Some great insight there. Thank you so much for shining some light on it.
I have always voted Conservantive but promised after 2020 that I would never do again until the whole party is purged of the ConSocialists that have been on the rise since the mid-90s. I'm now a full blown Libertarian so this law is utterly shocking. For me it provides some key learning points;
(1) Govt actually recognises that moving to Net Zero is going to immiserate us (I had hoped all the PPE grads in Parliament simple had no basic understanding of physics - whilst I think that is the case, their special advisor/activists understand the implications and are planning accordingly). They realise this but are continuing with NZ anyway. Evil.
(2) Compliance through technology is coming - digital currency will see to that. The Energy Bill is another example.
(3) Compliance through nudging has been going on for more than 50yrs. Govts have been increasing the nr of state supplicants for that amount of time and this removes moral agency... and just look at what it has done to personal responsibility across almost every aspect of public life.
(4) I work in infrastructure development (> 30yrs) and have seen how Acts of Parliament (perhaps originally well meaning) and secondary legislation issued through Regulations (via Sec of State with very limited scrutiny) and governed by state bodies, stymies personal decision making and accountability because one ends up following a huge nr of complex procedures (which may appear straightforward on paper but are fiendishly complex in the real world. If you don't think that can happen think about the rules of football and what constitutes a penalty and how much controversy there is when c95% are awarded). It's exhausting to do.
(5) We should be very wary and prepared for significant over-reach with every bit of Govt legislation - it never stops where the words direct you to. Remember that 70+Yr old chap getting arrested for shouting at a Labour Party conference in the early 2000s. He was arrested under an Act brought in to allegedly prevent terrorism. A 70yr old man shouting at Tony Blair from the back of a conference hall.
(6) Depressingly, I am now of the opinion that every single piece of legislation and Govt action is net negative for our Society unless it is to decrease the role of the State). This Bill is dramatically increasing the role of the State so we should expect some dramatically bad outcomes for us. Can anyone think of a modern example where Govts backed a winner? I can't. Think of the Town and Country Planning Act - 70yrs post introduction it micro manages developers to build houses of dreadful quality and dreadful atheistic that people don't really want (pre-1930s houses are after seen as the most desirable by people).
In Brutalization of Compassion (Brownstone) you talk about the Trilling cadence, in which the "causation [runs] from knowledge to compassion, from compassion to the application of expertise, and from expertise to the imposition of control". That pretty well summarizes western social policy since 1918, and Law 3.0 can be seen as its latest instantation.
Having an inner moral code which is almost impossible to ignore, which has always just been there and which I live my life by meant I had no choice but to not accept any of the covid rules and regulations and therefore my life was shrunk (and still is) by my inability to participate in what I absolutely know is wrong. I will presumably have to revert to some pre-Industrial lifestyle if this Energy Bill gets implemented because I will not accept being forced to behave in a style which is being imposed on me. I don't need the government and its lackeys to tell me how to behave or to limit my actions based on the ideology of unknown people and institutions. I follow sensible laws even though, on the whole, I don't need them - I know murdering other people is wrong so I choose not to do it.
When we get to that stage, I feel I will be one of the ones put up against the wall or, at the least, forcibly sent to the gulag.
The powers that be clearly know that there are many people like me which is why this first step into totalitarian madness is being sneaked in with a totally unreadable Bill. I guess the uprising will start when the washing machines are all switched off!
I believe that MP should represent the interests of the electorate over and against the executive. And the executive should only have true sovereignty based on what is actually given by the electorate, as sovereignty actually comes from them. Clearly this is not the case. No idea what you believe, probably a version of might is right, which is clearly wrong.
Most systems implementations are 90 to 95% wonders. The extremes are super flexible and not idiot proof, or completely idiot proof but idiotically of very limited application to the real world, and therefore a quite often computer say no response .The best implementation reduces the idiots at both ends. The lawv3 idea is a parallel to this, but has been sold to politicians in just the same way as these systems. There might of course be some good in it so long as it properly replicates the real world, I.e rules are rules and man is a free willed being contained by his created essence.
This is a great piece as it good to work out simple handles on what is going wrong.
Another angle you might like to think upon is upholding the so called law. Is this even the correct question, should it be the 'rule of law' as politicians are always about changing the law (disrespecting the former law) At what point are the conditions met to take up arms against our oppressors, or maybe just cut the wires on ulez cameras or stick yourself to the road if you are a net zero zealot. Clearly this new Energy bill is bad law, and does Mr Khan have any true democratic legitimacy for ulez as it was not in manifesto.
Some great insight there. Thank you so much for shining some light on it.
