Total State: How Liberal Democracies Become Tyrannies

by Auron MacIntyre

The Total State pulls back the veil on the new American authoritarianism and why the same system of liberal democracy we say we cherish may have led us to our present state

The modern United States is a nation full of censorship, lockdowns, riots, and political persecution. How did the land of the free become a surveillance state terrified of COVID and ruled by unaccountable bureaucrats? As a journalist, Auron MacIntyre witnessed firsthand the manipulation of news events, the bias of the press, and the relentless assault on truth during the Donald Trump presidency. Yet, it wasn't until the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 that his worldview was irrevocably shaken. The emergency measures and unchecked power wielded by authorities revealed a dark underbelly that defied the constitutional safeguards he had always believed in.
The Total State delves into the core of MacIntyre's ideological crisis, exploring the erosion of individual liberties in the name of public health and the new brand of American authoritarianism that revealed itself under a state of emergency.
Drawing inspiration from a diverse array of thinkers outside the mainstream, MacIntyre questions the narrative that has been ingrained in our political discourse. What if democracy doesn’t limit government but instead helps it to expand? What if the Constitution failed to restrain power as intended?
The Total State doesn't offer easy answers, but it poses essential questions about the trajectory of our nation. MacIntyre meticulously examines the forces that have shaped our current reality, urging readers to confront uncomfortable truths about the state of our democracy and individual freedom. This thought-provoking exploration is a call to action, encouraging readers to understand the roots of our present predicament and contemplate the challenging path forward.

Genres: Politics, History, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Political Science, Cultural, Sociology

208 pages, Hardcover

Published May 7, 2024

Reviews

[Bod · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant and very succinct book considering its scope. MacIntyre explained how and why "liberal democracies" morph into total/totalitarian states, and provided several contemporary examples from across the modern West and Anglosphere. He then dispelled culturally nostalgic, fantastical solutions, explained that "the only way out is through" and listed the three broad paths these societies can go down. I strongly recommend it to anyone with an interest in politics.

[Anda P · Rating 4 out of 5]

This explains much of what’s happening in the West. We live under a different kind of totalitarianism, a soft kind directed by a managerial class. His predictions about the break-up of the American empire were compelling. He argues that as central power crumbles, local regions will take up the services to fill the void. People will vote with their feet as they find areas that align with their values.

[Jason Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has been quite some time since I've read a book that rises to the level of a must-read (note: I've got a shelf/tag on Goodreads for those that make this list...), but this one fits squarely in that mold.

MacIntyre first rightly diagnoses our current crisis: the suffocation of all competing institutions by the sterile, all-encompassing, managerial bureaucracy he calls the Total State. Not the brutal, murderous, totalitarian dictatorships that manage to monopolize our conception of such a regime, but what Dreher rightly termed "soft totalitarianism" or the "pink police state."

The author further traces the inevitable rise of the total state, dipping into traditional conservative thinkers like Burnham and de Jouvenal but relying heavily also on lesser known reactionaries like Curtis Yarvin, from whom MacIntyre seems to have been influenced heavily (he refers to Yarvin's concept of 'the Cathedral' throughout and even has a chapter entitled "Chtulhu and the Total State).

Along the way he avoids the common pitfalls of most mainstream conservative thinking that our solution lies in a "return to the Constitution" or some other idyllic past (1950s, anyone?), but recognizes that the seeds of the total state were sown in the founding itself... that "liberal democracy made assumptions about human nature that were false."

He offers no simplistic solutions, merely observing in the final chapters that there is hope because the total state is 'doomed,' but that "the only way out is through." Like all true conservatives, he understands that pollyannish solutions are unhelpful and that the seeds of a new world must be sown with hard work, sacrifice, and patience.

[Mollie Osborne · Rating 5 out of 5]

"...[D]espite its impressive legacy, the US Constitution does not, and cannot, restrain the total state. The founding fathers were deeply inspiring, but the problem of tyranny has spread far beyond anything they envisioned." (pg. 160)

If you read only one political book this year, make it this one. It would make an excellent Father's Day gift. Read this book. Seriously.

[Brett Lindenfelser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Auron boils down complex concepts from many political thinkers into a concise and easily accessible read that is worthy enough to sit alongside works such as James Burnham's The Machiavellians and Neema Parvini's The Populist Delusion.

[Zachary Siegel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This gave me a lot to think about. A lot of the book is about "the managerial class" acting in concert toward self-serving objectives. A lot of the conclusions seem too far fetched, but the fundamental premise of the caste dynamic is interesting, and I'll be mulling it over for a while.

If you're someone who reads a lot about politics, it's worth looking at, but I don't have a glowing recommendation.

[noblethumos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Auron MacIntyre’s The Total State: How Liberal Democracies Become Tyrannies (2024) presents a critical examination of the transformation of liberal democracies into centralized, authoritarian regimes. Drawing from political philosophy and contemporary events, MacIntyre argues that an elite managerial class has systematically expanded its influence, leading to the erosion of individual liberties and the subversion of democratic institutions.


MacIntyre’s analysis is rooted in the concept of the “total state,” wherein the distinction between public and private spheres diminishes, allowing the state to permeate all aspects of life. He contends that this shift is not the result of overt conspiracies but emerges from the inherent dynamics of liberal democracies, which, in their pursuit of equality and security, inadvertently empower bureaucratic elites. This process, he suggests, has been accelerated by crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, during which state apparatuses expanded their reach under the guise of public health and safety.


