Democracy Devious Deception: Slavery Dressed Up As Freedom

Down With Democracy, Long Live Liberty

“Democracy passes into despotism.”
-- Plato

“Democracy is the road to socialism.”
-- Karl Marx

“A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude.”
― Aldous Huxley

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years.”
― Alexander Fraser Tytler

“The species of oppression by which democratic nations are menaced is unlike anything that ever existed in the world. The supreme power covers the surface of society with a network of small, complicated rules, minute & uniform, through which the most original minds & the most energetic characters cannot penetrate to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, & guided; men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting.
Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, & stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to be nothing better than a flock of timid & industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.”
— ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE, Democracy in America

The American Founders abhorred democracy as a form of government, with Alexander Hamilton declaring his view that: "the ancient democracies in which the people themselves deliberated never possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure deformity"! Rejecting mob rule, where fifty-one % of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine, John Adams counseled fellow Americans to remember that: "democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide", while Benjamin Franklin in his inimitable style, left us this eloquent description: "Democracy is two wolves & a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote"!

A century & a half ago, enslaving fellow humans under a master who got to decide how much of the fruits of their labor they would be allowed to keep was accepted as law by a large majority in society! Not all slaves objected to this, among those who were less ill-treated many were reluctant to escape, even when presented with the opportunity. Imagine, therefore, if slaves had been allowed to vote on whether to stay under plantation rule so the majority would decide the fate of freedom-loving slaves. And, if such a system had been extended across the land, would that have made slavery permissible? If slavery could not be justified by the majority even if slaves were allowed to vote for their masters, then what renders such a situation any different than what obtains today under a modern democracy?

It is becoming increasingly clear that a large segment of society has been conditioned to look to an all-powerful entity to protect them from every peril, seen or unseen- in this regard they see the State as benevolent parent & as Huxley said: "do not have to be coerced because they love their servitude"! Another quite significant grouping would like to escape this unnatural & confining human servitude, but do not believe it is possible, so they keep trying to tie down the 'beast' in legal chains- to no avail. Finally, there exists a 3rd group, small but rapidly growing, who are awake to the fact that the ability to vote for your master does not equate to freedom- these are determined to carve out a new reality, one which recognizes and respects the inherent human rights of self-ownership & self-determination!

Today's system of democracy didn't suddenly appear out of the blue, it replaced a monarchical system justified under the so-called 'divine right of kings to rule' - merely replacing the divine right of a king with the divine right of a majority did nothing to address the illegitimacy of top/down coercive rule! What remains is a parasitic system which is sustainable only "until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury"... it ends as soon as the inevitable collapse occurs!

When Bastiat opined: "Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else", he clearly had in mind the form of government called Democracy, under which, as another astute (anonymous) observer pointed out: "The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a living are now outnumbered by those who vote for a living". And, yet another brilliantly observed: "Voting only changes the players. It doesn’t change the game."!

The 'game' is a system of political warfare where each group seeks to impose its values on the whole; whether religious, political or cultural, the end result is the same - enslavement of the whole society! Diversity is turned from a strength into a weakness - perpetual warring leads to permanent instability. All the while, the ruling elites revel in the inter-group rivalry for dominating other groups, knowing that the real winner in wartime is not the victor, but whoever finances all factions on the battlefield!

Democracy is that wonderful system wherein rulers can take your money and strip you of your rights, knowing they can reliably depend on a fearful, easily controlled majority to neutralize any objection! In the time it takes them to awaken to the first bogeyman, 2 - 3 new ones have already been created!

In the end, this need not be a battle between those who believe they ought to be ruled by others and those who ascribe to the inalienable human right of self-determination - both can peacefully co-exist! To do this however, each must respect the other's right to decide which group they wish to belong to!

This fight won't be won by persuading the majority that they need to break The Chain of Obedience! Sadly, the masses continue to be pre-occupied with the illusion of security rather than with freedom, so our efforts are best placed on awakening those who can be, whilst preparing for life after collapse!

What If Democracy Is a Fraud?
"Representation" ... and "Consent"
Freedom And Central Planning Can Never Coexist
The Most Deceptive Word In The English Language
If We Are Free Sovereign Beings, Why Do We Ask For Permission?
Statism in a Nutshell: From Thievery to Tyranny in Five Easy Steps
Getting the Idea of Government & Political Authority Out of Your Mind
Until Recently There Was No Such Thing as "Government" in Most of the World 

The Democracy Deception


Who Owns You?

LewRockwell.com

anti-state  •  anti-war  •  pro-market

Are You a Thug?

By Marc J. Victor

November 20, 2015

Some people are thugs.  As a practicing criminal defense attorney, I sometimes get to meet and talk with thugs.[1]  Most of the thugs I represent know they are thugs, and some of them are even proud to be thugs.  Most people don’t think of themselves as “thugs.”  This is because most thugs don’t realize they are thugs.  As with most things, the first step to change is an acknowledgment of the facts.  I encourage you to honestly consider whether you are truly a thug.

All human interactions can be boiled down and assigned to one of two possible categories, “voluntary” or “coercive.”  The “voluntary” interaction category includes things like charitable acts, all contractual relations, and most interactions among friends.  A truly “voluntary” interaction is one that is knowingly entered into by competent and consenting adults.  The “coercive” interaction category includes things like theft, assault, fraud, and other old fashioned concepts of criminal activity.  The hallmark of this category is the concept of one person forcing his or her will upon another.

Although the vast majority of interactions can easily be identified as either “voluntary” or “coercive[2],” there are some interactions that can be difficult to determine.  Reasonable people may judge differently some hastily occurring interactions between people in the midst of difficult or emergency circumstances.  That there exist rare and difficult interactions to judge doesn’t change the fact that all are either “voluntary” or “coercive.”

Thugs regularly engage in coercive transactions.[3]  Sometimes, thugs join with other thugs to accomplish their coercive transactions.  As an example, if one person knowingly gives a ride to another person for the purpose of burglarizing a home, both are thugs.  This is true even though the driver merely drove the car and never entered the home.  Because the driver knowingly assisted the burglar, the driver is also equally responsible for the burglary.  In criminal law, this concept is known as “accomplice liability.”

