We were all initiated into the same childhood cults of make-believe.
We fervently believed in a jolly, fat man who breached international airspace annually to deliver toys though the chimney. Next, we bought the story of a winged, mammalian fairy who paid cold, hard cash for discarded biological waste products. These were our first lessons in suspension of disbelief, a necessary magic trick of youth where the payoff. Presents under the tree, a dollar under the pillow; worth the willing ignorance. The true mark of maturity was when the scales fell from our eyes, the ruse was revealed, and we joined the ranks of those in the know. We put away childish things.
But what happens when the government, the most powerful force in our lives, refuses to grow up? When it not only perpetuates the magic act but actively lowers the standard for what constitutes a convincing trick, betting that you’ll be too distracted, too demoralized, or too dumbed-down to notice the man behind the curtain isn’t a wizard at all, but a bumbling bureaucrat with a god complex?
This is the grand, tragicomic arc of the modern Left: a political movement that prides itself on lofty, utopian ideals of excellence and equity while simultaneously engineering a society where the only thing that’s truly excellent is their ability to lower every standard to the point of meaninglessness. They haven’t just moved the goalposts; they’ve paved over the entire field, sold the stadium for scrap, and are now insisting that watching a game of checkers on a broken phone screen is the same thrilling experience. It’s a breathtaking act of prestidigitation, a sleight of hand that swaps competence for credentialism, merit for mediocrity, and national dignity for a participation trophy handed to a nation that didn’t even know it was in a race to the bottom.
From Santa Claus to the State: The Magic Trick That Never Ends
The childhood parallels are almost too perfect. The government-as-Santa-Claus model is a classic. It promises gifts (entitlements, stimulus checks, student loan forgiveness) funded by an infinite, mystical workshop (the taxpayer) run by elves who never sleep (the IRS). The Tooth Fairy government swaps your hard-earned tooth (paycheck) for a shiny coin (a tax return or a social program), performing a magical transaction that obscures the sheer volume of teeth it’s collecting to fund the operation.
A mature populace, one that learned the truth about St. Nick, would see this ruse for what it is. They’d demand transparency, sustainability, and actual results instead of fairy tales. But the Left changed the rules of the game. The magic show must continue, even if the magician performs like third-grader who just go his mail-order magic kit. Questioning the magician remains a greater sin than the magician’s obvious, fumbling incompetence. The state, in their view, must be seen as a benevolent, all-knowing entity, even when it’s clearly being run by the Keystone Cops.
To maintain this illusion, you can’t have a populace sharp enough to spot the rabbit move in the hidden area in the hat. You need a citizenry trained to applaud the act, no matter what.
This requires a deliberate, multi-generational project of degradation. It’s not enough to occasionally elect a fool; you must build a system that cultivates fools, celebrates them, and protects them from the consequences of their own folly. You must, in essence, become a connoisseur of the lowest common denominator.