A notable strength of the work is MacIntyre’s engagement with a diverse array of political theorists, including Carl Schmitt and James Burnham, whose insights into the nature of power and governance provide a theoretical foundation for his critique. By integrating these perspectives, MacIntyre offers a nuanced understanding of how managerial elites consolidate authority, often bypassing traditional democratic processes. His critique extends to the role of media and technology, which he argues serve as instruments for the dissemination of state-sanctioned narratives, further entrenching the power of the managerial class.


However, some reviewers have noted limitations in MacIntyre’s approach. For instance, a review in City Journal points out that while MacIntyre provides a dispassionate dissection of elite control over institutions, the book may benefit from a more empirical analysis of how these dynamics play out in specific policy areas. Additionally, the brevity of the work, as noted by Evangelical Dark Web, serves as both a strength and a weakness; while it offers a concise introduction to complex political theories, it may leave readers seeking more in-depth exploration of certain topics.


The Total State is a thought-provoking contribution to contemporary political discourse, challenging readers to reconsider the trajectory of liberal democracies in the modern era. MacIntyre’s synthesis of political theory and current events provides a compelling narrative about the rise of managerial elites and the potential decline of democratic governance. This work is particularly relevant for scholars of political science, sociology, and contemporary history, as well as for policymakers and citizens concerned with the preservation of democratic institutions.

GPT

[Nik Storm · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cogent analysis of what time it is.

[J Landon Light · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short, clear, and powerful explanation of how the West has become the Beast that it now is. MacIntyre explains the insights of thinkers like De Jouvenal, De Maistre, Francis, Mosca, Pareto, and Schmitt in terms readers without PoliSci degrees will understand, using current events to illustrate concepts like elite theory and managerialism. He also offers a sober prediction of how the Total State is failing and what we can do to hasten and survive its inevitable demise. This book will offer a friendly challenge to the thinking of most conservatives, who have largely adopted naive ideas in their righteous struggle against the Total State. Highly, highly recommended. Give it to all your normiecon friends.

[Charles Haywood · Rating 5 out of 5]

For many Americans, the Constitution is their spirit animal, which protects and guides them. Never mind that how we are ruled bears very little resemblance to the actual Constitution, or that the Regime pays no attention whatsoever to it, except as an inconvenient speed bump on their way to imposing complete Left dominance. Conservatives nonetheless eagerly chain themselves to the dead Constitution, even as its weight drags them under the waves while their enemies laugh. Auron MacIntyre here corrects this corrosive fantasy, writing a work of both political theory and practice, outlining how we are now held in the grip of what he calls the Total State, something most definitely not found in the Constitution.

This is actually an optimistic book, even if it does not appear to be one if you glance at the cover and title. MacIntyre, a popular writer and commentator who has risen to prominence on the Right in the past few years, in his own accounting once was blind but now he sees. It used to be said (incorrectly in retrospect, given the poison they injected into America) that a neoconservative was a liberal who had been mugged by reality. Such muggings by reality still take place, but they drive the affected individual into what is broadly called the Right—that group of people who see reality as it is. They are the awake, though not the woke, and MacIntyre wrote this book to open more eyes. It’s a successful effort, which ties many threads together in a punchy synthesis. Most of all it is a primer in understanding how we are ruled today—which means, whether the author intends it or not, it is also a primer in revolt against that rule.

America, to be sure, did not begin as a tyranny, much less the tyranny it is today. It was a golden experiment by a virtuous people, arguably poisoned at its inception by the so-called Enlightenment, but still, what resulted was one of the greatest nations ever seen on the Earth. Why, then, as we look around us today, is nothing as it should be, and as we were promised it both was and would be? We must turn to substantive analysis to understand, which is what MacIntyre offers, channeling many of the great political thinkers of the past hundred years, reweaving them for application to the present moment.

MacIntyre begins with a brief introduction narrating his own story, though this is not a book about him. His awakening came, as it did for so many others, during the Wuhan Plague, even if the ground had been richly prepared by bathing in the endless torrents of lies spewed forth by the Regime earlier, during Donald Trump’s first term. That awakening was on two levels, however. The first was grasping that controlling public perception had become everything in modern America, and truth was, quite literally, entirely irrelevant to our rulers. The second, deeper awakening was that the endlessly-heard claim that the Enlightenment had led to governments of reason, by the people, for the people, was ludicrous. Instead, it had led to an expansion of state power “to unprecedented levels, all while assuring the people that they live in an era of freedom unlike any that’s ever been experienced.” This is the Total State in a nutshell. The Constitution is dead; mourn it all you wish, but it is not rising from the grave, so you are wasting your time, and more importantly, your energies.

Not so long ago, as MacIntyre notes, this now-obvious truth seemed insane, or at best, the claim of cranks churning out mimeographed newsletters. I was a fully-fledged adult in the late 1990s, and as MacIntyre crisply outlines, at that time it seemed like America had permanently successfully balanced liberty with order. Certainly there was much in America that was undesirable, but those seemed like political problems, which could be solved by political organization under our benevolent, democratic ruling class. We had arrived at, as we were infamously and didactically lectured (though they now lie and say they did not say it), the end of history. Mass manipulation of public opinion did exist, but was not, or did not seem, all-pervasive. And the internet appeared as if it would alleviate the problems with central control of information, and lead to a new flourishing of the popular will, requiring the ruling classes to rule with the people’s needs in the forefront of their minds.

