I hate to say I told you so . . . but, yeah, I told you so.
The fuel-efficient (and planet friendly) hybrid/electric vehicles the government has been aggressively encouraging people to buy via generous (with other people’s money) manufacturer and retail subsidies/tax incentives? The ever-upticking of federal fuel efficiency mandates – set to crest 35 MPG on average less than two years from now and then, perhaps ascend to 54.5 MPG by 2025 – that were touted as a way to make driving more “affordable” for cash-strapped Americans?
It was another long con.
The object has never been to give American drivers a break, to make it less expensive to get around. It has always been to construct yet another way to fleece and control them. By pushing “efficient” cars, a new crisis has been manufactured: There’s not adequate revenue from motor fuels taxes flowing into state and county coffers because hybrid/electric cars and the latest fuel-sippy conventional cars are too efficient.
And the solution to this manufactured crisis?
Tax drivers by the mile instead.
Washington state’s Transportation Commission is pushing for exactly that – and it’s merely the opening libretto for what will inevitably become as inescapable as income and property taxes.
The “. . . move to cleaner, smarter vehicles must be accompanied by a change in the way we pay for our roads” (italics added) announces the official release accompanying pending highway funding proposals (news story here).
And the “new way” is making drivers pay for every mile they travel.
The irony? Hybrid/electric car and conventional economy car owners would pay just as much as the guy driving a 10 MPG Hummer. And they’ll all be paying through the nose.
But at least the Hummer driver gets to drive… well, a Hummer. The Prius driver is stuck with his Al Goremobile – and no “discount” for being concerned about his “footprint” or energy use.
So much for saving the planet.
If it passes, the system would begin to be put into place by 2015.
And it’s a two-fer.
Not only is it a new way to tax – and to increase taxes (people will pay more per-mile than they currently pay at the pump) it is also a way to monitor people’s movements. To know exactly how far they drive – and, potentially – when and where they drive.
Also how fast they drive there.
How so?
By real-time data transmission, via the receive/transmit capability most new cars (and most recent model cars) have had built into them. Some of this is already mandated by law. Event Data Recorders (“black boxes”) for instance. And the government is at this very moment “considering” that so-called Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communications capability be made mandatory (news story here). V2V would mean all new cars continuously broadcast their location, their speed and other data to other cars in the area – ostensibly to reduce crashes due to driver inattention. Of course this data would be “open” – like Wi Fi at Starbucks – and could just as easily be received/recorded by government for purposes other than “safety.”
It is no great leap forward, in terms of technology, to have a car periodically transmit its current odometer reading – and other data – to a government server. You’d be dunned automatically, perhaps – as is already done using those “EZ Pass” electronic transponders many commuters already have in their cars, in order to not have to stop at toll booths.
But unlike EZ Pass – which you don’t have to have – in this case, you’d have no choice. Submit to government monitoring of your driving and be taxed accordingly.
Or be an outlaw.
The logic flows ineluctably. It will be so much more efficient this way. No need to go in for periodic odometer checks. Just like Smart Meters which transmit data about your electricity usage. It will all be handled seamlessly by – one can almost hear the echo of Dr. Strangelove – computers.
The plan set forth by the Washington State Transportation Commission practically drools with anticipation over the prospect of the projected $3 billion haul that could be achieved by direct mulcting of motorists as opposed to motor fuels taxes.
Other state government apparatchiks are surely drooling, too.
Bear in mind that motor fuels taxes are already extortionate. Grossly regressive and disproportionate. On average, the price of a gallon of gas includes at least 50 cents in federal/state/local taxes (see here for Congressional Budget Office breakdown). Consider that. On a purchase of 15 gallons of gas – which is the tank capacity of the typical compact car nowadays – you’re paying about $8 in taxes.
Now, they want you to pay more. A great deal more.
And not just money.
They want more than merely money.
They want power. To micromanage and control your every movement. It is of a piece with “health care” reform – which encompasses literally everything.
We have arrived at a watershed moment. These people who have arrogated virtually unlimited power are no longer the least bit shy about asserting it. Nothing is beyond their purview. Not how we live, not how how we recreate, not what we eat and drink. Not whom we hire or rent to or even whom we marry.
And soon, not even how far we drive.
If, that is, we simply accept it.
As we have already accepted altogether too many things – from “Homeland” security to genital fondling at the airport to vaginal/anal probing by the side of the road to summary executions of grampas in their garages in the name of “officer safety.”
It has got to be stopped or else – well, it’s going to continue. And, get a whole lot worse.
Simple as that.
When enough of us finally stand our grand and make it clear we’ve had enough, then they’ll back off. But not before. We’ve given them the proverbial inch – and they’ve taken miles.
It’s time to hit the brakes – or else they will step on the gas.
Throw it in the Woods?
PS: If you like our stuff, please consider supporting EPautos.com. We got dumped by Google – see here for the full story about that – and now we depend on you, the readers, to keep the lights on and the wheels spinning.
The link to our “donate” button is here. You can also mail stuff our way – if you prefer to avoid PayPal. The address is:
EPAutos
721 Hummingbird Lane, SE
Copper Hill, VA 24079
Starship Troopers 3 Marauder – So awful, it’s awesome! HT to Bevin.
The Eagle, he flies high above us, The Eagle, he makes our spirit soar,
He gives me the strength to carry on, To fight, and win this war!
Courage, Duty, Honor!
It’s a good day to die, When you know the reasons why,
Citizens, we fight for what is right, A noble sacrifice,
When duty calls, you pay the price, For the Federation I will give my life!
It’s a Good Day To Die – Omar Anoke – ST3-M
Guys–for lack of a better place to post this:
As you probably know, Mr. Magee, who shot one of the pigs who’d broken into his house during an early-morning “no-knock” criminal SWAT raid, has been exonerated by a grand jury!
In a side note of supreme irony, the pig he shot was named Sowers…and for why he was named Sowers, here’s his picture:
A face named Sowers.
Dear meth,
The unflattering “Animal Farm” LEOs as pigs imagery is well warranted. We are hardly the only ones to notice it.
http://www.geekfill.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/fat-cops.jpg
He will still be going to prison for a long time apparently for having a firearm and an illegal plant. We all know that he will be punished to the max for that due to this grand jury decision.
http://www.policestateusa.com/2014/texas-deputy-dies-serving-knock-swat-raid-marijuana/
That’s what I thought too, when I read that story, BrentP
It’s stuff like that which makes me laugh in disgust when people say Texas is so great and free and that sort of thing.
A stupid plant! For crying out loud! Ridiculous!
Indeed. The prosecutor is dripping with venom – publicly.
They intend to “teach him a lesson” – by sending him to prison for 10 years (the maximum sentence). That will be a life-ender for him, if he is not actually killed while incarcerated. If he has any instinct for self-preservation at all, he should do whatever it takes to get free on bail and then – disappear.
Unfortunately for Mr. Magee Eric, I have read that they are denying him bail.
Hi Fred,
Yeah, I got that too. It’s time to get creative. They will kill him – or minimally, kill his life (ruin him, destroy his marriage; the inevitable result of a ten-year stay in prison). It’s a veritable death sentence regardless. He must find a way to escape. He literally has nothing to lose at this point.
That would be my calculation, at any rate.
Can you really just escape from prison? I mean, I know its possible, but that sounds WAY easier said than done.
Also, has he been convicted of anything yet? If not, there’s still hope, albeit not much.
No doubt. But I’d try, if I were him. Ted Bundy managed to get out… twice.
Not escape from prison…just make bail, and GTFO and never come back.
I’d sure as hell do it. Go to prison for an unapproved plant, and/or defending my pregnant wife from armed intruders?
Not in this life.
Hey guys.
Have you all seen “Prison Break?” It a great, anti-government show about… well… the title should give you enough info. At any rate, despite having seen it, I can’t personally imagine HOW I’d even begin the process of breaking out of a prison. I’ve got no qualms about it morally, heck, the Apostle Paul pretty much did it, but I have no idea how to do it. Not sure how pratical it is. But yeah, if he can do it, I’m good with that.
One question I do have, and believe it or not… even after going through the libertarian philosophy all the way to voluntarism… I’ve still never consider this at all. WRT the issue of “dodging bail.” If you paid the bail money yourself, this is of course not wrong. But if someone else puts up bail for you, a bailiff, or some such, would it be a violation of the NAP to basically say “Screw you” like that? Is this a form of fraud? I honestly haven’t considered this until just now, so I’m curious what any of you theorists think about this scenario.
On a more practical note, will other countries return you to the US if you escape from prison and go to their countries? I’m sure the answer to this question varies, but does anyone know anything about it? Is “just disappear” actually practical advice?
MIB,
Thankfully they will be shutting down the RL scameras in Brick, NJ by 2014FEB18.
NJ Star Ledger
I avoided driving in Brick due to the RLCs. I had other choices where I could spend my time/money. Fortunately I did not need to travel through Brick on a regular basis.
I have observed those scameras flashing even with vehicles driving through the intersection with the green lights.
Whether there is an intentional plan or not, this is just one in a series of many regulations and laws that make life for many unnecessarily complicated and more expensive without any legitimate benefit.
Like Etienne de La Bowtie said hundreds of hears ago in The Politics if Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude, people will always sit still and accept or even embrace their servitude. Frog in the pot with an IPhone game app and a ball game orTV sitcom attached. His solution? Say no, ignore them and don’t participate. The rulers are small in number and have no power beyond what people give them.
Mileage tax? The USA agreed UN agenda is to force everyone except the chosen out of their cars by 2020. And they are right on track. What if enough people quit buying new cars and refused to drive except as absolutely necessary? The economic fallout would cripple the system until it changes. But I don’t think it will happen. Most people love their servitude too much.
OK, OK, spell check my sticky fingers before posting. 🙂
Dear Gary,
Etienne de la Bow tie?
LOL!
I know you know how to spell his name. You reminded me about him a while back.
So how many margueritas did you have before sitting down in front of the keyboard?
@Bevin – I should not sit down at the computer after coming inside with frozen fingers and brain.
Peacefully Retaking the Commons In Kyiv, Ukraine
http://www.dw.de/a-day-in-the-life-on-maidan/g-17415914
Ignore most of the words written in the article and just look at the pictures. Ukraine and most of the world is freer than America because the people control and occupy a significant portions of the commons.
Don’t turn up your nose at all hippies, loiterers, squatters, homeless, and Home Depot homeys. Some of these form your potential power base. These are the occupants of your Agora. When it is safe, look these people in the eye, treat them with dignity. Let them know about the NAP and Live and Let Live.
If given the chance for more than lining up for handouts, and being petty thugs, a fairly steady percentage of righteous people will make an effort to be part of something moral and sustaining. That is Jesus’ and many other peaceful philosophers true message. Take a trip to Mexico, Canada, or elsewhere and see first hand what a non-police-state nation looks like and how their high-population-density areas are different.
Redefine your US and THEM barrier. Us is any decent people trying to live peacefully and do the right thing. At all levels and stations. Them is those who use force. live by force, and do the effective thing, regardless of right and wrong.
No matter how popular, powerful, and successful, always remember they are Them. They are the ones to shun and avoid. It makes more sense to bridge and cross socio-economic divides, than to try to repair long-standing morality divides. That is the true lesson of Christ and of the other great men.
Tax-by-the-mile is a solution that’s been looking for a problem for some years now. I forget who it is that’s really promoting it, but basically they invented some technology to collect the data and are trying to find some government to talk into using it so they can make everybody buy hardware from them. They’ve tried to sell it to Oregon, California, San Francisco (for congestion pricing), the Feds, any number of other governments.
I don’t know if they’re also trying to create a Big Brother infrastructure or if they just don’t really care about privacy.
Their argument about why the Feds should do it instead of raising the gas tax is that “raising the gas tax is politically unpopular” – which of course justifies not only forcing everybody to pay to install their hardware on our cars, but to create a big expensive bureaucracy to collect the data, and will *still* involve raising taxes (because that’s the point.)
Their argument about why you can’t just collect the odometer data at the end of the year and use that (when they were talking to state governments) was that they can’t tell how much of your driving was in-state vs. out-of-state. But that doesn’t make sense if the Feds do it.
It’s all a scam, and somebody needs to get them to just stop, but they’re hoping to make money off it, so they’ll keep trying for a while.
Oh, it’s much worse than just a scam Bill!
This is not about revenue. It’s about control. It’s about knowing WHERE you went, WHEN you went, and HOW (fast) you went.
It’s the Eye of Sauron burning into you every waking moment. It’s “you’re guilty until proven slave.”
That’s how the red light cameras came into use, some corporation sold the govt. on the revenue they can extort under force of “the law” and they just sit back and collect a cut of said revenue. Parasites all. I have a sledgehammer waiting for any chip they try to stick me with; I also have a fantasy about taking out all the cameras with a scoped rifle, but don’t have a silencer to keep it incognito.
Hey Mike!
I’ve said before here–I was quite sad that we got them removed from Houston before I had a chance to try my thermite recipe on one.
Meanwhile–get yourself an NFA trust so you can buy silencers, short-barreled rifles etc.
Get it now, the fuckers and thugs at ATF are proposing new little wanker-rules come July 1.
With an NFA trust you can easily buy suppressors etc.
A friend has one for his short-barreled Sig AR clone. It is *amazing*–this chuffing “thwack!” noise, and the crack of the bullet’s sonic boom–about as loud as a 22LR.