Accomplice liability is very broadly defined.  In Arizona, we define an accomplice as follows:

“accomplice” means a person, other than a peace officer acting in his official capacity within the scope of his authority and in the line of duty, who with the intent to promote or facilitate the commission of an offense:

1. Solicits or commands another person to commit the offense; or
2. Aids, counsels, agrees to aid or attempts to aid another person in planning or committing an offense.
3. Provides means or opportunity to another person to commit the offense.

As you can see, it doesn’t require much effort to be an accomplice.  A mere agreement to aid another to commit an offense is sufficient to be an accomplice.  To utilize my previous example, actually giving the ride to burglarize the home isn’t necessary.  Simply agreeing to give the ride, even in the planning stage, is sufficient.

That there are many accomplices to a crime doesn’t negate the guilt of any one member.  Said another way, even if most people agree to commit a theft, it is still a theft.  Sheer distance from the scene of the crime doesn’t matter either.  One can still be an accomplice from many miles away.

Thugs engage in many different coercive acts.  The crime of theft is simple and easy to understand for illustration purposes.  A theft is committed when a person, without consent of the owner, knowingly controls the property of another with intent to permanently deprive the owner of the property.  This is clearly a coercive act.  As such, people who engage in such acts, or who are accomplices to such acts, are acting as thugs.

Many thugs attempt to conceal their thuggery by some or all of several different methods.  Let’s review some of the most common ways many thugs attempt to conceal their thuggery:

1. Democracy
This method sometimes employs a majority of thugs working together to coercively impose their will against a peaceful minority.  That the thug engages in such thuggery at the behest of a majority of other thugs arriving at their decision to engage in thuggery through some scrupulously fair democratic process is of no consequence.  Because a majority of people in a group decided to forcefully impose their will on a peaceful person or group of peaceful people doesn’t magically convert such thuggery into a voluntary act.  Democracy is routinely used as a way to appear to legitimize ordinary group thuggery.
2. The Purpose of Spending the Loot
Some thugs attempt to legitimize their thuggery by focusing attention on the ends; such as how the loot is spent or accomplishing some other perceived worthy goal.  However, what a thug does with the proceeds of the thuggery is irrelevant.  A  “humanitarian” thug who coercively extracts money or property from another person only to then donate some or all of the ill gotten gains to some worthy charitable purpose is nonetheless still a thug.  The same can be said of people who impose their views on others to force them to make some perceived improvement in their lives such as pursuing better health.  As such, well meaning but misguided people who solicit such “ends justify the means” acts of coercion are certainly accomplices to thuggery.
3. Official Titles
Generating an official title for the thug is a common way to distract attention away from the thuggery.  That the thug is referred to by another name such as “tax collector” or “building inspector” or “drug enforcement agent” or “custom’s agent” is of no consequence.  The issue is whether the act was voluntary or coercive.  A thug by any other name is still a thug.
4. Fancy Uniforms, Badges, and Clipboards
The stereotypical thug may be a poorly dressed or disheveled looking tough guy.  Dressing the thug up in a nicely pressed uniform with a shiny badge and a clipboard makes the thug erroneously appear to be a civilized man of peace.  What the thug is wearing is irrelevant.  The conduct of engaging in coercive transactions is the touchstone of thuggery even if engaged in by well-dressed thugs.
5. Well Defined Regulations
Many thugs engage in their coercive acts in random or disorganized ways.  However, some thugs act pursuant to well-defined, organized and even published rules and regulations.  That thugs carefully engage in their coercive acts pursuant to some well defined and predetermined plan does not make those acts any less coercive.  Predictable and measured coercion is still coercion.

You should consider whether you are an accomplice to thuggery.  If you knowingly engage in or support coercive transactions, you are indeed acting as a thug.  I urge you to consider abandoning your intentional thuggery in favor of joining the growing numbers of civilized humans who abhor coercion and promote voluntary and peaceful transactions.  I invite you to instead become a productive member of the civilized section of the human race.  Many people simply refuse to rethink their beliefs.  I hope this does not describe you.  I urge you to think about whether you really want to continue to coerce other human beings or whether you prefer to help promote a world filled with freedom and peace.

It is also possible you have unknowingly or unwittingly been an accomplice to thuggery.  I hope you now see thuggery is still wrong even when it is cloaked in a disguise as detailed above.  I hope you are repulsed by the notion of unintentionally supporting coercion against your fellow humans.  It is not too late to change.  Supporting only voluntary interactions is simple.  You may not always achieve the ends you desire, but you will soon discover that a free society is an end unto itself.

Sometimes thugs organize themselves into political parties to coerce others to live as they see fit.  For example, most Republicans support organized theft via our tax system.  That some want to reduce the amount of theft is very nice.  I prefer the thug to steal less money too, but the thug who coerces less money from people nonetheless remains a thug.  Additionally, most Republicans are thugs in countless other areas as well because they support and encourage the coercive actions of thugs employed by the government to forcefully impose their will upon others.  Most Republicans are eager to forcefully impose their will upon gay people, immigrants, recreational drug users, atheists, prostitutes, gamblers, and people living in other countries.

Most Democrats engage in thuggery just like the Republicans.  That Democrats seek to coerce in different areas, for different goals or to a different degree is simply a different flavor of thuggery from the Republicans.  Most Democrats are eager to forcefully impose their will upon workers, employers, entrepreneurs, traders, manufacturers, corporations, and gun owners.  Both Republicans and Democrats act as thugs when they seek to impose their will on others by force notwithstanding the fact that they act through the democratic process employing people who work for the government to accomplish their goals.

The act of voting must be analyzed as any other act.  As a criminal defense attorney, I am always interested in a person’s mens rea or, said another way, what the person intends.  If a person votes with the intent to reduce coercion as a means to eventually abolish coercion, I see such an act as a laudable, but mostly ineffective way, to attempt to end thuggery.  Such person is clearly not a thug.  However, the person who votes to control others is simply an armchair thug.