But it was all a mirage. Our elites ensured that the new technologies were instead used to require that everyone have an opinion, but that those opinions stayed within approved bounds, on pain of punishment through the new tools of control. Social opprobrium, online extinction, and the destruction of one’s livelihood became the price of not expressing the correct opinions, or, worse, expressing the wrong opinions. Unthinking and instant compliance became the price of admission to Gaetano Mosca’s elite—roughly twenty percent of any nation’s population, what may be called the ruling class, whose members make up both the leaders and foot soldiers of the Total State.

In this project of controlling the population to maintain power for the elite, “The dissemination of the narrative becomes the primary goal of each and every media outlet.” But today, no ham-handed central coordination by the equivalent of Gosplan, the Soviet coordinating body, is required. Those in the ruling class know what good people all think, and act in unison to reinforce that message and demand compliance. In a sense, what the elite believes are religious values (though as I have noted before, leftism is in no way a religion, even if it substitutes for many people for a religion, offering meaning in exchange for compliance). We are, therefore, today governed by a “decentralized atheistic theocracy,” with a clear set of absolutely required moral assumptions. The Floyd Riots and their associated demands for politico-religious groveling are the best recent example, but every day offers innumerable similar examples.

How did we get here, though, and why is where we are not obvious to everyone? After all, many still think this analysis is crazy, at the same time that from one day to the next they change their opinions on many matters as directed, most notably in recent days about the mental capacity of “President” Biden. MacIntyre begins by discussing, citing Bertrand de Jouvenal and others, the myth that prior to the modern era, power was centralized. Even in supposedly absolutist monarchies, this was very far from the case, because innumerable powerful social spheres and intermediary institutions sharply limited the power of the central government. But those desiring the Total State saw to it that all of those, from extended families to churches to local organizations of many types, each requiring personal commitment, have now been collapsed or destroyed. The state has seized their powers, “centralizing all duties and loyalties,” while assuring us that we are now liberated.

And in a way we are—for most of us, our freedom of action is greater, so long as we comply with the ever-expanding dictates of the state. (Ryszard Legutko, in his seminal The Demon in Democracy, aptly called this “coercion to freedom.”). The modern American state can and does demand vastly more from its citizens than any other state in history, “yet so long as this is done while freeing the individual from traditional social obligations, not only do its citizens not feel oppressed, they see themselves as liberated.” As Jouvenal said, this ends “in each man’s absolute freedom from every family and social authority, a freedom the price of which is complete submission to the state.” All are equal—that is, equally abased before the state. Society is atomized, except in its centralized control by the state. The state’s actions during the fake pandemic of the Wuhan Plague demonstrated this system in full flower. All individual freedoms were destroyed overnight. Our supposed system of individual rights and Constitutional government was no barrier at all; America was no different in practice than China, which makes no bones about its government being supreme over the people.

We then turn to the main target of this book (though I am not sure MacIntyre would agree it is the main target). Americans are constantly told that the Constitution is a unique document, derived from deep analysis of past problems in government, and one which solves those problems. If that is true, why has the Total State blossomed in all its rotten glory? MacIntyre describes Constitution-worship as something that “appeals to our modern sensibilities.” It makes us feel clever; it purports to put us in charge of our own destiny. We like to think that it, not men, will guard us forever from the dark forces that seek to harm us. Of course, anyone paying attention knows that the Constitution died a long time ago—at the latest, ninety years ago. What we are ruled by is some ever-changing bastard version of that document, filtered through human weakness, modern propaganda, the madness of crowds, Left ideology, feminization, and general lassitude.

MacIntyre points out that Mosca, in 1939, already identified America as having become an oligarchy operated by bureaucrats. The standard response is “America has checks and balances which prevent such a result, that’s genius!”, citing Montesquieu. But as MacIntyre observes, checks and balances are second-order representations of different social forces and spheres, not primary mechanisms that can exist in the abstract. Mass democracy destroyed these social forces and spheres, and made only one social force relevant—public opinion. Aristocratic and regional powers thereby lost the very high degree of control they had under the original Constitution. “Control of information and manipulation of public perception were now the only necessary levers of power.” (Only later does MacIntyre turn to Carl Schmitt, but his critique in the 1920s of parliamentarianism revolved in part around this point.) Power over “mass media, mass education, and mass bureaucracy” becomes all that matters, and the only group that can do that is “monied and managerial interests,” not traditional aristocratic and regional powers, who have been stripped of all influence.

What resulted is an oligarchy, as those interests accrued all power to themselves. Separation of powers is today a myth, because all branches of government derive their power from public opinion, which is manipulated by our puppet masters. Nor did the Bill of Rights prevent this result—as Joseph de Maistre noted, laws are downstream of what a people believes, what their character and culture is, and if they can be brought to believe something different, if their character and culture can be changed, laws are irrelevant. “How can any moral truth be self-evident unless the people who are observing it share the same value system?” Proceduralism, which is all that the Bill of Rights is, is the death of real law, but it wears law as a skin suit.