Compared to the painfully intense “CRACK!” of an unsilenced AR, it is a dream. Easily shot without ear muffs.
Hi Mike,
Ditto that.
Dom and I talked about it last night; neither of us is going to play ball on this one. Add it to the list of things that, for me (and I think for Dom, too) are not negotiable.
No Obamacare: I’ll go to jail before I submit and obey.
No gun confiscation/restriction: I will never surrender my right to self-defense.
No monitoring of my vehicles: I’ll burn them to the ground first.
I guess the question is, how much time in jail is it worth it to take before you just kill the guy who’s trying to kidnap you?
Let’s rephrase the question, David:
How much of an impact for your principles will it make to kill the guy trying to kidnap you?
In the Magee case here in Texas, I’d say it’s made a massive impact. It’s a ground-shaking case and will have serious repercussions for the Thug Caste.
A few more like that and they’ll start worrying. Not only could they get shot–but people will take note and begin preparing for it…barricaded doors, rifles at the ready, AP ammo.
Speaking of which–there’s a perfectly legal anti-burglar system that, when tripped, rapidly fills the entry foyer with four cans of high-potency pepper spray. It’s a little more subtle than a claymore and probably less damaging to the house.
I was surprised to see a PRO violence response. Hmm… interesting.
I have in mind the fact that Larken Rose went to jail for 18 months for “tax evasion.” He chose to take the punishment rather than kill someone. But what if they were going to steal 18 years of his life rather than 18 months? Should he still have let them kidnap him? I don’t know the answers to this, I doubt there are any objective answers, but its probably a question worth asking yourself nonetheless.
Larken had a supportive wife and – apparently – has been able to survive financially and professionally. For many people, 18 months in prison would be tantamount to a death sentence. Literally as well as figuratively. Imagine being a white, educated, middle-class, middle-aged dude tossed into the shark tank with a population that is probably 90 percent ghetto underclass black (and the rest trailer park white trash). You probably have not been in a fist fit since junior high – and you’re now among hyper-violent low-IQ cretins who will try to kill you or severely hurt you over (to people like us) preposterous affronts to their status (and so on). Mind, you’re not going to have a weapon, you’ve got nowhere to run.
Even if you do survive physically, the toll that being incarcerated (and convicted of a felony) will have on your life – professionally, financially, personally – is probably going to be devastating.
eric wrote, “No monitoring of my vehicles: I’ll burn them to the ground first.”
Reminds me of the final episode of the TV show, Little House on the Prairie.
Rather than let the land swindlers or whatever they were have the community, they dynamited everything.
Also, David posed the question, “But what if they were going to steal 18 years of his life rather than 18 months?”
Ya, and what if instead, they took his life when they only demanded 18 months?
Perception is everything?
That was a great episode – the sort of anti-them episode one rarely sees on TV nowadays.
If it comes to it, I will emulate that example. First option – in the event staying in this country is not viable any longer; if, say Hillary becomes Dear Leader and starts to issue diktats that we’re all to be disarmed (and so on) – is to sell everything and leave. Hello, Chile (or wherever). But in the event they make even that impossible (by forbidding you to leave the country with your cash assets, or taxing them into oblivion) then the time will have come to raze everything to the ground rather than let them get their got-damned paws on any of it.
Viz Moby Dick: For hate’s sake, I stab at the thee…
To clarify, RE: “what if instead, they took his life when they only demanded 18 months?”
You get thrown in jail (for 18 months): a prisoner kills you, a jailer kills you, you die of inattention from something,… it’s all the same, an 18 month sentence becomes a life sentence. But as with thug scrum investigations they’ll find you died from some other cause than what they inflicted.
But what’s it matter to you? You’re dead.
For a regular person (non-criminal) a prison sentence – a jail sentence – of any length is a life-ender. You lose your job and probably your profession; you’ll likely never work in that field again. You become to a great extent unemployable outside of jobs that are menial/manual labor. Good luck finding a salaried/corporate job as a convicted felon (even if the “felony” involved no harm to anyone and was nothing more than a trumped-up bunch of nonsense, as in the case of growing marijuana plants). You’re through.
The financial/professional hit you take as a result will probably strain your marriage to the breaking point. You will likely lose your home, your wife and kids. Hello, crappy little apartment (if you’re lucky) single-wide (or van by the river) if you’re not.
Not even getting into the prospect of being attacked or killed while in jail/prison. By real thugs.
They (the PTB) know this, of course. The fear it strikes into “law abiding” people. For a real criminal, a few months, a couple years in prison is as nothing.
For us, it is everything.
@Eric: “For us, it is everything.”
And for now, that is how they keep us in line. It is the ONLY reason I comply with anything.
But that’s the secret–we comply under duress, the illusion is shattered–and for more and more people, that realization is now. The consent is gone; all that’s left is brute force.
The next step is active resistance; when for us it is not “all” anymore, when the cost of being a slave is greater than the potential cost of being made an un-person in their hellish gulags.
And THAT time is coming, quickly. When it’s not just 1% of us who’re forced into the Gulags, but 2%, 5%, and it’s even more openly criminal.
When the lines are blurred–when it’s arbitrary that you’ll be sent to the Gulag, and it’s likely you’ll be sent to the Gulag, you have nothing left to lose by fighting back.
It’s a line that’s close.
On another side note, I am anxiously awaiting to start driving my two new Elio’s I have reserved. Since they are three-wheelers, I assume that they will be licensed as motorcycles and not cars – so they will probably (hopefully) have none of the tracking or data recording black boxes or devices in them – since motorcycles generally do not. http://www.ElioMotors.com
How they will attempt to get us motorcyclists to pay by the mile should be interesting, if not infuriating.
Hi Fred,
Dom and I were talking about this issue last night. The technology now exists to simply give each car a self-contained GPS receiver/transmitter. It can easily keep track of your miles driven (as well as how fast you drive and where you’ve driven) and forward that info to a government database for “processing.”
Such a device could just as easily be affixed to a motorcycle, unfortunately.
Everything contained in a small box about the size of a radar detector.
It would amount to an ankle bracelet for your car – for you, really.
Only they wouldn’t even have to go through the rigmarole of convicting us of some pretty crime first….
And the sheep will HAIL it as “making the RICH pay THEIR fair share.”
Only, the truly WEALTHY can afford to have someone ELSE come and drive FOR them. The taxations might be included in the rate.
Utlimately, “THEY” (“The Wealthy”) will ALWAYS have means and incentive to find a way AROUND the law.
It will always only affect US – who need to get to work to be able to buy food, for example. (Work -> money -> food.)
Funny, that….
Dear Eric,
“The technology now exists to simply give each car a self-contained GPS receiver/transmitter. ”
That sounds bad. And it is. But that is merely a stepping stone toward something far worse.
I have come to believe that “Every unchallenged political premise will eventually be expressed in its most extreme form.”
That means that when the technology exists to simply give each person a compulsory implanted GPS receiver/transmitter, it will be mandated “by law.”
It’s the extreme form of the unchallenged political premise behind compulsory national IDs.
I think they’re more likely to go for some kind of control collar (described in both Jack Vance’s and Jack Williamson’s SF, years ago) or an upgrade to google glasses or some such, since that technology allows greater access range from on-board power sources and (after a bit more slippery slope) the sanction of sending you orders backed by electroshock or blowing your head off. A mere chip would be much shorter range and couldn’t order you around, though it could poison you. Visible devices also make it easier to spot the recalcitrant non-wearers in a crowd.
Interestingly, the Ottoman Turks adopted a low technology version of this, implemented ny the sultan Orhan and his vizier and (half?) brother Aladdin even before the fall of Constantinople. People were required to wear turbans in styles and colours matched to their status, so people in the wrong places could easily be spotted and it was easier to track law-breakers from their descriptions (I think they might have had to display tax payment badges, too, but I’m not sure of that).
Dear PM,
Possibly. The exact mechanism is secondary. The underlying intent is primary. It will lead to something along these lines.
In “Nikita” the writers incorporated a “kill chip” into the tracking devices that would simulate an aneurysm. That too is inevitable, over time, given the underlying premise.
It always comes back to the Myth of Authority. If too many people are sheeple, the PTB will be able to use their sheer numbers to force sovereign individuals to submit or be caged or be murdered.
Honestly there is no better feeling than getting to say, “I told you so!”
The frustration comes from the fact that people STILL don’t listen afterwards.
And usually ARGUE you’re WRONG.
They’ll hold a soldering iron element and deny their flesh is burning, rather than ADMIT you said soemthign true.
Whoever referrred to them as “prey animals” above was too generous.
Bacteria, perhaps. 😛
Hi Eric,
If you were the sole owner of 1000 miles of private road, how would you charge?
Hi Gamble,
Any number of ways – but none of them would be coercive. And that’s the key issue here. We’re forced to drive on government roads; forced to accept their take-it-or-leave it funding methods (and traffic laws).
If roads were privately owned, there would be competition, choice – and no coercion.
Just as market pressure has given us Corvettes and excellent compact economy cars (and a variety of types of cars in between) as opposed to one take-it-or-leave it two-stroke-powered, plastic-bodied Lada – so also the privatization of roads would improve roads (and travel) generally. People would have more choices – and no choices would be forced down their throats.
There is no issue that I have a harder time explaining to people than this one, hence why I asked some time ago if you’d consider writing an article on it.
I absolutely, unreservedly agree that government has no right to own the roads, and that theft to fund their construction or upkeep (Whether in the form of eminent domain or taxation) are completely unjustified.
But beyond that, I don’t really know how to answer people’s questions about this. Could anyone else build roads without the sheer amount of resources that the government has? (I think they could, but I can’t prove it.) Is it really possible to continue constructing roads without eminent domain? (To me, if the answer is “no” than the simple answer is not to build anymore roads, but the sheep can think of nothing but efficiency and utility). What about the roads that already exist? We know the government has no right to them, but who does? I definitely don’t think it would be fair if the road in front of our house (Which is the only road we can use to get anywhere) was simply sold to some big company and the people that have been using the road for however long can now be charged anything the private company wants. One major issue here is geography. Roads are used to reach other things. You might be able to choose between different highways or other major roads. I can see how in an ideal world, starting from square one, people could simply pave roads as they needed them. If Wal Mart wanted to have an access point for people, they could simply pave a road between whatever community and their stores. But, although I see no issue with this, that ship has sailed now. Government stole the money, and property, needed to build roads, and built them. So, who is the rightful owner of these roads?
Don’t misunderstand, I am NOT arguing for government ownership of roads. I absolutely agree with privatization of roads. I just don’t really know HOW it could be done.
I’m going to have a lot of time this week to read, so I’ll definitely start reading Walter Block’s book on this subject. But… while I’m more than willing to dig through a 500 page book on libertarian theory, people who I debate with would not be. I need a relatively quick explanation I can use… if there is one.
David,
See chapter 5 (Highways of Capitalism) of Tom DiLorenzo’s “How Capitalism Saved America.” You can read the gist of it in his article regarding James Hill and the railway at http://mises.org/daily/2317. Similar reasoning would apply to roads.
As far as how to practically get from the system we currently have to a privatized one, that is obviously a much more difficult question. There are too many interconnected issues for a simple solution like, “Sell them all off to the highest bidder.” What about new entry in the “road business”? What about regulations? The principles of free entry and no regulations are easy enough to explain, but how do we get from where we are to there in a just manner?
I loved that article, agree with everything he said.
Of course, that doesn’t really answer the question of how to deal with the fact that, in reality, there’s only one road in front of your house and thus no real ability for competition. I know there’s a solution to that, but I don’t know what it is.
Hi David,
We have an infrastructure that was set up according to collectivist principles – and which caused unnatural population distribution, house-building/commercial-retail patterns (and so on). We’re not starting from a clean slate, in other words – so solutions will have to be work arounds, to some extent at least.
If could start from scratch, and on an NAP bases, roads would get (or not) according to real need – as defined by people’s willingness to pay for them without coercion.
Rights-of-way purchased from willing land owners; the road itself built using funds obtained through non-coercive means such as stock issues/partial ownership (or right to use once the road is complete). Maintenance and upkeep expenses could be generated from a variety of sources – tolls, subscription fees, etc.
The thing to avoid doing is to fall into the trap of accepting the collectivists’ premises when debating an issue – in this case, the existence of roads created under collectivist auspices and the economic-social distortions created thereby.
RE: “I know there’s a solution to that, but I don’t know what it is.”
….Just thinking out loud:
Perhaps, flying cars? Even just one that sort of skips.
Or, a flying, car transporting, taxi? Just to get you on the road you want to be on.
Or, neighbors get together and each chips in a small stretch of land to make a new road. Nothing wrong with starting out as a dirt path, isn’t that how most roads started? Maybe buy an access across a bad road that’s in the way? An overpass of some kind?
Oh, and one can always just Up and move to where the good roads are.
David,
The solution of the road in front of your house could be something along the lines of what private developments/condo associations do. They build and maintain their own road systems completely apart from the civil government just fine.
Actually, much better. We have a friend who lives in a such a situation. Because it is privately owned, there is a real incentive to maintain things properly. It got resurfaced this past summer long *before* it was riddled with potholes. Public roads only get repaired long after they really need it.
