James Delingpole on communitarianism – a freedom-hating totalitarian philosophy like any other
Communitarianism is a freedom-hating totalitarian philosophy like any other (original: http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnists/james-delingpole/7045153/communitarianism-is-a-freedomhating-totalitarian-philosophy-like-any-other/) by James Delingpole, www.spectator.co.uk | June 25, 2011
‘The most unsettling aspect of modern politics is that the Enemy is no longer plain in view….
‘This nebulousness and insidiousness is precisely what makes communitarianism so much more dangerous than any of the other totalitarian philosophies I’ve just named…. it’s the defining ideological concept of our age — embracing everything from the puzzling leftishness of the supposedly ‘Conservative’ David Cameron to Australian farmers no longer being able to cut down trees on their land …, the Big Society, the EU, the UN, … my kids’ schools, Maurice Strong and the Rio Earth summit, to name but a few.
‘… one good example is the Localism Bill … which will give you, the people, more citizen power, supposedly. Except it won’t. What it will actually do is undermine one of the pillars of a free society: your property rights. By allowing ‘local people’ … to designate something a ‘community asset’ …
‘… One of the best primers I’ve found is a blogpost by an Alaskan called Niki Raapana, who neatly defines it as ‘a Dictatorship of the Community’…
He gives other examples of local communitarian policies.