America's sliding into totalitarianism?
Readers of my blog may not agree with me, in whole or in part, but I hope this generates some really sincere thought and introspection. I don't have many answers, and I'm not a fatalist, but Americans need to be thinking and discussing these and other deeply troubling issues so we can stave off what I fear is a gradual decent towards an Americanized form of totalitarianism.
I continue to mull the quandary we Americans are in today.. and I'm not liking the prevailing, and accelerating trends I see. I had a very involved conversation with a like minded friend last night about the power of free markets.. free markets are the true American heritage.. not our political process or structure.. Lincoln and his ilk destroyed the federal system and the goal of the founders to establish limited government..power, money and political control has been increasingly centralized since the North attacked the South. The only thing that is keeping us from living under the oppressive thumb of a statist oligarchy is the power of the market. As long as politicians fear the threat of a major economic backlash, it will keep them somewhat reigned in.. unfortunately I fear that at some point the creeping socialism and fascism of the Depublicans and Remocrats may yet kill the goose that lays the golden egg and we will rapidly cascade into grip of a totalitarian central state. Politicians should fear market forces because it is a very real threat to their power.. observe the behavior of Sadaam Hussein (he destroyed his country's educational and economic systems to extend his power and control), Mugabe in Zimbawee, it is the only real check remaining against absolute dictatorship by a small group of elites.. Americans seem to tolerate oligarchies, not outright dictatorships even though the end result is basically the same. As long as the political caste (and if you don't believe America has one... you need to wake up and smell the kimchee!) can keep the American public fooled into thinking that the two parties represent real choices then they can continue the gradualist agenda toward totalitarianism. Case in point... have you noticed how the Bush Sr. and Clinton are buddies .. very, very telling.
I encourage everyone to read John Stossel's book, "Give Me a Break..." I picked up a copy at Costco for $14. "Gimme a Break.."
To a paraphrase a friend.. to choose between Remocrats and Depublicans is to choose which fist, left or right, you're going to get belted with... doesn't matter which one you pick, you're gonna end up with a black eye. Now, I understand, it's not nearly that simple.. but it's kinda funny because it does ring true to some extent.
Republicans=Whigs(party of big business and big moneyed interests getting handouts from the confiscated wealth of the taxpayers) + No Nothings (no nothing party was the radical anti-Catholic party, the expedient here is the fact they were zealous empire builders whose faith consists of a national messianic zeal, not unlike the 1st century jews.. it's not an accident that Lincoln referred to the 'Nation" in quasi religious terminology... this is not a veiled dig at my Protestant brothers and sisters, but the simple fact is many, certainly not all, of our immigrant ancestors, Catholic and Protestant alike, lost their faith and replaced it with an American form of political messianism. Nationalism is a false God, an idol that all too often humans throughout the history of the world came to worship, instead of the one, true God. The first century Jews did it, and most Americans have fallen victim to the very same quasi-nationalist religiosity. Countless other examples abound.. too many to mention, the religious framework doesn't matter, this has happened to EVERY civilization mankind has ever erected and demonstrates our human failings all too readily. I'll need to make another blog post to more deeply espouse my opinions on these matters.... back to my take on the current state of affairs.
Democrats were once the party of Jefferson, but over time fell into a socialist axis instead of defending states rights, freedom and the constitution. The process was pretty much completed after Johnson lost to Nixon and the McGovernites took over the party. JFK was actually in some ways a throwback , he cut taxes and government regulations, and some say was intent on dismantling the military and national intelligence apparatis and definitely worked to curtail the immense power of the FBI.. not too mention labor and la cosa nostra.. thus the military, mob, labor, cia ganged up on him to get him out of the way.. or so say the conspiracy buffs. Probably not true, although all of these parties were plenty dienfranchised by the actions of him and his brother, but if you look at what happened once Johnson took power.. much of the agenda of these powerful forces was institued en mass.. government handouts galore.. the FBI's power continued to grow, the military was sent full bore into Vietnam, the CIAs power and influence zenithed in 1969 (they had so much money in the mid sixties that they were seriously contemplating their own private space program, even to the point of collaborating with the air force and training astronauts (btw, Nasa discovered several space suits from this program stashed away in a storage locker and they are being sent to the Smithsonian for exhibition), the trade unions got major handouts, the bureaucracy blossomed under the great society spending spree.. blahblahblah anyway.. enough ranting. For some seriously thought provoking though, read Murray Rothbard's take on this by following the link below.
Left and Right: The Prospects for Liberty
BTW, this was published in 1965.. still quite relevant, even visionary.
While on the subject of dictators.. I really don't like Lincoln.. he's America's Caesar and destroyed once and for all the Republic. Here is a great critique of a recent book on Lincoln: "The Unknown Lincoln" Time magazine has recently published a puff piece on him.. blecchh.. here is some truth about the REAL Lincoln... not the mythological figure... some of the articles are over the top, but you'll get the general idea if you read some.
