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Jim Kalb's surprising lucidity (not in his surprising ability, but in his ability to so clearly delineate our surroundings) in exposing liberalism which is so shrouded in layers of camouflage, is at work once again on pages 127-128 of his book The Tyranny of Liberalism. I hate to write too many direct quotes from the book, since I think it is required reading for all conservatives (and liberals, since Kalb believes, generously, that liberals can be "saved" although I'm more skeptical), and the quote below might convince people to get the book.
Here is what Kalb writes on liberal tyranny in America (and I would say in Canada also) under the section "The Reality of Liberalism" (pp126-132). Below is a short excerpt of a paragraph from pp.127-8:
There are no secret police and few government spies in America. The judiciary is independent and private property generally safe. Trials are public and procedural safeguards observed. Elections with universal suffrage ensure that if voters at large feel seriously oppressed they can do something about it. Anyone can run for public office on any platform, and anyone can write or say what he wants without fear of prison or confiscation. Tenure protects scholars with unpopular and even conservative views. If the Amish want to live as such, they are allowed to do so, and the government is even willing to change the law to accommodate their rejection of social security and high school. Informal restraints on thought, expression, and action appear matched by similar restraints in other societies. Above all, life is comfortable, which was hardly the case in Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia. The differences between the American regime today and the regimes usually called tyrannical or totalitarian are obvious and fundamental. Critics used to complain that liberalism was relativistic and permissive. How can they now call it dictatorial?The fascinating section, only seven pages long, and about half way into the book, describes how "the advanced liberal state is...to a traditional tyranny what conquest is to common theft."
From: The Tyranny of Liberalism: Understanding and Overcoming Administered Freedom, Inquisitorial Tolerance, and Equality by Command
Addendum:
I have to add that I've got into the habit of reading the book in a coffee shop in close proximity to other coffee drinkers and their conversations (no, I'm not eavesdropping, but it seems that people don't mind exposing their thoughts in loud voices for all to hear). I did this initially as an excuse to get a large cup of Starbucks or Timothy's coffee. But later on, I realized that my surroundings (liberal society in a benign "institution" - the coffee house) really augment the urgency of the book. I just need to look around as I read the words to see reality at work.