We next turn to an analysis of why classical liberalism, another favorite of “muh Constitution” so-called conservatives, did not save America from the cancer of the Total State, but rather helped to birth it. Here MacIntyre relies heavily on Schmitt (of whom I am a great admirer). He pointed out that liberalism tried to obviate the friend/enemy distinction by reducing areas of competition and conflict—that is to say, by collapsing all social spheres into the state, which necessarily expands to monstrous proportion, as we have already seen. Worse, this is not an actual tradeoff; it is impossible to eliminate the friend/enemy distinction. Instead, the state “seeks to become the only entity with the authority to define the terms of the friend/enemy distinction for an ever-expanding ideological empire. Those who serve to strengthen the power of the state are friends, while those who seek to compete with it or restrain it are the enemy.” State neutrality, and neutral institutions, are a myth. Every group has an ethos, and because all intermediary institutions have been destroyed in the Total State, all that matters for politics, and for the friend/enemy distinction, is the ethos to which those who make up the state are loyal, an ethos necessarily derived from “interests, groups, and moral visions.“ No domain may any longer be neutral with respect to politics. All that classical liberalism, rebranded as “liberal democracy,” succeeds at doing is diffusing responsibility. Sovereign indeed is he who decides the exception, but no one individual can be located as sovereign, despite that exceptions are continuously decided and imposed on the populace. We are then endlessly told this dispersed tyranny, in which we have no actual voice, is “our sacred democracy.”

MacIntyre is careful to note that while the term “total state” conjures up past totalitarianisms, or George Orwell’s 1984, we live in a different type of total state—one with a “decentralized consensus-manufacturing apparatus.” This apparatus, aptly named the Cathedral by Curtis Yarvin, rules in part by terror, not by killing people but by choking off their livelihoods and social existence (the former was, of course, also the main control mechanism of Communism after the 1950s). The source of the totalitarian commands is necessarily more opaque; process replaces individuals as the face of power. A pretense of popular sovereignty is retained, while power is held by a shadowy group of public and private organizations, from the NSA to the New York Times to Harvard University (all of whom always agree on everything, giving the lie to the silly “marketplace of ideas“ so beloved of classical liberals).

This is, in the words of Vilfredo Pareto and Niccolò Machiavelli, a government of clever foxes, not of forceful lions. MacIntyre again uses the Wuhan Plague as the most recent exemplar of the ability to “exercise totalitarianism without accountability,” which in that case was greatly helped by modern technology. Such technology “not only allows these essential classes to remain propagandized and locked down for an extended period of time, [but also] facilitates the large-scale management of dissent.” Force, as used in Canada against the Freedom Convoy, is a last resort to dissent; it shatters the illusion. “The slower, more methodical approach of foxes proved to be more flexible and resilient than the aggressive application of centralized control by lions.”

To be sure, as was recognized by both Pareto and Machiavelli, government by foxes is self-limiting. It reaches the point of diminishing, then negative, returns—never more obvious than when force, the province of lions, becomes necessary. This includes both domestically and outside the state; no better modern example exists than the Regime’s total failure, over twenty years and trillions of dollars, in Afghanistan. Therefore, foxes depend on perennial material surplus, with which to buy their way out of trouble. But like any Ponzi scheme, this cannot go on forever.

Government by foxes was also the origin of the managerial elite, the preeminent technical governance mechanism of the Total State. Mass society, if it did not demand managerialism, certainly brought it forth. And its prophet was James Burnham, with whom every informed person on the Right is familiar today (although as I have written, I think his vision was incomplete in many ways). Managerialism leads to the further homogenization and centralization of society, and the blurring of the boundaries between government and corporate power. Mass consumerism, the acquisition of personal meaning through the consumption of goods, is necessarily beneficial to the managerial elite, further dissolving the bounds between corporation and state. The path to “success” becomes more and more exclusively through joining the managerial elite by climbing our new cursus honorum, required tertiary education that is wholly controlled by the Cathedral, and which indoctrinates ideologically as a precondition for advancement. The cult of so-called experts spreads its strangling tentacles everywhere. All this is directed toward compliance of the populace with the dictates of the elite—its aim is, simply put, to engineer subjects for the Total State.

“The Total State seeks to maximize efficiency and stability by exerting control in every domain of life within its ever-expanding borders. . . . The state must actively seek to shape the public and private lives of its citizens in order to homogenize influences that could introduce variance and instability.” Such shaping takes place at many levels and at many loci of control. But the bedrock opponent of the Total State, the power of which cannot be tolerated, is the family, as C. S. Lewis long ago presciently identified in The Abolition of Man. This is why destruction of the family has always been the first and most important goal of the Total State, followed closely by eliminating the ability of the non-elite citizenry to own hard property, especially housing and land, or to obtain sustenance other than through a salary which allows control. The middle class, whose members are outside the governing and non-governing elite, must be destroyed, at least to the extent membership marks independence rather than an income bracket. The middle class is now therefore effectively defined as “being able to afford subscriptions to Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max,” a focus which offers the double benefit of “relentlessly produc[ing] thinly-veiled propaganda for their consumers, manufacturing the illusion of limitless options while drowning the watcher in an ocean of cultural hegemony.” Naturally, borders and the idea of nations are anathema to the Total State. It would not be total otherwise. Cultural uniformity must be indefinitely extended in order to ensure control, even though that goal is impossible and self-defeating, as we see in the cascading failure of so-called liberal democracy around the world.

The perceptive reader is quick to see that . . . . [Review completes as first comment.]

[Negin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating. A lot to take in here.

Here are some of my favorite quotes.

