A History Of Anti-Politics

September 25, 2020 1:01 PM

In a new video, Carlos Maza discusses the history and impact of something he calls "anti-politics" - the campaign to demonize the government as a threat to liberty in order to increase corporate power while disguising it. (SLYT)

Maza discusses the birth of the modern evolution of the concept as part of corporate attacks on 20th century unionism, and how the concept uses elements of the American mythos to demonize government while concealing the aspects of corporate power that serve to harm people, in the name of "freedom".

posted by NoxAeternum (1 comment total)

Something that ties into this that I think a lot about is the idea on the Right and the Left that government is an entity apart from people. Perhaps my thinking is colored by growing up the child of civil servants, but in my mind government and people are intertwined. The State is just people. The faceless bureaucrat could be your neighbor. The House of Representatives was originally designed in a way where you could actually know your House rep, even if only in passing. If we can wrap our heads around the idea that the people in government are often real people who are often just like us—maybe not those in higher office, but certainly the faceless bureaucrats and the people at the DMV, or on the City Council, it would go a long way to getting people to engage with politics.
posted by SansPoint at 2:33 PM on September 26, 2020 [7 favorites]