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Institutionalized Tyranny and Serfdom
Institutionalized Tyranny and Serfdom
By
Joe Withrow
Author of “The Individual is Rising”
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“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Modern society does not care much for the individual. National interest, public policy, and the common good are held up as the ideal. We still hear lip service paid to the individual rights of man on occasion, but only within the context of individual servitude towards one or another State-driven collective goal. Of course these goals are presented as moral and upright, but there is a little catch – no one can truly opt-out of supporting the chosen goals. The State, in all its benevolence, is going to take your money to support the collective goals of society whether you like it or not.
Sadly, most individuals buy right into their societal servitude because the default programming does such a great job of convincing individuals of their own ineptitude. The default programming steers individuals away from their own interests and passions and funnels them onto the same “lifestyle path” on which they are pushed to “be a productive member of society”.
The government educational system is the leadoff hitter in the programming lineup and children have been relinquished to the educational blob at progressively earlier ages over time. Kindergarten was developed to precede First Grade. Then Preschool was developed to precede Kindergarten. Now we have pre-Preschool in place to precede Preschool. We guess they ran out of creative names for this last one.
So the kids are herded into government schools where their creativity, critical thinking ability, and common sense are systematically destroyed. They learn to unquestioningly obey their superiors at all times and to ask for permission to go to the restroom. To top it off, the kids are spoon-fed faulty history and they are taught that government is a righteous institution forever and always seeking to make their life better. Their teachers are mostly decent folks, mind you; they just don’t understand what government really is either.
Perhaps worst of all, students are conditioned to never seek a deeper understanding of the world around them and to never focus on discovering and developing their passion. Instead, students quickly learn that grades and social status are the only worthy goals to be sought after.
The next leg of the default programming is college. The kids were constantly told for at least a decade that they absolutely must go to college in order to be successful in life, so they load up on federal student loan debt when they hit 18 and march off to whatever college will have them.
While there are certainly some exceptions, especially in the more specialized fields, most students quickly learn that college is just another system to be gamed and completed. Attaining the highest grades possible with the least amount of work is the name of the game for most students – just like it was in high school. Social status is still a viable goal as well, but the playing field has changed. Instead of football games and dances, social status is now earned in the basements of dirty fraternity houses with an abundance of crappy beer.
Students have been through 16-20 years of default programming within government-approved educational institutions by the time they graduate college. Amazingly, a vast majority of these students have learned nothing about money, capital, or finance, and most are completely oblivious to how the world that awaits them actually works. The poor saps that majored in finance or economics have actually learned less than nothing about money, capital, and finance and they come out with a completely warped view of the subjects.
Most graduates have seen each level of their education as an obstacle to struggle through so they take that mentality with them to the next level of the default programming – the corporate rat-race.
Once in the rat-race, our degree-wielding worker bees struggle through the work-week and then pursue all manner of entertainment every weekend, regardless of the cost. The dirty frat-house is traded for a metropolitan bar and the cheap beer might be upgraded to something a little better, bottom-shelf liquor perhaps.
Now that they are responsible adults, they watch the news and discuss current events around the water cooler at work. But there is a little problem: the news is propaganda mixed with celebrity worship which serves to warp priorities and paint a distorted view of how the world actually works.
Thanks to this wonderful system of default programming, most good citizens come to believe things like:
- The foreign wars raging in some desert thousands of miles away are being fought to protect my freedom here in the United States; after all, they hate us for our freedoms.
- The TSA must grope and harass all of us before we travel so they can keep us safe from the bad guys.
- Social Security is a noble program that just needs a little tweaking to make it more economical.
- The government absolutely had to bail-out the Banks with my money for my own good.
- The $17,500,000,000,000.00 national debt is no big deal – we borrowed it from ourselves.
- Quantitative Easing is a very complicated monetary procedure designed to stimulate the economy; it is in no way, shape, or form a method to steal from me and perpetuate a massive Ponzi scheme.
- The economy is recovering marvelously and my job prospects for the future are looking bright – my goal is early retirement!
- Everything will be wonderful if we can just get everyone to vote for better leaders.
Of course there is a major gap that cannot be explained between these beliefs and what is actually taking place in the world which creates a great deal of cognitive dissonance within much of the population.
The simple fact is: this is not what a free society looks like.
Okay, so American culture may be a little schizophrenic. So what? Why should we care? We believe in laissez-faire and non-intervention, so how is it our problem?
Well, despite our best efforts we still have a sense of justice. We just can't keep quiet while the default programming converts unwary human beings with infinite potential into willing victims of the collectivist Ponzi.