Collapse of the Family
“In his book ‘On Power’, Bertrand de Jouvenel explains that it is the collapse of these competing social spheres that has allowed government to centralize and grow more totalitarian while making the individual feel more liberated. Historically, a large extended family was the norm, binding together children, parents, siblings, uncles, aunts, and cousins. Churches and other community organizations lent aid, but care for an ailing grandparent or destitute niece fell primarily on the family.
As the bonds that held together traditional societies wore away, the obligations that foundational communal institutions had once placed on the individual faded. Families shrank, church attendance fell, unions and civic organizations dissolved, and the individual was suddenly freed from these obligations. Even his residual duties, like caring for an ailing or destitute loved one, were largely transferred to the state. Insurance for the unemployed, medical care, social security, the supervision and education of children, all that used to burden the individual was lifted off of his shoulders. This is how a totalizing government has made unprecedented demands on its subjects without them feeling the squeeze.”

Covid
“Goalposts moved at warp speed. Governments that had crafted slogans like ‘fifteen days to slow the spread’ would now inflict years of draconian mitigation efforts. Many stopped even offering end dates for the measures—lockdowns could be of indefinite duration and were marketed as the new normal. Media outlets began churning out think pieces in which journalists, who could barely contain their glee, discussed how lockdowns could be used to address the impact of climate change once the pandemic had passed. Vaccine passports, a measure once mocked by most government and media figures as hyperbolic far-right scaremongering, were swiftly implemented in many countries and even some American cities. People were prohibited from flying, using public transportation, attending public events, going to restaurants, and in some places buying and selling without the appropriate documentation.”

The German Cat
“Yarvin uses the story of the German cat to help us understand what is taking place today. In the 1930s, there was a Jewish reporter living in Germany who had a subscription to a cat magazine. The magazine featured the kinds of articles you would expect: pieces about raising your cat, grooming your cat, what toys are best for your cat. Yet as the 1930s wore on, the magazine began to feature articles about ‘the German Cat’ and its superior loyalty and character. Eventually, it came to be dominated by such pieces. The point is that in the total state, no media is ever truly about its stated topic but is rather an opportunity to further state propaganda. The dissemination of the narrative becomes the primary goal of each and every media outlet. For anyone living in our current society, this should sound eerily familiar. Movies, novels, and even comic books are rife with political messaging. Political allegory and satire have always had their place in storytelling, but they have since come to dominate everything. Even children’s books are full of political propaganda. Roald Dahl, the author of many beloved children’s novels like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, has seen his work posthumously edited to remove ‘offensive terminology’ and insert new politically correct phrases. Sporting events and hobbies that were once famously apolitical, that served to bring together a divided culture, have become dominated by displays of political fealty by athletes who style themselves as activists.”

Taxes
“The modern state collects more in taxes than most regimes in history ever have.”

Three Laws of Politics
“The historian and poet Robert Conquest developed three laws of politics during his time as an academic lecturer: Everyone is conservative about what he knows best. Any organization not explicitly and constitutionally right-wing will sooner or later become left-wing. The behavior of any bureaucratic organization can best be understood by assuming that it is controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies.”



“… we are all conservative about the things we know best. A real estate mogul will take risks with a distant investment property that he would never take with the home where his children lay their heads. A banker will make a predatory high-interest loan to a stranger that he would not make to a friend. A politician is far more likely to allow the early release of criminals in a neighborhood whose streets he does not have to walk after dark. This may seem obvious, but it’s important to remember when we are talking about the scale of civilization. People are more conservative when they care about the things their decisions impact, when they are more likely to directly feel the costs of the risks they take. The author Nassim Nicholas Taleb calls this phenomenon ‘having skin in the game.’ Institutions usually have the clearest vision of their purpose at their founding because they’re still small enough to stay focused on why they were created. They haven’t yet acquired the levels of complexity that cause them to drift.”

Our Next Phase

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“The way through is not some glorious and sudden act of revolution, but the acceptance of responsibility and implementation of careful discipline. This is its own test. As Julius Caesar said, ‘It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience.’ Our next phase of civilization will select for a very different set of traits, and those who make it through will be those who deny themselves ease and luxury while actively choosing duty and responsibility. No one chooses to live at the end of an empire, but this is where we find ourselves. We must be the generation that plants trees we will not sit under, the generation willing to sacrifice for a better tomorrow. We must forge a future where true community thrives.”

“At the individual level, this means forming strong families, taking on the responsibility of caring for our loved ones, and sacrificing some degree of leisure for the duties that come with dependence. Churches will need to return to their status as central community institutions responsible for the charitable functions that have been assumed by the state. Communities will need to take on responsibilities that their regional governments may not have the resources to tackle. Cities and towns will need to take on the character of the America Alexis de Tocqueville admired in the early 1800s: a network of community associations created and maintained by hard-working and dedicated citizens willing to bind themselves together and better the lives of their neighbors. G. K. Chesterton said, ‘Men did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they had loved her.’ The same will be true after the fall of the total state. The communities that thrive will be those where citizens were willing to once again shoulder the burdens that maintaining civilization demands.”

What Matters is Local
“The actions that will matter most in the coming days are local and regional. The election of school board members, sheriffs, and county commissioners who understand what time it is and share the right values is far more important than the machinations of national political parties.
Consolidating local power that is capable of resisting the authority of the total state is essential. At first, regional governments will not be able to reject all aspects of centralized power, but they will gradually assume more and more autonomy as the total state decays. As we saw during the pandemic lockdowns, the disposition and competence of a regional government can have a massive impact.”

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book with a new perspective on many things.

