When governments of old tired of spending resources to beat the public into submission, they created court priests to propagate a theology of obedience. These days governments maintain their rule by preying on the public’s fears of sundry crises, real and imagined.

Robert Higgs is Retired Senior Fellow in Political Economy, Founding Editor and former Editor at Large of The Independent Review.
Government and PoliticsGovernment Power
Other Independent Review articles by Robert Higgs
Fall 2019 Pressure-Release Valves in Participatory Fascism
Winter 2018/19 Two Worlds: Politics and Everything Else
Fall 2018 Against the Whole Concept and Construction of the Balance of International Payments
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