Since October 2008 the American people have been fleeced of nearly 10 TRILLION dollars. This astronomical amount of money has gone to banks,and auto companies. When the economy and stock market first started falling apart in late October 2008, every chicken little on CNBC, CNN, FOX and in the Congress were calling on the federal government to bailout the banking and finance industry. We were told that if this did not happen, revolution, martial law, and a meltdown of our society would occur. Well...10 TRILLION dollars later, are we better off? NO! Hundreds of banks have went under, GM and Chrysler are bankrupt, and unemployment is rapidly rising. State governments, particularly here in California, are bankrupt and out of money. So what gives? Why are we worse off?
We are worse off because the money stolen from the American people was not intended to help people with their mortgages,or make credit easier. Instead the Federal Reserve has printed money with abandon and the banking corporations have seen us, the taxpayer, as their permenent piggy bank! This combination of business and government is creating a fascist state all wrapped up in the red, white and blue. If we don't disband the Federal Reserve, get our troops out of all the quagmires they are in around the globe, and toss out the whole corrupt bunch of politicians in Washington, DC,there will nothing left of America. America is teetering on the brink of revolution.
Think about the French Revolution. Why was it so violent? Why did it degenerate into massive violence? Well, first off the French monarchy was absolutist and corrupt. A massive royal bureaucracy and the powerful Catholic Church kept the people down through poverty, ignorance, and violence. When the revolution overthrew the king, and the bureaucracy, the pent up rage of the masses created a whirlwind of violence and destruction until the moderates took charge in 1795. Is America exempt from this? Are we similar to the French government? The answer is YES!
Our government is totally corrupt. The U.S. Congress is owned lock, stock and barrel by big business and banks. We, the American people mean very little to the politicians. These politicians are sowing the seeds of their own destruction. A new American revolution will make the French Revolution look like a child's birthday party. We are a mixture of ethnicities, races, religions, and socio-economic classes. This mixture is very volitile. If a revolution comes, one must be wary of a Lenin, Stalin, Mao, or Pol Pot coming to power instead of a Jefferson, Paine, or Madison.
American politicians need to wake up. Disembowel the Federal Reserve, bring the troops home, and restore constitutional government. Only then will America recover from this depression we are in, and maybe, just maybe, the politicians will save their skins.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
A True Defense of Capitalism
In this essay I will lay out what I believe to be a true libertarian defense of capitalism. Many libertarians think they have a concept of economic liberty and capitalism, but they do not. Instead, they unwittingly defend the corporate/government complex, aristocracy. and government bureaucracy. Let's look at what capitalism is not.
Capitalism is not what we currently have in the USA. What we have is a form of fascism. Government and business in "partnership" with the government allowing private enterprise to exist,, but controlling it's use. This fascism is ruining America. Let me enlighten.
This fascism spawns all kinds of tyrannical laws: Anti-discrimination laws, environmental laws, eminent domain laws, zoning laws, bureaucratic "administrative" laws with no jury trial, health laws, "privacy" laws, etc. These laws are not promoting economic freedom, but are instead retarding it. They cause innumerable headaches for the people in business like lawsuits (governmental and private), compliance costs (passed on to consumers), requirements for insurance, and other bureaucratic regulations which help slow economic growth and success. This form of fascism has it 's roots in the Old World of Europe. It stems from the European ideal of man as a ward, or more appropriately, a serf of the state. Some libertarians don't recognize this and they defend what they believe to be capitalism from this perspective. Let us examine this.
Many libertarians will defend any attack on "Big Business", or corporations as anti-capitalism. They will also unwittingly defend such ancient despot isms as feudalism, strong central government, and aristocracy as parts of capitalism. Aristocracy, feudalism and powerful government are the antithesis of true capitalism. European aristocrats gained power, money and prestige through the rape, pillage and exploitation of their people. They were not entrepreneurs and fighters for free markets. They hated freedom and free markets. They were an arm of the state, or king. The nobility of Europe "earned" their money through serfdom, slavery, guilds, mercantilism, and other forms of anti-capitalism. Even though this has been thoroughly documented by great libertarians like Murray Rothbard. Here is a link to a great article by Rothbard on the American Revolutionhttp://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard121.html.Many libertarians still continue to defend the ideals of Edmund Burke: feudalism, state supported religion, and an elite governing a society. Why? Why would defenders of man's liberty reject true capitalism and freedom for this nonsense? I say because they are not really libertarians. They are either conservatives in libertarian clothing, or flat out fascists hiding their true desire for power and dominance under the cloak of libertarianism. I am particularly disturbed by such "anarcho-capitalists" like Hans Hermann Hoppe who seems to enjoy the concept of feudalism, and monarchy all the while claiming to be a market anarchist. Sounds a little strange, huh? Several months ago, on the great Strike the Root website, writer Douglas Herman called Edmund Burke an "anarchist". Huh? Has Mr. Herman ever read "Reflections on the Revolution in France"? A more pure defense of tradition,monarchy, aristocracy, mercantilism, and theocracy could not be written, Mr. Burke's previous more libertarian writings aside. Mr. Herman goes on to talk briefly about Burke's support for the American Revolution. Burke did support the Revolution, only as a defense of "English liberties" not as a natural right to liberty. Burke only defended the Revolution because he saw the English government violating English tradition, something Burke worshipped.