Another way to think about the voting issue is to acknowledge it is simply a principal-agent relationship.  A principal can always voluntarily delegate the principal’s rights or authority to an agent.  As a principal, a voter can always delegate the voter’s rights and authority to a politician or other government agent to carry out the voter’s legitimate rights and authority.  As an example, because a voter has a right to self-defense, the voter, as a principal, can legitimately delegate that right to an agent such as a politician or a police officer to properly exercise on the voter’s behalf.

However, a principal can never legitimately delegate rights or authority not possessed by the principal.  Nobody has a legitimate right to aggress against another competent adult.  Therefore, any purported delegation of a right to aggress against a peaceful competent adult is illegitimate.  A voter simply does not have a legitimate right to control the assets of another competent adult such as his or her neighbor.  As an example, when a voter votes to coercively ban smoking in a restaurant owned by the voter’s neighbor, such vote is an act of thuggery because it seeks to wrongfully control the property of another; a right not possessed by the voter and therefore beyond the legitimate scope of the delegation.  While voting against such action is not thuggery, voting for it is acting as a thug.[4]

Evaluating the mens rea is also important to determine whether a person is an accomplice to thuggery or simply being coerced by thugs.  As I have previously stated, voluntarily supporting and aiding people who work for the government to engage in acts of thuggery is also acting as a thug.  However, being coerced into aiding isn’t being a thug at all.  As an example, almost everyone who earns income in the United States is coerced into sending some of their money to people working for the government.  That people comply with the tax system to diminish the possibility of audits, penalties, seizures and possibly prosecution does not make them accomplices to thuggery.  They are simply victims of thuggery.

Not all uses of force constitute thuggery.[5]  It is important to note that employing force to defend against thuggery is not itself thuggery, but rather justified self-defense.[6]  People who encourage and support only voluntary transactions between consenting adults and abhor coercion are not necessarily pacifists and need not be resolved victim status.  As an example, shooting and killing a crazed gun toting lunatic poised to murder innocent people is certainly an act of heroism not thuggery.  Unfortunately, there will always be people who initiate violence against others.  Preventing them from acting, even by employing force, is heroic.  It is the initiation of force, coercion or fraud that qualifies as thuggery and ought to be abolished.

Those of us who support a free society believe we can live peacefully and prosperously without coercing our fellow peaceful humans in any way.  We truly are clever and sophisticated enough to devise ways to interact with each other to live successfully without imposing our will on our neighbors by force, coercion or fraud.  There is no reason to cave in to short-sighted approaches that resolve to coercive means of achieving our desired ends simply because we can’t yet envision achieving our goals through peaceful methods.

Said another way, peaceful and civilized people acknowledge and respect the rights of other competent adults to live however they wish so long as they don’t coerce others.  All peaceful and civilized people ought to aspire to eliminate all coercion from our world with the confidence we can still function effectively as humans to each enjoy and fulfill our lives.  Supporting coercion and thuggery perpetuates and encourages violence and conflict in our world.  It is long past time we loudly speak out against all forms of coercion against competent and peaceful adults.

The solution to many of our societal ills is to simply respect the rights of other peaceful and competent adults to run their lives as they see fit; even if we disagree with their peaceful and sometimes foolish choices.  The enemy of a free society is coercion against peaceful competent adults.  Just as the free market cannot be predicted, neither can the form and structure of a free society.  A free society is simply one in which peaceful and competent adults control their property and run their own lives.

The varied forms and structure such a society could take is restricted only by our own imaginations and creativity.  Imagine a world where independent communities can each freely experiment with rules, laws, structures, institutions, or the absence of these things, all with the goal of eradicating coercion against peaceful competent adults.  Only a market of free people can decide for themselves what works best for them.  If we truly cherish and desire freedom and peace, this ought to be our goal.

As a final thought, observe that “persuasion” and “coercion” are entirely different creatures.  Some of us who support only voluntary transactions feel entirely free to attempt to persuade others to adopt all varieties of views.  In fact, a free society always benefits from a vigorous and highly competitive marketplace of ideas.  Advocating only voluntary transactions doesn’t mean that speaking out loudly against or for any particular view is prohibited.  Indeed, it ought to be strongly encouraged.

The difference between the voluntary group and the coercion group is that if the idea isn’t persuasive enough to be voluntarily adopted, the voluntary group ultimately respects the sovereignty of other humans to decide for themselves what views to adopt.  In contrast, the thugs use brute force and coercion to impose their unpersuasive views on others.  A free society is only possible when we identify and convince enough thugs to abandon their uncivilized views and adopt a freedom and peace promoting voluntaryist view.  Don’t be a thug!

Abolish Slavery Today.. Avoid Total Societal Collapse Tomorrow

The Handbook of Human Ownership
A Manual For New Tax Farmers (Plantation Masters)

“The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinions of others, to do so would be wise, or even right. These are good reasons for remonstrating with him, or reasoning with him, or persuading him, or entreating him, but not for compelling him, or visiting him with any evil, in case he do otherwise.”
― John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

Freedom To Choose... Whatever We Allow You To

“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains.

Those who think themselves the masters of others are indeed greater slaves than they.”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau

In his autobiography, automobile manufacturing pioneer, Henry Ford, boasted of freedom to choose, quipping that: "Any customer can have a car painted any color he wants, so long as it is black."! Similar claims have been made by repressive regimes throughout history to give the illusion of choice - indeed, even today, certain countries claim to be free on account of holding democratic elections, even though you are allowed to vote only for candidates from the sole, establishment-approved party. But while a potential car-buyer could choose either Henry's uni-colored option or visit another dealer, those who today can elect any ruler they wish so long as it is from one party, or are forced to follow the dictates of a majority (mob rule) are stripped of their inherent human right to self-determination!