I have always voted Conservantive but promised after 2020 that I would never do again until the whole party is purged of the ConSocialists that have been on the rise since the mid-90s. I'm now a full blown Libertarian so this law is utterly shocking. For me it provides some key learning points;
(1) Govt actually recognises that moving to Net Zero is going to immiserate us (I had hoped all the PPE grads in Parliament simple had no basic understanding of physics - whilst I think that is the case, their special advisor/activists understand the implications and are planning accordingly). They realise this but are continuing with NZ anyway. Evil.
(2) Compliance through technology is coming - digital currency will see to that. The Energy Bill is another example.
(3) Compliance through nudging has been going on for more than 50yrs. Govts have been increasing the nr of state supplicants for that amount of time and this removes moral agency... and just look at what it has done to personal responsibility across almost every aspect of public life.
(4) I work in infrastructure development (> 30yrs) and have seen how Acts of Parliament (perhaps originally well meaning) and secondary legislation issued through Regulations (via Sec of State with very limited scrutiny) and governed by state bodies, stymies personal decision making and accountability because one ends up following a huge nr of complex procedures (which may appear straightforward on paper but are fiendishly complex in the real world. If you don't think that can happen think about the rules of football and what constitutes a penalty and how much controversy there is when c95% are awarded). It's exhausting to do.
(5) We should be very wary and prepared for significant over-reach with every bit of Govt legislation - it never stops where the words direct you to. Remember that 70+Yr old chap getting arrested for shouting at a Labour Party conference in the early 2000s. He was arrested under an Act brought in to allegedly prevent terrorism. A 70yr old man shouting at Tony Blair from the back of a conference hall.
(6) Depressingly, I am now of the opinion that every single piece of legislation and Govt action is net negative for our Society unless it is to decrease the role of the State). This Bill is dramatically increasing the role of the State so we should expect some dramatically bad outcomes for us. Can anyone think of a modern example where Govts backed a winner? I can't. Think of the Town and Country Planning Act - 70yrs post introduction it micro manages developers to build houses of dreadful quality and dreadful atheistic that people don't really want (pre-1930s houses are after seen as the most desirable by people).
Keep up this great work.
👆 and most of this has happened under a Conservative Govt. Laughable.
Thank you for this excellent article.
In Brutalization of Compassion (Brownstone) you talk about the Trilling cadence, in which the "causation [runs] from knowledge to compassion, from compassion to the application of expertise, and from expertise to the imposition of control". That pretty well summarizes western social policy since 1918, and Law 3.0 can be seen as its latest instantation.
Having an inner moral code which is almost impossible to ignore, which has always just been there and which I live my life by meant I had no choice but to not accept any of the covid rules and regulations and therefore my life was shrunk (and still is) by my inability to participate in what I absolutely know is wrong. I will presumably have to revert to some pre-Industrial lifestyle if this Energy Bill gets implemented because I will not accept being forced to behave in a style which is being imposed on me. I don't need the government and its lackeys to tell me how to behave or to limit my actions based on the ideology of unknown people and institutions. I follow sensible laws even though, on the whole, I don't need them - I know murdering other people is wrong so I choose not to do it.
When we get to that stage, I feel I will be one of the ones put up against the wall or, at the least, forcibly sent to the gulag.
The powers that be clearly know that there are many people like me which is why this first step into totalitarian madness is being sneaked in with a totally unreadable Bill. I guess the uprising will start when the washing machines are all switched off!
I believe that MP should represent the interests of the electorate over and against the executive. And the executive should only have true sovereignty based on what is actually given by the electorate, as sovereignty actually comes from them. Clearly this is not the case. No idea what you believe, probably a version of might is right, which is clearly wrong.
Most systems implementations are 90 to 95% wonders. The extremes are super flexible and not idiot proof, or completely idiot proof but idiotically of very limited application to the real world, and therefore a quite often computer say no response .The best implementation reduces the idiots at both ends. The lawv3 idea is a parallel to this, but has been sold to politicians in just the same way as these systems. There might of course be some good in it so long as it properly replicates the real world, I.e rules are rules and man is a free willed being contained by his created essence.
This is a great piece as it good to work out simple handles on what is going wrong.
Another angle you might like to think upon is upholding the so called law. Is this even the correct question, should it be the 'rule of law' as politicians are always about changing the law (disrespecting the former law) At what point are the conditions met to take up arms against our oppressors, or maybe just cut the wires on ulez cameras or stick yourself to the road if you are a net zero zealot. Clearly this new Energy bill is bad law, and does Mr Khan have any true democratic legitimacy for ulez as it was not in manifesto.