…and he is us.
The modern Progressive movement, before them the Jacobins of the French Revolution, and through communism and fascism, have all fundamentally been collectivist ideologies that put forth that the volonté générale of the hoi polloi is revealed by the select elite.
The result of this, is that the state (or the de facto state analog for the Anarcho-Syndicalists) assumes the mantel of the people, as if it were created ex nihilo by the mere presence of various and sundry individuals and only revealed and exercised by the chosen elite. Thus, the state becomes the people. Since the “people” are absolute, anything the state does is just a reflection of the will of the people, i.e. the volonté générale, and thus could never be illegal, unjust, or contrary to the people. In other words, “there is no separation between society and state; one blends softly, casually into the other until they are concomitant with each other.”
Yet again, Obama has echoed these views by declaring that “we all have a stake in government’s success, because the government is us, and we’re doing things right.”
This is the exact same phrasing that was used to described Obama’s explanation of how he could do anything he wanted and it would be righteous and good:
“Government is not to be regarded as in need of limits, because the government is us. Anything we — the government — want to do is never tyranny, but freedom.”
As Pogo might say, “we have met the enemy… and he is us.”
