We have already mentioned that one of the universal traits of all socialist regimes is the eclipse of the transcendent, or better put, the relocation of the transcendent to an immanent source — usually the State.
One implication of this is the elimination of the cultivation of the sense of the individual for the counter-cultivation of the populations sense of the Borg or the hive. This is especially true in socialistic regimes of the Fascist variety since Fascism is not interested in setting fellow citizens at odds through class warfare but rather desires to create a national identity where all classes are lost in their sense of belonging to a ethnicity or a nation. Since the Transcendent has been re-located in the immanent State, and since the State thus becomes the mega-phone of the Rousseauian ‘general will’ all concepts of individualism get lost in the sense of belonging to that which is Transcendent and is speaking as the voice of God. Individuals thus become either cogs in the machine (rational enlightenment version) or organs in the living breathing community (romantic enlightenment version).
There arise from this several implications. First, the nation, or people (ethnos) and even its culture is identified with the State. Any attempt to make distinctions between the country and the Government is completely lost since the State becomes the apex incarnation of the country. Now with the State becoming the apex incarnation of the country what normatively follows in successful socialistic systems is the rise of dynamic individual leaders who themselves become the living representative of the State. So, culture, ethnos, society, and country become exactly equated with the State. The State becomes a Nationalistic incarnation and it produces a dynamic larger than life leader who becomes the incarnation of the State, with the consequence that the leader is the visible manifestation of the State and the people. The leaders becomes the proverbial Queen Bee and all live to serve her and by serving her the hive is served.
Second, since the Transcendent is located in the collectivized Volk and since the mind of the Volk (general will) is known through the State, there is no salvation outside the State. In socialistic systems, it is the case that, ‘in the State one lives and moves and has their being.’ Individualism in this system is not merely an oddity but rather it is rebellion against God and so is a threat that must be removed.
Third, since the true Transcendent has been lost for an immanent transcendent there is no means by which a socialist state can be adjudicated short of implosion. Any other Transcendent that would arise to challenge the immanent transcendent of the State could only arise by means of some kind of individualism and as we have seen that individualism is immediately crushed.
Fourth, in Socialistic systems truth is normatively arrived at by way of consensus as opposed to the way of open debate or conflict. Conflict would be a threat to the idea of one universal general will and so truth is moved towards incrementally and is always cloaked in the idea of societal consensus. The only exception to this would be is when the State desires to demonize some faction within a society. At this point the purpose of introducing conflict into the general will would be in order to expose the minority opinion to mockery and castigation, thus serving the agenda of strengthening the State.
Now, we move to inquire whether or not any of this is relevant for America in 2008. What is interesting about this in terms of America is the way that we have arrived at some of our socialistic (and even Fascistic) leanings. Take for example the issue of individualism. What the Sate has done here to eliminate genuine individualism is to promote spurious individualism. In America over the last 75 years or so the State has worked very hard in breaking down every other covenantal institution besides the State, all in the name of individualism. Both family and Church have suffered in order to give the individual more ‘freedom.’ The consequence of this action though has not been more individualism but rather more Borg like sameness. With the increasing eclipse of these other God ordained covenantal institutions (Family and Church) — institutions that largely help in defining who we are as individuals — all that has been left, institutionally speaking, in order to provide contextual background in order for people to define themselves against, is the State. This in turn has resulted in people who are all being individual in exactly the same Borg like fashion.
In America the pursuit of Socialism has been largely accomplished through the Government schools. The Government schools have never had the purpose of educating children. The purpose of Government schools has always been to create a unified citizenry, who, because they have been taught a common anti-Christ narrative, all have a common anti-Christ purpose. The schools have always been socialistic in their desire to create a Borg culture, and as B.K. Eakman (The Cloning Of The American Mind) and others have pointed out the government schools are getting even more proficient at creating the mind of Borg.
So, we would have to say that, especially beginning with New Deal (yes, you can go further back then that even) legislation, that gave more and more power to the State, often in the name of securing the rights of individuals, and with the accelerated efficiency of Government schools in creating a common mind (school to work programs, no child left behind, values clarification, outcome based education, etc.) America largely has a socialistic mindset and ethos. By emphasizing the individual the individual has been eliminated.
Now there is another twist in the way America expresses its socialism and that is how it is managing to build a mono-culture (one Volk, one people, one nation) by appealing to multicultural categories. Most Americans believe that the pursuit of multi-culturalism would be proof positive that we are not a Socialistic people. What they don’t realize is that the cultural / societal solidarity that is being shaped in America is being shaped precisely because we are, as a people, unified in the way we approach multi-culturalism. We are agreed that all gods and all cultures are acceptable as long as they are privatized and know their place and will not seek to arise above the unitarian safety that comes in belonging to the State. In other words, all religions and cultures are welcome in our socialistic arrangement as long as the adherents don’t really take them with any great seriousness. I would also have to say that in this way we are far more Fascist in our socialism then we are Marxist. The goal seems to be to create a bond that reaches across class distinctions in order to build an America that desires to extend its multi-cultural nationalism, internationally. By emphasizing multi-culturalism we have arrived at a Borg like mono-culture.
Another oddity reveals itself in one of the places where this socialistic mindset and ethos is most clearly revealed. Today, it is in the Church, of all places, that one reaps some of the severest consequences for trying to bring an alternate Transcendent to adjudicate the Culture. So many Christians have bought into the Socialistic mindset that we are speaking of here that any attempt to unwrap the flag from the Cross is seen as heresy and gives reason for shunning. The Christian faith has largely been enrolled in the fight to export American multi-cultural Fascistic socialism. Any doubt of this is immediately eliminated where a challenging word is spoken against the current Warfare-Welfare State.
The reality that the State, in this country, is seen as the incarnational apex of the people and that all distinctions between country or people and State have been lost is revealed in the way that politics has become our Theology. This shows that we have lost a true transcendent and are socialistic. The reason that Americans fight so desperately over Politics is that we understand that whoever controls the State gets to define what the country is, and it has gotten to the point that most Americans don’t even realize that there should be a distinction between country and State.
We could go on to speak of how Americans increasingly identify with the Great leader (President). We could talk about the social ostracization that occurs when people color outside the socialist lines. We could talk about the preference for consensus in this country and the current lack of tolerance for conflict and passionate debate as a means to arriving at truth. (This has not always been the case in America.) All of this points to the reality that we are, at the very least, a Socialistic people.