June 28, 2017 - Rubin Report - Dave Rubin
03:39
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| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
| Monday was my 41st birthday and this helium inflated stormtrooper showed up at my door | ||
| and I couldn't possibly pass up the opportunity to use him as both a prop and a metaphor for | ||
| this week's direct message. | ||
| One of the ideas which keeps popping up in the discussions we're having around here is that old political labels are becoming more and more meaningless by the day. | ||
| The terms progressive and liberal have virtually nothing to do with each other anymore, and if you're a classical liberal, you're certainly not a leftist. | ||
| Conservative and Republican don't have much to do with each other today, as Trump, a populist who doesn't focus on social issues like gay marriage and legalizing marijuana, is now the leader of the GOP. | ||
| For these reasons, as well as the real time crumbling of our mainstream media, the battle for freedom now is between the authoritarians and the libertarians. | ||
| That is, the battle over the soul of America and the West in general is now about people who want the government to have more control over your life versus the people who want the government to have less control over your life. | ||
| I think that by now you probably know that I fall solidly in the camp of the people who want the government to have less control over how you live. | ||
| And that brings me to my friendly and trusty stormtrooper beside me. | ||
| In the original 1977 Star Wars, the Stormtroopers were the foot soldiers for the Galactic Republic, a massive evil military regime who wanted to control every star system in the galaxy. | ||
| This would qualify as authoritarian. | ||
| The Empire and the Stormtroopers were not keepers of the peace as the Emperor had promised, But authoritarian rulers who wanted to endlessly expand their power, hence their building of the Death Star to blow up any planet which didn't fall in line with their desires. | ||
| Blowing up a planet is a pretty good way to get people to do what you want. | ||
| Dare I talk about the prequels, but trust me, it works for this metaphor. | ||
| 2002's Star Wars Episode 2, Attack of the Clones, takes place about 20 years before the original Star Wars. | ||
| In this film, the Stormtroopers, at that time known as the Clone Troopers, were the good guys. | ||
| They allied with the Jedi in defense of the Democratic Republic. | ||
| Eventually, Chancellor Palpatine, who had consolidated power himself and secretly ordered the creation of the Clone Army, took control of the Stormtroopers and the Senate And use democracy against itself, at the same time going from Chancellor to Emperor. | ||
| In 2015's The Force Awakens, which takes place about 20 years after the original trilogy, the Stormtroopers are again the bad guys, this time in the form of the soldiers for the authoritarian First Order, which has risen from the ashes of the Galactic Republic. | ||
| One of the heroes of the story, Finn, is a stormtrooper gone rogue who suddenly realizes that he, as an individual, can chart his own destiny. | ||
| He puts his collectivist past as a stormtrooper behind him, and he becomes one of the heroes of the story. | ||
| The point of all of this is that it isn't this stormtrooper you should fear, it's the power which commands him. | ||
| Any ideology can be used as a force for good or for evil, and that's why we should be reigning in authoritarianism of any kind, even when it's your sort of authoritarianism in charge. | ||
| This whole metaphor took place in a galaxy far far away, but the lessons it presents are ones we can use right here on Earth. | ||
| Joining me to discuss authoritarianism vs libertarianism is author, professor and podcaster Thaddeus Russell. |
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