You see, the default programming is designed to trick individuals into giving away their power – first to school teachers, then to professors, then to bosses, and always to government thugs and globalist bureaucrats. All of that personal power is then used to further strengthen the systems of enslavement. Of course the school teachers, professors, corporate middle managers, and the petty government officials and bureaucrats do not have a clue that this is what they are really doing – they have bought the propaganda proclaiming them heroes working for the common good of mankind.
Truth be told, we also have selfish reasons for opposing the default programming and schizophrenic culture – we are poorer because of them. The default programming has created a lifeless economy where zombies consume a very large percentage of the ever-dwindling wealth.
Roughly fifty percent of the American population is now directly receiving some form of payment or benefit from the government – this is common knowledge. On top of that fifty percent, there are numerous zombie industries consuming massive amounts of wealth – very nearly all of which is redistributed to these zombies from the small productive sector of the economy.
The military-industrial complex destroys massive amounts of wealth in order to build tanks and planes and missiles to sell to the government – much of which are obsolete by the time they are sold and the rest are used to cause havoc in faraway deserts (for democracy, of course). Government subsidized Big-Agra works to create Frankenfood which serves to squeeze the small-time farmer out of business and also wreak havoc on the health of the American population.
Meanwhile Big-Pharma works diligently to create dishonest drugs and government-mandated vaccines designed not to cure anything, but rather to temporarily placate all of the serious and not-so-serious symptoms that frequently plague people addicted to genetically-engineered processed food loaded with high fructose corn syrup and MSG while perpetuating sickness and obesity – at a massive profit margin of course. Local governments get into the wealth destruction act by authorizing and funding (at least partially) SWAT teams, military grade weapons, and sometimes even tanks for small police departments. Something about Middle America seems to scare the daylights out of the "authorities".
All of this misallocation of capital and wealth destruction is made possible by the Federal Reserve System and its banking sector which perpetually transfers wealth from all of us to the insiders while also conjuring money ex nihilo to purchase government bonds on all levels to keep the Ponzi going.
Of course zombies beget more zombies so the amount of wealth consumed and destroyed continues to increase over time. We are all poorer as a result; poorer in monetary terms as well as in ways that cannot be quantifiably measured.
So we feel obligated to call it out.
We just can’t help but envision a world in which the old principle of laissez-faire is respected and individuals are free to claim their natural-born sovereignty. We envision such a world where the capitalist principles of sound money, free markets, and property rights drive vibrant economies geared towards production, innovation, and wealth-creation. It’s a world where governments do not hold a monopoly of force over particular geographic areas and individuals are free to voluntarily associate with or disassociate from any society, organization, or institution that catches or loses their fancy. The only rule is that these societies, organizations, and institutions must respect the natural rights of all individuals.
Now we are not suggesting that this laissez-faire capitalist vision of society should be forced on everybody… far from it. We would just like for it to be an option. There can be other options as well.
Want to live in a socialist utopia? By all means! But your utopia would have to be a voluntary association of individuals. You know that 50% we mentioned earlier? We bet many of them would be happy to join you! We will be real interested to see if you can make it work for even a month without a coercive government to steal the fruits of individual labor and force individual servitude, however.
Speaking of, that is precisely what’s wrong with coerced collectivism as a societal structure – it requires forced individual servitude in order for it to limp along for any extended period of time. If this isn’t tyranny, we don’t know what is.
Liberty and Tyranny have done battle since the dawn of civilization. 'Democracy' was idolized in the early 20th century specifically to trick people into confusing one for the other. "We must make the world safe for Democracy!" Wilson cried as U.S. troops crossed the Rubicon.
The other warring nations on both sides must have looked at each other in confusion. "Why in the hell would anyone want to make the world safe for democracy?" they must have asked each other. After all, there was not one single nation that referred to itself as a democracy when World War I began. The Allied powers featured republican governments teamed up with imperial governments and constitutional monarchies to fight the Axis powers which consisted of imperial governments teamed up with both absolute monarchies and constitutional monarchies. There wasn't a democracy for as far as the eye could see.
There were 123 “democracies” in existence by the year 2007. By good old Woodrow's logic, peace and prosperity must have been raining down from heaven!
But as it turns out, roughly 500 million people have been violently killed in one government war or another since the world became safe for democracy. The Universe, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.
Of course we know nothing will change until it all comes crashing down and hits rock bottom with a resounding thud. We know the masses will just point and laugh; if they even pay any attention at all. They could not care less about our laissez-faire vision, and our disdain for regulatory democracy might anger them. But we also know that there is a Remnant out there. These are the people who have conquered the default programming and are pretty peeved about being lied to for decades. It is the Remnant that gives us cause for long-term optimism.
Here's to a laissez-faire vision of Liberty... and to a world safe from democracy.
