The State of Exception and the Unbound Executive

There's a political theory known as unbound executive theory. It originates with a German thinker, later turned Nazi, named Carl Schmitt. Schmitt, whose political theories were useful to Fascists and finds employment by the CCP in the People's Republic of China today, believed that for a sovereign or chief executive to truly be sovereign, he must be able to exempt himself at need from the general rule of law. That is, the executive must be able to become unbound by law, including the national constitution. Schmitt argues this should take place under special emergency circumstances called "the state of exception," which is to say a crisis, perhaps like Covid-19 or to remove Woke infiltration. In this episode of New Discourses Bullets, host James Lindsay gives an introductory overview to this strongly unAmerican political theory and explains its popularity with Woke tyrants on both Left and Right. Join him to understand how the "post-liberal" factions on Left and Right both increasingly think about executive power.