The Politics of Obedience

A very powerful read. A must. Written by Etienne De Le Boetie, in 1552

A small excerpt:
 I do not know how it happens that nature fails to place within the hearts of men a burning desire for liberty, a blessing so great and so desirable that when it is lost all evils follow thereafter, and even the blessings that remain lose taste and savor because of their corruption by servitude. Liberty is the only joy upon which men do not seem to insist; for surely if they really wanted it they would receive it. Apparently they refuse this wonderful privilege because it is so easily acquired. Poor, wretched, and stupid peoples, nations determined on your own misfortune and blind to your own good! You let yourselves be deprived before your own eyes of the best part of your revenues; your fields are plundered, your homes robbed, your family heirlooms taken away. You live in such a way that you cannot claim a single thing as your own; and it would seem that you consider yourselves lucky to be loaned your property, your families, and your very lives. All this havoc, this misfortune, this ruin, descends upon you not from alien foes, but from the one enemy whom you yourselves render as powerful as he is, for whom you go bravely to war, for whose greatness you do not refuse to offer your own bodies unto death. He who thus domineers over you has only two eyes, only two hands, only one body, no more than is possessed by the least man among the infinite numbers dwelling in your cities; he has indeed nothing more than the power that you confer upon him to destroy you. Where has he acquired enough eyes to spy upon you, if you do not provide them yourselves? How can he have so many arms to beat you with, if he does not borrow them from you? The feet that trample down your cities, where does he get them if they are not your own? How does he have any power over you except through you? How would he dare assail you if he had no cooperation from you? What could he do to you if you yourselves did not connive with the thief who plunders you, if you were not accomplices of the murderer who kills you, if you were not traitors to yourselves? You sow your crops in order that he may ravage them, you install and furnish your homes to give him goods to pillage; you rear your daughters that he may gratify his lust; you bring up your children in order that he may confer upon them the greatest privilege he knows—to be led into his battles, to be delivered to butchery, to be made the servants of his greed and the instruments of his vengeance; you yield your bodies unto hard labor in order that he may indulge in his delights and wallow in his filthy pleasures; you weaken yourselves in order to make him the stronger and the mightier to hold you in check. From all these indignities, such as the very beasts of the field would not endure, you can deliver yourselves if you try, not by taking action, but merely by willing to be free. Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break into pieces?

Download the full writing here, The discourse of voluntary servitude.

god demands child sacrifice

And that god, who's holy name is STATE, who claims to be the great WE ARE, at the behest of Its high priests, are now demanding, if you do not give your child in sacrifice to State, you must give other offerings, to show State your worship, and bless it for all that it gives you, everything you have, every liberty you know, including life itself.
This story, which I first read on Lew Rockwell, made me sick. But when I heard it on the radio on the top of the hour Fox news, it scared me, and what better day than the 4th of July?
 Richard Maybury nailed it when he said we are no different than ancient Rome, we worship death, we worship power, we worship war, to the point of child sacrifice.
This is nothing more than complete obedience and fealty to the state. The state is these people's god.
You, serf, should feel remorse for having children that have not been sacrificed to State. You should feel guilty that none of your children are maimed for life, or dead, because that sacrifice would be to State, and there is no greater sacrifice than to State.
You better wake up. This will soon be a law no doubt. State has no fill of blood. State lusts after, and requires, blood.
Folks, we aren't talking about Revolutionaries fighting the king for Liberty, or fighting for your freedom.

We are talking about the endless war of Empire god/state.

My God, by comparison, said,  Love those who persecute you, and bless those that hate you.
Love your neighbor as yourself? Obviously, those brown people "over there" aren't our neighbors.
I wonder what color the good Samaritan was?

Sorry State, I do not worship you, I will not sacrifice to you. You cannot have my children.  

I reject you, I despise you.

I HATE YOU!

Sick psychopaths saddened their children live.

Why don't these people just kill their children, and call it the ultimate sacrifice to State? I bet they would not be charged with any crime....

Rome Will Burn

Ron Paul is out. We can already hear the cry, "What will we do now?!" Leonard Read's "How to Advance Liberty" provides some insight. In my opinion, Rothbard had a massive non-sequitur which was advocating the use of politics to end the state. I am unaware of any state that has ended this way (my little resort to a historicism fallacy). Logically in terms of means and ends, it is impossible for political means to result in non-political ends. Historically, states end themselves. All political action then is the velvet glove over iron fist. For example, no state income tax (velvet glove), state spending out of control squeezing the main industry out (iron fist). What good is no income tax if your job is eliminated? Conversely what good is a job if the state is legally entitled to take as much as they wish? The catch-22 of statism. Obviously the practical answer is that not ALL jobs are eliminated and/or that not ALL income is taxed. Politics is then the practical question of degrees of violence. One who believes in non-violence must then walk away to the maximum extent possible, being mindful to go about this in a peaceful way so as to avoid creating a ratchet effect where the state then escalates its violence.

