoralization of the native population via importation of violent savages; erosion of the currency, causing rampant inflation; trampling of free expression; and finally, an attack on the biological integrity of the people via injections of poison directly into their bloodstream. A new dark age had truly descended on the West, in its entirety.

    This convergence enabled lockstep cooperation in yet another nightmarish project of destruction: the war in Ukraine. It was a NATO campaign, getting the band back together after the fiasco in Afghanistan. The war focused the wrath of the Left on the greatest sinner in Europe, the one major heterodox power standing in the way of the Woke state: Russia.

    The Muscovites had never been forgiven for their original sin, which was abandoning the socialist utopia of the USSR. Now they had the gall to beat up the Pussy Riot harridans, eject the NGOs, ban trans this-and-that, and proudly celebrate their national and religious heritage. All of these moves were unpardonable, and stood in need of severe punishment.

    But things didn’t go as planned. Russia, though suffering, emerged stronger than ever from the conflict. And now, America has abandoned the coalition of the Woke. Keir Starmer’s comrades in Washington, that miserable assortment of lunatics who ran the country into the ground prior to the inauguration, no longer control the money and munitions spigot.

    Now the deranged European leadership is engaging in one last attempt to escalate the Ukraine war into the final cataclysm, which this time will incinerate the continent. They would gladly drop all pretense to benevolence as they obliterate everyone and everything, including themselves, in an orgy of devastation that would make all previous wars look like a schoolyard brawl. This would accomplish their one overriding goal: end Western civilization, once and for all.

    Luckily, the material and financial means for success are absent. But don’t ever underestimate the Left. What they lack in practical tactical thinking, they make up in ruthlessness.

    The solution is for a segment of Europe’s ruling class to defect to the Trumpian revolution, and take the helm of their governments. If this cannot be achieved, we might see a different band getting back together: The USA and Russia joining forces, as they did in World War II, to expunge a malignant cancer from the heart of Europe. A possible scenario: roll the tanks into Brussels, and rip the Eurocrats from their desks like the Israelis clearing Hamas out of their tunnels.

    ​Perhaps we will be fortunate, and the madness can be stymied by cutting off the money; economic and diplomatic pressure; U.S. withdrawal from NATO; etc. But we can never be sure what will happen as long as the inmates are running the asylum. Drastic measures might one day be necessary to eliminate one of the greatest threats to peace the world has ever seen.
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    The Prophet of Peak Leftism

    Globalists Marxism Russia
    Zelensky is not a politician, nor is he the leader of a country, in the usual sense of the term. His role is much different: He is a holy man, a prophet. He is the personification, the living symbol, the messianic incarnation of Peak Leftism in its gnostic twenty-first century form. And, as befits the current era, he is obnoxious, ruthless, vulgar, and kitsch. This is the man the Left has been fawning over these past ten years. It could not have been scripted any better.

    If you threw Adam Schiff, Hunter Biden, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Bolton, King Charles, and Klaus Schwab into a blender, ran it on high, stuck it in the freezer, and pulled it out a week later to thaw, out would pop Zelensky, already dressed in his cheesy imitation Che Guevara outfit.

    The prophet may have overplayed his hand at the White House, but in his mind, he is feathering his nest to prepare for the next stage of his career. Zelensky knows the Ukraine jig is up. The only play remaining may very well be to position himself as the ultimate Leftist hero, putting into the shade Greta Thunberg, the Just Stop Oil lunatics, the Pope, George Floyd, etc. When his regime crumbles, he will no doubt be wined and dined at all the hip places, with a first stop in Brussels to commune with the EU/WEF Kommisariat.

    ​    No, Mr. Trump, one cannot “negotiate” a “deal” with a prophet. When you are face-to-face with a claimant to the throne of the Left, it is either crush or be crushed. You are confronting a challenge to civilization that will never compromise.
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    Banish the Apparatchiks

    Language Marxism Media
    By now everyone has probably heard about the unfathomable stupidity and ignorance of “journalist” Margaret Brennan, host of CBS’s Face the Nation, who put forth a peculiar thesis about the Holocaust. In a February 16 interview with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, she expressed her horror that Vice-President JD Vance, in his visit to Germany, was meeting with representatives of “the far-right party known as the AfD.” To add to her dismay, Vance “was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide.”

    Just when you thought these neo-Marxist apparatchiks could not possibly be more biased, ignorant, and corrupt, they come up with something like this. But it’s par for the course, and no one should be surprised.

    The Trump Administration has announced measures to combat the Fake News industry. These include ethics probes by the FCC, cancellation of subscriptions, and elimination of privileges given to certain outlets at the White House and the Pentagon. This in addition to the ongoing elimination of Federal slush funds for Leftist organizations (such as the BBC), money that had been laundered via US AID and other channels.

    These are excellent first steps, but much more is needed. If the goal is to stop and reverse this malignant disease, we first need a more accurate diagnosis. As happens so often, the road to recovery begins with the use of correct terminology.

    Calling them the Mainstream media or even the Legacy media gives them credibility as news media. When Americans, particularly the older cohort, think of the press, we naively imagine hard-nosed reporters fighting organized crime or city hall, and otherwise serving the public, like this. But anything remotely resembling this quaint image ceased to exist years ago. The likes of CNN, the New York Times, Yahoo, CBS, the Washington Post, Associated Press, etc. are not news media. They are propaganda organs of the Leftist establishment; its public relations arm, if you will. They serve the same function as Pravda in the Soviet Union.

