They prefer times of national crisis, when people are willing to give up their liberty for the sake of common goals, like getting through a depression or beating some foreign foe. For people like Amati Etzioni, the Golden Rule means give unto the state as the state prods others to give unto you. Even more curious is the growth of national socialist ideology on the right, particularly in the pages of the Weekly Standard . David Brooks, a former writer for the Wall Street Journal , glories in the days when Americans trusted their government and never questioned its need for vast and increasing amounts of revenue. And, oddly, he doesn't even come up with a suggestion for what our new national project should be.
Stagnant government drains national morale.
His sentiments are nothing new. They are summed up by the Nazi slogan, Gemeinnutz geht vor Eigennutz , which means communal welfare precedes individual welfare. This has been and is the first principle of national socialism. The State can do what it regards as necessary, because it has authority. As an ideology, national socialism exalts the Great Leader as the embodiment of the national will, and insists that citizens be loyal to the nation-state and the regime above all else.