I was taught in school that our modern governance was the best thing ever, and I suppose that you were too. But do any of us really believe that the way of life we now have is the best possible? I dare say (and hope!) that few of us are that intellectually barren.
And yet, the systems of the West are treated as gods: No thought of changing them is permitted. Working inside the system is acceptable; anything else brands you a “domestic terrorist.”
How then shall we improve? The system we have is despised on all sides, and yet to suggest anything outside of it terrifies the servile citizen and incites the security complex to violence.
It would be a disgrace to human nature if we didn’t try to improve our situations; our descendants could and should condemn us for such a failure. And so, here lies the social problem of the age:
New ways of living are prohibited; they are ridiculed at their outset and punished if continued.
If you’re tempted to think that I’m overstating this, please give it a try sometime. You’ll find the experience educational.
Going More than Halfway
The streets are full of people who complain about the political systems that rule them. And millions more have been recognizing their abuse recently. I welcome this enthusiastically. Facing the truth is a crucial virtue.
The holdup in this process is usually at the halfway point, where angry people blame factions rather than structures. In the US, for example, half the country blames the Reds for everything; the other half blames the Blues for everything. But they both stop short of seeing that the system itself is the problem. And so, they get more and more polarized, to the point where it’s starting to bleed over into violence.
So, yes, Mr. Blue, you are being abused, and yes, Mr. Red, you’re being abused. But your abuser is the system itself, not the slimy parties that slither through its belly. If all the parties vanished tomorrow, your abuse – at the hands of a hundred government agencies and their partners in crime – would continue unabated.
And this really should be obvious: The Reds have had their turn with control of the full Congress and the presidency; the Blues have had their turn with the same advantages. And yet the abuse continues unabated. It doesn’t take a genius to draw a lesson from that.
Blame the Structure
As I’ve explained before and no doubt will again, the system we now “enjoy” is primitive and barbaric. It’s really a relic of the Bronze Age.
Think about it this way: If you weren’t taught all your life that ours was the best possible organization for the world, would you seriously choose to give one small group of men all the weapons and full power to control and punish everyone else? And if you knew that this ruling group would be morally inferior to nearly everyone else, would you still think it was a great idea?
Only if you were deranged.
My message, and one that I suppose I’ll keep repeating so long as I have breath, is that we are better than this. Humanity is far better than their barbaric ruling systems. We are better than manipulative elites and perpetually false politicians. We just need to stop believing them, that we’re all vile and weak. If we did that, we’d never put up with the abuse they heap upon us year after year.
The Bottom Line
If you take an argument like this to political obsessives, they’ll take you on an hours-long tour of confusion, throwing authority and intimidation at you and all the while and warring against your personal judgment. Truth, on the other hand, is simple and clear. And the question that cuts through all the BS is this:
Are we free to experiment, or not?
If you can withdraw from the ruling system and experiment with new ways of living, then you’re a free man or woman.
If the system won’t let you out – if they won’t release you to try something better – then you are enslaved, and no amount of confusing talk will ever change that.
We are better, and we can become much better. Archaic structures of dominance stand in our way.
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Paul Rosenberg
www.freemansperspective.com
Experimentation would be easier if the system hadn’t put itself into total control of the laboratory. That said, I have adopted a philosophy that pursues alternatives first, with the proviso that it is better to be forgiven than to ask permission. There seems to be a new propaganda push on, here in Wyoming, by state agencies, to convince the dumbed down masses that things that have long since been disproven are proven scientific facts. I’m responding with bold and public challenges.
“Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God” Thomas Jefferson
“…the system we now “enjoy” is primitive and barbaric.”
I would say that it is humanity that still behaves in primitive and barbaric ways to this very day. To me, it is not so much about the ideas but rather how we choose to go about relating to each other. As a conservative libertarian, I have no problem getting along with “civil” progressive democrats, despite some of our polar-opposite ideas. You could take someone like H.A. Goodman from YT as a good example. Ever since the election, the MSM has portrayed the new sturmabteilung as being pushed aside and victimized by the right, when all we did was disagree with them. They call that hatred. But they are the ones who are behaving that way. NOT-SEES can’t see that though.
“What good is a civilization if we are no longer willing to be civil with each.” – anonymous
Knowing the Diamond Chart as I do, I’ll have to assume that a conservative libertarian is something like a liberal neo-con. Maybe you can locate yourself in a less contradictory position at http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz/quiz.php
Even before taking that test, I was offended by the label of “liberal neo-con”. I thought this was a “safe-space”. 😉
My results were slightly towards the left of center and near the top.
I’m against TPP, NAFTA, and the likes of so-called free trade policies. I’m for the economic policy established by our founding fathers, which I believe could be defined as parity trade or “fair trade”. As to the question of legalizing all drugs, I would prefer a gradual rolling back of those laws and the ending of the War on Drugs.
If this weren’t a safe space, I would have attacked rather than simply advised. I’m off the top of the top of the Diamond Chart. I always kidded the late Marshall Fritz that he was paranoid and a bit too conservative as a libertarian. He was always loathe to discuss things that were too radical on the phone. Since I never had the pleasure of meeting him in person, that constrained much of our discourse.
Since the former republicans were chased out of their party by the neo-cons and co opted the Libertarian Party, I have been forced to become a (Ron, not Rand) Paulian Constitutionalist, so I’d like to restore and enforce the Constitution to the literal letter, as the writers meant it, before we proceed from it. Since it doesn’t allow most of what the federal and state governments have come to in the last couple of centuries, as our republic’s organic law, it would ,make a very stable foundation to proceed from, even now. I would be in favor of immediate repeal of any law that is even remotely repugnant to the Constitution.
I agree with you, but I think you are being too vague for what I consider the average person to be able to discern from your piece.
I see things have evolved to our present state as a result of “The Lost Clause.” I have in mind that wonderful document of freedom, The Declaration of Independence.
I refer to “. . That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, . .”
I understand that clause or phrase to mean that if or when “Government” institutes a man-made rule (that they call it a “law”) that treats me (and others) in a manner that is unequal to the treatment of a “more-privileged group,” then I am duty bound to withhold my consent and “opt-out” of obedience or compliance with that man-made rule. Government really has no “just power” to take away some of my rights and not treat me exactly the same “before the law” as anyone else.
The “just Power” of any Government does not include choosing the winners and the losers. As the Declaration says: “. . That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men,. .”
I hold that (whimsical) man-made rules (that they call “laws”) are not laws at all. Only Natural Law, the Laws of the Universe are true “UNBREAKABLE” LAWS.
We lost our clause and our cause over a century ago when the so-called “progressives” (urged on by US Senator Bob LaFollette and Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt) spearheaded the systematic transformation of America to very strong central government (the tyranny of the majority) with no room for “opting-out.”
See URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressivism
I “opt-out” as much as I can without tempting certain incarceration. I push back as hard as possible, but I find it a very lonely effort. I spread the word of living a life of freedom, but most sheeple just want to get along and not “rock the boat.”
I see the vast majority of citizens being content subjecting themselves to the current system, despite their protestations. This can been observed throughout history as well. To live in a free society requires much individual responsibility, and sadly that muscle doesn’t get exercised in the current system. Thus those who want to leave are either freedom seeking souls who can never abide corrupt systems or those who are no longer happy with trading away their freedom in a bargain with the state. It seems like both groups are increasing in number lately.
I am optimistic because better systems of society (ones that are more just, equitable and compassionate and less corruptible than the present) are possible. History is a guide here too. And I think we’ll get an opportunity to try for that soon as the current system is reaching its inherent limits.