Your ideas are watertight, your principles are righteous, and your goals are just—but when the hour of decision arrives, will you be prepared to command the machinery of the state to impose your vision on the world?
This is the principal question of politics. Values are of paramount importance, but they are of no consequence if they are not backed by power.
Leftists have long understood this, and thus, they do not fear power—they wield it. Under progressive occupation, the state takes on a clear direction, and the law comes to be regarded as an instrument to be used in pursuit of their political goals. Think of their various watchwords: social justice, economic equality, progress, liberation, diversity, inclusion, and so on. This package of ideals imbues the state with a very particular teleology, and all who live beneath it are conscripted into its schemes and designs—whether they like it or not.
Michael Oakeshott would have opposed such an arrangement on the grounds that it treats the relationship between the state and society as an “enterprise association” rather than a “civil association.” For Oakeshott—a thinker best understood as a classical liberal of conservative disposition—the role of the state is to facilitate peaceable interactions between those it governs by enforcing a set of inherited rules that have evolved as generations have come and gone. These rules do not exist to serve a particular end or purpose beyond this, and they were not created at a specific moment in time by one person or group. They are, as Thomas Hobbes would say, like “hedges [that] are set, not to stop travellers, but to keep them on their way.” Oakeshott championed this arrangement, which he called “civil association,” as the most desirable relationship between the state and society.
Oakeshott argued that as soon as the fixed ideological goals of a particular person or group enter the picture, this arrangement is destroyed. The business of government takes on the character of a corporate enterprise, wherein the infrastructure of the state is used to advance the agenda of the elite regardless of whether the people they govern approve of it. The relationship between the state and society thus becomes an “enterprise association.”
Oakeshott calls such an arrangement “stupid and immoral” and argues that it amounts to tyranny. This is a fairly typical conservative view—and in ordinary times, those of us who share Oakeshott’s temperament would likely agree with him. But these are not ordinary times.
In Britain, we have lived under an “enterprise state” since at least 1997, and it has utterly transformed our country. In one generation, a nation whose history stretches back into the deepest mists of time has been made totally unrecognisable in everything from its political structures to its demographic makeup. All it took was a little bit of will backed by a readiness to impose it without question or apology.
Whether we approve of what has happened to Britain or not, one thing is certain: when it is given decisive direction, the modern state’s might is staggering.
To all intents and purposes, our country has undergone a revolution, and the inherited rules that Oakeshott lauded have all but disappeared. Thus, Oakeshott’s vision of conservative governance—the state as a mere neutral arbiter and gentle maintainer—is no longer an adequate solution to the existential problems we face. For what of value is left to conserve? There is no going back—there is only forward. Timid caution must give way to decisive action. The enterprise state is a powerful weapon, and those of conservative temperament are right to be wary of it—but when push comes to shove, those concerned with our country’s future must be prepared to fight fire with fire. The enterprise state may well be the means by which the present governing class has brought this nation to its knees, but it is the only mechanism which has the power to save it.
The instinctive reaction of many is to reject the methods of political enemies out-of-hand, but this is immature politics. The condition of Britain is bleak, and all strategies must be on the table. We must see the world with clear eyes and be prepared to acknowledge that, while we oppose its overall direction, certain aspects of the current political order are entirely sensible. For example, the current elites know that the masses cannot govern themselves and must be managed and directed. They recognise that public-private partnerships are valuable. They understand that there is no such thing as a neutral institution, and thus populate every power centre with their people. In other words, they recognise the value of the enterprise state—and we would do well to learn from their example.
For what other mechanism has the capacity to bring to heel the forces that seek to destroy our nation? How else but through executive action can the so-called ‘blob’ be gutted? How else but through the wielding of law can subversive corporations and NGOs be driven out or crushed? How else but through the passing of policy can the education system be reconstituted towards pride in family, nation, and heritage? How else but through the Exchequer can the tax burden be lifted? How else but through Home Office decree can the present migration crisis be rectified? How else can the interests of the nation be embodied and effected if not through the state?
Since 1945, those of conservative disposition who feel pride in their nation and people have been reluctant to exercise state power. Today, this attitude must be dispensed with entirely. On its own, the state is a neutral instrument—he who commands it imbues it with his values and conscripts the nation into his enterprise. Does this go against the high-minded principles of classical liberalism? Absolutely. But the reality is this: Britain is in utter disarray, but order can be restored. Powerful subversive interests have been allowed to rise above the state, but they can just as easily be pulled back down. With every passing day we hurtle further towards oblivion, but the solution lies within reach—we must simply have the will to reach out and take it. When the hour of decision arrives, the commanding hand of the enterprise state will be our only salvation.
