The Call of the Tyrant
Clyde Wilson makes an important distinction between nationalism and patriotism: A patriot is someone who loves his country and its people. A nationalist, on the other hand, loves government and all its powers. He worships “national glory,” “national greatness,” and myriad other governmental schemes and crimes. All nationalists who assume political office are tyrants to some degree, since they aspire to use the coercive powers of the state to regulate, control, direct, punish, brainwash, conscript, or kill the citizens whom they rule. There is a scale of tyranny, ranging from the mere welfare/warfare statist who taxes half of his citizens’ income to keep himself and his friends in power with the help of the poverty and war industries, respectively, to the mass-murdering tyrants like Stalin, Hitler (the National Socialist), Mao, and Pol Pot.
One thing that all tyrants have in common is that they all claim that what they are doing, no matter how heinous, is all done in the name of “national unity.” Of course, they get to define what goals the entire nation is supposed to be “unified” over, whether it be communism, fascism, or democracy in Iraq.
Of course, “national unity” is a myth, for it implies unanimity. No modern society could ever be unanimously in favor of anything. “National unity” is merely a propaganda tool that has long been successfully used to dupe the public into acquiescing in tyranny for the benefit of the political class. Its purpose is to convince a gullible public that what is in the self-interest of only a small political cabal is really in the best interest of the entire nation.
Harold
ACGR's "News with Attitude" 