Joe Withrow
08-04-2014
Cognitive Dissonance: For more of Joe’s thoughts on the “Great Reset”, the global paradigm shift, and regaining individual sovereignty please read “The Individual is Rising” which is available through Amazon in both paperback and Kindle editions here.
Please note that while I did edit this book for Joe I do not participate in any revenue from the sale of this book.
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NMB, interesting thoughts. Reminds me of a comment I read here once, something about the tragedy of the commons. That the 'common' good, or the public good, is actually very subservient to the individual needs of a small ruling class. I don't put it very well, but I hope it is clear what I mean. When I consider what has happened to the commons, I think I understand your point.
Thanks. I think you put it right. In a few words this is the issue. We should probably re-define what we mean with such phrases as "common good" etc.
Off Subject maybe
Commons strikes me like Utilities, We all need Ports, Roads, Market Places, we need heating energy, water, transportation, and yet we often see these treated as commodities. I think Europe & Latin America understands better the need for public transportation for instance. The Polarization of US is well recognized these days since G.W. Bush took office, but Gingrich seemed to promote it hard. So how can we deny people low prices for the commons?
- Top 10% or 25% are doing well and profiting off of US Land, Resources, Oil & Gas, Access to Credit, and Included in an Elite Group of Resume' builders
- Commodities are subject to speculation by those with Credit and capital
- Money & Credit are a Utility
How can we recognize as a Society things that are Utilities required for Life & Freedom. If the US Constitution is being crossed out, and pushed aside, then what is the Pressing Issue that will control Corruption & Bring back the Commons?
Corruption itself is ignored and blacklisted by the Media.
Collapse on the other hand is a Crisis that must be recognized and published.
Public Relations Firms should be Targeted for Suppressing the Truth and their part in Suppressing Democracy or Truth In Government as we know it. Who are these Fascist?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_%26_Knowlton
http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/LIE/HK/HK2.html
Professional Propagandists. The Free Press. The Free Press is fair game for those that want to limit corruption and government lies.
"For democracy, any man would give his only begotten son."
What kinda fucking idiot would say that? Not me, anyway.
There's a lot of things worth fighting for and democracy is not one of them.
The Founders, for all their faults, understood that only landowners, the stewards, should have a vote. That was then. They also correctly understood that international bankers were to be banished from this (at the time) New World.
Lots of stuff has changed since then, but maybe all can agree that when you give the welfare skank an equal footing with the owner of an enterprise- that things are gonna get fucked-up?
On principle I agree with you 100%. The only adjustment I would make otherwise is that since we now have an income tax (including ss and Medicare) those that pay taxes on income should get a vote alongside those paying property taxes. Anyone receiving public assistance no vote. I think that would be in alignment with what the founders wanted.
At a minimum, those who subsist or oftentimes thrive on .gov largesse would be excluded from the voting process. That would be a rational world. Now that we have diebold, even dead people can vote. Next time you go to your local bank, notice the insignia on the ATM's and such. It's not a coincidence, it's a system.
i want to argue with you, since i rent my house, and therefore i am not a property owner. I feel that i should be allowed to vote. However, i do not plan on voting in the upcoming elections..... loud noises...
Carl, I respect your opinion, but I ask you to consider this; I, and my cohort (small biz owners) have nothing to gain from abusing our employees. It's only those who are connected to the magic money tree of .gov who are exhorted to do so. It's not that they don't pay them well... it's that they require blind allegiance to the company line. Truly private concerns welcome independent thought and creativity.
You may say that your boss doesn't give a shit about you and yours, so I am full of shit. To that I simply ask; Why are you working there?
as a tenant who must work or otherwise eek out
rent payments to pay the landlord's bills, plus
your own, what would make you think you might
have equal rights to a property owner?
.
as christopher walken might say, "crazy",
funny times made of funny people.
if you consider the possibility that all claims of sovereignty are just the low moanings of welfare skanks you can come up with some interesting images in the matrix, thanks for that.
We have never had a Democracy and I don't think any of our Founders intended to form a Democracy.
Today, we have a Military Republic, probably we formed a Limited Republic in 1790s.
If a Group of Colonial Anarchist went to Europe to educate themselves about forming a new United States... it would have been an exciting time. It was the Age of Enlightenment. Many people were passionate about learning.
Seems like there were secret societies and secret military societies... and of course the most secret of all were the monarchies and the Bankers. I'm sure the Vatican & Jesuits were trying to monopolize technology, money, land, and people similarly to the Hacienda System across the Americas.
But these American Colonialist, were they simply Liberals OR were they Anarchist (without the Label)?
And what would it take to form a new Country... for States to Secede from the USA? Lots of the same stuff US Government needs today.
