New substack out on localism, subsidiarity, freedom, and power:
https://apexsnotes.substack.com/p/what-does-it-mean-to-be-free

Highlights in thread below:

Democracy on a sufficiently large scale is nothing more than a system in which elites propagandize the people to support their elite interests and legitimize those interests through “the will of the people” as expressed through voting.

Democracy simply launders coercion through claims to authority/legitimacy. It does not radically shift pre-existing power dynamics, it just obfuscates them. Power does not dissipate, it re-structures itself to take advantage of this new decision-making/authority-granting process.

But the need for freedom isn’t just in the realm of government. Government is not the only “coercive” entity. Whether you are ruled by sociopathic eggs-in-suits in Washington D.C. or NYC and Silicon Valley, it doesn’t matter. A corporate bootlicker is still a bootlicker.

A major benefit of localism is accountability/responsibility. Bureaucracies can’t grow to as excessive of sizes when they’re kept on a local level. It is more clear who is responsible for what. And when something goes wrong, we know who to blame. There is, ahem, skin in the game.

The greatest tragedy of our world is that, lost in the endless array of kafkaesque bureaucracies and narrative-forming entities, it isn't even clear who to blame! Who should I be mad at? "The Man"? That's meaningless.

Accountability is always critical, but becomes even more important as you get more federal/distant in governance. Responsibility cannot be allowed to be obfuscated amongst a bureaucracy of endless, faceless cogs (human and non-human).

Certainly, the most democratic thing you can do in a highly federalized and complex system is make it clear who should be gui**otined when things go wrong.

Power is the material ability to command action from others.

Authority is the moral right to command action from others.

One can centralize decision-making through the centralization of authority, without necessarily centralizing material power to as much of an extent.

Freedom does not exist when material power is concentrated and decision making is solely formally distributed to the people, allowing an oligarchy to launder their interests through the legitimization scheme of “voting” (making them the *real* decision makers anyways)

Freedom exists when material power is distributed, and all decision makers in the polity are visible/de-obfuscated and able to be held accountable.

Accountability demands de-obfuscation and a distribution of power. Without accountability, institutions gradually crumble and people tear each other apart. https://twitter.com/apex_pl/status/1331713946533965824?s=20