American libertarianism is the more radical wing of the wonderful tradition of Anglo-American libertarian theory. State supported religion, laws banning religious minorities from voting and holding office,quit rants, primogeniture and entail of estates,serfdom,slavery, etc are just a few of the ancient relics swept aside by the radicalism of the American Revolution. Now slavery took much longer due to it's entrenchment in the South, but it too fell away, albeit by war. Men like Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, James Madison, and other Jeffersonian Republicans attempted to keep the radical fire alive in the ensuing years after the Revolution. They only partially succeeded. We must be thankful for how far they have taken us, but we must press progress forward. That progress is best led by capitalism.
Capitalism made America Modern
It is capitalism and the freedom it creates that has made America a
mighty and advanced nation. Free trade between nations and individuals
is the corrosive acid that melts away feudalism and despotism. Capitalism allows for individuals to manage their own lives without harming others. This only works when government steps aside and allows people to be free. Modernity was a direct result of the American Revolution. The former colonists, freed from their mercantilist bondage of the British navigation acts, created the most explosive expansion of trade,commerce and business enterprise. The American standard of living, already higher than in most of the world, was raised tremendously. This new found liberty and freedom molded Americans into self reliant, open minded, and enterprising people. Was America perfect? No not at all. Slavery still existed in the South, and corporations were flexing their muscle in attempting to create a new American type of mercantilism. Since nothing is perfect, I do not wallow in immolating the American Revolution or the American Republic. The American Revolution and it results changed the world. The capitalism that was created made America the first modern nation.
Capitalism is not what we currently have in the USA. What we have is a form of fascism. Government and business in "partnership" with the government allowing private enterprise to exist,, but controlling it's use. This fascism is ruining America. Let me enlighten.
This fascism spawns all kinds of tyrannical laws: Anti-discrimination laws, environmental laws, eminent domain laws, zoning laws, bureaucratic "administrative" laws with no jury trial, health laws, "privacy" laws, etc. These laws are not promoting economic freedom, but are instead retarding it. They cause innumerable headaches for the people in business like lawsuits (governmental and private), compliance costs (passed on to consumers), requirements for insurance, and other bureaucratic regulations which help slow economic growth and success. This form of fascism has it 's roots in the Old World of Europe. It stems from the European ideal of man as a ward, or more appropriately, a serf of the state. Some libertarians don't recognize this and they defend what they believe to be capitalism from this perspective. Let us examine this.
Many libertarians will defend any attack on "Big Business", or corporations as anti-capitalism. They will also unwittingly defend such ancient despot isms as feudalism, strong central government, and aristocracy as parts of capitalism. Aristocracy, feudalism and powerful government are the antithesis of true capitalism. European aristocrats gained power, money and prestige through the rape, pillage and exploitation of their people. They were not entrepreneurs and fighters for free markets. They hated freedom and free markets. They were an arm of the state, or king. The nobility of Europe "earned" their money through serfdom, slavery, guilds, mercantilism, and other forms of anti-capitalism. Even though this has been thoroughly documented by great libertarians like Murray Rothbard. Here is a link to a great article by Rothbard on the American Revolutionhttp://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard121.html.Many libertarians still continue to defend the ideals of Edmund Burke: feudalism, state supported religion, and an elite governing a society. Why? Why would defenders of man's liberty reject true capitalism and freedom for this nonsense? I say because they are not really libertarians. They are either conservatives in libertarian clothing, or flat out fascists hiding their true desire for power and dominance under the cloak of libertarianism. I am particularly disturbed by such "anarcho-capitalists" like Hans Hermann Hoppe who seems to enjoy the concept of feudalism, and monarchy all the while claiming to be a market anarchist. Sounds a little strange, huh? Several months ago, on the great Strike the Root website, writer Douglas Herman called Edmund Burke an "anarchist". Huh? Has Mr. Herman ever read "Reflections on the Revolution in France"? A more pure defense of tradition,monarchy, aristocracy, mercantilism, and theocracy could not be written, Mr. Burke's previous more libertarian writings aside. Mr. Herman goes on to talk briefly about Burke's support for the American Revolution. Burke did support the Revolution, only as a defense of "English liberties" not as a natural right to liberty. Burke only defended the Revolution because he saw the English government violating English tradition, something Burke worshipped.
American libertarianism is the more radical wing of the wonderful tradition of Anglo-American libertarian theory. State supported religion, laws banning religious minorities from voting and holding office,quit rants, primogeniture and entail of estates,serfdom,slavery, etc are just a few of the ancient relics swept aside by the radicalism of the American Revolution. Now slavery took much longer due to it's entrenchment in the South, but it too fell away, albeit by war. Men like Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, James Madison, and other Jeffersonian Republicans attempted to keep the radical fire alive in the ensuing years after the Revolution. They only partially succeeded. We must be thankful for how far they have taken us, but we must press progress forward. That progress is best led by capitalism.
Capitalism made America Modern
It is capitalism and the freedom it creates that has made America a
mighty and advanced nation. Free trade between nations and individuals
is the corrosive acid that melts away feudalism and despotism. Capitalism allows for individuals to manage their own lives without harming others. This only works when government steps aside and allows people to be free. Modernity was a direct result of the American Revolution. The former colonists, freed from their mercantilist bondage of the British navigation acts, created the most explosive expansion of trade,commerce and business enterprise. The American standard of living, already higher than in most of the world, was raised tremendously. This new found liberty and freedom molded Americans into self reliant, open minded, and enterprising people. Was America perfect? No not at all. Slavery still existed in the South, and corporations were flexing their muscle in attempting to create a new American type of mercantilism. Since nothing is perfect, I do not wallow in immolating the American Revolution or the American Republic. The American Revolution and it results changed the world. The capitalism that was created made America the first modern nation.
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