    We must stop referring to them as “the media,” of any kind whatsoever.

    There is no reason to have Soviet-style propaganda organs present at any government event, especially press conferences—which should be reserved for the press. Why on earth should these degenerates-in-a-suit be there, badgering the President (or some other official) with lies, distortions, and “gotcha” questions? Any “journalists” engaging in this practise should be forthwith excluded from the privilege of attending a press conference. Everyone has their personal biases, but shifty and deceitful Leftist behavior should not be tolerated.

    Instead, reserve these slots for legitimate producers of news. The internet is bursting at the seams with organizations and individuals who fit the bill. They are the real media, serving the public by providing useful information in an intelligent manner.

    The Trump Administration is cleaning house, eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse throughout Washington, DC. They are vigorously purging entrenched woke ideologues from all government institutions. There should be no exemption for the Deep State’s propaganda mouthpieces. Cut off the money and cut off the access. They can exercise their First Amendment rights from their mother’s basement.

    We began this post with the Nazis; let us end there: Allowing these fraudsters to be the filter through which millions of people receive information about the government would be like the Allied armies, after crossing the Rhine into Germany in 1945, appointing Joseph Goebbels as their press secretary.
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    The Autocoup

    American History Marxism Migration Politics
    When hysterical Leftists claim that President Trump and his associates are seizing power, or engaged in a coup d’état, in a sense they are correct. Over the course of the last century, the Deep State spread its tentacles into every nook and cranny of the Federal apparatus. On January 19, 2025, this entrenched Leftist administrative juggernaut was, for all practical purposes, the government of the United States. The president had become window dressing, a quaint relic of the bygone constitutional republic.

    So when Donald Trump & Co. asserted authority over the Executive branch, thinking that the elected president and his appointees are actually in charge of their agencies, they really were trying to overthrow the government. Let us not forget that “our democracy” is a codeword for the Deep State; the function of an election, as in the USSR, is for the People to show their love and affection for the legitimate rulers of the country, not—Lenin forbid—to replace them. How can you replace the true representatives of the People?

    And thus we have this bizarre coup d’état, where the president is seizing control of the presidency. We need a new word to describe this phenomenon. Autocoup? Retrocoup? Whatever it’s called, Trump really is overturning the established order.

    This situation produces a host of ludicrous scenes. As I watched one of the signing ceremonies/press conferences, this one featuring Musk, I thought to myself: Trump and Musk are taking a much-deserved victory lap after uncovering the tip of the iceberg of what may be the biggest fraud in the history of man. This is how a normal human being would view it. But the audience in the room is the White House press corps, mostly composed of “journalists” who are essentially propaganda attachés of the Deep State. Musk is taking away their rice bowl. To them, US AID is not subject to the authority of the president, rather it is an independent branch of the government; dismantling it would be akin to abolishing Congress.

    Trump could expose waste, fraud, and abuse until the cows come home, and the Left wouldn’t care a whit. If a thousand worthless bureaucrats and consultants inside the Beltway each have to pocket a million dollars so that the election of one conservative East European prime minister is nullified, so be it. This is how the U.S. government works. It is absolutely normal, standard operating procedure.

    And now we have low-level Federal judges ordering President Trump and his Cabinet to keep their hands off the agencies under their purview. This galactic level of chutzpah is the natural outgrowth of the judiciary’s illegal usurpation of power, growing in intensity for decades. Of all the genies that must be stuffed back into the bottle, this is one of the most urgent.

    I cringed when I heard Trump say, at the aforementioned press conference, that he would obey the judges, and appeal the rulings. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed this policy the following day. Did it ever occur to him that the President of the United States is not obligated to obey an illegal order conjured up in the feverish mind of a Leftist lunatic? If a judge tomorrow rules that Trump cannot speak with world leaders, or that the White House staff must all appear in public with ice cream cones protruding from the top of their heads, would he obey that as well? What is the limit of this farce?

    The Administration is going to appeal?! Does Trump not realize that in the eyes of the Left, he just surrendered to the authority of the Deep State? Does he not remember that his first administration was neutered in the same manner?

    This cannot be allowed to stand. Where’s our new Attorney-General Pam Bondi, that supposedly tough-as-nails supergirl? Oh, she’s busy bringing lawsuits against governors and other top officials of states (most recently New York) that are sabotaging the Administration’s enforcement of the law against illegal aliens.

    What is it with conservatives and lawsuits? For goodness sake, we are dealing here with criminals. Appoint a prosecutor, and slap on the handcuffs. The state officials are clearly engaged in obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting a felony, and the judges are fomenting insurrection. These apparatchiks must be behind bars, pronto. Otherwise, the autocoup may fail, and Trump will have little else to do but attend MAGA rallies and rearrange the furniture in the White House.

    In summary, I will repeat the words of Curtis Yarvin that I quoted in my post of 1/20/25:

    “Progressives do not believe in the American system of government, only in power. Conservatives do not believe in power, only in the American system of government. Therefore, progressives always win and conservatives always lose.”