Statism

Statism is the belief that the civil government (or man via civil government) is the ultimate authority in the earth and as such is the source of law, morality, and righteousness (that which is right and wrong).^[1] Statism has manifested itself in different ways throughout history, and can be expressed through democratic and non-democratic governments alike.

Philosophical foundations[edit]

A statist government treats its political sovereignty as a platform for moral sovereignty. In other words, as ultimate sovereign, the state is therefore not subject to God, the Bible, natural law, or any other religion or ethical system. A statist government need not be accountable to its own citizens.

The philosopher Georg Hegel described the state as "God walking on earth".^[2] In other words, as the state is the ultimate power in life, it assumes the status of God and can do as it pleases. This line of thinking influenced the political thought of atheist Karl Marx. From the perspective of society at large, this attitude was summed up by William Marina as:

The significant question is: Why do a large number of people come to believe that only through increased state intervention can justice be achieved? To a great extent this belief is due to the overwhelming acceptance of the state as the source of value and law. Society not only looks for solutions within the paradigm defined by the state, but also find it difficult to consider the view that statism is a the heart of the problem.^[3]

Examples of statism[edit]

Most often, statism is manifested by governments that create laws which overrule the moral precepts of the Bible. These laws can be manifested in any given field, with three examples being politics, economics, and education. Election rigging and restrictions on free speech against the state are two examples in the political arena. Statism in the economy is realised through a range of measures, including state-controlled enterprises and monopolies, the setting of unjust taxation rates, and central planning of the economy. Since the 19th century, statism has also made its presence felt in the field of education. This has occurred through government schooling, state accreditation of universities, and laws that control or outlaw homeschooling.

While statism is usually entrenched in the civil realm (to greater or lesser degrees), its more extreme forms expand into other realms, such as the spiritual. A statist country can make religions illegal, on the basis that the state has the right to rule over religion, and not vice versa. The extent of statism in a given nation is enshrined in its Constitution, which can either establish it, protect it, or limit it. Where a Constitution places few limits on the scope of the civil government, it can give rise to totalitarianism or fascism.

Pushed to its logical conclusion, statism implicitly entails worship of the state in place of God (or as a god). This practice was common to pagan cultures such as the Roman Empire, which demanded worship of the emperor as sovereign. As Christians worshiped God instead of the emperor, this meant that God was sovereign over the state (and not vice versa). Since this position was antithetical to pagan statism, Christianity was illegal for some time during the Roman Empire, with many Christians put to death during the rule of the emperor Diocletian.

Support for statism[edit]

Support for statism exists more commonly among liberals than conservatives. Non-partisan lobby groups can also reveal their statism by campaigning for more "government leadership"^[4] on a given matter. This style of language assumes that the civil government has the best means of addressing the issue. It also gives an invitation to the state to increase its role in the everyday affairs of society.

Opposition to statism[edit]

In the BIble, Acts 5:29 states "...we must obey God rather than men". This puts limits on the ultimacy and sovereignty of the state. A statist approach to government has also been opposed by a range of groups, including laissez-faire capitalists, libertarians, anarchists, and objectivists.

Objectivists have stated:

R.J. Rushdoony noted:

Quotes[edit]

• Ronald Reagan famously said, "The ten most dangerous words in the English language are "Hi, I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."
• Thomas Jefferson said "If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so."
• Among conservatives, libertarians and anarchists, "The State" referred to in "Statism" is big government that derives its power through coercion via the threat of violence. According to conservative libertarian pundit Stefan Molyneux, "The idea that The State is capable of solving social problems is now viewed with great skepticism - which foretells a coming change. As soon as skepticism is applied to the State, the State falls, since it fails at everything except increasing its power, and so can only survive on propaganda, which relies on unquestioning faith."^[8]

Examples of statist nations and regimes[edit]

• People's Republic of China
• North Korea
• Venezuela

See also[edit]

• Statist
• Police state - Nanny state - Welfare state
• Dictatorship
• Progressives
• Socialism
• Totalitarianism
• Atheist deification of politics
• American defense against statism is Second Amendment Defenders: Gun Owners of America, National Rifle Association and Second Amendment Foundation
• Gun control
• John O. Brennan
• List of celebrities against Second Amendment
• National Firearms Act of 1934
• Gun Control Act of 1968
• Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1994

References[edit]