The modern United States is a nation full of censorship, lockdowns, riots, and political persecution. How did the land of the free become a surveillance state terrified of COVID and ruled by unaccountable bureaucrats? As a journalist, Auron MacIntyre witnessed firsthand the manipulation of news events, the bias of the press, and the relentless assault on truth during the Donald Trump presidency. Yet, it wasn't until the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 that his worldview was irrevocably shaken. The emergency measures and unchecked power wielded by authorities revealed a dark underbelly that defied the constitutional safeguards he had always believed in.
The Total State delves into the core of MacIntyre's ideological crisis, exploring the erosion of individual liberties in the name of public health and the new brand of American authoritarianism that revealed itself under a state of emergency.
Drawing inspiration from a diverse array of thinkers outside the mainstream, MacIntyre questions the narrative that has been ingrained in our political discourse. What if democracy doesn’t limit government but instead helps it to expand? What if the Constitution failed to restrain power as intended?
The Total State doesn't offer easy answers, but it poses essential questions about the trajectory of our nation. MacIntyre meticulously examines the forces that have shaped our current reality, urging readers to confront uncomfortable truths about the state of our democracy and individual freedom. This thought-provoking exploration is a call to action, encouraging readers to understand the roots of our present predicament and contemplate the challenging path forward.

Found the rethink of founding fathers and how many of them were deists. I found myself agreeing with many of the statements like how did things get so homogenized? You do not need a full blow conspiracy if you have a common education and a false narrative machine. This amounts to giving everyone the same data inputs and having them come to similar conclusion and bingo they end up being on the same page and team.

Fromm American Conservative:
In his book The Total State, Auron MacIntyre gives a brief and effectual summary of this conservative resourcement, set against the backdrop of the events of 2020 and the author’s development from a Straussian/neoconservative view of the world into a more authentically conservative frame.

MacIntyre’s book tracks contemporary trends concerning managerialism, the increasing encroachment of politics into previously apolitical spheres, and the failure of the constitution to protect liberty with the writings of various past thinkers, who either saw the development of the same trends we see today or predicted them.

The final chapter of the book is its most intriguing. In it, MacIntyre likens modern conservative constitutionalism, particularly the notion of a “Convention of the States,” to a Lakota Ghost Dance, because of its futile attempt to summon the spirit of something essentially dead while appearing threatening enough to trigger a response. Much as the Ghost Dance at Wounded Knee was interpreted by U.S. soldiers present as an aggressive military action (precipitating a very one-sided battle), MacIntyre believes that constitutionalism will merely trigger a leftist crackdown while achieving nothing.


MacIntyre argues that no change in constitutional interpretation or wording can address either de Maistre’s Generative Principle of Political Constitutions, the control of left-wing elites over nominally apolitical institutions, or the tendency of democratic politics to become all-consuming and totalitarian.

MacIntyre holds e strategy of neoconservative-esque former liberals trying to return to an earlier iteration of liberalism as both futile and counterproductive. At the same time, he also condemns Caesarism, pointing out that a left-wing Caesar, such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt, would be more likely than a conservative given current elite ideological dispositions.
Instead, MacIntyre hopes and predicts the current regime will continue to reveal itself to have no clothes, and that authority will thus be returned to the local level as citizens look more to their governors than to Washington for competency, all while states gain greater confidence to nullify or outright ignore federal actions. MacIntyre does not view this as a perfect solution, as, after all, blue states will become even more liberal, but it will allow conservatives to promote a positive vision, and healthy policy, in their states and localities.

MacIntyre’s vision, though convincing at first glance, neglects the effects of immigration on state politics. Virginia, a former red state, now leans blue due to immigration. Likewise, though Missouri is still a red state, my time living in St. Louis highlighted the federal government’s ability to drop random groups of “refugees” in various parts of the country.

It is clear that the current plan of the left is, in the words of Bertolt Brecht, to simply “dissolve the people and elect another.” It is conceivable that these groups of immigrants, having the same ability to vote as America’s historical population, are being placed within Missouri to eventually turn it into a swing state or a reliably blue one. Thus, without further immigration restrictionism at the federal level, MacIntyre’s plan for re-localization is doomed.

Though he fails to radically shift the intellectual needle forward with his salvo, MacIntyre’s The Total State should be viewed as a timely primer and thorough introduction to elite theory, the intellectuals who orbit the space, and post-liberal politics at large, a role in which it succeeds greatly. Perhaps it would be a good gift for a Fox-News-watching relative who has never heard of de Maistre or Schmitt.