With all the recent snow, it has been readily apparent who owns/maintains which roads. The state/county roads sometimes haven’t been plowed at all (even highways more than 12 hours after 4-6 inches of snow fell), the local city roads are a bit better (they have been plowed but are not clean), and the roads in private developments are clean and clear.
David,
Sorry, I also should have said that the existing roads should be privatized. Obviously it’s not feasible in many situations to build a completely new road to your house in competition with the government’s road.
The Constitution, IF you consider it valid, does authorize Congress to establish “post roads.” Along with post offices, coining money, etc. The problem comes when they interpret these ‘rights’ as exclusive. It does NOT say that no one else can coin money, establish a post office, etc., just that they can. It does not require them to do these things either. As for roads, there were plenty of private ones in existence at the time of ratification. Said post roads were expected to supplement these, not replace them.
Side note – it authorizes them to coin money, but not to print currency. Neither does it authorize them to delegate these responsibilities.
Most of the road mileage built in the United States is actually built by the private sector. It’s just that state laws either incentivize or FORCE developers to turn roads over to the government once the development is finished.
Free roads are a subsidy.
Government can be gotten out of road ownership. Abolishing “free” roads doesn’t mean there won’t be roads — just that someone will have to have the economic incentive to build a road. Of course, there are lamestreamers who will doubtless chime in with their witch-doctor wisdom that “libertarians must never talk about private roads”, even though politicians are tripping over themselves trying to get on the news to opine about public-private partnerships for infrastructure.
Some libertarians even castigate other libertarians for speaking of private roads, but I think it’s an issue that is very rapidly appearing on the radar screen. Voters are increasingly aware of how tightly linked free superhighways are to the explosive growth of suburbia the entire nation has been watching.
Republicans and Democrats are even talking about roadway privatization. There is no reason libertarians should fear getting a team on the field. I recently listened in on a recording of a roads forum from Hampton Roads, and both local *and* state politicians were talking about allowing private roadways and curtailing government-sponsored roadbuilding. At least two members of the audience mentioned the idea specifically, in concert with restraining eminent domain so that private roads would have to be built HONESTLY.
People aren’t as dumb as some might believe. They are increasingly aware that throwing yet more taxpayer money into asphalt ribbons going everywhere is destroying the countryside.
The full costs of growth should be borne by those who want it. Get rid of free roads, abolish zoning, abolish setbacks, repeal minimum house-size requirements, abolish restrictions on mobile homes, and Americans won’t need so many new or expanded roads. Overnight, cities will start trending back towards being as space-efficient, mass-transit and pedestrian-friendly as they were 100 years ago, before government began regulating what people could build on their own lot.
Interesting side note: Examples of old private roads abound in Virginia. Major parts of Brook Turnpike (now US route 1) were privately owed right up into the mid to late 1800’s. Many of the feeder roads were also privately built and maintained.
Supporting material:
http://www.scu.edu/civilsocietyinstitute/articles/upload/PrivateHighways.pdf
http://www.mises.org/story/1704
On a side note, to paraphrase Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, he recently stated that of course we will have unconstitutional internment camps again in America – just like we had during WWII. This time it will be for the millions of political dissidents, libertarians, Christians, gun owners, military veterans, and all others who will oppose the mandates of the state.
When they attempt that roundup, I believe that is when peaceful civil disobedience will morph into armed conflict.
“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say goodbye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling in terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand. The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst; the cursed machine would have ground to a halt . . .”
— Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago
I love this quote, recently referenced it in a discussion with my father.
I absolutely support peaceful action, but any peaceful action pretty much has to include a willingness to use violence at some point. Otherwise, those who ARE willing to use AGGRESSIVE violence will continue to rule. I don’t like it, but I don’t see any way of avoiding it.
I’ll be posting that quote to my blog.
“Those who beat their swords into plowshares, shall farm for those who do not.” Thomas Jefferson.
I love this quote, recently referenced it in a discussion with my father.
I absolutely support peaceful action, but any peaceful action pretty much has to include a willingness to use violence at some point. Otherwise, those who ARE willing to use AGGRESSIVE violence will continue to rule. I don’t like it, but I don’t see any way of avoiding it.
I’ll be posting that quote to my blog.
Fred,
Most of us presume there will be an obvious watershed moment / event.
But the water is being boiled from all directions at once, and it’s only going up a fraction of a degree at any one time, from any one direction….
Surely we frogs will be safe, when the water is so warm?
There is NO perfect plan, nor is there a way to get things “right” so that armed reisistance will look acceptable. They will come for John, and then for Sam… And for Julie, a month afterwards. One will be an anarchist terrorist, one a drug dealre, one will have a “psychotic episode”…
And each event will occur, with no one thinking of what is happening.
Until one by one, we’ve ALL been removed, “For the greater good.”
THAT sequence will come AFTER the devaluation of money, and the scarcity of food and other resources, has already been used to collect us into cities and camps. If you can’t earn a living, you’re fodder. You accept the shit they shovel on you, or [and] you die. Either way, they’re happy. You’re in chains.
It’s only the stragglers and survivors afterwards who will think of Solzhenitzen’s words, and wonder WHY no one else would RESIST?!
Because we are NOT psychopaths, we cnanot think in those terms – that people are to be used and expended, like coins in your pocket when you stand before a vending machine.
And these psychopaths have their hands in OUR pockets, counting OUR coins. They will NEVER reach into their OWN pockets.
We need to preserve ourselves first and foremost, and ensure their numbers dwindle. ESPECIALLY the number of enforcers. If those little pyschopaths aren’t running afraid at the mention of our NAMES, the large ones will have no issue dispatching the little psychopaths to kill one or another of us, across the next several years.
And most of our “fellow citizens” (sheeple) will never know what happened – nor will they care.
Facebook (though self-selecting) shows the brunt of this: Political comment? No one cares, no one even READS it.
Kittens? +1000 likes!
“I took a poo” posts? 5,000 likes!
I exaggerate, but it’s true, and we know it. When is the last time you tried to talk politics? On here, maybe – In Real Life? David, Eric, me, probably Tor and Meth, – likely a few times a month, IF THAT. [not intentionally leaving anyone out, mind.]
We aren’t rabble-rousers, AND we have a life outside “THE CAUSE.”
Don’t be afraid of violence. The sword GIVES life, as well as TAKES life.
And ALWAYS rouse the rabble.
We just have to be slightly psychotic, too. They’ve declared us ill; Let’s see that bet, and raise them a life.
‘Cause in the end, that’s what we’re betting on anyway. And they’re coming to claim ours.
I will go out on a limb and openly state that if such legislation passes, there will be most likely exemptions, by which every member of Congress, the US Senate, the Judicial Branch and special cronies of the President will be exempted. How do we solve this, well many solutions have been proposed, but in John Ross’s hard to find book, Unintended Consequences, a viable plan towards returning to a constitutional republic is detailed. A long read for sure, but definitely thought provoking.
Notwithstanding our Author’s fine words about toleration: Ye sons of peace and true Christianity; believe me, it is supreme folly, madness, to expect angelic toleration from the New-England colonists, where she has thus far been constantly detested, persecuted and execrated.
Even in vain would our Author: or our CROMWELL cherish toleration; for the people of New-England, not yet arrived in the seventeenth or eighteenth century, would reprobate her. It is more than probable to suppose, that the New-England governments would have no objection to an Agrarian law; nor is it unreasonable to suppose, that such division of property would be very agreeable to the soldiers.
Indeed their General could not perhaps with safety to his existence as a General, refute them so reasonable a gratification. Particularly, as he will have more than one occasion for their services. Let us however admit that our General and troops, contradicting the experience of ages; do not assume the sovereignty. Released from foreign war; we would probably be plunged into all the misery of anarchy and intestine war.
Can we suppose that the people of the south, would submit to have the seat of Empire at Philadelphia, or in New England; or that the people oppressed by
a change of government, contrasting their misery with their former happy state, would not invite Britain to reassume the sovereignty.
Volumes were insufficient to describe the horror, misery and desolation, awaiting the people at large in the Syren form of American independence. In short, I affirm that it would be most excellent policy in those who wish for TRUE LIBERTY to submit by an advantageous reconciliation to the authority of Great Britain; “to accomplish in the long run, what they cannot do by hypocrisy, fraud and force in the short one.”
INDEPENDENCE AND SLAVERY ARE SYNONYMOUS TERMS.
James Chalmer’s Plain Truth – A Response to Paine’s Common Sense
http://www.umbc.edu/che/tahlessons/pdf/historylabs/Should_the_Colo_student:RS07.pdf
There is something we can do that might make a difference even while the vast majority of Americans are still sheep: shoot any armed criminal thugs who break through our doors. As Solzhenitsyn recommended (though he spoke of more basic tools, I’m guessing because guns weren’t available to the average Soviet citizen). The person doing the shooting will of course be killed (assuming the armed criminal thugs are from the government), but is life really worth living once they come for you?
Government thugs are so used to getting their way, they’ve almost all become physical cowards. When was the last time you heard of a cop doing anything truly heroic? Once they start getting shot, they’ll SCREAM for something to change, pathetic little turds that they are.
I’m not ready to recommend preemptive killing of the criminals, only defensive. If they more openly declare war on us, that could change, and if it does, they’ll have no one but themselves to blame.
I second this, JdL –
To be very clear, I am seconding defensive actions taken when one’s back is to the wall, literally, against an unprovoked, unjustifiable assault.
If, for instance, they come door to door for our guns – then I believe they’ve left us no choice but to fight back. If they try to force us out of our homes – to the “safety” of government camps – they have left us no choice but to fight back. Etc.
I do not want this; I hope to god it never becomes necessary. I am doing all I can to be a part of a peaceful evolution toward a free and open society in which thuggery (official and otherwise) is anathema.
But if they leave us no choice, then what choice do we have?
Solzhenitsyn recommended an axe for the first thug breaking down the door; as jdl noted most Russians didn’t have guns, thanks to the Bolshevik’s confiscation. It is unfortunately asymmetric combat, I have a 12 gauge but the PTB have tanks. I will use that shotgun on the first criminal thru the door, aiming for the head since they come all suited up for combat in flak jackets, etc., and the next one in line will undoubtedly end me. Hopefully this will not be in vain, that by the time it comes to this enough of the sheeple will turn off the tv and see what’s really happening, but I am willing to go it alone for the sake of my kids and grandkid’s future.
Mike,
Might I suggest some experiments in retreat strategies and booby traps first? Improvising a claymore on a tripwire at the door would be fatal to #1, and make #2 think twice. This ensures a chance to bring your weapons to bear, regardless of the timing. It buys a few moments hesitation on their end – they just opened a can of who-knows-shat, and they’ll need to re-think it.
After that, the warfare concepts get too convoluted to suggest. You’ll need to ponder on your own who / how / at what cost; the terrain; how the family will escape. It’s not a problem if the cops are the only ones who ever come knocking. But if the dog comes and goes through a doggy door? More difficult, you’d need to improvise a pressure sensor, and an arming method. Then what happens when it goes off? Where’s your exit? Will THEY have it covered? Can you make a tunnel? Or an underground bunker, which would allow you to burn the house or blow it up, and appear dead?
If Claymore takes care of #1, how do you dissuade #2 and #3 et al? Can you manage chemical sprays, or petrol sprays? Other booby traps armed as a result of the one being set off? What are the finances? Hi-tech or Low-tech? For example, marbles are a great low-tech solution to a single person. Maybe even a small group. But won’t work against a larger group, or even someone looking at the ground.
And who wants to live in a booby-trapped house? It will induce OCD. When (if?) you go to a friend’s house, they’ll wonder why you turn on the kitchen sink, open a specific cabinet, and THEN open the refrigerator to grab a soda – and then UNDO it in reverse order…. (I’ve done strange things like that. When I was at my parent’s home in December, I couldn’t remember where anything was… It’s been 11 years now since I was last there long enough to set things in memory. So I reached for the first drawer next to the sink to get a fork… Because that’s the way we do things at MY house. 😛 )
Stupid as it sounds, watch the first Home Alone for some great ideas (and a hell of a good plan for a 6 year old.) An entire gauntlet of traps, several of which were lethal in real life, and even a planned exit strategy and backup from the cops.
Up to the backup, you need to plan the same. You’ll be on your own. But when the pigs are on the stairs is NOT the time to wonder about a second identity. You need a bug-out bag with cash, cards, a few shirts & essentials (say, contacts), and an extra set of documentation from the high-end dealers (like the state).
Even better if you can get YOUR fingerprints into the FAKE ID, legitimately – like a job application. (And NO fingerprints in who you really are.) That way, even vigilant police will find out you’re NOT the person (people) they wanted… 🙂
Ideally, I’d mine every step inside, and build the stairs out of C-4 bricks…. Then have an “in-ground sprinkler” filled with a Napalm derivative. Objective 1: Keep them outside.
Objective 2: Make outisde fatal.
Objective 3: Anyone who DOES come in, gets dead.
Objective 4: I’m not actually there / I have an escape plan.
The Sheeple will not understand; they never do, it’s intentional.
YOU must handle your own arrangements, and knowing those who smuggle things and people, and can get documentation, are two GREAT points to start.
Even better if you can control yourself properly and be an “inside man” in some low-level office. 2A/3%ers can get your assistance to disappear, but no one suspects a member of Leviathan of being in rebellion…
Jean,
Great ideas, kind of reminds me of a Stallone movie a few years back, “The Specialist”. He had his entire house and grounds rigged with explosives that he triggered remotely while bugging out through a tunnel; brought hell down on his attackers while unfortunately destroying everything he had. My property doesn’t have the space for an elaborate escape system, but I’m willing to play the role of Samson and pull the temple down on myself as long as I take a bunch of maggots along with me.