v • d • e Communism Topics Abolish ICE • Atheism and communism • Belt and Road Initiative • Bernie Bros • Biden/Harris domestic policy • Biden/Harris regime foreign policy • Biden/Harris regime propaganda apparatus • Biden Junta • Biden Putsch • Big Tech • Black bloc • Black liberation theology • Build Back Better • CCP propaganda war • Center for Tech and Civic Life • Chan Zuckerberg Initiative • CHAZ • Chinese Cold War • Cloward-Piven Strategy • Cold War I • Communism • Community organizing • Comintern • Coronavirus • Critical theory • Critical race theory • Cultural Marxism • Defund the Police • Democide • Democrat plantation • Democrat urban issues • Direct action • DNC • Doctrine of inevitability • Environmentalism • Feminism • Ferguson riots • Forced abortion • For the People Act • Frankfurt School • Front organization • Green New Deal • Individual mandate • Iron Curtain • Juche • Liberal hate speech • Long March through the institutions • Maoism • Marxism • Marxism-Leninism • Medicare for All • National Liberation Movement • New Left • No cash bail • Obama administration • Obama riots • Obamunism • Occupy Democrats • Occupy Wall Street • People's Republic of China • Progressive • Rectification • Rules for Radicals • Socialized medicine • Stalinism • The 1619 Project • The Squad • Trotskyism • U.S. Color Revolution • Vanguardism • Venona project • War on Freedom • War on Sovereignty • White privilege • Wolf warrior diplomacy • Young mass murderers • 1983 United States Senate bombing • 2020 Democrat issues • 2020 Leftwing riots • 2020 Voter fraud timeline • 610 Office • People Saul Alinsky • Jacinda Ardern • Bill Ayers • Karen Bass • Ian Bassin • Xavier Becerra • T.A. Bisson • Richard Blumenthal • Chesa Boudin • Muriel Bowser • Kathy Boudin • Rosa Brooks • Earl Browder • Cori Bush • Fidel Castro • Nicolae Ceausescu • Konstantin Chernenko • Chou En-lai • Judy Clark • Patrisse Cullors • Carl Davidson • Angela Davis • Frank Marshall Davis • Walter Duranty • Jenny Durkan • Keith Ellison • Friedrich Engels • Linda Evans • Jane Fonda • Kim Gardner • Alicia Garza • David Gilbert • Nils Gilman • Antonio Gramsci • Che Guevara • Tom Hayden • George Jackson • Ho Chi Minh • Erich Honecker • Enver Hoxha • Noel Ignatiev • Rev. Jim Jones • Van Jones • Kim Il-sung • Kim Jong-Il • Kim Jong-un • Joseph P. Lash • Barbara Lee • Vladimir Lenin • Mao Zedong • Nicolás Maduro • Herbert Marcuse • Karl Marx • Michael Moore • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez • Ilhan Omar • David Plouffe • Jen Psaki • Ayanna Pressley • Pol Pot • Susan E. Rice • Paul Robeson • Susan Rosenberg • Assata Shakur • Joseph Stalin • Eric Swalwell • Rashida Tlaib • Opal Tometi • Leon Trotsky • Dalton Trumbo • Xi Jinping • Yang Jiechi Deep State John Abt • Solomon Adler • Josef Berger • Joe Biden • Bill de Blasio • John Brennan • Frank Coe • Judith Coplon • Lauchlin Currie • Anita Dunn • Eric Garcetti • Tashina Guahar • Kamala Harris • Alger Hiss • Mary Jane Keeney • Charles Kramer • Trude Lash • Owen Lattimore • Lori Lightfoot • Harry Magdoff • David Niles • Barack Hussein Obama • J. Robert Oppenheimer • Victor Perlo • Samantha Power • Susan Rice • Bernie Sanders • Nathan Gregory Silvermaster • Michael Whitney Straight • Cass Sunstein • Sylvester Turner • Henry Wallace • Bill Weisband • Harry Dexter White • Media CBC • CCTV • CGTN • CNN • Global Times • MSNBC • National Guardian • New Masses • New York Times • NPR • PBS • People's World • Political Affairs • Snopes.com • Washington Post • Wikipedia Victims Alexander Alekhine • Horace Lorenzo Anderson • Philip Anderson • Atheistic communism and torture • Ashli Babbitt • Berlin Wall • Davell Gardner, Jr. • Black Genocide • Cambodian genocide • Communist racism • Communism and religious persecution • Cultural Revolution • CCP global pandemic • Aaron Danielson • Dayton nightclub shooting • Death toll of communism • Doctor's plot • David Dorn • Michael T. Flynn • Davell Gardner, Jr. • Jake Gardner • Falun Gong • James V. Forrestal • Eric Greitens • Great Purge • Holodomor • Hungarian uprising • Jonestown Massacre • Katyn Massacre • Lee Keltner • Kulaks • Kuomintang • Li-Meng Yan • Mark McCloskey • Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty • Andy Ngo • Carter Page • George Papadopoulos • Prague Spring • Kyle Rittenhouse • Roger Stone • Michael Strickland • Tacoma suicide bomber attack • Three Years of Disasters • Tiananmen Square massacre • Bernell Tremmell • Secoriea Turner • Patrick Underwood • Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation Organizations ACORN • ActBlue • Adbusters • Alliance for Global Justice • Antifa • Black Lives Matter • Bohai Harvest RST • Brand New Congress • Center for American Progress • Chinese Communist Party • Code Pink • Committees of Correspondence for Democratic Socialism • Communist Party of Cuba • Communist Party USA • Congressional Progressive Caucus • Democracy Defense Nerve Center • Democratic Socialists of America • Dominion Election Systems • Electronic Frontier Foundation • FARC • FMLF • Green Party • Left Inside/Outside Project • IPS • Justice Democrats • Liberation Road • Media Matters • MoveOn.org • National Lawyers Guild • NEA • New Consensus • NextGen America • Nike, Inc. • OFA • Our Revolution • Party for Socialism and Liberation • PFLP • PKK • Priorities USA • Refuse Fascism • Revolutionary Communist Party • Rosemont Seneca • Sandinistas • São Paulo Forum • Socialist Alternative • Socialist Unity Party • Sunrise Movement • Thousand Currents • Transition Integrity Project • United Front Work Department • Workers' Party of Korea • Workers World Party • 50 cent army Defunct organizations ANSWER • Armed Forces of National Liberation • Black Panther Party • Communist Party of Great Britain • Communist Party of the Soviet Union • Democracy Integrity Project • FLQ • Khmer Rouge • League of American Writers • League for Industrial Democracy • M19CO • New Party • NION • Peoples Temple • Progressives for Obama • Red Brigades • Socialist Unity Party (East Germany) • Students for a Democratic Society • Symbionese Liberation Army • Union of Soviet Socialist Republics • Viet Minh • Weather Underground