Bibliography:
On Power: The Natural History of Its Growth - Betrand De Jouvenel

Major Works - Joseph De Maistre

Leviathan and Its Enemies - Samuel T. FRancis

The Dark Enlightenment - Nick Land

The Abolition of Man - C.S. Lewis

The Ruling Class - Gaetano Mosca

The Concept of the Political - Carl Schmitt

Political Theology - Carl Schmitt

A General Theory of Collaboration - Curtis Yarvin

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[Stephen Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting political appraisal of the current situation from an ascendant minority position on the right. MacIntyre locates many of our political ills stemming from the collapse of important mediating social institutions like the family, the church, and other civic groups that used to provide valuable services to communities with greater care because of greater ties and proximity. However, with the decline of those institutions due to multiple factors, including the great social upheavals in the past 70 years, the state has taken the opportunity to fill the vacuum and consolidate its position through various forms of "soft" power, which sets up a different kind of totalitarianism than we are used to. This form of power is bolstered by the managerial class, which reinforces state power and undermines the legitimacy of norms and traditions which formerly were the bedrock of our society. They do this because their existence is predicated on creating homogenous societies, not only here but abroad as well, in order to produce maximal efficiency for their ends. Humans are no longer regarded as such, but just as widgets in an organized system controlled by a bureaucracy of people who have no tangible grasps of the communities they deal with. This is why cultural hubs, universities, and political institutions are staffed by large amounts of these managers or purveyors of the same kinds of ideologies to maximize conformity to their vision of the good, because dissent is, for one thing, inefficient. MacIntyre argues that the Constitution is not sufficient to protect America from this strangling noose of soft power, since it itself assumes a particular context and a kind of people who understand and respect the tradition it arises from, which the current power brokers and influential elites do not. Moreover, the Constitution has no internal measures to check this complex bureaucratic growth and operation because it never was intended to stop something its framers couldn't conceive of, which is just one example of how our political system can be gamed by those who are motivated to find shortcuts to power.

All in all, I think there are some compelling aspects of his thesis and there are important realities to recognize. Some of it seems too bound by the circumstances of the pandemic, and we may look with more incredulity at some of its stronger claims in years to come. But, it's an important perspective to read because it is a strong articulation of a surging political perspective in this country.

[Dan S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Auron MacIntyre’s The Total State: How Liberal Democracies Become Tyrannies offers a compelling critique of modern liberal democracies, arguing that they have evolved into pervasive systems of control he terms the “Total State.” Drawing from a range of political theorists, MacIntyre contends that the very structures designed to promote freedom and democracy have, paradoxically, led to increased centralization and authoritarianism.

Central to MacIntyre’s thesis is the concept of managerialism. He posits that a managerial elite has risen to prominence, overseeing vast bureaucracies that permeate both public and private sectors. This class, he argues, prioritizes efficiency and control, often at the expense of individual liberties and traditional societal structures. The COVID-19 pandemic serves as a pivotal example in the book, illustrating how emergency measures can expand state power and suppress dissent under the guise of public health.

MacIntyre also delves into the erosion of intermediary institutions such as family, religion, and local communities. He suggests that the Total State seeks to weaken these entities to foster greater dependence on centralized authority. By dissolving these traditional bonds, individuals become more isolated and, consequently, more susceptible to state control.

The book challenges the notion that constitutional frameworks alone can safeguard against tyranny. MacIntyre argues that the U.S. Constitution, while foundational, has proven inadequate in restraining the expansive growth of the Total State. He critiques the conservative tendency to idealize constitutionalism without recognizing its limitations in the face of evolving power dynamics and the evolution of the individuals that comprise the state.

While The Total State is concise, some readers may find its brevity leaves certain arguments underdeveloped. However, this succinctness also makes it accessible, serving as a thought-provoking introduction to critiques of modern governance.

In conclusion, MacIntyre’s work is a timely examination of the paradoxes inherent in liberal democracies. It invites readers to question prevailing narratives about freedom and governance, urging a reevaluation of the structures that define contemporary political life.

[Robert Stout · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is something wrong with the American republic. One moment the sitting president was, according to the mainstream media, sharp as a knife—all evidence to the contrary declared disinformation. The next he was considered to be suffering from dementia and he was drummed off the Democratic ticket. Democratic backroom leaders conspired to remove Biden and replace him with Kamala Harris. This was a silent coup and the mainstream media began to anoint Harris as the next Rosa Parks.

Do we still live in a democracy? The country does not function as a constitutional government but is run by unelected beurocrats, the elites and a subservient media - what we have is an oligarchy. The elites have captured to reigns of government and is no longer accountable to the American people.
The government institutions are run by the managerial class and they manipulate the system to increase their own power while producing nothing for the citizens.

The big problem with managers is that they need to grow their fiefdom in order to stay in power. So the government agencies must continue to grow in size. Eventually, these managers will take over the reins of power becoming unaccountable to anyone.

The managers virtue signal and want to grab the high ground through DEI and wokeness. hence the progressive craze for micromanaging behavior and language and the justification of the redistribution of wealth.

The reading is somewhat dry but the author is optimistic that the government agencies can be reined in. However, I am not optimistic instead I see an out-of-control government undermining our freedoms.

[Tyler C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Auron MacIntyre’s "The Total State" delivers a searing critique of modern liberal democracy, laying bare its transformation into an all-encompassing, atheistic regime that thrives on manipulation, atomization, and control. With razor-sharp analysis, MacIntyre reveals how the Constitution—a revered artifact of American civil religion—has long since been rendered irrelevant by a ruling class that wields public opinion and centralized power to maintain its dominance. The book deftly traces the collapse of intermediary institutions like families, churches, and local communities, showing how their destruction paved the way for a "decentralized consensus-manufacturing apparatus" to engineer mass compliance. This apparatus, dubbed "the Cathedral," doesn’t rely on overt force but instead uses social ostracism, propaganda, and bureaucratic control to silence dissent.

