Slacker Fascism

Clicking around the Interweb Tubes this morning, I came across this polemic railing against the Japan's failure to confront its massive and growing debt. One point in particular grabbed my attention.

The DPJ’s poor election showing gave rise to a new crop of lawmakers. Rather than offering fresh ideas, many see the central bank as the answer ...

This isn’t change; it’s the same-old-same-old. For 20 years now, politicians have relied on the central bank to boost the economy. Never mind that Japan’s problems are more structural than monetary -- critics say the BOJ isn’t doing enough ...

With the benchmark interest rate at 0.1 percent, what can Shirakawa do? He could return to the quantitative easing of the early 2000s. He could buy loads of government and corporate debt, essentially monetizing the economy. He could leave the yen-printing presses on indefinitely ...

Any of these actions will take even more of the onus off politicians to do their jobs. Two decades after the bubble years ended, Japan still doesn’t know how to grow without massive government subsidies. BOJ moves to bail out the government will punt true change another five or 10 years down the road.

Emphasis mine. Over at The Liberator Today, there's this post that described how the Federal Government is cracking down on the hiring of illegal aliens, but is not deporting them. There's no real policy from the Administration on illegal aliens, just a crazy patchwork quilt of spastic responses. A coherent policy would require effort.

I just finished reading (listening to) Peter Hitchens' book The Rage Against God. In it, he responds to his brother's atheism and describes how Christianity was attacked in Soviet Russia and in his native England. He posits the theory that Christianity is under assault because it is the natural enemy of the State. You can't ship millions off to the Gulag in a Christian society without plenty of resistance. I've noodled that one around quite a bit and I just haven't been able to accept it. Let me suggest something different.

Slacker Fascism.

What all of these events have in common is that they're about avoiding effort and increasing pleasure in the near term. Instead of balancing the budget, the Japanese turn to their central bank and demand that it print money. Instead of developing a coherent immigration strategy, the Obama Administration spasmodically responds to various pressure groups. Christianity is opposed because it asks something of you.

Years ago, I read and loved Robert Bork's Slouching Towards Gomorrah. I need to dig it out and reread it. I would bet that it provides a pretty good summary of what we're seeing now.

Don't be so judgmental, man.