Collectivism (as defined by Ayn Rand) "holds that the individual has no rights, that his life and work belong to the group . . . and that the group may sacrifice him at its own whim to its own interests."! What better way to demonstrate the importance of self-ownership under natural law, in contrast with the false claim of ownership by the group that underpins all forms of collectivism, than through the words of an ex-slave as he wrote to his former master in 1848, explaining the reasons for his escape:

"...I am myself; you are yourself; we are two distinct persons, equal persons. What you are, I am. You are a man, and so am I. God created both, and made us separate beings. I am not by nature bound to you, or you to me. Nature does not make your existence depend upon me - or mine depend upon you. I cannot walk upon your legs, or you upon mine. I cannot breathe for you, or you for me; I must breathe for myself, and you for yourself. We are distinct persons, and are each equally provided with faculties necessary to our individual existence. In leaving you I took nothing but what belonged to me and in no way lessened your means for obtaining an honest living. Your faculties remained yours, and mine became useful to their rightful owner. I therefore see no wrong in any part of the transaction."!

The defining characteristic of slavery is not how harsh living conditions are - rather, who owns you! Whether your owner is an individual (king) or a collective (society), once you do not own yourself - you are in fact a slave. So long as rulers are able to dictate what you are able to do with your body - or, how much of the fruits of your own labor you are allowed to keep, then you do not own yourself. If, for instance, I choose to live in a condominium (or other closed community), my freedom depends not on whether it is run by an individual who enjoys life tenure, or by an annually elected committee - rather, whether I am free to sell my condo and choose to live on my own, should I decide to do so. So, here are a few factors that determine whether your condition is one of self-ownership, or slavery:

• Am I free to ingest any substance I wish into my own body, or are certain items prohibited, so that if I am found to have taken them or even possess them, I am punished or caged?
• Am I free to decide whether to purchase health insurance or finance my own healthcare, or will my decision to self-finance rather than purchase, lead to being punished or caged?
• Am I free to adopt for myself or even recommend to others any therapy that I decide is best to treat my own health issues, or will the use of unsanctioned health therapies lead to either myself or my caregiver being punished or caged?
• Am I free to engage in any transaction with another human being that harms no one other than the willing participants involved, or does the fact that others may view it as offensive mean that either or both of us may find ourselves being punished or caged?
• Am I free to enjoy the fruits of my labor, or am I told what portion of my earnings I will be allowed to keep in order to pay for services, many of which I may not want or even agree with, or will failure to comply with such confiscation cause me to be punished or caged?
• Am I free to relocate to another land, or will I continue to owe a portion of what I earn there to the masters of my old plantation as a condition of allowing me to leave and, will I be denied the right to documents that are essential to my ability to travel, unless I can first prove that there is nothing owed to my soon-to-be former masters?
• Are you free because you are allowed to participate in the process to decide which master gets to hold the whip on the plantation this time around, or have you (along with so many others) simply been duped into participating in your own enslavement?
• Is the master-in-chief free to label you, me (or anyone else) a danger to plantation security, without the ability of any court to challenge his label, thereby giving himself the right to unilaterally decide whether we should be killed or indefinitely caged?

Frederick Douglass, the former slave who wrote that eloquent letter to his old master after escaping, would have had no difficulty in recognizing all the elements of a slave society such as exists today, ironically, in the very land he was once proud to call home (after his escape), a place still erroneously referred to by some as land of the free. Most of the questions listed would have been answered in the negative in his time whereas today, slavery has spread throughout the length and breadth of the land!

But, just as in Douglass' time there were many who tried to justify the enslavement of fellow humans, either by rationalizations ranging from "it's the natural order of things - slavery has always existed" - to, "the slaves are uncivilized, uneducated & unfit for any other kind of work, so they are better off", many today have been conditioned by the education system and by rulers in society, to believe that the world has become too complex & dangerous to allow people to decide what's best for themselves! And, many of today's slaves have bought into this false paradigm, just as they did in Douglass' time, choosing to stay within the confines of the plantation, even when afforded the opportunity to escape. Being the majority, they commit everyone else to slavery each time they vote for new slave masters!

In the document outlining their own 'reasons for escape', Jefferson & the Founders declared it to be a "self-evident truth" that all men "are endowed... with certain unalienable rights", understanding that such rights are inherent to our human nature and come neither from the king's edict nor majority fiat! Even so, this was a radical departure from the prevailing doctrine known as the divine right of kings, which held that monarchs had absolute dominion over the people, deriving the right to rule from God. King George, then, would have been imbued with a sense of righteousness, certain that the colonists were going against the natural order. Indeed, the lessons of history may well need to be relearned, with today's masses sharing similar beliefs in seeking to elevate majority rule over unalienable rights!

Long before the modern plantation (otherwise known as the State) came into existence, human beings enjoyed the freedom to choose to live either independently, or as part of a tribe or small community. With the exception of those intent upon waging war to steal resources or enslave surrounding tribes, the rights of other people to live their lives as they see fit was respected as part of the natural order. But unless today's masses are free not simply to elect their masters, but more importantly are able to vote with their feet, they are every bit as much slaves as those left behind on Douglass' plantation. Indeed, the more they try to control the activities of other subjugates the tighter the shackles end up being drawn around their own necks, leading to increasing degradation as freedom evaporates for all!

Why Collapse Is Inevitable

“Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself.

There was never a democracy that did not commit suicide.”
― John Adams

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship.

The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years.”
― Alexander Fraser Tytler

Unlike the slave masters of 150 years ago, today's plantation rulers have learned the value of not only making the slaves believe they are free - by allowing them to participate in deciding who rules them, but also by providing a greater level of basic comforts and welfare programs, to keep them dependent on the plantation, believing that any alternatives to their subjugation would leave them far worse off! But over time, as more industrious slaves become bigger targets, the fruits of their labor confiscated for the 'common good', and as slave masters become more demanding, taking a larger slice of the pie, plantation prosperity declines, leading ultimately to collapse. Communism fell under its own weight, not due to outside influence, while its alternative, Democracy will fare no better in the final analysis!

