EP on “Who Owns Your Car”

Only the hyperlink works for me. But that is more than good enough, I’d think.

Here’s what I think is most important. This is what I think you mean when you ignore seat belt laws and speed limits and turn your back on heroes and national anthems, and such things. When you instead rely on your own good judgment.

It’s largely adapted from somewhere else, and it can still be fine-tuned of course, but here goes:

Every authoritarian regime has an Achilles’ heel, a weakness which no amount of military might or clever conspiracies can make up for. When enough of us stop imagining a moral obligation to obey and pay tribute to a ruling class, nothing in the world can keep that ruling class in power for long.

When enough of us no longer imagine that there is something inherently wrong with disobeying the arbitrary commands of politicians (“breaking the law”) and no longer feel guilty if they try to avoid being robbed (“tax evasion”), then all the apparent strength of “the powers that be” evaporates into nothing.

This same principle or standing up for yourself also holds true in the case of an abusive father or spouse, abusive friends, abusive church officials, abusive landlords, abusive neighbors, abusive bosses and coworkers, abusive creditors, and all other abusive countrymen.

Of course, if only a handful of people disobey and resist, the politicians’ mercenaries–soldiers and police–will make short work of them. But if even a large minority refuses to comply, refuses to surrender the fruits of their labor to the ruling class, even if they don’t lift a finger to actually fight back, the empire will crumble.

This does not require any election or revolution, but it does require you letting go of their authoritarian indoctrination and reclaiming ownership of their own lives. This can even include your family, your friends, your neighbors, your coworkers, your creditor, and your countrymen. You are under no obligation to anyone, unless you consent to the obligation.

Empires weaken and fall, not through voting or “working within the system,” but through the people no longer viewing their own subjugation as legitimate. You don’t need specialized knowledge, or abilities. You don’t need to improve yourself or better your character. You can do this right now, just the way you are.

You only need to do what you can to resist. Authoritarian power is weakened by large crowds displaying non-violent resistance, by clandestine means, such as the undermining the laws, or by brute force. Power is weakened when you stop paying attention to them at all. In all cases, freedom from tyranny begins with a mental revolution in which the people stop imagining an obligation to bow to those who claim the right to rule.

You don’t need to join anything. Improve yourself in any way. Be a better person in any other way. Only this one specific thing is required. Once you start doing this, you’ll find that you have more time and energy for lots of other things you’d rather be doing.

Real change will occur when you actually dare to disobey, when you stop begging for the politicians’ legislative permission to be free and start thinking and acting like a free man even when the ruling class has declared freedom to be “illegal.” “Authority” is always in the eye of the beholder. When you stop imagining that a group of parasitical liars and thieves has the right to rule you, only then will you have any chance of ridding yourselves of authoritarian oppression, not through begging and petitioning, but through outright disobedience and resistance.

You don’t need to understand all the governmental conspiracies and deceptions–or even know that they exist–in order to defeat them. The largest fraud is the Fed’s “fractional reserve banking” swindle. You don’t need to actually understand how the fraud works in order for it to collapse; you need only ignore the currency laws forcing you to participate in the scam.

You don’t need to see through all the false flag tactics and other fear-mongering propaganda in order for war to end. You only need to stop feeling an obligation to pay the taxes which fund it. To end the “war on drugs” doesn’t require you to have an in-depth understanding of the economic and practical reasons why it is so counter-productive. It only requires that you are willing to ignore laws which punish victimless “crimes.” And so on.

When you stop believing in an obligation to obey those in power, the collapse of an empire becomes inevitable, no matter how all-powerful or all-knowing that regime might seem. Exactly how the fall happens is secondary. What matters is the philosophical change in paradigm, which occurs when you let go of the lie that being a good person means always “obeying the law” and “following the rules.”

You can and should ignore your abusive government. In you personal life, you can also ignore your abusive family, abusive friends, neighbors, coworkers, debt holders, and countrymen. You owe your abusers nothing, except the will to resist and ignore them. It is sociopaths and criminals who dictate what “laws” and “rules” are. Throughout history–such as in Soviet Russia, Red China and Nazi Germany–the bad guys were “law enforcers” and the good guys were “law breakers.” The U.S. is now destined to follow the same path. The tide of ever-increasing injustice and oppression being enacted as “law,” has made it inevitable that the only hope for freedom and justice in our time will come from those whom the rulers will label as “criminals” and “terrorists.” It is time for you to behave in a way that might have you labelled that way at some point. That is the price you must pay. That’s what it takes, if you really want to live with dignity as a free man, without being abused by others who claim the right to lay their hands upon you to rule you. Anyone who tries to do that is your enemy.

For some it’ll be defiance of education laws. Or drinking age laws. Or drug laws. Or insurance laws. Or just walking away from abusers. Or just stop listening to abusers. Or stop doing business with abusers. Or refusing to help or cooperate with abusers. For each person it’ll be different, but doing whatever is necessary in your life to stop being abuse, will make all the difference, you’ll see.