Despite its bleak diagnosis, The Total State ultimately seeks to open the eyes of readers to the friend/enemy distinction at the heart of politics and to expose the futility of clinging to liberal fantasies about neutrality and progress. Through case studies like the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the erosion of traditional social obligations, MacIntyre demonstrates how the managerial elite, masked by their rhetoric of "freedom," have consolidated their grip on society. Yet, in the face of such grim revelations, MacIntyre recognizes that power is not inherently bad, and ought to be sought and wielded for good use. This book is essential reading for anyone ready to shed the illusions of liberal democracy and prepare for the cultural and political battles ahead.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great explanation of how we ended up in the predicament we find ourselves in America. I appreciated how he brought anecdotes from older (and somewhat 'unapproved') philosophers to explain various ways our liberal democracy has descended into tyranny, all without hardly anyone noticing until COVID. The biggest takeaway for me is that the Constitution was only ever a document that formalized the consensus of the founders - it's not some magic paper that has supreme authority to change hearts and minds. The final chapter was surprisingly optimistic, as he explained three potential ways the total state is doomed, focusing on the way that is most likely, which lead to his encouragement toward local investment and self government. This book could have easily been 10 times as long, so I am thankful for the concise and clear writing on such a complicated topic.

[Derek Baldwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I’m not the target audience, but moving to Florida just seems too much of a faff.

This reads like a competent literature review copy-pasted together with some Reddit or Substack posts and with the giveaway use of (e.g,) progressive, liberal (in the US Colbert Report kinda way), socialist, left, and democratic with big and little Ds, as attack words. More or less interchangeably.

The arguments re the PMC and self perpetuating bureaucracies are quite correct. But so what? Lengthy quotes and paraphrases from a curated bibliography don’t actually equal original thought.

Anyone who has been paying attention for the last few years really need not bother. If you clicked awake during Cronyvirus then you’ll quite possibly feel at home with this concise and yet so repetitive rant. Seen it before. Dozens of times.

[Yosemite · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

A good cursory explanation as to how liberal democracies become more involved in the daily life of its citizens in a way that is typically associated with totalitarian governments. A large amount of time is dedicated to how the institutions of a liberal democracy come into being, how the institutions consolidate power, how they perpetuate themselves by creating a managerial class to run them, and how these institutions inevitably decay. You will find the lessons of Curtis Yarvin, Vilfredo Pareto, and James Burnham referenced throughout this text. Overall, this book is good at explaining how a government that prides itself on liberating its citizens from traditional obligations and promoting freedom has become so large and all pervasive. I'd recommend it even to readers who are not versed in Elite Theory or contemporary right wing thought.

[D.H. Marks · Rating 5 out of 5]

 I completed my new reading challenge: The Total State, by Aaron MacIntyre, when I found a 30 min  summary of The Total State on YouTube. I found it very helpful to re-familiarize  with the basic concepts of the book and the key points for each of the chapters.

in the Comment section of this video is a fantastic commentary on this book, which I am sharing with you at the following link

https://youtube.com/watch?v=nwhRiwonL...

the author of this commentary agrees with me that people mistakenly refer to the far right as Nazis when in fact the Nazis were just one more variant of leftist, socialists, anti-semites and totalitarian.

[Kevin Lantz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best reads at diagnosing and understanding our stage in history and how we got here. A modern update of the American slow roll of classic “The Road to Serfdom” and Vaclav Havel’s “The Power of the Powerless” in my opinion. Road to serfdom with the classic traits of totalitarianism and then Havels understanding of living under later stages of the Soviet Union. I think this is an incredibly insightful combination of both with a prescriptive and hopeful vision of personal and communal direction.

[David Hyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impressive and scary. The author makes a sound case for his theory. Regardless of your political orientation this book should make a lot of sense. The Western meta culture has become problematic, and ultimately tyrannical,
. The drift has been caused by our quest for power. The result has been a culture in a straight jacket & an incompetent elite. The evidence is clear from the incompetence of experts.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear writing shows a mind of clarity.
Even though I don't share the whole idea of the total state fallout ( in 2026 with the current presiding president., there are still some insights on the pages. I wholeheartedly agree with MacIntyre the cure must be for us returning to the root of our nation on cultivating daily virtues and raising kids into worthy citizens of imbued with the spirit of republicanism.
Worth reading.

[Saros · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gets an auto-five stars for one reason: it recognizes that The System is not a neutral arbiter of government, but is an active player in the act of governing. This insight alone is so rare nowadays that it merits a five star all on its own. His other insights are great, of course, but they are just the cherry on top.

[exbotanical · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good synthesis of interesting political ideas ranging from the Elite Theorists to Schmitt and de Jouvenel. Not terribly original though, pretty much standard fare for right wingers. The last chapter was very good; I wish the entire book was like that. MacIntyre should write another book focused on his net new original prescriptive ideas.

[Danielle Hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most concise and understandable description of where we currently are and how we got here. It's a phenomenal breakdown. Everyone should read this and begin to hone their own understanding. Great work, Mr. MacIntyre!

[Dennis Abernathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Analysis of current times

If you want to sit back and relax and watch the decay of western civilization, this isn't the book for you.

If you want build civilizations, this is a book for you.

Knowing the times helps us all.

[Andrew G · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives a great understanding of how our political world actually works. I've read similar ideas such as James Burnham's, but the great thing about The Total State is that I would feel confident recommending it to just about anyone.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely persuasive. Compelling vision of the current cultural milieu, how we got her and what the future might look like. Masterfully integrates thinkers of our own age and the past.

High recommend.

[Илья Дескулин · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Leviathan and Its Enemies", nursery school edition. Nothing original whatsoever, just rehearsing elite theorists' stuff while simplifying it to the lowest common denominator. The book probably includes no more than 10-15 sources, most of which are just direct quotes.