As scholarly studies increasingly show, all complex systems become more interdependent over time, with cascading complexity levels due to increased moving parts, reliance on a few critical elements, and an increasing need for speed and efficiency resulting in reduced redundancy, leading ultimately to catastrophic failure and systemic collapse, in other words the societal equivalent of a heart attack! Desirous of maintaining their hold on power (and all the trappings that go with it), plantation masters are naturally reluctant to admit to their subjugates when the system becomes too complex to handle, & so have a tendency to withhold crucial facts, denying to the very end that things are out of control, as they try to avoid disaster occurring on their watch - focusing in the latter stages on stifling dissent!

Freedom has often been demonized by those whose interest is focused on retaining power & control, by attaching labels like seditious or dangerous, to justify the suppression of such ideas to the masses! Due to widespread conditioning taught in public schools, ably reinforced by the establishment media, it is an ironic fact that, while those who remained on the plantation in Douglass' time acknowledged their status as slaves, today's masses have been brainwashed into falsely believing that they are free!

Though often portrayed as such, this has never been about a battle between public or private control, but, rather, age-old issues that always arise when forced to deal with a (private or public) monopoly! Think about the usual problems of overblown prices and inferior service of a privately-run monopoly, now... add in the ability to punish or cage any subjugate refusing to pay for mandated services, or for disobeying the masters' instructions, and you have a recipe for monopoly power that is unsustainable!


The Collapse - When?... And, What Happens After?

“A man is no less a slave because he is allowed to choose a new master once in a term of years.”
― Lysander Spooner

“Vices are those acts by which a man harms himself or his property.
Crimes are those acts by which one man harms the person or property of another.
Unless this clear distinction between vices and crimes be made and recognized by the laws, there can be on earth no such thing as individual right, liberty, or property, and the corresponding coequal rights of another man to the control of his own person and property.”

― Lysander Spooner

While it is one thing to confidently forecast the inevitable demise of a complex system built on force, it is far more challenging to try to pinpoint the timeframe during which the collapse is likely to occur! No less a sage than Mark Twain, observing the repetitive nature of history and the rise and fall of empires (political systems), remarked that "History may not (always) repeat itself, but it does rhyme". Martin Armstrong, while not a household name, is credited with uncovering many of the key cycles governing economic/political fortunes - his work identifies a series of cycles of growth & decline that repeat with stunning regularity, and point to a climax and major economic collapse starting in 2033 - it is my view that this period will also mark the demise of the political system of modern-day slavery!

In their eagerness to rid themselves of monarchic rule the masses have simply replaced the scepter of the king with the jackboot of majority rule- while the former could be overthrown from time to time, escaping the latter can only be realized after a period of ongoing decline, ending in societal collapse! Just as the chattel slavery of 150 years ago could not be legitimized by passing laws to make it legal, neither can our political enslavement today legitimately overturn the natural right of self-ownership, but, whereas an earlier generation had the good sense to abolish slavery, today's masses may need to first experience the trauma of a general societal collapse before being brought to the realization that slavery is unsustainable as a means of social organization - no matter if the ruler is a king, or elected!

Wars have historically followed closely behind economic collapse, and this one will be of such great magnitude that it may well climax in WW3. In the aftermath, despite some survivors likely reverting to the familiar model of coercive democracy, many others will grasp the opportunity presented by the removal of stifling control systems, to establish regions that are respectful of individual choice. Within such regions, individuals will be free to live under any system of their choosing, whether completely off-grid and so responsible for their own security, infrastructure, utilities, etcetera, or by joining with like-minded individuals to set up organized communities. Future generations will marvel at how much of a shake-up to the control system it took, for humanity to escape from the plantation!

Communities organized based on communism, socialism, democracy... or any other type of structure, are fine so long as individuals freely make that choice, and are free to leave if they later decide to! Democracy, while a valid choice, is not and never will be a synonym for freedom - its main problem (as indeed is the case with any political system) has to do with whether it is enforced as a monopoly, or whether an individual can decide to leave and go to another community (democratic or otherwise), should he decide that its system of laws have become too burdensome. If he has no such right, or if he is forced to move away from the land of his birth to a place with an alien language or culture, then it is of no practical difference to a slave plantation. Freedom to choose is what defines a free people!

Freed from the mental shackles of falsely believing that either a king, cadre of experts, or a majority can decide what's best for humanity and then enforce their views on everyone else, the broad masses (at least all who continue to respect the individual right to self-determination) will experience a time of sustained prosperity never before seen, as the jackboot of control (long used by powerful interests) is lifted from the necks of former subjugates who vote with their feet to join successful communities!

Based on the sheer magnitude of the carnage in terms of destruction to both lives and livelihoods, questions are sure to be asked about whether such massive societal upheaval could have been averted by the simple act of respecting our inherent human rights to self-determination and self-ownership! But the answers may well lie in a type of chicken-and-egg situation, wherein humanity first needed to learn the lessons of the inevitable demise of a system of political slavery, before embracing freedom!

Civilized... Or Merely Developed?

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.

Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both.”
― Frederick Douglass

Samuel Adams, a Founder and a signatory to the declaration to the political masters of the day that: "all men are endowed... with certain unalienable rights", 'called out' those who he claimed preferred "the tranquility of servitude" to the fight for freedom: "Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you..... and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen", likening their behavior to that of slaves rather than free men, showing open disdain for their apathy! Estimates now are that only 2 out of every 5 colonists actively supported the break from King George - with another 1 in 5 choosing to fight for the colonial masters and the remainder sitting on the fence. The levels of apathy that prevail suggest that today fence-sitters would comprise a far larger number!

The dynamic at work in today's plantation-style society is such that, like the slaves who chose to stay behind rather than follow Douglass' example by attempting an escape (the overwhelming majority), today's masses have bought into the false belief that this is simply the natural order, so the best they can do is to vote for the less evil master, rather than try to escape and risk being punished or caged! This group is reinforced by a growing number who depend upon largesse dispensed by the plantation and would be in a bind with a new status quo, with brutal enforcers who protect & serve the masters, while ruthlessly enforcing plantation rules. Sandwiched in between the captives and their controllers is a tiny, but fast-growing minority who can foresee the inevitable outcome of such an insane system!