Reading this thread by email, loving every second of it.
On this topic, I’ll recommend again reading Matthew Bracken’s excellent Enemies Foreign and Domestic Trilogy
I’m on book 2 now, it’s killing my sleep pattern. Can’t put it down.
I have absolutely shocking news on the triggers debate…
Texas man defends himself against SWAT raid…shoots pig, kills pig…
Jury declines to indict.
après moi le déluge…So it begins!
I’d like to know how he was not killed by the rest of the team after he shot the piglet. In this scenario, I’ve always assumed I’d get one or two, then certainly die due to their overwhelming numbers.
meth, read about that in Grist for Breakfast, gave me a smidge of hope……not a great deal though although I will say a guy about 40 I met yesterday gave me more hope than anything in a while. He gets it. He said presidents just do the bidding of the controllers, no real will of their own. Wish I could have heard that from other people when I was 40.
Regarding your de-listing from Google: I haven’t visited for a while and forgot the site name so I googled the phrase libertarian cars and you were number 1.
Regarding smart meters and car trackers: these could supply a network for reading implanted RFID chips which would normally only be readable from a few feet away. News out of Bilderberg a few years back said they wanted us chipped by 2017 which coincidentally is the DoT’s prospective roll out date for automotive real time data transmission.
Hi Darren,
It’s good to know we’re still coming up in the search engines, but the knife to the kidneys we got at the hands of Google is unforgivable. I will never work with them again. I take that back. One does not work with Google. One accepts whatever unilateral, arbitrary diktats they issue. One accepts the impossibility of speaking (or even communicating via e-mail) with a Google representative about technical or other problems. One accepts a completely opaque compensation deal; they pay whatever they decide to pay, according to a formulation you are not privy to. And when they take action that destroys or cripples your business, you have no recourse whatever.
It’s an online Company Town. Do not do business with these creeps.
“It’s going to continue. And, get a whole lot worse.”
Of course it is Eric. That’s why they’re doing it. No one will stop them and they know it.
What you’re trying to do is admirable; averting a crisis is always good. But it won’t happen. This log has been in the fire too long.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news. My plan is to be dead before the SHTF.
Maybe so, Scott, but don’t forget that line about the best laid plans of mice and men?
Also, don’t you have children, or nephews and nieces, or other relatives?
“No one will stop them and they know it.” Hmm.
Definition: Hubris is excessive pride (or “overweening” pride), and is often called “the pride that comes before the fall.”
The question, to me is, where in time are we?
” My plan is to be dead before the SHTF.”
@Scott–love you man, but fuck that shit.
I’m going to live, and my kids are going to live. Well, I might die protecting them…but a bunch of them will, too, if it comes to that.
I hope it doesn’t–because it will mean we’ve failed in the “infowar”–and 90% of war is information. Actually, psychology disguised as information.
We have huge momentum on our side; and, since we’re on the side of truth, maintaining our narrative requires ten times less effort. Theirs is an edifice of lies, and requires constant maintenance–anyone who’s ever told a big lie knows it requires continual upkeep. Lying is exhausting.
Will the transition be hellish? Quite likely at this point. But we’ll emerge much better off as a species.
I believe we’re on the cusp of exposing statism as the most lethal infectious disease ever to plague mankind.
And perhaps, for the first time in history, humanity may be ready to recognize the cancer within–by seeing the sociopaths among us for what they are, a predatory sub-species that has been ruining civilization for thousands of years.
methylamine wrote, “And perhaps, for the first time in history, humanity may be ready to recognize the cancer within–by seeing the sociopaths among us for what they are, a predatory sub-species that has been ruining civilization for thousands of years.”
Ha. Women and girls have known that for a long time, I think.
The problem is, many of those women and girls are attracted to them. Yet they are repulsed by them at the same time. …That’s my guess, I’m not certain.
I think, the only men who are certain, are very old, and when they know, they suddenly loose the ability to communicate. …Or something like that?
Anyway, Troll-like people are torturing other human beings, and killing them for pathetic reasons.
I do not understand how people can be OK with that and support it.
Let alone support expanding that “sphere of influence”? A.k.a. drone the world and monitor everything.
We’re surrounded by monsters I tell ya.
Good point on women recognizing them.
Remember, they’re about 2%. WE surround THEM!
Dear meth,
Larkin Rose’s “The Tiny Dot” metaphor is true.
It is not “wishful thinking.” It is not “whistling in the dark.”
It is an accurate realpolitik description of the power relationship.
IF, and this is a big IF, a critical mass wakes up, like Neo woke up in The Matrix.
A democratic majority is NOT needed. After all the PTB didn’t need it to take over. Freedom lovers won’t need a democratic majority to topple the NWO.
None of you seem to understand. I’m not locked in here with you. You’re locked in HERE with ME.
There’s the re-frame, and it’s essential to Game theory.
Treat this whole thing like a game. If you can’t win: CHANGE THE RULES. Reframe.
I’d point out, it’s something like 50% of the population who HAVE withdrawn consent already: they refuse to vote.
Hasn’t changed a goddamn thing. If anything, it’s allowed these people to do more, worse, faster.
Need a hard stop.
Hi Panarch,
This is not my unique observation but it’s one I agree with: Most people – normal people – simply cannot accept that there are “monsters.” The mentality of sociopaths – what they’re capable of, what motivates them – is beyond the understanding, especially at the gut level, of regular folks.
It is why people are so surprised – so shocked – when they fall victim to one.
We who do get it may have, as Nietzsche put, stared into the abyss. But for whatever reason, we managed not to fall in. Or look for too long.
But we see.
And once you do see, you can never unwittingly fall victim to these people again.
I have a friend who has a neighbor who is retired from the NSA. I asked her the other day about his reaction to Snowden’s revelations. She informed me that he didn’t think it was a big deal because they’ve been doing it since the agency came into existence and that anyone who wasn’t aware of it was extremely naive.
She told me he was active in the NSA during the 60’s. I have no idea how old this individual is, but he’s probably at least my age. That should give one an indication of how long our government has been spying on us.
Remember, J. Edgar had files on EVERYONE. Someone took ownership of those files after he died. And you can bet it wasn’t for altruistic reasons.
I’m firmly convinced that there will come a time when they go too far. And I’m also convinced that the incident which sparks the revolt will be something which seems rather trivial in retrospect. BUT, it will be the accumulation of countless other small things and someone will explode at just the right time.
And it won’t be a pretty sight.
That’s what I don’t get about the Snowden thing… they’ve been doing it for decades… FDR had it done in the 1930s… there have been countless whistleblowers over the decades and anyone who listened to these whistleblowers was considered a konspiracy kook. But now Snowden and suddenly people are shocked they are being spied on? Just five years ago snowden would have been called a liar, the documents fabricated, he would be interviewed on infowars and that would be the end of it. The government may not even bother prosecuting him because doing so would just give him legitimacy. And if it did, the msm wouldn’t cover it.
From what I’ve read, BrentP. The Snowden thing is just a ruse, it’s a ploy of sorts. Before, the NSA was operating in the background, in the dark, now they are front and center, they will be: justified, rationalized and accepted so they can be used in courts, held in awe, even looked up to (by shiny little bastards and snitches everywhere) they can now take their place next to the F.B.I. and the C.I.A..
Some people say, it’s All going according to plan.
Think of those who have come forth with the same revelations as has Snowden, only a few years ago. They were not persecuted. The MSM did not cover them. You don’t even know who they are.
Think about that.
The main point to keep in mind: If it’s in “the news” there’s a reason for that.
Possibly, PAH, possibly.
But they’re losing control of the narratives; every meme they launch seems to have an anti-Midas touch and turns to shit in their hands.
We can see the machinations to rehabilitate the NSA already–those “hearings” this week, where various statist Congress-criminals said grave things about the damage to “our national security” and putting “troops in harm’s way”. “Stolen property”–the new term for documents detailing crimes against Americans taken by a proper whistleblower.
But it’s not working. Go to any popular news outlet with a story on the NSA or Snowden–the comment sections are absolutely full of rage, fury, and bile at the government.
We’re not buying their crap anymore.
So is Snowden real? Whether he is or not, is the emphasis on the NSA:
* A “revelation of the method”?
* A “gaslighting”?
* A colossal fuck-up for the powers that be?
I vote the latter. Sure, Binney et al. revealed much of what Snowden did…well, without the level of detail and documentation.
The key difference is–now people are ready to believe their government really is that evil.
I can only hope this counts and that it matters: methylamine wrote, “But it’s not working. Go to any popular news outlet with a story on the NSA or Snowden–the comment sections are absolutely full of rage, fury, and bile at the government.
We’re not buying their crap anymore.”
I’m reminded of the people who went into the Republican primary conventions on a local scale in support of Ron Paul. Unless you were there – unless you knew someone who was there – it’s likely you have no idea how entrenched the old fat bastards are and to what lying vengeful lengths they will go to in order to maintain their power.
They Do Not give a Fuck what the common man thinks.
And they will stab you in the back to get their way.
…And, things have not gotten bad enough for the common man to rock the boat. …Yet. \
But of course, that’s jmho.
The fat bastards rule right now.
“The People”, they submit.
And that’s the way it is, on February sixth, Twenty fourteen.
[…Where the hell is Buck Rogers?]
@PAH–
I wasn’t there, but a friend of mine was. His telling of the story absolutely blew my mind; the sheer viciousness of a power structure under threat…the baseness, the lowness, the meanness of these fat soft-handed little NOTHINGS who pretend to rule us, amazed me.
But it shouldn’t have. They’re the 2%–the 2% who are sociopaths and psychopaths. They have nothing, except a keen instinct for domination. It’s all they know, and it’s all they can do.
To those of us who love competence, who love life and embrace it–who care about their friends’ welfare and well-being, who love their children with a chest-clenching ferocity, who wear a big smile after a morning at the range popping 50’s at 300 yards…and go home to fix their cars.
We’re the doers, the makers, the life-givers.
And they HATE us for it. Because none of those things please them like they please us; they’re empty inside, hollow, that place where the human soul resides is a vacuum.
And now, they’re howling mad, a ravening beast–because they’re being exposed.
Yeah, they own the power structure. But what can they really DO? Because when we stop participating, stop supporting, stop believing, stop listening–what can they do?
They’ll stomp their feet and pound their pudgy fists. And it WILL hurt us, a little. But just remember–they’re NOTHING.
Magnificent, Meth!
Exactly so.
When I think about, for example, Obama or Hillary (and this goes for their GOP counterparts, too) I think, what is common to them all?
They are nothings.
Oh yes, I know. Barry has a law degree and “worked as a ‘commmunity organizer’ and in other venues of ‘public service.’ ” But what can he do?
Can anyone name a single, tangible, productive skill possessed by this man? Something real one can point to and say, “Barry made that” or “Barry produced that”? Or “Barry can do that”?
Barry could not swap out a light switch on his own steam.
Barry has – to my knowledge – never done anything except manipulate the system, manipulate people to achieve power and wealth.
As has Hillary.
As have they all.
Take away their office, take away their power – what have you got?
Nobodies.
People who would be unemployable, helpless.
Take away the force and who would pay for their services?
No one.
They are empty, worthless – and know they know it.
One hard-working bricklayer is worth more than a busload of these creatures.
The key difference is–now people are ready to believe their government really is that evil.
Are they? I am not seeing it. Mostly government is being treated as the usual well-meaning idiots. When americans start showing open mainstream empathy for the victims of drone attacks, then I’ll believe they can finally see the evil.
Morning, Brent –
I am seeing (hearing) things I never heard before Nahhhhnleeevven. Such as people – ordinary people – murmuring/nodding approval when I mention that America is becoming a police state in conversation.
I’ll give you a specific example. We know a nice older couple; also their kids who are about our age. They fit the profile of a Norman Rockwell America, I Like Ike and all. As “middle” as it gets. Well, last summer we were visiting them and somehow police over-reach and authoritarianism came up. The man – 70s, ex-Navy, worked as an electrical engineer all his life – agreed with me. Such people were the backbone of America – the essence of Nixon’s Silent Majority. And they are alarmed – and disgusted.
The views we express here may not be mainstream, but they are no longer fringe, either.
We are making progress.
It is now a footrace – and we can win this thing.
@BrentP–
Keep in mind, by “people” I’m referring to the 10-30% who make a difference.
60% are a dead loss. I’m not anti-human, but they might as well be prety animals. They sure behave like prey.
The 10%–THAT’S our target. It’s the tipping-point number, and it’s the crowd that always makes the difference. Every mass movement depends on a small minority for momentum.
And the OTHER 10-30%–that’s our real enemy. They’re either in on it, or purposely delusional and supportive of the psychopaths; they’re the 20% that Lobaczewski (Political Ponerology) describes as “recruits”.
Ya, that describes them exactly: “the sheer viciousness of a power structure under threat…the baseness, the lowness, the meanness of these fat soft-handed little NOTHINGS who pretend to rule us, […] They have nothing, except a keen instinct for domination. It’s all they know, and it’s all they can do. […]
Yeah, they own the power structure. But what can they really DO? ”
Answer: they can lock us out. They can make the decisions, they can make the laws, …they dictate. They send the shock-troops as described on Will Grigg’s blog.
