Man, Government Sucks.....

Solutions

I get regular complaints from people who say that, while they agree
with many of my criticisms of how our "government" functions, I
offer no solutions. In reality, I repeatedly offer the only
solution there is. Trouble is, there is a range of solutions people
are willing to consider, and when I tell them that nothing in that
range will do any good, they declare that I have no solution to
suggest. (And I'm not even talking about violent revolution. While
that can, by itself, remove a particular set of tyrants, it doesn't
remove the problem of tyranny. To wit, the American Revolution
ended up creating the largest extortion racket and the most
powerful standing army in the history of the world.)

What even many "limited government" folk don't see is that they
have been TRAINED to focus on completely worthless, ineffective
methods of "change." And the one thing--which is amazingly simple--
which actually WOULD unravel the tentacles of tyranny,
existentially scares the heck out of all of the indoctrinated
peasants. The slaves are taught that petitions or elections, or
lobbying for this or that legislation, is the only CIVILIZED way to
achieve "change," and to fight for freedom. In reality, those are
all ways to solidify your own enslavement, because they all
reinforce the idea that you need the PERMISSION of tyrants in order
to be free. In other words, all such "solutions" are premised on
the assumption that you are the PROPERTY of "government," and so
must beg it to LET you be free.

Do we try to "vote out" carjackers and muggers? Do we politely
petition and lobby common thugs to please not assault us and rob
us? Of course not. Not only is it ineffective to ask crooks to
please be nice, but there's no need to "win them over." We don't
need their permission in order to have the right to defend
ourselves and our property. And yet ALL "political reform " that
you'll hear about from any but the most "extreme" corners consists
of ASKING tyrants to please not oppress us so much. In short, the
minds of the oppressed are stuck in a paradigm which renders futile
all of their efforts to achieve freedom.

Imagine an island tribe that believes that the volcano on the
island is a god, and whenever misfortune occurs, they attempt to
appease that god by giving it a human sacrifice. After a while,
those in the tribe get bummed out, not only because lots of
innocent people are dying horrible deaths, but because the crops
aren't improving, the weather is as bad as ever, and nothing else
seems any better. So they keep tinkering with their method of god-
appeasing, but nothing seems to work. They try giving sacrifices
only during full moons; they try giving the volcano only pretty
young women; they try all sorts of dances and chants while flinging
people in--nothing seems to work. Of course, no amount of tinkering
will do the slightest bit of good. Until they lose their irrational
superstitions, and realize that throwing people into a volcano will
NEVER improve the crops, all of their efforts will be not only
useless, but horribly counter-productive (especially for those fed
to the volcano).

So it is with modern statists. As long as their efforts are focused
upon trying to reform "government"--in other words, trying to
somehow create a NICE master, who will CHOOSE not to oppress his
slaves--their efforts will be in vain. As long as they believe in
irrational superstitions like "servant governments," "the consent
of the governed," "elected representative government," and so on,
they will remain enslaved. As long as they accept the notion that
someone has to be "in charge," that someone has to be making and
enforcing "the rules" for everyone, that someone has to be given
huge, super-human rights and powers to keep us all in line- -as long
as the people believe that, they will be extorted, assaulted,
controlled, enslaved and oppressed.

The following is an excerpt from "How To Be a Successful Tyrant" (
http://www.tyrantbook.com ):

"However, while the peasants will tolerate a lot, there are limits
to their patience. But those limits can be all but eliminated
simply by giving them some sort of outlet (completely ineffectual,
of course) for their displeasure with you and your regime. As long
as there is some system of "checks and balances" whereby the
peasants can appeal to different levels and agencies of your
regime, they will almost never resort to violence. "You have to
work within the system." That should be your mantra, and it will
quickly be echoed by most of the peasants. Of course, working
within your "system" is never going to get the peasants freedom or
justice, but even giving them the illusion of "due process" and
some form of appeal will keep most of them forever banging their
heads against a bureaucratic wall instead of actually resisting
you."

So what is the solution? Stop throwing sacrifices into the volcano.
In other words, stop treating "government" as if it has any
"authority" over you. Of course, it does have the power to hurt
people, and you'll have to take that into account. But stop
thinking, talking, and acting as if its control of you is
inherently legitimate or justified. Stop voting; stop calling its
commands "laws"; stop treating its thugs with respect, as if what
they do is justified or legitimate. Stop sending them the message
that you AGREE that they are your rightful masters. Again, you may
have to comply with much of their coercion just out of self-
preservation, but don't ever give them the "sanction of the victim"
(as Ayn Rand called it) by treating them as if they have the RIGHT
to rule you.

Of course, one or two people doing this won't end an empire. In
fact, it won't even change the day to day life of the one or two
people much. Nonetheless, being able to free your MIND--being able
to escape the mindset of a slave--and then trying to help others do
the same, will not only reveal a power and a freedom you never knew
you had, but will plant the seed which will, slowly but surely,
grow into the solution that will end all tyranny. As Steven Biko
said, the greatest weapon the oppressor has is the mind of the
oppressed. So are you ready to wrench YOUR mind out of the grip of
your enslavers? Or are you still too attached to the cult of
"government"?

Let me leave you with one more quote from my "Tyrant" book. Put
yourself in the shoes of your oppressors, and imagine what the
world really looks like to them.

- -------< begin quote >--- -----

Your peasants must never be allowed to realize the power they have.

Their power can be "deadly" to your regime, even if they do not
resort to violence at all. Gandhi led millions of people in India
in a bizarre "revolution" that crippled British control of the
country. Amazingly, they did this without any violence. To a
large extent, they defeated an empire by doing nothing. Mere
passive noncompliance with the commands of an empire (a.k.a. "doing
nothing"), if done by enough of the subjects, spells certain doom
for any tyrant.

If one day all of your victims decide not to pay your "taxes" any
more, there is nothing you can do to preserve your power. If they
all decide to ignore your laws, your "laws" cease to exist. Always
remember: your "authority" exists only in the minds of the
peasants. If they ever stop perceiving you as an "authority," your
reign is over. And it p robably won't even be a dramatic, violent
end. Instead, you may simply fizzle into irrelevant oblivion, as
the peasants, including your enforcers, simply "forget" to bow to
your will. They won't even need to oust you; they will simply
ignore you out of existence.

Choose any historical tyrant and imagine what would happen if one
day everyone in his regime woke up and said: "That guy is looney-
tunes, and I'm not listening to him any more (and his mustache
looks stupid too)." Would they then feel the wrath of the tyrant?
Nope, because there would be no one to enforce that "wrath." The
power of every tyrant is 100% illusion, and you darn well better
know how to keep that illusion alive if you want to stay in power.

- --------< end quote >---------

So, are you letting the illusion stay alive in you?

Sincerely,

Larken Rose