“They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger?”
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry
America is on her death-bed, her body is decaying, and if the criminal elite have their way, her life will be ended quickly. But not painlessly. A mercy killing is not being planned. All the weaponry, all the laws, all the federal emergency protocols are pointing to the tried and true technique that has been practiced by all tyrannical regimes in history: a violent and ruthless repression of the people if they resist. Until that point comes, when extreme measures need to be taken to silence the American people, the State's owners are intent on using up the less violent but still oppressive methods of control, such as the silent subversion of the people's interests through the manipulation of everyday reality by endless propaganda, controlling political campaigns through bribery, and war by taxation. But these methods are no longer working on the American people as they once did. The elite are finding out that the 21st century is not as friendly to tyrants as the 20th century was.
Propaganda, bribery, and taxation can't destabilize the human spirit of liberty. Americans are starting to provide their own money to independent candidates in greater amounts, with Ron Paul being the leading figure in this change, thus the influx of corporate candidates will shrink in the coming years. Also, the principal source of information is not the corporate media anymore, which has long been an engine of thought control. Today, individual Americans are going through a de-brainwashing period on the internet and are beginning to discover new narratives about recent American history and the validity of their present leaders. Also, opposition to taxation by the federal government has grown in the past year, mainly in reaction to the bank bailouts, which saw large pools of taxpayer money handed over to criminal financiers and irresponsible institutions. And when it comes to the President's popularity, the mood has changed considerably. The feeling is no longer "yes we can," but "oh, no he didn't." But Americans have not yet begun to pull their earnings out. That time has not come yet.
But the hidden forces behind American politics have prepared well, their police state is of the first order. And the stormtroopers that showed up in Pittsburgh for the G20 conference are expected to make more appearances in the near future. Come 2010, they may even put some skin in the game because the well-connected elite believe that more violent instruments will be necessary to subdue the American people's will - and they're right. They have long realized that a slow death will not work because the patient has recovered consciousness and is resisting - America is waking up, and it is by no means a fleeting trend. There is no shut-off button available for the elite. 9/11 truth is not going away. The 'End the Fed' rallies are spreading across America, and are gaining in numbers. Also, talk of a coalition between libertarians and progressives to form a third party that can compete against the current two traitorous parties is intensifying. And the staying power of Alex Jones is certain by now.
And although a decade has passed since the government-sponsored terror attack on the American people occurred, the continual fear-mongering hasn't broken the American people. Deep down, people are not as frightened, or ignorant, as they appear. All the terroristic rhetoric dished out by Washington D.C and the propagandist media is not having any great impact on the American psyche. And the popularity of Ron Paul shows that despite tremendous odds, Americans are still capable of producing radical change.
More and more Americans are coming to accept, however reluctantly, the real situation their country is in, with less than 20 percent of the population supporting the Congress. And less than a third of the American people believe that Obama is taking the country in the right direction. Many political pundits on television are predicting a repeat of 1994, when Republicans retook the house and senate, but they are not paying attention to the grievances expressed by a majority of the American people - or perhaps they are totally clueless about the extend of the damage the government has done in the last ten-fifteen years. The superficial debate between liberals and conservatives is less likely to be tolerated this time around. Both republicans and democrats are equally blocking a genuine reconstruction of the modern political system. They are acting and thinking like children, throwing temper tantrums on national television - with record ratings. CNN's whole shtick is bringing live coverage of 'the real whores of Washington D.C' to the home viewer. I doubt Americans will take Washington's insults for much longer.
By all standards, the US federal government is illegitimate, and the Obama presidency has only reverberated this basic fact about the state of the nation. And nothing demonstrates this more clearly than the health-care 'debate'. What has transpired on Capitol Hill in the last few months is important not because it passed a historic health care bill, but because it revealed a disintegrating political class, with members of the senate directing their animosity toward each other, and disrespecting the whole process of democracy. It is evident that both houses are unable to passionately agree on reform in any pressing matter. Meanwhile, as the debate dragged on, the president sidelined himself, but not like a coach as Roosevelt did, or a cheerleader like Bush, but like a spectator, standing with the rest of us, - and all to the displeasure of his followers, and strangely, his foes.
Moreover, Americans are no longer displaying "cowardice before reality," which Nietzsche said was a trait of the Germans in his day. Americans are proving to be a much more defiant people, and are possessed with heroic instincts. Nietzsche went on to rightly predict the ugly turn that his sick bedfellows would take in the decades after his death, saying "the Germans will try everything to bring forth from a tremendous destiny - a mouse," (1). And Hitler was that cowardly specimen that Nietzsche envisioned. For all his exaggerated bodily movements, Adolf was a bashful mouse bankrolled by lions, who marched his racist battalions of mice in the second banker-instigated world war, which was a hopeless and phony cause from the start.
But the fate of Americans will be different. Out of their national catastrophe an eagle will rise. So those who fear that the United States will go down the path of Germany in the 1930's and cheer on an American Hitler supported by religious and nationalist ideologues, are forgetting an essential change that has occurred in our times - the psychological transformation of a significant amount of ordinary people, especially in America - where the consciousness revolution has helped people adjust to the hard, cold reality of life in the early 21st century. Granted, the fruits of this revolution have not yet hit our heads but it's there, above us, and those directly under can already feel the gravitational pull. And it seems to me that this is happening not just in America, but people on the whole planet are beginning to accept grasp the fact that economic recovery is not possible without political change, and political change is likewise not possible without spiritual growth. In other words, salvation will be found in the individual's rebirth - so expecting change in Washington is expecting the impossible.
And this new found wisdom means that we have to refuse any new world order, or for that matter, any order that is directed singularly out of a gun, and is not aligned with our values, ethics, spirit, philosophy, etc. So if your leader does not come in peace, then turn him away. Or, better yet, turn away yourself - and if he bothers to follow you, then make sure it is not to hell but to heaven, where he'll be met by a superior creative force - God.
