It’s true that 20 years of libertarianism would be somewhat difficult to reverse, but I’d be surprised if any such dictator could have even 20 months to implement such policies, especially since the initial period would be more difficult economically than even the statist status quo.
What about Tsar Ivan IV (my avatar). He completely thwarted the landed nobility by demanding higher taxes, military service and ultimately seizing their lands using the power of the military and they were powerless to stop him.
What about it? I don’t see how it’s analogous to what we’ve been talking about.
Seizing power and using the military to institute changes that the economic elite find highly undesirable?
But I’m not only talking about the economic elite, but also the general populace, who already demand an interventionist state and can be spurred into even greater opposition by establishment propaganda and funds.
I guess. We would just have to see how the propaganda of the monarch would hold up against the propaganda of the elites. I think something that would help especially would be if the first act of the monarch would be to arrest characters such as Jamie Dimon, Lloyd Blankfein, John Corzine and other characters of dubious reputation. Though going after the top figures wouldn’t do much (because the public doesn’t really know about them) taking out the CEO’s of the big banks would grant you enormous credit with the American public, especially if it weren’t accompanied by a panic inducing communist agenda. Having that be your first act would be enormously popular, you’d be like the 2nd Andrew Jackson.
#2 would result in civil war, that’s all. Not lasting change.
It would allow the intellectuals to brand all libertarian / anarch strains of thought as terrorist and set the movement back a hundred years.