The King Lincoln page
Some fake lincoln quotes.. Lincoln was indeed a very eloquent man, but many of the quotes that are commonly attributed to him aren't his.
Fake Lincoln Quotes
Sound off!!
I continue to mull the quandary we Americans are in today.. and I'm not liking the prevailing, and accelerating trends I see. I had a very involved conversation with a like minded friend last night about the power of free markets.. free markets are the true American heritage.. not our political process or structure.. Lincoln and his ilk destroyed the federal system and the goal of the founders to establish limited government..power, money and political control has been increasingly centralized since the North attacked the South. The only thing that is keeping us from living under the oppressive thumb of a statist oligarchy is the power of the market. As long as politicians fear the threat of a major economic backlash, it will keep them somewhat reigned in.. unfortunately I fear that at some point the creeping socialism and fascism of the Depublicans and Remocrats may yet kill the goose that lays the golden egg and we will rapidly cascade into grip of a totalitarian central state. Politicians should fear market forces because it is a very real threat to their power.. observe the behavior of Sadaam Hussein (he destroyed his country's educational and economic systems to extend his power and control), Mugabe in Zimbawee, it is the only real check remaining against absolute dictatorship by a small group of elites.. Americans seem to tolerate oligarchies, not outright dictatorships even though the end result is basically the same. As long as the political caste (and if you don't believe America has one... you need to wake up and smell the kimchee!) can keep the American public fooled into thinking that the two parties represent real choices then they can continue the gradualist agenda toward totalitarianism. Case in point... have you noticed how the Bush Sr. and Clinton are buddies .. very, very telling.
I encourage everyone to read John Stossel's book, "Give Me a Break..." I picked up a copy at Costco for $14. "Gimme a Break.."
To a paraphrase a friend.. to choose between Remocrats and Depublicans is to choose which fist, left or right, you're going to get belted with... doesn't matter which one you pick, you're gonna end up with a black eye. Now, I understand, it's not nearly that simple.. but it's kinda funny because it does ring true to some extent.
Republicans=Whigs(party of big business and big moneyed interests getting handouts from the confiscated wealth of the taxpayers) + No Nothings (no nothing party was the radical anti-Catholic party, the expedient here is the fact they were zealous empire builders whose faith consists of a national messianic zeal, not unlike the 1st century jews.. it's not an accident that Lincoln referred to the 'Nation" in quasi religious terminology... this is not a veiled dig at my Protestant brothers and sisters, but the simple fact is many, certainly not all, of our immigrant ancestors, Catholic and Protestant alike, lost their faith and replaced it with an American form of political messianism. Nationalism is a false God, an idol that all too often humans throughout the history of the world came to worship, instead of the one, true God. The first century Jews did it, and most Americans have fallen victim to the very same quasi-nationalist religiosity. Countless other examples abound.. too many to mention, the religious framework doesn't matter, this has happened to EVERY civilization mankind has ever erected and demonstrates our human failings all too readily. I'll need to make another blog post to more deeply espouse my opinions on these matters.... back to my take on the current state of affairs.
Democrats were once the party of Jefferson, but over time fell into a socialist axis instead of defending states rights, freedom and the constitution. The process was pretty much completed after Johnson lost to Nixon and the McGovernites took over the party. JFK was actually in some ways a throwback , he cut taxes and government regulations, and some say was intent on dismantling the military and national intelligence apparatis and definitely worked to curtail the immense power of the FBI.. not too mention labor and la cosa nostra.. thus the military, mob, labor, cia ganged up on him to get him out of the way.. or so say the conspiracy buffs. Probably not true, although all of these parties were plenty dienfranchised by the actions of him and his brother, but if you look at what happened once Johnson took power.. much of the agenda of these powerful forces was institued en mass.. government handouts galore.. the FBI's power continued to grow, the military was sent full bore into Vietnam, the CIAs power and influence zenithed in 1969 (they had so much money in the mid sixties that they were seriously contemplating their own private space program, even to the point of collaborating with the air force and training astronauts (btw, Nasa discovered several space suits from this program stashed away in a storage locker and they are being sent to the Smithsonian for exhibition), the trade unions got major handouts, the bureaucracy blossomed under the great society spending spree.. blahblahblah anyway.. enough ranting. For some seriously thought provoking though, read Murray Rothbard's take on this by following the link below.
Left and Right: The Prospects for Liberty
BTW, this was published in 1965.. still quite relevant, even visionary.
While on the subject of dictators.. I really don't like Lincoln.. he's America's Caesar and destroyed once and for all the Republic. Here is a great critique of a recent book on Lincoln: "The Unknown Lincoln" Time magazine has recently published a puff piece on him.. blecchh.. here is some truth about the REAL Lincoln... not the mythological figure... some of the articles are over the top, but you'll get the general idea if you read some.
The King Lincoln page
Some fake lincoln quotes.. Lincoln was indeed a very eloquent man, but many of the quotes that are commonly attributed to him aren't his.
Fake Lincoln Quotes
Sound off!!
posted by Bellesarius at 12:45 PM
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