I’d bet that many of you have thought about or discussed the following question: “What are the chances that the political situation might improve in the US?”
I know I have.
Unfortunately, I have long concluded that the chances are slim to none… and slim is out of town.
The reason for this is simple: a growing majority of voters in the US has deeply ingrained collectivist impulses in some fashion or another. In other words, they’re addicted to the heroin of the failed policies of the welfare, warfare, and nanny state.
Speaking of the nanny state, New York City is perhaps one of the most infamous incarnations of it. The bureaucrats in the Big Apple have a particularly strong affinity for regulating every aspect of the personal lives and businesses of its residents. It’s all done “for your own good,” of course—the standard catch-all justification for big government.
The latest example of which is Mayor Bill de Blasio’s absolutely ridiculous “Vision Zero” plan. This plan seeks to reduce traffic deaths to zero by drastically increasing police enforcement.
It’s delusional to think that fatal accidents could ever be fully eliminated, no matter how many police officers or enforcement cameras there are on the streets. It’s not unlike trying to totally eliminate bathtub falls by putting a police officer or a camera in every bathroom.
Jaywalkers in particular have been singled out for extra attention by the police in “Vision Zero.”
Consider the story of Kang Wong, an 84-year-old man who was recently stopped for jaywalking near Broadway and 96th Street at around 5 in the evening. Wong, who apparently didn’t understand what was happening or why he was being stopped, tried to walk away from the police. The situation escalated, and the police ended up arresting and bloodying him (picture below).
Few New Yorkers question why the money extracted from them via taxation—to pay for the police—didn’t instead go towards dealing with real crimes (aggressions against people and property). Nor did many question the disturbing absurdity of the bloodying of an 84-year-old man spurred by the increased enforcement of jaywalking in the name of the “Vision Zero” fantasy.
This whole ordeal underscores why I’m not particularly optimistic that a significant number of Americans will change their views on collectivism and personal freedom anytime soon.
Source: NY Post
Many have been force-fed since a young age the notion that democracy is the most sublime form of government. I believe the reality, however, is quite different—especially once a society loses respect for the rights of individual. In other words, when the majority or the collective trumps all.
Then it only takes 51% of the people to agree to restrict the rights of the rest of the 49%—which amounts to nothing more than mob rule dressed up in a suit and tie.
If 51% of the people vote to elect a guy who wants to turn their city into a police state in pursuit of the delusion of totally eliminating traffic deaths, they can. (Note: NYC mayor Bill de Blasio won in a landslide, with 73% of the vote.)
If 51% of the people vote to elect a guy who wants, in the name of the greater good, to force you to buy health insurance you don’t need or want, they can.
If 51% of the people deem it “fair” that the top income tax bracket to be 75%, then so be it. It’s already happened in France.
Or suppose that gold explodes to the upside (another way of saying the currency crashes) and 51% of the people demand, in the name of fairness, a precious metals windfall profits tax.
These are the kinds of possibilities that can occur in a democratic society with collectivist leanings.
It brings to mind the words of H.L. Mencken: “Democracy, too, is a religion. It is the worship of jackals by jackasses.”
Granted, the US has not arrived at some of these destinations yet… though I believe we are on the path toward it—and there’s no turning back.
The reason is simple: a growing majority of Americans are financially dependent on the government.
It’s estimated that around 47% of Americans are already receiving government benefits in some way.
Here is 3 minute video on what Judge Napolitano says about the situation.
But I believe 47% is not an accurate reflection of the situation.
We also need to consider all government employees as well as those in the nominally private sector who make a living off of the warfare state—like defense and other government contractors who win huge no-bid contracts.
Those involved in the military industrial complex are living off slops at the government trough just as much, if not more than those who collect food stamps and other traditional forms of welfare. Yet they aren’t counted in the statistics. So we need to include them to get a more complete picture of who is financially dependent on the government.
Anyone who exists off of political dollars instead of free-market dollars should be counted.
When these people are included, we’re well north of 50% of the American population (a solid majority and growing) that’s financially dependent on the government in some form.
This means the US has crossed the Rubicon.
It’s not good news for those opposed to collectivism.