You (and those like us can say) we can stop participating, stop supporting, stop believing, stop listening.
But really now, will enough of “us” do so?
I have my doubts.
Maybe if the old people are replaced by younger people who will not,… but I’m having doubts, I’m seeing visions of a jackboot on the face of humanity, forever.
oh, how I wish it were not so.
A.k.a. the paradoxical wimpification is complete.
Total dominance is assured.
“The People” praise the trolls who torture.
“The People” are sick.
methylamine wrote, “The 10%–THAT’S our target.”
The trend setters?
Like how bell bottom pants became popular?
And how tattoo’s and piercing’s became popular?
And how, supposedly, hats are becoming popular?
..But that crowd (as always through time) is such a “it’s popular” follower.
A.k.a. it’s so popular nowadays to support the empire and support torture and empire.
It’s hard to imagine them breaking the mold.
[In the background, every generation is maddened by the next generations liking of something the previous generation, for the most part, hates and despises.]
One can only hope.
methylamine wrote, “The 10%–THAT’S our target.”
The trend setters?
Like how bell bottom pants became popular?
And how tattoo’s and piercing’s became popular?
And how, supposedly, hats are becoming popular?
..But that crowd (as always through time) is such a “it’s popular” follower.
A.k.a. it’s so popular nowadays to support the empire and support torture and empire.
It’s hard to imagine them breaking the mold.
[In the background, every generation is maddened by the next generations liking of something the previous generation, for the most part, hates and despises.]
One can only hope.
(Pardon the double postings, it seems I cannot spell. I’m just a bit tired. And, tired of it all.)
Things aren’t as kooky anymore but often they are good things now.
Like Alex Jones rightly points out, first you’re a kook because that could never be, then you’re proven correct, now you’re bad for objecting to it.
I sometimes will outright mock people now, even friends when they write/say something that accepts what was once the realm of kooks. At the very least I’ll point out that the kooks were on top of it long ago.
I think I’ll make my indicator really something simple. When regular typically trusting uninformed people see the FDA for what it really is. When I can openly say the FDA is about protecting insider corporations and not us, being almost entirely useless for us to point where abolishing it is considered acceptable, and not be a crazy person. Then I will know the tide has turned.
Dear Brent,
“When regular typically trusting uninformed people see the FDA for what it really is… then I will know the tide has turned. ”
Yes. Well put.
Also, when regular people see the Federal Reserve System / Treasury / Bankster Triumvirate of Evil for what it is, the legalized counterpart of Bernie Madoff, then we will know the tide has turned.
See this must watch video. This and Griffin’s video of “The Creature from Jekyll Island” tell the whole story.
The Biggest Scam In The History Of Mankind – Hidden Secrets of Money Ep 4 – Mike Maloney
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFDe5kUUyT0
I doubt he’s a ruse. A tool of convince to do those things I’ll buy. But I don’t see some contractor deciding to just become a man without a country to do this for the NSA.
Greenwald was ignored by the MSM for ages. He’s not the reporter they would pick for a ruse. They would give it to one their loyal court reporters. If there is a ruse neither Snowden or Greenwald are in on it.
I’d go with someone told the MSM to parrot what Greenwald was reporting. Otherwise it would have been like countless other damning Greenwald articles. A link circulated among libertarians and that’s about it.
Sometimes, I think that’s all it is, BrentP, “A link circulated among libertarians and that’s about it.”
I doubt the man on the factory floor gives it much thought.
Let’s put it this way: “some contractor doing this for some money and it was part of a job”
I’d prefer to think of it your way. However; that makes Much more sense. I’d post some links in support of my conclusion but I’m tired as all get out. I think I’ve seen some stuff here in support of that idea:
http://mindbodypolitic.com/
BrentP wrote, “If there is a ruse neither Snowden or Greenwald are in on it. ”
Consider this:
The Leak of the “FU to the EU” Phone Call Tape versus Edward Snowden Leaks
“Where are the Snowden tapes of US officials plotting and scheming? There are none. Snowden, for whatever reason, has protected all real state secrets. ” …
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2014/02/the-leak-of-fu-to-eu-phone-call-tape.html
Snowden was a contractor sysadmin. He didn’t have access to anything good. Just stuff that people kept on the computers he admin’d ordinary office stuff. There’s not going to be anything embarrassing there. Just power point presentations, data, reports, memos. That sort of thing.
Like a tiny grain of sand which begins an avalanche?
Since the 1960’s, Patchicat?
Of that there seems to be no doubt.
They are bastards.
They are trolls.
Or, as they say in scary movies,They are legion.
However; the, “accumulation of countless other small things” may have only just begun? …Where in time are we?
I’m hoping the hacker community will find a way to disable the V2V and tracking functions in new car computers, but there really is no way to avoid the mileage tax when (certainly not if) the greedy pols implement it. My state, as do many others, requires an annual saaaaaafety inspection; that would be the time your mileage gets recorded and they either send you a bill or make you pay on the spot. Nonpayment would surely result in suspension of your registration, license, birthday, whatever. Unless there’s a way to rollback the odometer we’re all screwed; probably can’t be altered (like I did on my parent’s car withan electric drill back in the day). 🙂
It is time for some massive pushback before we’re all herded for Soylent Green. I’d love to see everyone just remove their license plates (and replace them with a middle finger drawing) and just go about their daily business. If EVERYONE did this it would overwhelm the PTB and they might reconsider the course we’re on; unfortunately we all know that there are way too many clovers out there who would cringe at the very idea of defying “the law”, so it would never happen.
Just gives me goose bumps though, thinking of the expressions on the faces of our dear leaders when the sheeple finally say “enough!”
I’m considering again getting Mexican license plates.
With Mexican plates, you’re GOD–untouchable, invincible, invisible. Because the PTB want them overrunning us, they’ve made it policy to let them be.
I was fighting a ticket in court a few months ago and I watched this in action. Two illegals, who’d been driving without licenses and had been nabbed for speeding and a DUI….the judge spoke softly and nicely to them, gently reprimanded them–“gosh golly gee willickers, you really ought to get a license..and shucks maybe not drive so completely bombed”
Both paid reduced fines. And by “reduced”, I mean fifteen and fifty bucks, respectively.
$15. And $50. No license–second time in that court BTW–and DUI. Fifty bucks. No jail.
Now try to tell me they’re not purposely letting them in to destroy us.
Acts of aggression becoming too numerous to count. At what point do we take them at their word, that they intend to rule us and control us completely? Will we resist when they plug us bodily into the matrix…?
If revenue is as bad as they claim, then the simple (in my opinion) solution would be to increase the fuel tax. Increasing the fuel tax would not necessitate adding more complexity and more equipment to vehicles. (ie more things that can go wrong which makes it more costly to maintain a vehicle on the road)
I think it is as others claim, just a tool to get more control over the general public.
I’ve watched tax by mile build. They all are talking the same language… the same programmed language nationwide. it’s because cars are more fuel efficient now… there isn’t enough gasoline being sold.
It’s a lie. An outright lie.
Here’s the fleet fuel economy as calculated by the government itself:
See here: http://blogs.nicholas.duke.edu/thegreengrok/u-s-fuel-economy-past-present-and-future/
And here: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/ltonachel/fuel_economy_continues_to_rise.html
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/ltonachel/EPATrendsMPGBig.png
http://mobikefed.org/files/us-vehicle-miles-traveled-fhwa-2008-12.png
Oh and the boys at zerohedge… gasoline sales:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-06/these-charts-better-not-represent-true-state-us-economy
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2013/03/Gasoline%20All%20sales%20Prime%20Supplier.jpg
See these three charts.
Guess what? Tax wise things aren’t even close to bad. A modest increase in fuel economy since the early 1980s with a dramatic increase in miles driven. Still more gasoline sold today than in the 1990s even with the downturn.
If there is a problem, and it seems mostly because road building funds get diverted to checkpoints, transit, bike paths, and whatever pet projects elected office holders have, it’s because of the fed’s monetary inflation. Since they must inflate… So instead of giving the bankers and wall street free money build roads with it. Now that’s still a big disaster economically but at least we’ll have roads. With the bankers and wall street we end up with nothing.
So, what do we do? That’s the problem.
With tyrannical governments of the past, at least they didn’t have loads and loads of tech at their fingertips.
That’s the problem with these new tyrants. They can spy on us anywhere.
I’m working up an article on just that… what do we do?
I think we can do just one thing. Refuse to comply. Opt out. Passive resistance.
Same goes for Obamacare.
If enough of us will only take this small, relatively painless step…
I’m all for this, but is it really as painless as you say? The state’s goons WILL enforce “the law” on us if we refuse.
I wish we’d all pick the same “Rubicon” moment, unfortunately, that’s unlikely, and nothing ever gets done.
It is of course impossible to predict how the creatures will respond to any given act of defiance, but they blink more often than you’d expect.
I refused to comply with the 2010 census. Mailed back a blank form with a polite — but firm — letter explaining that I would not be participating in this immoral, unconstitutional harvest of personal information. Some time later, a dude (who coincidentally had the same name as a friend of mine, which was good for a chuckle) showed up on my doorstep to ask me all the census questions in person. I told him politely — but firmly (paralleling! I am a great writer) — that I would not be answering any questions. We talked for a while, and then he went away. This was the last I ever heard from the census bureau; I was in clear violation of government pseudo-law, and nobody did a thing about it.
In this case, what will they do? If we simply refuse to be monitored in exchange for usage of MUH ROADS — which the government has crafted into an elaborate net that one simply cannot avoid, even out here in the woods in Alaska — how hard will they bite? We can’t know in advance, which is much of the reason why it takes courage to stand against them. They are weaker and more cowardly than you would ever expect, though, and they’ll topple without very much of a push.
I had the same experience!
They sent the ridiculously over-the-top, totally illegal long form. I just put it in the trash.
Eventually a goatee’d trendy came to my door; I informed him that three people lived at the address. Three people. Not a female adult, female child, male adult…no, three people.
He wheedled and whined for a minute asking more questions; then trotted out the “it’s the law” line. I explained what the real law was–the Constitutional enumeration–and told him his “law” was merely color-of-law.
He persisted.
I told him to fuck off.
He fucked off.
End of story.
Eric, I’m remembering an article you wrote awhile back that I commented on back while I was still (relatively) moderate: where you suggested that we should disassociate from statists because they are evil. I couldn’t find it. Do you remember what article I’m talking about? Do you know where it is on the site, because I wanted to read it again…
It should be under “Politics” – top menu bar…. I’ll see whether I can dig it up and will post a link if I can find it.
I just found it, was called “Fixing their wagon”. I posted a comment.
Also, mang, wasn’t this nice, from the Gary North post today @LRC just about the finest older woman there is:
http://abagond.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/sophia08.jpg\
Such a bright bit of sunshine in an otherwise insane ugly world.
Note, he did not say older woman, just woman, period.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: learn from the Irish. Through trial and error down the generations, they found a twofold strategy that eventually prevailed (with a fair wind, but you can wait for one if you have to, if you can only keep the faith):-
– Work within the system, not to try to reform it but to clog it up: join and sabotage. That leaves the field clearer for…
– Set up alternatives outside the system that take over its role, piece by piece, possibly culminating in a direct action phase. Normally, the system would react to these steps, and possibly even anticipate them and head them off, but you’ve got it slowed or even stopped by the other stuff.
Well, no–they can’t spy on us everywhere. Because remember, the same tools they use to spy on us, the ubiquitous internet, WE can use to spy on THEM.
And as Snowden says–trust the math. Cryptography still works, if you avoid the corrupted stacks.
I’m very close to releasing my lawyer-client communication site. I went back to the old textbook implementations of RSA and AES and did them in Javascript, avoiding all the compromised stacks (Microsoft’s et al).
There are dozens of cryptographic communication suites. There’s gold and silver and cash…and now, Bitcoin–which I don’t fully trust yet, but I love that the FedGov hates it.
Remember–we’re the proto-mammals, the little mice hiding under rocks, billions of us, while the dinosaurs roar and stomp and rage the end of their lives as the political weather changes. When the tails stop thrashing, we come out of the woodwork.
Does ANYONE still think I’m too extreme with “Genocide of Pols / Scorched Earth” policy?
The tree of liberty must be watered from time to time with blood of patriots and tyrants. -Thomas Jefferson
Assuming you mean what I think you mean, I’d rather try peaceful methods whenever possible, but at some point that may not be possible. I don’t know when that is.
Eventually, each of us will face our Rubicon moment. When we either accept the unacceptable – out of fear, out of preference of avoiding pain to standing our ground as men. Or we do what we have to do – and the consequences be damned.
Who will be our “Tank Man” I ask?
Great piece again! Tweeted to 4000+! As we hit Rubicon’s it is essential to stick together! Lexington Green was not one farmer standing alone! Friends of Liberty have friends in Jesse James country!
“America is at that awkward stage. It’s too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards.”
Claire Wolfe wrote that more than 20 years ago. Whether the “awkward stage” has already passed is for each person to decide on his own. Given the huge increase in gun purchases lately, I suspect millions have already decided.
I think so, too.
My entire circle of friends is not only conscious of the problem – the seriousness of things – they’ve also actively taken steps to prepare for the worst-case.
