On our collective wisdom

For the first time in a long time, I watched the president's State of the Union address, and I was struck by a clever semantic trick he pulled early on, even before he launched into the litany of things he proposes to do to make our lives easier and free the world at gunpoint.

"As Americans we believe in the power of individuals to determine their destiny and shape the course of history. We believe the most reliable guide for our country is the collective wisdom of ordinary citizens. And so in all we do, we must trust in the ability of free people to make wise decisions and empower them to improve their lives for their futures."

In one remarkable sweep of the tongue, Mr. Bush shifted gears from celebrating individualism to asserting statism. It was as simple as 1-2-3.

1. "We believe in the power of individuals to determine their destiny and shape the course of history." This is indeed what Americans once believed, and some of us still do.

2. "We believe the most reliable guide for our country is the collective wisdom of ordinary citizens." The individuals and their wisdom are now a collective, and those who a moment ago each had the power to shape the course of history are now a mass of "ordinary citizens" whose wisdom is rooted in majority rule.

3. "And so in all we do, we must trust in the ability of free people to make wise decisions and empower them to improve their lives for their futures." In all "we" do - "we" referring now not to the ordinary citizens but to those in the room, "we" who have The Power - we must empower "ordinary" people "to improve their lives for the future." In other words, The State is the source of power, and its benevolent dictators must transfer some of that power so we common folk can improve our lives, something (despite the first sentence) we really can't do on our own.

What follows is a long list of ways in which The State must work to improve the lives of "ordinary citizens" - help home "owners" refinance mortgages, make health care more affordable and accessible, reduce the number of high school dropouts, "stop, slow and eventually reduce the flow of greenhouse gases," give federal tax dollars to faith-based charities, save entitlement programs for our children and grandchildren ... oh yes, and export freedom to the world, especially the Middle East, by force if necessary.

These were not the words of someone who believes in the power of individuals to determine their destiny. Nor does anyone in the room believe that. But they want us to believe that they do, and so lip service was given to individuals and then we were quickly diverted to a celebration of individuals who submit their will to the collective. A clever trick, but a trick none the less.

Here is the text for those who may be interested.