The Ron Paul Institute’s Daniel McAdams has penned an entertaining essay about his experience at the local grocery store in the midst of the pandemic. Specifically, it’s his observation of how every employee has transformed into a low-level authoritarian functionary eager to bark orders, deliver threats, and mete out punishment. Read it here.
I’ve also noticed this phenomenon at the store I frequent. Getting compulsively eyeballed by every mask-and-glove wearing, aerosol spraying employee in order to ensure I obey the 6-feet rule while I shop isn’t pleasant. I have a theory of why authoritarianism has been the rule, rather than the exception throughout history, and why it has sprung up with enthusiastic support by the entire population: people love the sense of purpose that authority gives them. They feel important, like they matter in some deep, cosmic sense. People also love to obey authoritarian diktats, and love to shame and snitch on others who don’t do as they do. If you think about it, it’s amazing that even a modicum of liberty has ever existed at all.
