Kevin Duffy on the trend towards big government

To keep the game going, the political class has increasingly relied on borrowing, inflation and diversions like victimology, Covid and climate change.  “War is the health of the state” needs updating.  The modern state has evolved, learning the lesson that any conflict feeds the Leviathan.  Conflict is not limited to “us vs. them” and “good vs. evil,” but left vs. right, black vs. white, male vs. female, straight vs. LGBTQ, rich vs. poor, entrepreneurs vs. employees, young vs. old and even man vs. the planet.  Wars have morphed into abstractions, e.g. war on poverty, war on drugs, war on terrorism and now a war on a virus.  The justifications for protecting party A against the predations of party B are endless.

~ Kevin Duffy, "Inflection Points: Where the big money is made," The Coffee Can Portfolio, September 18, 2022