Meth’s earlier comment about the comments section that follows most MSM pro-authoritay articles being full of derision for the propaganda is most relevant to this discussion.
We labor under a false perception that we’re isolated, powerless. Not so. There are millions of us – and more joining the ranks every day.
This is not 1917 Russia. While there are masses of people ready to submit and obey, there are millions who will not bend a knee. And they matter more.
The critical 10 percenters determine the course of history – for good or ill.
Dear Eric,
“We labor under a false perception that we’re isolated, powerless. Not so. There are millions of us – and more joining the ranks every day. ”
I agree.
The problem is not that we are fewer than we imagine. The problem is we lack mechanisms by which we can consolidate our power. Or if we do, they are not yet adequate.
The PTB have a multitude of mechanisms by which they can consolidate their power and use it against us. Skull and Bones. Davos. Bilderberg. CFR. The FRB. The UN. Plus they have successfully used the Myth of Authority to position themselves at the top of the political pyramid. They can use OUR money against us.
We need to find ways to counter them, possibly asymmetrical.
Could someone tell Eric how much oil we would need to be pumping when millions of cars are added to the highways across the world? The population of the USA is approximately double it was when I was younger. If we would have kept that 9 mpg hummer mileage we had when I was younger the USA would be using close to all the oil being pumped across the world. Tell us Eric if you want our mileage to keep the same where are we going to get the Billions of barrels of extra oil we would need each year with the increase in the number of drivers?
Clover,
While I should not respond, your babble brings up an angle not previously presented, so for the sake of intellectual discussion I will address it.
If I parse your babble correctly you are concerned about the ability of a cartel to produce enough fuel to meet demand had government not done CAFE. In this babble you mention extreme examples. In response I give you this ad for the 1960 Falcon:
http://galleryplus.ebayimg.com/ws/web/230495717734_1_0_1/1000×1000.jpg
Automakers sold fuel economy long before government interfered. Any supply problem would have been met by focusing more resources on improving fuel economy. Government only ‘gives’ us what is already being done or has been done while damaging things by its interferences.
If government had left things alone, people would have been driving full size cars with much higher fuel economy than the SUVs we got instead.
If we had a truly free market, one of 2 things would happen with “gasoline.” Either prices would be much lower due to increased exploration and extraction, or something else would have been substituted for the IC engine, or at least the gasoline powered version.
Dear Strider,
Good comment.
JFK joked about the “awkward age” or “awkward stage” back in the 60s.
“… I will find myself at the end of that period at what might be called the awkward age, too old to begin a new career and too young to write my memoirs.”
— President John Kennedy in February 1961
I think I know what the greatest problem in this country is: the presumption of innocence and the desire to give others “the benefit of the doubt.”
On the presumption of innocence, a noble goal which served ‘Murica for two centuries: it has fallen by the wayside for the Enforcers, while for the mundanes it is still one of the shining values of the republic. Granpa is guilty. The 14 year old kid with the arm broken by Enforcers is guilty. The family with the trashed security cameras SWAT-teamed for credit card fraud is definitely guilty. The lady with the three kids in the SUV who was shot at for a traffic violation is guilty. Every person who goes through a “border” control station a hundred miles from the frontier is guilty. And every single air/rail/bus passenger/sports fan/mall shopper who passes through a Tyrannical Sexual Assault checkpoint is guilty.
And America keeps giving the thugs, goons and perverts, these Enforcers of the Police State, THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT. Well, we need to be molested. We need to be jostled. We need to be murdered. BECAUSE ENFORCERS WOULDN’T ACT LIKE THIS IF WE WEREN’T GUILTY OF SOMETHING!
Rise up, slaves! You are enslaved by your own noble philosophy that we are all inherently good. Wake up and smell the fascism.
Exactly, rust!
Without the presumption of innocence, individual liberty is a dead letter. It’s not about making it “easier” to catch crooks. It’s about refusing to accept being treated as a presumptive crook, as you’ve described.
Once you take away the presumption of innocence as an absolute defense against an individual’s rights being abused, you have given carte blanche to authority to violate rights at will.
This is a critical point that Americans must relearn if there is ever to be a resurgence of liberty in this country.
Consider also the demise of “mens rea,” made famous in Legally Blonde. Without intent to commit a crime, there is no crime. That has been replaced with “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.” And with thousands of pages constantly being added (unconstitutionally) to the Federal Register, NO ONE can know everything that has been forbidden. Although I don’t have any examples, I have no doubt that there are contradictions therein that make it impossible to not violate something.
Yup, “Federal criminal law closely mirrors the Soviet code and its “crimes of analogy.” Silverglate writes that under the old Soviet law, “any citizen was in constant danger of being prosecuted for virtually any action if it could be analogized to or derived from something in the criminal code” (emphasis his). As Lavrentiy Beria, Stalin’s head of the dreaded secret police said proudly, “Show me the man and I’ll find you the crime.”” ….
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2009/07/william-l-anderson/towards-a-soviet-america/
See also, the audio file: Harvey Silverglate: On Legal Terror
http://www.lewrockwell.com/podcast/harvey-silverglate-on-legal-terror/
I do. If we’re willing to kill them for defying us — if we’re willing to resort to any extreme of violence in order to get our way — how are we any different from them? Aren’t we just knocking down the old boss so we can take his place?
This is just a bizarre argument in my mind. Not all killing is the same. Killing someone who is trying to rape a child is nowhere near morally equivalent to killing somebody for smoking dope, or because he looked at you funny.
Now, is there room for debate over when killing is acceptable? Sure. Is there room at the table for the position that its never OK? Sure. Many good Christians died for that view. But its not a given, nor does it make you “like them” if you use violence to prevent someone from causing serious harm to you.
Which isn’t what I said, yes? I don’t recall ever having written “if we use violence to prevent them from raping babies…” I believe what I said was “if we kill them for defying us…” and “in order to get our way…”
In particular, the issue at hand was whether or not “genocide of pols” is justified in response to an attempt to monitor road usage. I’m sorry, but it is not. And, yes, resorting to violence in this situation certainly *does* make one very much like the government — the institution defined by its use of violence to promote social aims.
Well, really, its morally equivalent to killing a socially accepted armed robber. Is armed robbery a sufficiently serious crime as to be worth killing someone to prevent? I don’t know, you tell me. For me, personally, probably not. Its not worthwhile, to me, to kill over money.
Honestly, the bigger issue to me is the spying aspect, but even then, it seems like they do it all the time anyway. Wasn’t that line already crossed with the Snowden revelations? Frankly, I’m glad Snowden exposed the info rather than killing NSA agents, it was a lot more useful. But will there come a time where we have to start killing government agents? I think in Nazi Germany that might have been justified. It may get to that point. But, I’m not sure. My ethic is by no means completely developed on this point.
“In particular, the issue at hand was whether or not “genocide of pols” is justified in response to an attempt to monitor road usage.”
Road usage monitoring is of course only a slight loss of freedom. We should overlook it just this once.
David:
I’m not denying that such a time may come; I’m denying only that that time has arrived. From an ethical standpoint, killing can only ever be an absolute last resort — in a literal “kill or be killed” scenario, I can understand it. I’m still not sure I think it’s the right thing to do, but it’s certainly a different situation from “kill or be monitored.”
Inconsistencies:
Which is also not what I said, of course. There is clearly some room between “kill ’em all” and “ignore it.”
If they required me to put a surveilence camera in my house (assuming I get to a point where I own a house before this happens:)), 1984 style, I would refuse to obey. If someone tried to lock me up for refusing to comply, I wouldn’t have a problem with shooting him. Once it gets that overt, we all know the system is screwed up (or are too stupid to realize it). I don’t think we’re there yet, but wouldn’t be surprised to see it come down to that.
I am 100% in favour of refusal to comply; it’s what I suggested in my other post, even.
@David:
Do you have a laptop?
Webcam?
Cell phone?
Then big Brother is ALREADY inside your home.
Cable box? They’re looking to put sensors in the boxes to tell what they should advertise to you. (Wired magazine, IIRC – a year ago.)
K’Nex, for the XBox? Senses how many people are in the room, to make sure you don’t abuse the licensing agreement.
you think it doesn’t get other info, too?
And with encroaching (mandatory) smart-grid technology – do you SERIOUSLY think your daily habits won’t be monitored and catalogued for government use?
John Smith @ 123 Elm Street in Lake Hiawatha, NJ raised his voice at his wife during an argument. He slammed the door as he left the house. Suggest psychotic episode, dispatch SWAT to car GPS cooridnates…. Send for mandatory psychiatric evalution, send armed officers to his home to secure his firearms and any other possible weapons. Transport wife and children to a battered women’s shelter, temporary retraining order to be issued, put a freeze on all financial accounts so he cannot run.
Traffic cam on Main street shows John Smith at the ATM. Swat en route. Bank shut down.
NEws cameras rolling as Psychotic episode expands. ATM refused transaction, John Smith went to talk to the tellers. Swat arrived five minutes into their discussion, shot two people (bystanders) and detained John Smith on assault and attempted murder charges. “John Smith is being taken out of the bank now. Authorities tell us he had a psychotic episode this morning, and they have taken action to protect his wife and children, and ensure our safety. John was charged with assault of an officer, obstruction of justice, disturbing the peace, and faces two counts of assault with intent and attempted murder for the teller and customer injured when SWAT stormed the Bank of America branch in Downtown Lake Hiawatha today…” [commence perp walk]
No cell phone. Ever. I would rather guzzle a gallon of used hydraulic fluid than be chained to one of these vile devices. No webcam. I put electrical tape over the camera hole my Mac came with.
What you’ve said, Darien, is that it’s Ok to rape the children, but not the grannies or the adult women.
Or some variation thereof.
It is wrong. And therefore reprehensible and must be stopped, either beofre, during, or after.
Or it is not, and should be tolerated.
We are being raped at this moment, which I believe makes the analogy all the more meaningful. Like a zombie plague, and following the lines of thought re: stealing at this site, and the restitution afterwards: We cannot be made whole by propagating the theft. We cannot be enriched or ennobled by raping others further down the chain.
But we can fight, and die fighting – and maybe not even die at all! – if we resist.
Taxation by a distant government that does NOTHING “for” us – and EVERYTHING “against” us. Spies on us – while Obummer shakes hands with, and bows before, terrorists. Taxes US, while giving corporations – GE, for example – money. OUR money, extracted at gunpoint.
Fees for the FCC, for the state, for the federales, for the LOCALS, even. Licensing for fishing, driving, hunting, owning a gun, giving a manicure / pedicure, driving a cab or commercial vehicle (not just driving your own car or mopped for personal transport), boating, electrical work, plumbing, HVAC, TV repair, building codes, etc, etc, etc, etc.
It’s ALL TITHING to MOTHER RUSSIA.
And they’ll kill you to take your wallet, make no mistake.
Our govenment IS violence. Chris Christie? Marion Barry? Al Gore? The Chimp? Schwarzennegar? Even REAGAN. ALL force-drive controllers.
You fit in well, since you deny the premise: They are PSYCHOPATHS who wish to control you, to OWN you, like a dog.
In what way are laptops and cell phones able to spy on me? I know they listen in to all the conversations on cell phones, but beyond that, I’m unaware of anything else. Any evidence?
Yes, I have a cell phone. Posting this comment on my netbook.
Eric, why do I need the “CAPTCHA” code to post now? I never needed to type one before.
Hi David,
We’re trying to manage a spam assault – mondo PITAS!
Have you registered as a user yet?
Is that what I said? I apparently missed that part when I was saying it. I will, if it pleases you, explicitly repudiate it here: no, it is not okay to rape non-babies, and no comment I make to the effect of “baby rape is wrong” should be taken (weirdly) to mean that I think all other rape is just fine.
Here are a few other things I will deny. I will deny the attempt to identify surveillance with rape. They may both be wrong, but they are still not the same thing. It’s wrong to kick a dog, and it’s wrong to release sarin gas on a subway, but those are also not the same thing. Not everyone who kicks a dog is a subway gas murderer.
I will deny that there are no viable options in between “toleration” and “kill everyone.” Attempting to reduce the panoply of available choices into a binary is bizarre.
But apparently I’m now a “psychopath” because I don’t agree that killing everybody is the right answer. That’s a wonderful medal to pin on my chest; a guy calling for “genocide” and “scorched earth” just called me a psychopath for suggesting that maybe hanging the mailman from a tree by his own intestines is a bit too extreme.
Hi Darien,
Agreed.
All forms of coercion, all violations of rights, are bad. But there is bad … and worse.
Surveillance – when it is done in a way that violates someone’s rights – is wrong. (It’s ok to install surveillance cameras on your property; wrong to filch through someone else’s e-mails without their consent or knowledge.) But it is a category of wrong notches down from a physical assault.
I’m also entirely in agreement with you – and Bevin and others here – who reject direct confrontation unless it’s unavoidable and not before the necessary groundwork has been laid. Because otherwise, it would be a futile act of destruction.
Speaking just for me, I’ll continue to try to change minds while I can still do so and until there’s no longer any point in trying.
David asked, “In what way are laptops and cell phones able to spy on me?”
Selling Your Secrets
The Invisible World of Software Backdoors and Bounty Hunters
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/02/pratap-chatterjee/junior-g-men/
@David- Do you have an Andriod or IPhone? Even Android or such netbooks. Look at the permissions you give away to use the app you downloaded. Many have access to your GPS, address book, and other personal identifiers. The latest ones even reboot themselves in secret even if you try and turn them off.