This built-in majority of welfare recipients and government employees guarantees that there will be a solid voting block to continue—and accelerate—these policies. It would be foolish to assume that a meaningful number of these people would vote to stop the government from giving them benefits or otherwise vote to break their own rice bowls.
The notion that a significant number of people living off of government largesse will be brought around to an individualist or libertarian way of thinking is a pipe dream.
You’d have better luck converting them to become Jehovah’s Witnesses.
In other words, there is no hope for positive change to come from the political system.
Therefore, I believe your time and energy are best spent preparing for and protecting yourself from the effects of a collectivist system that eventually collapses under its own weight… like all of them eventually do.
Once you’ve realized that it is futile to stop this collectivist tsunami, the next logical question becomes “How do I protect myself and my savings?”
The answer is: the same way you would with a regular tsunami… get out of the way!
The good news is that thanks to internationalization, you don’t have to be a passive victim.
Moving some of your savings abroad in the form of offshore bank and brokerage accounts, foreign real estate, and physical gold held in safe jurisdictions, will go a long way toward protecting yourself. Obtaining a second passport is an important part of the mix as well.
It’s not all doom and gloom; the world is your oyster, and there are very attractive jurisdictions that are cause for optimism. And that’s what International Man is all about—making the most of your personal freedom and financial opportunity around the world.
If you are not already a member, you can click here to join here for free to get all the latest news and information about internationalization. You’ll also get access to other stuff like our very popular free special reports. Be sure to pass this on to your friends and family so they have access to this crucial information too.
I agree, pointless to swim against the current, it gets stronger every day.
In Lake Michigan we have rip currents that will tire the strongest swimmers who fight the current. The only strategy that works is to tread water to see which way the current is flowing, then swim at a 90 degree angle until you escape the strong out-flowing current.
Most of us here on TBP need no more convincing the end game of the dollar is near, most can’t afford to leave the country because of money restrictions or family we just can’t leave behind.
I’m hoping that the end will come with enough clues on which direction the current will push us before it takes us under for good.
As a reader of the TBP/ Kunstler / Of Two Minds / Acting Man / Mises Inst / Paul Craig Roberts / Angry White Man / Shadow Stats and other such sites I don’t know how much longer I can continue to read them. It’s really unnecessary to become more informed / aware of the run away train barreling down the mountain, with 100 cars loaded with coal, called the US of A.
It’s obvious we’re fucked. The Turning can’t happen soon enough!
Don’t have kids.
He forgot another huge section. The farmers that have been on the dole since the damn depression. Most of them republicans!
Card ,I don’t want to live in another country.This is my country and the socialists ,liberals ,progressives,communist can all go fuck themselves.
My grandfather and father fought in wars for this nation.When I think of them and the sacrifices made by all who served it would be very hard for me to just leave.I hope the southeast or northwest break away from Washington.Hell ,just Texas going independent would be Ok.The Appalachian mountains would work .Anywhere that breaks away from Washington and the Federal Reserve.No one has to leave .
Pirate Joe , why do you say ..don’t have kids …so much.?I happen to love my god children probably as much as their real father.(my best friend since childhood )I just don’t get it .
Enough Doom for the day. Sensetti is going to hit the weight room and blast some boomer music into what’s left of my 52 year old ear drums, as missing brain cells go unmentioned.
http://youtu.be/mWVQApAj3UA
If you said, “I’m moving to Russia to get more freedom” you’d usually be laughed out of the room.
Now, a patriotic American hero & whistleblower is being protected from the US govt by Russia.
Because, bb, they’re not dolls.
More important than, “because I want them” or “because I’d love them” or “because they’d love me” is the fact that any future hypothetical kids might want to:
1) be able to earn a living of their own
2) have enough to eat
3) have clean water to drink
4) have clean air to breathe
5) be free
I know children are not dolls .I know it takes time ,money and hard work to rise children.I had plenty of experiences with my.god children but still it strikes me as odd the way you casually say ..don’t have children…..Are you a woman?
Yes, bb, I’m a woman.