II.
In America's first revolutionary war the idea of the divine right of kings was refuted, and in our own revolutionary time, another similar idea needs to be denied by the people, and that is the idea of"too big to fail." And here I don't mean just banks on wall st. We must be consistent in our criticism. If we look honestly, we'll see that what is "too big to fail" is "too big to exist" and the institution that best fits that description in our society is the State, even more so than the corporation and the bank, because the later two can't grow into monopolies without the muscle of the State. And to be clear, becoming large in a market economy is not the issue. I have no problem with companies that gain wealth and prestige in an environment of fair and honest competition, on the contrary, there's nothing greater for humanity than seeing good work being rewarded. What I have problem with is companies that get big for criminal reasons, and a government that is too big for its own good. People agree on this principle about athletes, when they disapprove of players who develop unusually large muscles by the use of illegal drugs, and even politicians stick their crooked noses in and criticize the players. But in government this idea has not taken hold, and it's not because of intellectual reasons. It's purely financial, because those who hate competition really hate competition, and those who love money really love money.
But unlike the fat rats on the hill or the fat cats on wall st., people in American society deeply believe in fairness, and honest work, which is why I have faith that more individuals will eventually find the government's laws morally bankrupt and withdraw their compliance from the system. But that is not enough because the violent elite could careless about the 'people's compliance.' So I hope that people will finally begin to endorse tax rebellions, general strikes, and other tactics that really pull the people's weight around. And we have a lot of excess weight - which means if we ever decide to get up and pound the streets, politics as usual will shake to its very core, and all that political and physical exercise will leave us and the fat cats & rats leaner. All that dead fat will come off, and the political process will run more efficiently as a result. But we must first realize the potential of change, because it is there for us to take advantage of. It is the people's voice that matters in all societies, and the new world order or anything of the like does not change that basic law of the political universe. As Hannah Arendt said:
It is the people's support that lends power to the institutions of a country, and this support is but the continuation of the consent that brought the laws into existence to being with. Under conditions of representative government the people are supposed to rule those who govern them. All political institutions are manifestations and materializations of power; they petrify and decay as soon as the living power of the people ceases to uphold them. (2)Let's imagine a new future. It is not out of our horizon because the elevation of social and political consciousness has put a peaceful option before us: the overgrowing of the system. Or, to put it in Nietzschean terms, overcoming the system. This is accomplished at first by a vote of no-confidence in the present system, but resistance doesn't stop there, and is definitely not easy. The capacity to act freely is an individually and communal thing, and must be executed constantly. All steps into the lives of individuals and free communities by a central and authoritative government counts as social intrusion. Corporations will obviously not go away - they are here with us - but they have to adjust to a new economic and political environment. They will be restricted from using the people's resources or the government's laws for their own benefit. If you don't think this is achievable in our lifetime then you've given up on what humanity is capable of. We have the numbers, which means we have the power. It will not take all of us to engage in civil disobedience, just a small but passionate minority, of say, five or so million, on a constant and daily basis. What is in our way is not power but force, and force can be pushed back by power. Repressive violence is no match for an empowered and peaceful resistance that is supported by the people. The day will come when cops and military put down their weapons and join us in our task to bring a just order into the universe.
Hannah Arendt makes a valuable distinction between power, force, strength, and authority, terms that we think we know on the surface. Violence is not efficient, she argues, when it is not backed by the people's consent. "When commands are no longer obeyed, the means of violence are of no use." (3) And that is only achievable if we treat police officers in riot uniform with respect, however hard it may be, because our fight is not against human beings but against an unjust and undemocratic order, and a faceless conspiracy of evil.
III.
Disobedience doesn't mean rebellion. I am not a rebel, and I am not advocating an armed resistance. To my eyes the true usurpers, the real insurgents are the violent criminals behind the present economic and political system. I, on the other hand, sincerely believe in the principles of law and order, and of just conduct in society. I respect every single human being, and I love mankind. But I can't accept this present order in the world, so if it means that I have to show a little bit of disrespect than so be it. I can't give my consent to the economic frauds that were orchestrated by the private bankers. I can't watch as corporate feudalism bleeds this world. I can't sit through another day of needless wars.
And I am not afraid to be called a dissenter, or a rebel, or an insurgent - because I am neither of the three. Such labels are foreign to my nature, so they can't stick to me. My objection is not against love and peace, but against hate and war. How can I stand for dissent when everything I say is an affirmation of what I believe in? Justice and Truth are not empty words for me; they are everything. I am not a mere rebel with a rock in hand, but a saint who is more interested in creating a just order than in disrupting an unjust one. I am more of a conformer than a resister, but I cannot surrender my conscience in the face of an evil aggression, whose brutality has cost the lives of far too many innocent human beings. And I will not be lied against, or witness man as he gets stripped of his divinity at the moment of his greatest potential. I take to heart Nietzsche's words that "In man creature and creator are united," and believe in the destiny of a free humanity. And I have faith in God's grace but I will not wait on scraped knees for him to come down, extend his hand and take man out of his misery. And I'm too independent to claw myself up on his tail and piggyback to the promised land. Besides, God has not shortchanged us - on the contrary, he has given us a moral and creative bent in our nature, leaving it up to us to realize our infinite potential. And I doubt change will come on a cross, with its feet dragged along in dirt. So put aside your hopes for a new-age messiah. It is you who will have to choose between compliance and resistance. Let's leave God out of it.
Notes:
1. Nietzsche, Ecce Homo, from Basic Writings of Nietzsche, pg. 777.
2. Arendt, On Violence, pg. 41.
3. Arendt, On Violence, pg. 49.
