Matthew Lowery

“In its advanced stage, passive depletion has become active destruction: remnants of associations historically charged with the cultivation of norms are increasingly seen as obstacles to autonomous liberty, and the apparatus of the state is directed towards the task of liberating individuals from such bonds.”
― Patrick J. Deneen, Why Liberalism Failed

“A main agent of that liberation becomes commerce, the expansion of opportunities and materials by which not only to realize existing desires but even to create new ones we did not know we had. The state becomes charged with extending the sphere of commerce, particularly with enlarging the range of trade, production, and mobility. The expansion of markets and the infrastructure necessary for that expansion do not result from 'spontaneous order'; rather, they require an extensive and growing state structure, which at times must extract submission from the system's recalcitrant or unwilling participants.”
― Patrick J. Deneen, Why Liberalism Failed

“It’s not of reality, not of humanity. It is from a higher, worse place, and it is descending.”
― qntm, There Is No Antimemetics Division

“One of the main goals of the expansion of commerce is the liberation of embedded individuals from their traditional ties and relationships. The liberal state serves not only the reactive function of umpire and protector of individual liberty; it also takes on an active role 'liberating' individuals who, in the view of the state, are prevented from making wholly free choices as liberal agents.”
― Patrick J. Deneen, Why Liberalism Failed