And I don’t say ‘Don’t have kids’ casually. I say it because I see the same pattern repeating all over the place, when I read things here and elsewhere – about the rise of the FSA, food supply squeezes – sheesh we can barely weather a drought anymore and still be able to feed everyone – the job market, environmental messes, the rise of totalitarian governments all over the world, including ours, behind all the growing insanity there is One Graph to Rule Them All, and it’s the exponentially skyrocketing human population on this earth over the last 100 years.
This is us:
http://www.mostlyodd.com/death-by-utopia/
I don’t just think, ‘Oh, children are too expensive and time-consuming and too much hard work to raise.’ It’s that I believe a child born today has so few opportunities to have a decent life, regardless of where they are born – in large part because the earth is so swamped with humanity already – that it simply isn’t worth doing. In fact, when life is no longer a gift to be enjoyed but a burden to be endured, then it’s immoral to add more of it. You might find this view to be extreme for now, but check back again in another 20 years and let’s see.
I belong to the first of what I believe will be many generations who have a progressively lower standard of living than that of their parents. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I have *NO* hope – it’s just that I think if things ever do get better, it’s going to be so far into the future, and after so much suffering in the intermediate term, that I won’t see it, my kids wouldn’t see it, and probably my grandkids wouldn’t either. So it’s sort of meaningless to me at that point, and anyway the very act of adding more people to the world would only make it worse for everyone. We’ve already done so much damage I’m not sure a smaller population of people who focused entirely on cleaning up the mess could even get it done. We have, indeed, crossed the Rubicon.
A good article. The FSA and union government drones have a majority, and all we’ll get is socialist/communist liberal progressive democrats from now on. The welfare roles will continue to rise, and the number of people with jobs will continue to decline. We’re already broke, so I don’t know it can get any worse. Oh yea, at some point, we won’t be able to borrow $1 trillion a year anymore. Then we’ll see bail ins, IRA confiscation, account confiscation, and finally nationalization of corporate cash, all “for the good of the country”, ie, the FSA and union government drones and their ridiculous pensions. The FSA and union government drones are a cancer, and they’re eating this country alive, but pretty soon this cancer will kill the host, and the productive will get slaughtered along with the parasites. We’ll have to burn the whole place down to save it. Fucking ridiculous.
My wife is only partially aware of what our future might hold for us. What I mean is, I do the reading and research into the Doomer Porn, and only share brief bits of information with her that I think she might be interested in. Which is not much. She doesn’t like to think about the future that awaits us that might be very different than the past we’ve had. (To be fair, she does like prepping food, and we’ve learned how to can food together, we worked together when we borrowed the metal canning equipment from the Mormons, she buys double or triple (or more) dry goods when they’re on sale.
My point is, she’s afraid of an unknown and uncertain future. When she realizes how bad our situation is, she gets overwhelmed and expresses that if she had known then what she knows now, she would not have had our kids. To that degree, I think she’s in line with Pirate Jo.
I see it a little differently. I love my kids and would give my life for them, as any good dad would. I wouldn’t trade them for a safe, known future for world’s supply of gold. Yes, our future, from the local level to the world level, is uncertain and looks doubtful. But, isn’t that true, always?
The human body is weak and frail compared to the hazards that await us. In any era of history, it’s conceivable that I could die on a construction project, from the time of the Great Pyramids to the current project I’m working on now. Steel tears flesh.
But it’s the human spirit that is strong. It’s our desire to reach forward, to climb, to strive. If I don’t teach my kids to care for the environment, then how does the environment have a chance? If I don’t take the time to teach my kids to exercise, how will the human race learn to treat their bodies as temples? If I don’t teach my kids about the Constitution, how are they going to learn about Rights given to them by their Creator? If I don’t teach them to work for the money they earn, how can they learn about the virtue of work as a value? And so on. And so on.
Granted, my family is a minuscule drop in the sea of humanity, but that’s where change has to start. First, with the individual, then the family unit. Humanity will not change as a large group, but as an individual.
I don’t look forward to the Zombie Apocalypse, but I believe that life should be seized and lived to the fullest. I don’t want to spend my life living in fear, and always wondering where the next boogeyman is in front of me. And I want my kids along for the journey with me.
@Tim, your situation sounds similar to mine, though not exact.