John Stuart Mill (see quotation at start of article), John Locke, and others describe a civilized society as one in which power can only be exercised over someone "to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.". This inherent right to self-ownership - so well understood & elucidated by the Founders in their timeless declaration, seems to have been forgotten by the larger number today, as they wrongly conflate a developed society with one which is civilized. While those in the majority are free to set up plantation-style communities within available regions, their rights do not include enforcing this type of governance across the length & breadth of the land, thereby disregarding the rights of others to set up communities governed by their chosen set of rules!

As a former slave put it: "Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."! So, as those who put their faith in protest movements (like OWS) stand and beseech their masters: "Please sirs, can we have some more freedom?", they would do well to remember a quote by one of the masters of yesteryear, who, in response to a large demonstration displayed his total indifference - dismissively remarking: "Let them march all they want... as long as they continue to pay their taxes."!

Unless you are free, not just to vote with your hands but, more importantly - to vote with your feet, then, though the community in which you live may call themselves civilized, they are in fact, barbaric and, whether or not you believe your condition to be that of freedom, it is undeniably that of slavery! The failure of either yourself, or indeed, the community at large to come to terms with that reality does not alter it but instead betrays the fact that either you, they, or both suffer from mass delusion!

One day, a game in which two or more mobs duke it out, with the winning mob gaining the right to dictate how the losers are allowed to live their lives, while perhaps a great idea for a TV reality show, will be seen not as a model for a civilized society based on freedom- rather, a relic of a barbaric past!

Masters are not leaders
The Individual versus the State

The Handbook of Human Ownership

16 Signs That You’re a Slave to the Matrix
Do you Consent to Be Governed? Myths and Facts

Individualism vs. Collectivism: Our Future, Our Choice

Some Basics of State Domination and Public Submission
Institutional Thinking - The Matrix, 1984 and The Allegory of The Cave

THE SHIFT

Stop Thinking Like A Slave!

Riverbank of Truth

The Inner Journey

Killing Us Softly by Greg Calise

Posted on April 20, 2014

I often write about the dangers of authorities of any kind. Authorities play a control game, and you are being controlled. We have submitted to authorities from the beginning of our lives, and we’ve been caught in this wheel for millennia. Our parents teach it to us, just as they had learned it. Then they send us to school and church, where the teachers and priests claim themselves as authorities. Our parents also put us in front of televisions for hours. We would believe what we saw on television. The man on the news was an authority. So throughout our childhood, in the hopes of good guidance and protection, we submitted ourselves to many authorities. We are taught to trust and believe our authorities, as if they are being truthful to us. But how can they teach truth, when they themselves have been programmed with lies? Authorities have no credibility.
The majority of people have bought into this control game, hoping for rewards, and the ability to control other people. We were all programmed to participate in this game. It’s the only game in town. You see it everywhere. How many people do you know that have claimed authority over others. The work force runs on these principles, as well as religion, government, society, schools and even within the family. We have allowed ourselves to be controlled by others, because we are not strong enough to stand on our own. We have been programmed to submit to authority, and few people have the courage to say no. Most people submit themselves unquestionably to authorities.

By submitting to an authority, we forfeit our innate sovereignty and freedom. We give our power away to them, as well as our critical thinking. We allow an outside authority to formulate our thoughts. We allow them to order us around, use us and control us. When we were children, we didn’t have much choice. You could only rebel so much without being punished. Yes, think about that. We were programmed to conform with the program, or there would be consequences. We were programmed with fear, intimidation and violence, even from a very young age.
By the time we get out of school, the plan was for everyone to be sufficiently programmed to submit to authorities without question. Everything from the work place, to government and religion; all of them expect unquestioning submission to authorities. Those who question are marginalized or much worse. Those who refuse to conform become outcasts, an outsider.

Notice how many people around you have strong faith and trust in their authorities, believing that they are their well wishers. They unquestionably believe whatever they are told. They don’t have any inclination to question what they hear. They simply accept. And because of that, governments, religions and most other authorities take advantage of that.
When you speak to someone about the evils of the government, they object by saying that our government would never do anything like that. They have faith in government, that they are doing what they can to help us. They believe the problem lies in bipartisanship, or some other reasons. But they cannot bring themselves to believe that their government, their authority, would intentionally harm them. Many people have unquestioning faith that their government is trying to look after and protect them.

And yet we see every day how the government is not our protector, and it certainly doesn’t care much for the people (especially if you are poor). Look up in the sky and see all of the chemtrails. The government has finally admitted that they are spraying. This is poisoning us, the land, the animals and the water. Why? Because they care about us? I am shocked, that when I mention chemtrails, so many people have never heard of them. I point up into the sky and point to all of the chemtrails. Some see them for the first time, and some people refuse to believe it, claiming they are contrails from jets. Funny how the contrails never looked like that when I was a kid. And where exactly are all of these planes going, criss-crossing the sky in checkerboard patterns? Most people have been so completely programmed, that they cannot see what is right in front of them. How can someone not notice that we are being sprayed?
Fluoride has been proven beyond a doubt to be extremely toxic, and yet they put it in the water, toothpaste and all of the drinks and foods made with that water. Besides being extremely toxic, it also makes people docile. They tell us that it is good for your teeth, but that has been proven false, and actually is detrimental to teeth and bones. Yet people actually want it in the water.