- Currency
- Credit
- Banks (at least S&Ls)
- Government
- Roads, Ports, Rails, Highways, Emergency Services & Employees
- National Stock Piles, PM, Oil, Electric Power Plants, Gold, Silver, Food & Grain, Markets or common places to buy & sell goods & services
Democracy is one vote on everything, every decision, national referendums, Ballot Issues, Public Debates,... Less money in politics & government, less corruption, less financial conflict of interest...
Hey wait we were closer to that in the 1960-70s!!
Yes the US of A was always a (R)epublic Ltd.
Thanks Cog, Yes it IS the individual. I have a small farm on the rural southwest side of the Island of Hawaii. Storms is on the way. Only I can prepare. Me the individual. More 'STORMS a comin", prepare accordingly...
at least most of the nuts in hawaii are macedamia's. Had a few too many lavaman's at Kamehameha hotel a few times but the golfing was great.... at the higher elevation courses at least... challenging but great.
What is your address?
So, same as it ever was then. Thanks for clearing that up CD.
The only good I see happening already is in fact a return to local economies and local individuals stepping up to solve the local problems. Good luck to the SNAP-babies in drug-addicted communities conditioned to making consistently bad choices...
LOP, let me go out on a limb here and say we have achieved 'peak democracy', or peak co-operation maybe. I think we are going to have a tremendous culling, largely due TO this intense 'group' existence our humanity has turned into. That group existence will make death spread fast.
After the culling, I think we will see the rise of the introvert. (And a new Dark Ages.)
Sorry to be so speculative but this seemed like the thread to indulge a little.
I have classically educated myself and my family. I think this may have been a mistake. It sure feels like one. I have isolated us from just about everyone we know.
From my observations, we are already in a Dark Age. Few can or do read and fewer still put any thought into what they read, before or after the act. The simplest skills such as cooking, cleaning, sewing, making fire, fishing, gardening, or making or repairing anything are vanishingly rare, even among those who live in rural areas where such skills are actually valuable. The most banal and evil filth imaginable entertains us on televison and the Internet, and almost no one seems to notice. It seems that there are too few of us to pass on what's left of our high culture, and even fewer who care.
Our foreign, tribal "elites" have done a smashing job of dumbing everything down to their barbaric savage level. How will our youts build anything better when their present reality is all that they know or care to know? They comfortably rut with third world savages because they can no longer tell the difference. Worse, the third worlders are relatively civilized compared to many children of the civilization formerly known as Christendom.
I concur, having classical-liberal views makes you a worse pariah than a 0.001%-ter in the Slums, or a Slum-dog in a 5 star hotel.
I have long abandoned any hope of any real conversation with anybody, I sometimes float trial balloons to see if anybody I suspect might go along but even if they are leaning my way they mostly avoid any politically sensitive subjects, and even if we did agree on the topic most won't admit how far they are off-mainstream.
Between the morons, progressives, neocons and the 0.5% that agrees (but won't talk about it) there is NOBODY to talk to any more!
<<there is NOBODY to talk to any more!>>
Well, there's the internet... (yeah, I know)
On a serious note, we may see the rise of great writers again. I think we are entering a new dawn of art, and thought, if not so well or widely publicised. I have noticed that satire is becoming EXCELLENT over the past decade or so, after the vast desert of the late 20th century, and I think satire is only beginning its rise. But satire is hardly an 'accessible' style.
I don't think the peasantry (we're all the peasantry now) is any less educated/enlightened/thoughtful now, than it was before in history. Our norms are still largely defined by the unique 20th century, I think. Our numbers are just larger so the majority looks like this vast sea of ignorance, but proportionally I'll bet ignorant:less ignorant is about the same.
IMHO we just need to get used to the idea that the world is going to start getting bigger again, after a century of the world getting smaller. Our civilisation may become less public or less 'shared' or recorded, but that doesn't mean it will decline. The majority of peasants will continue ignorant, but it was always that way.
You sir, are not an optimist.
hehehe
Damn, it's one thing from my family, but I just know it's bad when someone here on the HEDGE calls me, "not an optimist"! Then again, this is the Hedge, so...why thank you.
PS: Actually I know something of the medievals, so going Dark Age to me isn't the bad thing it comes across as to other people. Prolly should have mentioned that, alas. The Dark Ages were so only b/c the records are lost, NOT b/c it was the age of ignorance. Just unrecorded, unshared to posterity, unco-operative with history and canon...it was an introverted time. :-) But not ignorant.
A month ago I posted some excerpts from Joe Withrow’s new book “The Individual is Rising“. I recently invited Joe back to expand a bit on his thoughts. Please visit TwoIceFloes.com often for more great original work such as this.