My dark thoughts revolve around the potential upside after this shit storm hits might be like living like a villager we currently see in some far away land nobody gives a shit about….without that petrodollar, we’re going to back up and look up to our great and maybe even great, great grand parents with envy. And that’s after the shit storm or four that must precede it….survivors might just be surviving, day to day. No heroic movie stuff, no epic novel worthy shit, just day-to-day, everyday. Hope doesn’t get its fair enough share of attention on the ‘must have’ lists, but for me its number one – I’m afraid of a day when that’s lost, and wonder how to keep the pilot light lit if its ever in jeopardy.
Well I know I can’t fix everything. But I can look at one problem, one that I have some knowledge and skills about how to solve, and at least do one thing.
My background is in accounting and finance. I understand better than most people what the difference is between income and expense, what an asset and a liability is, how to manage cash flow, and I believe people would live better – and certainly more free – lives, if they understood those things and could avoid being debt slaves.
I’ve helped two other people, and my own condo association, manage their money, and seen how it benefits them. They learned a few things about accounting and about Excel from me, and actually started to see the exercise as fun. Nothing fancy – no software to buy, nothing too complicated – just setting up some spreadsheets in Excel that they got free with their computers.
Then I thought, what if I could teach kids about this stuff, since their parents and schools are doing such a miserable job of it? Explain these things BEFORE they become saddled with financial burdens?
So I have a couple of friends who teach in the school systems, and I asked them about it. They said the school system is far too bureaucratic, but groups like Scouts or the Boys/Girls clubs would be a good place to start. My boss also told me about church groups who would welcome what I have to offer. I’m just working on putting something together and trying to make it interesting for teen-aged kids – I think it will be a challenge to get them to see the importance of it, since they don’t have households and bills of their own to pay yet.
If I can help even a few kids to take ownership of their finances and have that much more control over their own lives, maybe it will mean a little more happiness for them and less power for the bankers. It doesn’t have to be my OWN kids, though.
Pirate Joe ,are you a lesbian ?Pls don’t say that non of your business because I got a good reason.Are you attractive ,beautiful or do you look like dog shit .? Be honest pls
Pirate Joe ,are you a lesbian ?Pls don’t say that non of your business because I got a good reason.Are you attractive ,beautiful or do you look like dog shit .? Be honest pls
Jo – If nothing else teach them the exponential function or the effects of compounding. The math of the exponential function is over most peoples heads but the effects could be taught. Also teach how to keep a check book. Good luck!
PJ, you can also look into after school programs like the extended-day learning offered by the After School All Stars, Citizen Schools or TASC. All of them utilize volunteers and subject experts to teach life skills like financial responsibility, and they also target the most at-risk youth.
Most cities have adult education courses, either through the Y, library or some other community center. Many of these deal with literacy and it wouldn’t be too far of a stretch to think they may include financial literacy in with that, if they don’t already. Your local chamber of commerce would know what’s available in your area.
Great piece.
“This means the US has crossed the Rubicon.”
THAT is why I voted for Obama in 2012. Hasten the collapse. It’s why I caucused against Hillary in 2008, she’s too good at her job. Vote the worst possible, most incompetent ineffectual boob of a candidate into office. That’s my plan.
That and looking for people to support after the country sets itself on fire.
Punk, your tactic is logical, but self-defeating. You have ONE vote. You don’t matter in America. You do however have a conscience and a soul, which are your primary responsibility. If you had a popular radio show where you could convince hundreds of thousands of people to monkeywrench an election in order to hasten the denouement of the present evil, it would make more sense. As an individual however, the only moral act is to simply abstain.
Pirate Jo ,you didn’t take the bait .It’s 5:30 am central time and I was thinking about you .Your single but not a lesbian.Pretty but not play boy bunny material .You want children but you have no mate.
When I said I love my god children I didn’t mean it in some kind of silly emotional way .I mean if anything ever happened to their biological father I would provide for them as a father.Love to me is an action word.Love to me is doing.I have known their father since the 9th grade in high school and he has told me what he expects me to do in the future if anything goes wrong with our plans.It is scary ,the future is scary.Maybe you are right not to want children right now.