The food additive industry is huge, and it consists of putting dangerous chemicals into the food. Then you have the artificial sweeteners that are also extremely toxic. And worst of all is the genetically modified foods that are now found in most everything. The adverse reactions of GMOs is probably the worst thing that our government has practically forced us to ingest. We can thank our leaders of state and of corporations for pushing all of this upon the populace. So much for having faith and trust in our authorities. And where’s the FDA? In bed with the food producers.
The medical industry is doing its part to slowly kill us. Forced vaccinations are destroying the bodies and minds of our children. Why are our authorities doing this? This is a short assessment of what a friend of mine has noticed concerning vaccines:
“After I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, a severe and debilitating auto-immune disease, one of the first things I found when searching for answers was a study that indicates that those who receive the MMR vaccine are statistically 3 times more likely to develop an auto-immune disease in their lifetime.
That is just scratching the surface, however. If I ever had any doubt of the immune system damage as well as neurological damage that these vaccines cause, that doubt has completely vanished. After having run a daycare for the last year I have seen first hand the effect these vaccines have. I watch young toddlers turn from bright shining stars of light and love, and keen innate intelligence, into completely disconnected (emotionally and socially) zombie babies. The difference after a child receives these shots is frightening. It completely changes their personality, significantly reduces cognitive functioning, and in most cases damages their innate sense of empathy (making them more aggressive to other children).
This is no personal bias I promise you. On an almost daily basis I can observe the vast difference in the vaccinated children vs. the un-vaccinated children (who display far higher intelligence, focus, empathy, as well as an undefinable quality of brightness and light).”
- Ceth
The entire medical and pharmaceutical companies, the authorities people put their faith and trust in to heal them, are corrupt, and they don’t mind killing or injuring people for money. It’s an industry.

The banks are robbing us, the police are beating and killing us, our government is stripping us of all of our rights and freedoms, robbing us along the way. The priests are all lying to us, as they also rob us along the way. Everywhere you look, the very authorities we have placed our faith and trust in are all thieves and rogues. Of course they are. It is a control game, and they have control. They falsely claimed themselves as authorities, and we have submitted ourselves to them. We all bought the lies.
Who gave some group of men absolute authority over our lives? They took it, either by force, violence, manipulation or thievery. And we, the people, accepted them as such. Mind you, in the past, it was usually at gunpoint. Now they have tremendous tools for programming people to believe anything, so the guns are not nearly as necessary. Although the police are always there to remind you that there are severe penalties for stepping out of line.
Which all brings us to the title of this article. We are in the midst of a slow kill. Who is being killed? All of us. What we are experiencing is a slow genocide of humanity. Who would do such a thing? Predators. How else can you explain the chemtrails, the poisoned food, water and air, the medical industry that regularly kills and maims those who pay them exorbitantly to heal them? We are at constant aggressive war, lied to at every step, robbed, mislead and violated. What we are experiencing at present is slow genocide. The effects of the consumption of poisonous foods, water and vaccine is already visible. America is suffering from rises of many diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular, autism, allergies, digestive disorders and impaired cognitive abilities, just to mention a few. Imagine what the future will manifest.

We are a herd; the flock. We are food for the gods. They feed off of our emotions, especially fear, violence, suffering and worship. Different flavors. They infiltrate our minds. They have us hypnotized under their spell, and we have become so illusional, that we actually worship them, as if they are almighty god. We are hooked up to the milking machine, where our power is syphoned off, leaving us weak, disoriented and confused. Now it seems that the predators are thinning out their herds. That and preparing humanity to become cyborgs for the collective. They have their many minions who carry out their orders, Traitors to their own people. The very people that we put our faith and trust in to protect and guide us, are our worst enemies. Somehow, we have bought into the lie, and we are living in it.
This is the stark reality. All we can do is to inform those who are interested. We can be careful about what we ingest and the water we drink. It’s not always easy, but it is important for your own well being. I have orgonite and other devices to clean the very polluted electrical and microwave energies. And I have disconnected from the game.
We have somehow been placed into this game, this game of control, and we are all being played. The game is rigged. We have all become slaves. Even those who seem like powerful controllers, are slaves to their controllers. There are no real winners in this diabolical game, except for the top predators.
This game seems to be ending badly for humanity. The cards seem stacked against us, as we quietly submit to being slowly poisoned. This is not a game I wish to participate in. That is a choice each of us makes on a daily basis; to participate, or not.
- Greg Calise
George Carlin expresses this brilliantly:

Delusion, Deception, Distraction: Subduing And Controlling .....The Masses

Rule from the Shadows - The Psychology of Power - Part 1

“History is a set of lies agreed upon.”
― Napoleon

“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!”
― L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

“Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

“If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.”
― Adolf Hitler

“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”
― George Orwell

“In every age it has been the tyrant, the oppressor and the exploiter who has wrapped himself in the cloak of patriotism, or religion, or both to deceive and overawe the People."
― Eugene V. Debs, Voices of a People's History of the United States

“Fear is a government's greatest weapon. With it, they can convince a people that they need to abandon their freedom. In exchange, they get safety. Of course, you just trade one monster for another, but by the time the people realize this, it is too late.”
― Victor Methos

“Vulgus vult decepi”, noted Phaedrus, prominent Athenian contemporary of philosopher Socrates - translated to a language more familiar in today's world: “the (common) people wish to be deceived.”! Coupled with the somewhat more updated observation by author Mark Twain, as he quipped that: “It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”, this may partly explain why the masses keep their heads firmly 'under the sand', whilst ridiculing truthtellers as conspiracists. Dealing with a simple, predictable version of reality even though it may be false, is a whole lot easier than having to admit you may have been fooled. Such a stance also lets you adopt a victim mentality, whereby it becomes easier to lay blame on a scapegoat than to accept responsibility for being duped!

Due to the widespread 'ostrich mentality', the gap between reality and manipulated public perception eventually grows so large, most prefer to remain in a deep slumber rather than face frightful reality! Those brave enough to 'blow the whistle' and sound the alarm become subject to increasing vitriol from a dumbed-down populace, preferring to hold to the false reality created by the controlled media which reinforces old memes like 'exceptionalism' or, "they hate us for our (disappearing) freedoms"! Indeed, the reality gap is now so great that a Secretary of State boldly warns: "You just don’t invade another country on phony pretext in order to assert your interests", calling it: "19th century behavior in the 21st century", while seemingly oblivious to his own country's track record in Iraq & elsewhere!