Political thinking and political action necessarily accepts the premise of the state, so of course it is divisive. It is by nature "us" against "them." Voluntary action benefits both parties. State action benefits one at the expense of the other. Always. The division and futility of libertarian activity in Alaska is a fascinating story and history with a lot of useful takeaways, but for me the most fascinating part is that the ideologically pure ones who went directly after the state as Mike notes accomplished nothing for themselves or others. See also Schaeffer's thing. Same result. The de La Boetie essay suggests something different. Walk away. There are oh-so-many ways of doing this without stepping in the beehive of the state (which it considers to be violence against it). You won't find tax protestors at the Mises institute. Attacking the state is an exercise in futility. Selling ideas to those who are "shopping" is the only method consistent with the desired ends of a voluntary society. This obviously excludes "successful" politicking. To use Ron Paul as an example, he has never claimed that he can make a difference or that him being elected would make a difference. His reply is always, "When the people decide to change the nature of government, that's when things will change." Since he's the only one presenting an alternative for people to consider, how would they ever learn of another way if he weren't out there being unelectable (and not caring about being unelectable)?

You'll note how much time I spent advocating state action vs. individual action when I went on Duke's show (none). I don't care about the borough or the state or the feds except to the extent which I must adjust my action based on their decisions. I can far more effectively free myself from the state by spending my time doing other stuff. Anything done in a political sphere is a compromise. It is those who don't understand this who find politics frustrating. Again, it comes down to means and ends. Political means will never lead to voluntary or non-political ends. Ever. Most people accept this, so they accepts political action as useful (believing that voluntary ends are a largely unattainable goal). This is consistent with their premises. In that context it makes sense.

I don't really have any use for the velvet glove or the iron fist. I don't have to stay anywhere. I don't care about "my" country or state or any of that stuff (probably because they're not "mine" in any logical sense). Furthermore, I can be the most useful to society not through political action but through market action and education. No one is better off because I convinced them to vote for Ron Paul in 2008. Some people are better off because they learned about the risk of holding dollars in 2008 (and since). Steve Jobs has created more prosperity for mankind than Ronald Reagan. Bill Gates than Bill Clinton. Etc.

My initial idea for the Austrian Economics book club was to read about econ and investing so that people wouldn't get wiped out. No one can or will save us but ourselves. This has always been true. No one is really interested in that tho. The "liberty movement" in America is wrapped up in the myth of collective salvation. Tragic yet funny. I can safely say that there are only a couple of us with significant positions that will weather the coming storm very very well. Everyone else, two years later, has been completely wrapped up in politics even tho they now KNOW what is coming economically. What do they have to show for it? They are frustrated, tired, and poorer than they were two years ago. The state wins. All the money and effort spent on Joe Miller, for example. There was a lot of money to be made (or at least preserved) in that time. This would facilitate a lot of families being able to pull their kids out of public school. This would reduce a lot of people's dependence on their state job, or the PFD, etc. What is there to show instead? Nothing. What would there be to show had Joe won? Nothing. A shame and a waste. And for what?

Probably my favorite "place" to hang out is the Daily Anarchist site/forums, because no one there advocates anything political. It is calm, the discussions are civil yet deep, and no one is getting tweaked about political trivialities. There is a Ron Paul thread, but no one cares if any of the others participate or do not participate in the election. The overwhelming recognition is that for questions of "what do we do" the answer will be unique for each and every one of us (indeed this is the basis of voluntaryism). Therefore we can share ideas and personal courses of action without crossing so-called Ego Boundaries. This is simply not possible in a political context because people who think politically are 1) collectivist to some extent and 2) authoritarians to some extent. Since I do not like being pushed around, to be consistent I have to refrain from pushing others around. So very few get that. I never expect it to be more than a very few. But a whole lot are indifferent (terrific!). I try to minimize exposure to those who my buddy Jake and I call the "True Believers." Those who believe that shoving people in the right direction somehow makes things better. If the cause of liberty is futile, then sanctioning authoritarianism is certainly more futile. States forever and always eventually revert back to the only way feasible in the long term: they cease to exist. Sort of a liquidation of counterproductive action.

The Caesars have already de-based the money and sent the young men to go die for the empire. All that remains is for Nero to burn Rome. All those dependent on Rome will be in trouble when this happens. This includes the Borough itself. It does not include me. It no longer includes my family. It no longer includes some of my friends. It no longer includes at least one guy I work with. While we wait, we can go about our lives without fear. That is a success. Let Rome Burn. It's going to anyway.