Thursday, September 03, 2009
Sustainability, the New Marxism [George Leef]
Peter Wood and Ashley Thorne do a superb job of exposing the latest academic fad, sustainability, in this article.
Sustainability is a lot like Marxism. It calls for totalitarian powers to ward off something really, really bad. Marx tried to scare people with the prospect of "the immiseration of the proletariat." The sustainability zealots try to scare people with the prospect of ecological and economic collapse. Both call for a supremely powerful state that will do the good things necessary to stave off disaster.
Mencken's pithy comment about the endless procession of hobgoblins used to frighten people into giving up their liberty comes to mind.
09/03 03:42 PM
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