What is the Deep State?

What is the Deep State?
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What is the Deep State?​

I had a conversation not too long ago and the topic of the Deep State came up.

The person I was talking with said, “You are aware that the Justice Department verified that there was No "Deep State". Only about 30% of the population believes in it. That puts them in the minority.”

I thought she was joking, being sarcastic or something. But evidently, she was serious!

I responded, “Every country has a deep state, it's trans-national. And like all other issues we face these days, it's complex.”

She responded with an incredulous tone and said, “Okay...”. End of conversation.

I’ve thought about that exchange off and on for the past few months. This person is someone who tries to keep herself informed. She’s thoughtful, considerate, level-headed. And yet, she believes there is no such thing as a Deep State, because, the Justice Department verified there was No “Deep State”.

This is like asking a thief if he is a thief when he’s been caught red-handed stealing from you. Her statement defies logic. It defies common sense. The Deep State is not something to believe in, like a fantasy or a fairy tale. It’s a descriptive term for something that exists, regardless of belief.

That said, I wondered at how the phrase may be confusing to people. Especially people just beginning to hear about it.

The phrase “Deep State” has been getting used more and more these days, and what it means to one person may be very different than what it means to another person.

Technically, the ‘Deep State’ encompasses the whole unelected branch of governments, at all levels of governments. This includes the bureaucrats, alphabet agencies, think tanks, lobbyists, contract media, and the payers of all these players.

I’ve seen a meme circulating on social media. It shows an analogy of the “Deep State” to an iceberg. What is above the surface of the sea, is what most people think is the government, the elected officials.

What is below the surface of the sea, what can’t been seen, is the rest of the ‘government’, the unelected, which includes what Eisenhower called “unwarranted influence,” and what many call the Deep State.