The list of mass deceptions and distractions is already huge and grows larger with every passing day! A few of the more notable ones include the Sandy Hook psyop, with recently obtained official records confirming that none of the deaths claimed actually occurred. Proving that the plan was in the works for some time, there had been a failed attempt to deny public access to such records a full year prior - part of a longstanding agenda to "brainwash people" especially the youth, into accepting gun bans. Another false-flag psyop (deaths & injuries actually did occur) was the Boston Marathon Bombings, which was widely exposed by the alternative media from day 1 and continues to unravel up to today. Officials, while extremely worried about Fukushima radiation, publicly claimed it was under control!

Despite public denials about the burgeoning police state, it is clear that universal video surveillance, monitoring of phone & mail communications, random checkpoints (and even lock-downs) are among known prison security techniques that are now turning the land into one giant correctional institution! When police officers can bully, beat, tase, shoot and even kill innocent civilians - often with no more than a slap on the wrist before returning to duty, then the war is really not against criminals but you!

"Fear", it has been said, "is a government's greatest weapon". With it, they can convince a population to give up just about anything- freedom, rights, dignity, in exchange for the (false) promise of safety! History proves that this technique has been used time and again by tyrants and oppressors to subdue and control the masses in order to consolidate their hold on power, exploit (& even kill) their victims. It seems that fear and the herd instinct are so ingrained that we always believe 'it can't happen here'!

As yet another opportunity presents for humanity to break the fear shackles that so easily control us, most will unfortunately regress to the old, familiar patterns as they seek out new societal controllers! But a fast-growing minority who realize that insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results, rather than seeking out new replacements for Mommy & Daddy State, will ditch the foster parents to instead assume full responsibility for themselves as adults & free men!

But, the pathological urge to control fellow man 'for his own good' will not 'go quietly into the night'! As events spin more & more out of control, many will call for even greater intervention by the State - like fascists under Mussolini, whose slogan was "nothing outside the state, nothing against the state"!

This is Why Anger & Fighting Will Not Bring Down The Control Mechanism, but instead backfire - playing into the hands of those who are searching for any excuse to establish full totalitarian control, by declaring martial law as a means to either detain or permanently dispose of threats to their power!

While it remains a basic human right to defend yourself from attack by anyone - including the State, and passive non co-operation remains a valid option, the real battle is to first awaken, before helping to rouse others from their deep slumber- preparing to pick up the pieces after the inevitable collapse!

America, minus the mask

Nothing Outside the State

And The People Choose Freedom

Final goal of the Surveillance State

Violence In The Face Of Tyranny Is Often Necessary
What If Everything You Were Ever Taught Was A Lie?

The Danger of Becoming the Darkness When Fighting the Dark Side

Welcome to Orwellian America, the Land of the Silent, the Home of the Submissive

The Deep State Hiding in Plain Sight

The Revolution Continues

Humans Are Free

Open Letter to the “Elite” Rulers

“Elites:” This Letter Is Real, Your Attention Required

Brothers and Sisters of our ruling class, Royal Family members, Bloodline Family members, Heads of State, Heads and High Officers of Multinational Corporations, High Officers and Heads of Banking Organizations, to you all, Greetings!

The multitudes of the world look at you with awe and wonder.

They believe what you have taught them to believe, that you are benevolent people, always on guard to protect our welfare and to decide and do what is best for us.

They see you as beautiful, powerful, and mysterious, they believe that your appearance, your facade that you show to the public, is who you really are.

The media, which you own and control, and to whom you dictate the “news” and the values to convey to the people, that media puts your faces on the covers of magazines, your regal presences looking down on us with compassion and wisdom beyond what we can understand.

So the public celebrates the birth of royal babies, the inauguration of presidents and prime ministers, the choosing of central bank spokespeople,  and the coronation of kings and queens, the heads of government agencies.

They are grateful that you and your staffs, your brilliant scientists and your insightful economists are there to preside over so many aspects of our lives that ordinary mortals can no longer understand or properly manage.

They are grateful as you allocate resources, or tell us how to use and conserve ours, to save us from the plagues and shortages that only modern medical and economic science can overcome or prevent, and they cheer as you decide for us where our military protectors should be sent to save us from the invading and violent savages who might attack us at any moment.

You are indeed celebrated and revered by our masses like gods among us, given the power of life and death over us, along with free reign to use our assets as you see fit, to protect us now and our children and descendents into the future.

Millions idolize you and long to rise even to positions of your minor servants, and thus share in the aura of your power and mystery, as well as the physical wealth. But in all this glory of your status among us, there is one problem.

It’s What You Do

That problem is your actions, the realities behind the masks. Your camouflage is sophisticated, complex and layered. But there are those among us that see through at least some of the layers.

They see royal family members, attending polo matches and other high society affairs with the most meticulous of mannerisms suitable to the upper class, but they also see those same family members hiding child kidnapping, torture operations and eugenics plans in the shadows beyond the reach of the limelight.

They see heads of international pharmaceutical companies, backed up by prestigious medical organizations, announcing their plans to cure disease with the latest miracle drug or vaccination, but they also see the numbers of deaths these miracle drugs and vaccines are designed to cause already calculated for each area of the world and each demographic group to whom they will be promoted.

And they see that the more drugs and vaccines and invasive “therapies” are used by the people, the sicker everyone gets, the more rampant is medical drug addiction, and the more income flows to the health care system as the population sinks farther into disease and an unnatural, torturous process of contrived “aging,” which we are told is inevitable.

They see presidents and prime ministers take solemn oaths of office after long campaigns full of lofty promises, and the promises and oaths are broken with disdain immediately after taking office.

They see the high level global banking representatives  promising to save the world from economic downturns, followed by not only downturns but disasters and progressive  loss of value as wealth is transferred step by step from those who earn it to those who play the game of the banking scam, manufacturing pretend wealth out of nothing.

They see the armies of your servants, scurrying about following your direction to craft laws with language so deceptive as to be unintelligible to the average person, yet full of more and more infringements of the rights all people are endowed with at birth, those rights which governments can at best recognize and affirm, but which come to all people from their Creator, not from any head of state.

Deception and Assault on Us From Multiple Directions