Eric,
At what point do crimes committed on a massive scale become no better than murder?
For instance, I’m sure we’d all agree that looking through one person’s emails without permission is ethically nowhere near murder.
When you look through EVERYONE’s emails, and give yourself the right to use those emails against them, that’s a different story indeed.
For a long time, I’ve stated that ANY crime committed by a government official in uniform should be punishable by death. I still feel this way. Why? If a regular guy tries to steal from you or otherwise aggress aganst you, you have the legal right to stop him. But if he has a badge, he’s given himself legal IMMUNITY, in other words, he’s enlisted a massive gang, to protect himself while he does that thing to you. That is far worse, in my mind, than a street thug killing one person and then fleeing for his life.
Is the slave morally wrong for killing his master to secure his freedom? Should he peacefully beg and plead with his master to give him back the freedom that was stolen from him through violence? Should he patiently wait for the other slaves to come around to his point of view so that they have the numbers to force change?
I agree that the spreading of knowledge is a powerful weapon, but is it enough?
I don’t know. The Biblical approach seems to be that a peaceful approach to these sorts of things is better. Killing your master will do nothing but get you killed and your master sent straight to Hell*. Personally, I’d probably only do it if it was to protect either myself or someone else from severe harm. I’m not going to judge those who have a more broad ethic of when it is OK to use retaliatory violence, or those who think it is never OK to use violence.
I think you hit the point of it.
The previous string seems to link the “genocide of pols” to this one issue; tracking movement for taxation, but it has to be viewed in the much grander scheme of the general suppression of freedom. It’s been building for a long time, as was the suppression that lead to the War For Independence. And like that time, there are those who fought day and night for a non-violent resolution. But then there were groups like the Sons Of Liberty who took direct action. This appears to be the time to determine which way you’ll fight. By the pen or the sword.
The Genocide bit is precipiatated not by this, but by ALL the regulations. The ENDLESS REAMS of laws and statutes. The interminable efforts to find a way to comply with the million-and-one agency “standards” that change from agent to agent.
And the HNIC has the pen.
And will use it, and his cell phone, to act – whether the American People (let alone Congress) will act or not.
The sword is more useful now…
But in timing sense would be ineffective. Now would be the time of scalpels.
Later on, broadswords will be necessary.
Shortly after that – atomics won’t even cut it.
Dear IC,
The morality was never even in question. At least if you ask me.
It’s all a matter of picking your moment.
When is the right moment?
There is no one size fits all answer for everyone. It’s an individual judgement call.
After all, too soon and you could be one of those gunned down by Soviet tanks in the streets of Prague during the Prague Spring.
Wait a while and could be one of those with sledgehammers standing on top of the Berlin Wall, knocking it down, while police and military look on doing nothing.
No, not at all. We would only be exercising rights and fulfilling duties imposed by our founding documents. To kill off these totalitarians in order to replace them with people who can at least read the constitution would not be a bad thing.
We don’t WANT to take his place.
We WANT to be LEFT ALONE. To come and go as suits us. To earn and spend and engage in what activities please us.
And we don’t want to tell other people how to live their lives.
>>THAT<< is what makes us different.
Dear Jean.
No. You are not “too extreme.”
You are right about the “what.” I would however like to talk about the “when.”
People as far separated by time and space as Sunzi and Johm Adams agree. NEVER EVER move before the time is right.
“Every battle is won before it’s ever fought.”
― Sun Tzu
“The Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution
was in the minds and hearts of the people… This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution.”
— John Adams
You remember “V for Vendetta?”
V painstakingly, laboriously sets up thousands of dominoes. Only after they have been properly set up, long in advance, does he pull the trigger and initiate the domino effect.
That is the perfect metaphor for how liberty must be achieved.
Everyone wants to rush ahead to the part where you pull the trigger. That’s the “fun” part. But nobody wants the thankless scut work of setting up the dominoes.
Awesome post, Bevin.
Dear Pan,
Thanks for the generous compliment.
Merely repeating what far wiser men than myself have bequeathed us.
There’s a fair bit of evidence that the “Revolution … in the minds and hearts of the people”, though real, not only was very unevenly distributed and incomplete (which was why its adherents’ numbers about matched those of Loyalism at the beginning, and were lower than the numbers of undecided or indifferent) but also was just beginning a secular decline as many of the younger generation turned Tory from Whig (as the colonies started to follow changes in the mother country nearly a generation later, the way colonies are often behind in such things, following a mother country that had been far more Whig in the days of a realistic Jacobite threat before the Hanoverians went native enough to connect better – it’s a long and complicated story I won’t go into here). For instance, Benjamin Franklin’s son was one of these new supporters of the Crown (there was a geographical divide too, compounded by clan loyalties and conflicts among Scottish immigrants where those settled). On this view, the rebels struck just when they were at their peak and barely able to seize control of territory, so as to avoid getting too weak from further delay – time was not on their side, during peace. It means that much of this “revolution” was fictitious, and only amounted to providing a structured system and propaganda gloss for things that had been the informal norm for about ninety years; but that means that its only new elements formed just precisely the elitist and statist components, so all that was an original sin for the whole affair.
Quite so, PM.
It was a close thing, certainly.
And the fact is that the ruling elite of the colonies was in a very real way more authoritarian than George and Parliament. For example, one of the first things done by the first president (egged on by his homunculus and de facto prime minister, the odious Alexander Hamilton) was to impose at bayonet-point the first “sin” taxes (on whiskey), something the dirt poor farmers of rural PA were never threatened with by the crown.
The truth is the revolution was a vehicle for the furtherance of the economic objects of the ruling elite of the colonies – most of whom were greedhead merchants who saw an opportunity for the enhancement of their wealth, their power and their privilege.
Some paid lip services to “liberty” and to the “rights of man.” Few believed in these things – or practiced them.
The ones who did – at least to some extent – were marginalized. I refer to Mason, Samuel Adams (John’s cousin), Patrick Henry and of course, Tom Paine (who was abandoned by Washington and left to rot in a French prison).
The Constitution was – is – a con.
In broad terms, once the rebels had managed to co-ordinate their original coup d’état through the committees of correspondence, the armed struggle itself wasn’t such a close thing. There were only two things that could have stopped the rebels getting at least an independent core region (which was all they actually got, since they didn’t get Canada, the maritime provinces, Florida or any of the West Indies – all British then, but where the initial coup d’état failed or wasn’t attempted). Those things weren’t what is commonly considered important these days, but something else:-
– The rebels had to hang in long enough for foreign support to arrive. With that, Britain couldn’t play a long game backed by the ability to land anywhere, as in Ireland, because it was not “the strongest military power” the way I’ve seen some U.S.A.ians claim, but actually weaker than most European countries, and although it was the strongest single naval power it couldn’t outmatch France and Spain together; one failure at sea (which happened) meant losing the land game, short of a rebel screw up (which didn’t happen).
– The rebels had to get a peace that didn’t just hand them over to their allies, precisely the way France had just recently moved in on Corsica after its own independence movement pushed back the occupying Genoese, which was very well known then (it also matters because of Napoleon’s back story); in fact, it was the standard pattern, e.g. a century earlier Russia came in late and took the Ukraine after that broke free from Poland. It’s the classic “invite the foreign invaders in to help against a nearby enemy” mistake, only ever made from blindness or desperation – it’s even how the English came into England. (I strongly suspect that it was largely fear of this that made Benedict Arnold switch sides when he did, soon after foreign help came – for fear of worse.) In part, that hand over to the erstwhile allies did happen this time around; Spain got Florida (which then included the coast as far as the Mississippi). But, for their preferred sort of safe peace to happen, the rebels needed victory at home but not abroad. As things turned out, Britain managed a stalemate in the other theatres (again, contrary to modern U.S. thought, the fighting didn’t taper off between Yorktown and the peace, it raged on elsewhere), keeping Gibraltar but losing Minorca. The way that that led to the rebels’ allies having to switch their forces there, and Britain’s interest in not letting France or Spain have a resource base, headed that risk off – by the time the peace came, there weren’t enough foreign forces in North America in strength to push it through. The only way the rebels could have lost to their allies was if Britain had been thoroughly knocked out early on – which was possible, given the chances of war and of screw ups.
The thing that could have been closest was, that France and Spain might have realised they could only get a Pyrrhic Victory, and that supporting rebels was a bad precedent for their genuinely repressive régimes (Britain only really repressed Ireland, and parts of Scotland after rebellions, not North America – there, it was just clumsy). If that had happened, France and Spain wouldn’t have chipped in at all despite the rebels’ diplomatic and propaganda offensive (which was why the rebels needed that sort of Declaration of Independence). That’s not hindsight talking; those very points were made in Chalmers’s contemporaneous “Plain Truth”, a rebuttal of Tom Paine’s “Common Sense” (which was actually very shallow, though broad and an easier read than a proper analysis like Chalmers’s). Among other things, Chalmers pointed out (correctly) that a rebellion couldn’t succeed without the help of France and Spain, then pointed out (correctly) that helping would do those very same damaging things to them, and concluded (incorrectly) that they had more sense than to get into something no-win like that. But he had overlooked that they might over-estimate the chances of getting gains in North America for themselves (and they still could have, if Britain hadn’t steered the peace the rebels’ way), and the strong anti-British feelings they still had after their huge losses in the Seven Years’ War not that long before.
No, the really close thing wasn’t in that struggle itself but in what didn’t happen afterwards. The French Revolution came along, and its repercussions halted the previous pattern of small, frequent European wars for at least a generation. That bought the new country enough time to grow to a viability that could defend itself well enough to make gains too costly; without that, there would have been another war in less than ten years that would have passed large chunks of the new country to one or another European power, and then another such war, and then another…
A wag once quipped to the effect that the colonists’ victory was owed to the ineptitude of British generalship – which made the mediocrity of Washington as a field commander sufficient to result (eventually) in a victory for the colonists. The only major/strategic battle Washington ever won was really won by the French (at Yorktown).
You’re right about Napoleon. After the slave uprising in Haiti, he more or less said – to hell with the New World! – and happily divested France of Louisiana for a relative pittance.
As for the Spanish: I dunno. They were ossified, corrupt. The Dons along the Mississippi were hardly a great martial threat and whatever Spain could send over in their support (in the event of war) wasn’t much because Spain was broke and tired.
The tragedy for us – for the cause of liberty – is that the newly independent states didn’t form and maintain a loose confederation (perhaps on the Swiss model), which would have diffused authority such that the present world-stomping Leviathan might never have been born.
Thing was, the whiskey tax probably would not have been rebelled against if it had been payable in whiskey. Getting dollars, gold, silver, to pay the tax is what made it so horrid for them. Locally as I understand it, whiskey was their currency. Essentially it was a tax on money payable in another form of money.
It was the first sign of the out of touch far away government imposing itself.
Yes, very good point.
It had the effect – intentional, no doubt – of forcing them “onto the reservation.” When you have to have the government’s money to pay debts, then you are to some extent a slave. You cannot live by barter. You must do some sort of fungible work that can be translated into dollars.
Today, the same effect is achieved by perpetual taxes on land/real estate – making it virtually impossible to ever stop earning income by participating in the system.
OK, I tried to post this comment but I don’t think it posted. If it did, I apologize for the repeat.
I do sort of agree with Eric on the constitution, but I have to ask, compared to what?
Compared to the Articles of Confederation, absolutely.
But compared to what we have now, just following the constitution strictly, even with some of the bad amendments like the 14th, 16th, 17th, maybe 19th (see what Eric says about “mom culture”, I rarely mention this except as a joke but I think we can handle discussing it here, note that I am not certain as to my position on this either) probably some others, would be a huge step in the direction of liberty. Because right now, we have gangster government with no real limitations
A family member once claimed that you don’t have the right to disrespect a cop. I pointed her to the 1st amendment. Now, would it have been philosophically more correct to appeal to the NAP? Sure. But the thing is, she doesn’t understand the NAP, and thus believes in the authority of the State. But, being a good conservative, she wouldn’t want to admit to not caring about the constitution. Of course, I got the “there has to be order” response that is really getting frustrating*, and there were other people at the table so I couldn’t continue smashing her position, but I still usually start with the constitution when it comes to conservative statists. Liberals are a different story, I usually start with non-aggression with them, since they don’t really have any problem with stretching the definition of the constitution.
*I can understand this response when market anarchism gets discussed, even though I still think its a lame response. But I cannot understand why people bring this up with regards to pretty much any other issue. Its just silly.
Hi Eric,
Have you read Lysander Spooner? If not, I think you’d enjoy his thinking very much.
Here’s a few quotes and a link to his essay “The Constitution of no Authority”.
“But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain – that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.”
“If any man’s money can be taken by a so-called government, without his own personal consent, all his other rights are taken with it; for with his money the government can, and will, hire soldiers to stand over him, compel him to submit to its arbitrary will, and kill him if he resists.”