Tim, Tommy ,…you should read a book called …The Psychology of Killing…written by a Lt .Col .It’s about preparing yourself for combat . It takes more then physical ability to survive the tribulations of Of War .You have to have your mental and psychological house in order first .You can apply the techniques in other areas of life.(economic collapse )
Thanks, Thinker! I am writing those suggestions down. That has actually been a consideration – I don’t want to waste time with kids who already know this stuff, and they tend to be the ones whose parents put them into extracurricular programs.
bb, you’re right that I am single but not a lesbian, and pretty but not play boy bunny material. There aren’t too many 44-year-old playboy bunnies after all. Actually I don’t want children, and I do have a mate. I’ve been with my sweety for about seven years. We don’t live together and aren’t married, but we might “take the arrow to the knee” someday. I think 60 would be a good age to get married. He doesn’t want kids either, likes going on cycling tours with me, AND he makes some mean scrambled eggs. A keeper for sure.
Want to start a radio show, Zara? You can make the arguments and I’ll just call everyone cunt whore nazis. It’ll be great. We can change the world.
Puke in Detroit , stop giving me thumbs down or you will receive 40 lashes.You have been warned.
PJ, what a wonderful idea.
And there are more kids with disability and their own food stamps than you might realize.
They need to be taught budgeting, contracts, banking, insurance and how to be the top applicant at most any job.
Again, what a great idea, keep us up to date please!
I agree with every one of Pirate Jo’s great posts, and I meet the same description: I’m pretty but not Playboy Bunny material (not likely at age 61 in any case), love men, but am not crazy about changing diapers, doing housework, or fencing with schoolteachers, and perceive that the human species reached the limits of growth 40 years ago.
I’m am also an introvert who loves living alone and spending time on the kinds of activities introverts prefer. Luckily, I have a boyfriend with a more sociable temperament whose personality meshes nicely with mine.
It is all downhill from here, and I don’t see conditions improving until the population has been reduced about 80%. Why on Earth would I want to bring children into a world of depleting resources, shrinking opportunity to even earn a decent living, let alone do well?
Chicago,
Didn’t you say one time that you belong to the Club of Rome group? They seem interesting – I’ve read some things about them online and haven’t seen anything I disagree with. I’ve been reading ‘The World Without Us’ (just finished it) and am halfway through ‘Countdown’ by Alan Weisman.
It’s sort of timely. Coincidentally, I live in Iowa, where Norman Borlaug grew up, and they just unveiled a statue of him on what would have been his 100th birthday.
It’s interesting that so many people think his advances in high-protein crops mean we never have to worry about running out of food. He bought us about one generation’s worth of time, and he HIMSELF said we have to use that time to get our population growth under control. When he accepted his Nobel Prize, it wasn’t with a victory speech but with words of warning.
I completely agree with you that we’ve far exceeded our optimum population. I think if we just prevented all the unwanted/unplanned pregnancies it would go a long way toward correcting the problem. There are cultural barriers in some parts of the world, though.
Borlaug has always been one of my heroes. I’m sure I’m going to get flamed by those who think food production should be limited and available only to those who can afford it, but I don’t care.
Of environmental lobbyists he stated, “some of the environmental lobbyists of the Western nations are the salt of the earth, but many of them are elitists. They’ve never experienced the physical sensation of hunger. They do their lobbying from comfortable office suites in Washington or Brussels. If they lived just one month amid the misery of the developing world, as I have for fifty years, they’d be crying out for tractors and fertilizer and irrigation canals and be outraged that fashionable elitists back home were trying to deny them these things”
Punk in Drublic says:
Want to start a radio show, Zara? You can make the arguments and I’ll just call everyone cunt whore nazis. It’ll be great. We can change the world.
____________________________________
What a wonderful idea! We could out Howard Stern Howard Stern!
I haven’t given you any thumbs down, dipshit. Correlation is not causation, you dumbass cunt whore nazi douche bag sack of stupid shit.
Hey.puke in Detroit ,…..you worthless Pussy ,No need to waste time .40 LASHES -ONE IS FOR.YOU ANYTIME I DECIDE.