The usual way: in gradual stages, like the apocryphal frog in a slowly-heating pot of water. Emergencies, real and imagined (think "climate change") are whipped up by politicians, who almost without exception are the scum of the earth, and are used to justify "temporary" restrictions to freedoms and increases in taxes. Soon, the real emergencies are dealt with and the imaginary ones forgotten, but the restrictions and increased taxes have become normalized and remain. As you may be aware, Robert Higgs describes the process in his book "Crisis and Leviathan".
The real question is not "How did we get here?" but "How the heck do we undo all the mistakes?" when entrenched interests are always poised to scream bloody murder with each attempt to throttle the government's excessive reach back.
"How did we get here?"
The usual way: in gradual stages, like the apocryphal frog in a slowly-heating pot of water. Emergencies, real and imagined (think "climate change") are whipped up by politicians, who almost without exception are the scum of the earth, and are used to justify "temporary" restrictions to freedoms and increases in taxes. Soon, the real emergencies are dealt with and the imaginary ones forgotten, but the restrictions and increased taxes have become normalized and remain. As you may be aware, Robert Higgs describes the process in his book "Crisis and Leviathan".
The real question is not "How did we get here?" but "How the heck do we undo all the mistakes?" when entrenched interests are always poised to scream bloody murder with each attempt to throttle the government's excessive reach back.