“All legitimate government is a mutual insurance company, voluntarily agreed upon by the parties to it, for the protection of their rights against wrong-doers. In its voluntary character it is precisely similar to an association for mutual protection against fire or shipwreck.”
http://mises.org/media/categories/238/No-Treason-The-Constitution-of-No-Authority
Kind Regards,
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy,
Yes! It was one of my initial introductions to the ethical system I embrace and try to advocate today. Spooner was exactly right about the Constitution, except I would take it a little farther. I do not ascribe to its authors good intent. Quite the opposite. The deliberate, calculated object was to replace the “weak” (that is, not sufficiently authoritarian) Articles of Confederation with a governing document meant to consolidate power in a single, central (and necessarily authoritarian) government. This was the overtly stated purpose of Hamilton, the principle mover and shaker behind the adoption of the Constitution; without his tireless, brilliant – but always malignant – efforts, the Articles would not have been thrown in the woods and replaced by the Constitution. One thing American kids are not taught is that the Constitutional Convention was no such thing. What was supposed to happen was a gathering of representatives from the various states for the purpose of hammering out trade agreements under the Articles. Instead, Hamilton and his Federalist friends used the occasion to conspire in secret (the CC was not open to the public) and without the knowledge much less consent of the ostensibly sovereign people who sent their representatives to the convention to completely replace the Articles with the Constitution.
It was a coupe de etat by parties who did not believe in the stated ideals of the Declaration; who revered the authoritarian British monarchy and parliament. Who despised the idea of the sovereign individual. Who wanted – as today – power for themselves. To rule. Some where perhaps (in their own minds) benevolent despots. But they were despots at heart, nonetheless.
George Mason, et al, barely succeeded in getting the Bill of Rights tacked on as a begrudged addendum. This speaks volumes about the true intended purpose of the Constitution and of those who conspired to saddle us with it.
@Bevin re: V for Vendetta dominoes…
I can’t believe I didn’t pick that up! What a brilliant visual allegory; it escaped me until you pointed it out.
And Bevin–I applaud your slight mental illness referring to the trigger-pulling as the “fun” part 🙂
Oh–and a book note for everyone here–if you haven’t, pick up Matthew Bracken’s Enemies Foreign and Domestic Trilogy.
It will warm your soul, chill your spine, and give you some super-nifty resistance ideas…for when the “fun” part starts.
Thanks for the book suggestion! I’ll add it to my list. I recently finished Unintended Consequences, suggested by either Tor or Bevin (I forget), and now I’m reading 1984 (I’ve never read it). I’m also working on Balko’s Rise of the Warrior Cop.
I loved the first two; I’ve lost the third (Dead SD card.) I need to make a few checks tonight while we are out shopping for electronics, maybe there’s an option to recover the SD card… Maybe I just need a new phone.
Thinking of Prepaid services, get a phone, hold it for when it’s required. Core numbers can be recorded externally or memorized.
But do I keep the smartphone tracking device as a decoy? Might buy a few precious hours to go to ground, if TSHTF (for me, personally.)
No doubt that’s why you use the “V” avatar.
“People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.” — V
Agreed on timing.
My concern right now is, WE are the dominoes, set in play by another power.
We are REACTING, instead of ACTING.
We need to find ways to change that. And we might need to go farther outside the comfort zone than we’d like… (IE, neo-nazis, for example – never have enough stormtroopers / cannon fodder.)
Of course, then, how do we survive? We’ve compromised some key items there… NOT good. But sometimes, you have to brek the egg, and THEN decide how to cook it. You can still boil it – it just isn’t going to be a nice round glob any more. But it can be boiled nonetheless.
And if a few neo-nazis get boiled, well – I’m sociopathic enough to be OK with that. Live by the sword, trip and fall on your sword, die by your sword…
What are you suggesting here? Joining with Neo-Nazis and getting them killed? For what?
Use them, along with (for example) anarchists, Satanists, Right-wing extremists, socialists, communists, survivalists, lunatics such as arsonists, terrorists, criminally insane murderers… ANYONE who can be expended and bring about desired ends.
Cleans things up to ways: the ones who wish to rule us are eliminated, and those who would replace them are also eliminated. Enemy of my enemy gets to kill my enemy.
I recognize it won’t make me popular, but – since I want to be left alone – Seems I (and by extension, those like me) win either way. And if one or another is left over? Easy to ignore or deal with as appropriate.
To be clear: TPTB want a target: We give them a target.
Those who hate TPTB want a reason, opportunity, and a direction.
Point the two at each other, help the underdogs a little (even the odds so they don’t just get slaughtered), and ensure they both lose.
War of attrition, expend the enemy’s forces while securing your own strength.
Dear Jean,
The PTB are so evil I’m not sure I would wish them even on Neo-Nazis!
LOL.
Bevin – I’m pretty sure the PTB are the “real” neo-Nazis. Well okay they’re still the same ol’ Nazis they’ve always been. They just hide behind Wall Street these days instead of the bank of Dresden and the Bank of London. The skinheads are probably just another of their artificial constructs designed to create a division in the masses. Jean couldn’t get much play out of a small segment of loudmouths hurling racial epithets and oranges spiked with nails while they stomp around in their Doc Martens alone. It really would take mobilizing several diverse groups against the enemy in an orchestrated fashion and they would all want to be the group in charge. That being said, just try to get four people to agree on what should go on a pizza.
I admit I am sympathetic to white nationalists.
OTOH, I used to sympathize with the ANC, and Israel…
And I sympathize with the Native Americans. White man did a lot of evil things.
Demanding multi-culturalism is on a par with genocide, in my mind. Not particularly different from the smallpox infected blankets sent to the Natives oh so long ago. If anything, the smallpox blankets were probably more merciful, as it ended the lives – instead of destroying the minds and souls. (More like alcohol / fire-water.)
PTB are more evil than the neo-nazis. But they deserve each other, and weakening either side helps us.
Further, the SOLUTION is to have common culture. MONO-culturalism. Easy when everyone is “white”. (WASP, if you will. Which leaves me out, in case anyone forgot.)
Certain standards must be stated and enforced.
For instance:
Language: English. You want to do emergency services in multiple languages? Sure. Good idea. But RESIDENTS SPEAK ENGLISH first and foremost.
Laws: Few, simple, objective. Thou Shalt Not Kill. Thou Shalt not Steal. Thou shalt not assault others. Congress (or any other agency) shall not establish a state religion. Congress (or any other agency) shall not set interest rates. Immigrants shall prove they can be productive in their new home, learn American history, learn English, and be known as AMERICANS, regardless of country of origin. Not Puerto Rican Americans. Not Chinese Americans. Not African Americans. AMERICANS. All Americans not convicted of violent crimes, and those found to be wrongly convicted, shall be permitted any arms of their choice, and be trained in use of same. [They shall arrange their own training, and purchase and care for their own arms. THEIRS.]
Common history: American founded by Deists, mostly Christian. thought process from the Enlightenment and Humanist thoughts. Key events in history, as determined by historic trends, to be taught in upper grades (junior high). Ancient and World history in earlier years. Reading, writing, mathematics, science (including biology, chemistry, physics in higher grades.) intelligence rewarded; stupidity punished. No need for High School nor college. Teach economics and politics along the way, too. Include the realities of Marxism. Capitalism. Socialism. Fascism. Mythologies of each, as well as (through history) the mythology of perfectable man.
Can’t be worse than what we’ve got now. Might be a lot better. And really, the higher education systems – HS and college both – were enacted and expanded to house the hundreds of thousands of teens and young adults following WW1 and WW2. Objective was to get the ex-soldiers back into productive jobs. Couldn’t do that with the younger workers allowed to compete…
We have been collared and corralled, one step at a time, over GENERATIONS. In a million tiny ways. Until now we are arguing over WHAT LEVEL of government intervention is permitted.
Hence the analogy to rape… Objective is to point out that regardless of “degree”, you’re allowing the PROBLEM. You’re claiming we’re only a LITTLE BIT pregnant….
No such thing.
We allow them to number us, leverage our future productivity while stealing our current productivity, decide the safety requirements of the products we are allowed to buy… They decide what’s allowed on the market, decide the prices, tax us on the purchase, tax our income, tax our phones, radios, etc; and already have decided to MANDATE WE PURCHASE PRODUCTS. They monitor all our communications, regulate where we can go, declare things illegal, after they’re done – and prosecute us for that (ex-post-facto laws), and EXCUSE THEMSELVES FROM BREAKNG THE LAWS THEY’VE ESTABLISHED…. As well as exempting themselves from those very laws.
And bear in mind: Monitoring everything? Means they can INSERT ANYTHING into the datastreams. You don’t remember sending the email threatening Obummer? Doesn’t matter – security metadata and intercept metadata BOTH say you wrote it. Film analysis SHOWS you there – even though you were in another COUNTRY. Your DNA and fingerprints were found at the scene…. your cell phone GPS shows you were there…. They turned on the cell phone and RECORDED YOU DOING IT. (Even though you really WERE NOT there, mind. You’re a convenient perp, since you voted Republican / Green / Independent; own a gun; are a staunch Christian; heterosexual; Have an IQ above 120; refused to pay your taxes; have too many parking tickets… The objective is to ensure compliance. To get Information. In…Formation. IN. FORMATION.)
We are being placed in a gilded cage – but it’s a cage first and foremost. Even the “power players” are inside the cage – make the slaves think they have a voice, they’ll vote a “massa” every four years… And the losers go back, lick their wounds, prepare for next time… Never realizing, it doesn’t MATTER who is voted in, those individuals WILL pass the laws they are ordered to, and the IMPORTANT legislation and rules (not laws) WILL get enacted.
These people are narcissistic pyschopaths. They would assassinate the power players, or their families, or us, without thought. We’re just pawns – and so are the “power players”, the public PTB. Royals, Congress, POTUS, cops…
Hence playing off various psychos and “useful idiots” against each other. Skinheads against Black Panthers; both against Congress. Let the BPs and NNs take down the police; someone else will deal with the fleeing “dignitaries” while the hellions remove each other from the gene pool.
The fleeing “dignitaries” (erstwhile rulers) suffer an “accident” and after enough iterations? The “unseen hands” are revealed, or rendered impotent. No contacts, no leverage – they get their hands dirty (and then get eliminated) or they no longer HAVE the influence – the “pull” as Ayn Rand termed it..
And if things go badly, the psychopaths take the fall.
Remember the golden rule: Screw unto others as they would screw unto you – but do it first, and make sure there’s no recovery.
Hi Jean,
For me, this is an issue of freedom of association. I don’t subscribe to the views of white nationalists (or “365 Black” McDonalds) but every person has every right to associate – or not – with whomever he wishes to. Period. This business of forcing people to associate is loathsome beyond words.
Dear Booth,
“Bevin – I’m pretty sure the PTB are the “real” neo-Nazis. Well okay they’re still the same ol’ Nazis they’ve always been. They just hide behind Wall Street these days instead of the bank of Dresden and the Bank of London. ”
I think you are absolutely dead on right.
As G. Edward Griffin noted regarding the FRS,
Nathaniel Wright Stephenson, Senator Aldrich’s biographer, tells us: “Aldrich entered the discussion at Jekyll Island an ardent convert to the idea of a central bank. His desire was to transplant the system of one of the great European banks, say the Bank of England,bodily to America.” Galbraith explains further: “It was his [Senator Aldrich’s] thought to outflank the opposition by having not one central bank but many. And the word bank would itself be avoided.’
https://ia601202.us.archive.org/11/items/CreatureFromJekyllIslandByG.Edward-G.EdwardGriffin/CreatureFromJekyllIslandByG.Edward-G.EdwardGriffin.pdf
@Boothe re: I’m pretty sure the PTB are the “real” neo-Nazis.
I’ve mentioned it here before…Jim Marrs’ book Rise of the Fourth Reich. He makes a very compelling case that we defeated Germany, but not National Socialism–and that many of its key players we actually imported directly.
Hell, David Dewhurst worked with the Butcher of Lyon, Klaus Barbie:
http://whitewraithe.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/meet-the-texas-traitor-republican-lt-governor-david-dewhurst-killed-tsa-bill-for-obama/
Knowing history is a curse. Talking to even my relatively well-informed workmates is like tutoring a class full of high school freshmen; rosy fresh-scrubbed cheeks and limpid eyes full of promise but just so childlike…for Christ’s sake, people, wake the fuck up!
Hi Meth,
Are you familiar with Nazi Nexus by Edwin Black? If not, it’s a must-read. His cross-referencing of the various “foundations” (e.g., Rockefeller) with the Nazi eugenics program, of U.S. corporate involvement – direct involvement – in keeping track of the extermination programs (viz, IBM) will shock you, if you’re not already aware of these things.
@Eric–I haven’t read it but I’ll add it to the list.
I am aware that IBM and others…including the internationally-held and carefully protected IG Farben…were instrumental in all aspects of Nazi atrocities.
And that American and British eugenicists were the source of Hitler’s inspiration–not the other way around!
He went too far, too fast and they had to rein him in…and distance themselves from the now-dirty word “eugenics”.
Now they call it “family planning” and “sustainability”, and other pretty words.
But they’re still aborting more than half those “nappy-haired black babies” (the words of an abortionist at an inner-city clinic).
Margaret Sanger got letters of admiration from Hitler.
These are some of the reasons I’m so adamantly against abortion; because it is so incredibly crucial that we revere, admire, and protect human life–and consider it sacred–because when we allow the psychopathic Elites to convince us we’re just animals, we lose.
Because if we’re just animals, why not? Why not train us? Why not breed us? Why not kill off the “unfit”? Why not kill us all? Herd us? Hurt us? Trampling, and being trampled?
Because we’re just animals, after all.