Tag: Paul Rosenberg

The Military-Evangelical Complex

FREEMANSPERSPECTIVE

There are evangelical Christians whom I love and respect. Nonetheless, it’s time to face this: The military-evangelical complex is not just politically dangerous; it’s a corruption of the Judeo-Christian tradition and thus of Western Civilization itself.

Definition

Let’s start by defining this clearly: The military-evangelical complex is an intricate partnership between the US government and thousands of churches, typically evangelical. These churches support and glorify government-authorized violence. Their messages to their members are clear: To enforce laws is noble and righteous; to bleed on a foreign battlefield is godly; the US military is a great force of goodness upon Earth; America, manifested especially through military action, is God’s special tool.

Every American past high-school age should recognize this description, but to be clear, here are a few exemplary images:

• It is announced in church that Johnny has joined the military. He is asked to stand and is heartily applauded by all.
• Memorial Day church services (or Veteran’s Day or July 4^th) feature dedicated sermons and proud displays of flags and uniforms. There is effusive praise for soldiers, casting them as godly heroes.
• Military-themed ceremonies are held before every major sporting event.
• Children are encouraged to choose “service” as a life plan; if not in war, at least enforcing state laws.
• Enacting violence on behalf of the state is certain to get you public praise and pats on the back.
• Government-ordered violence is prejudged to be good and right.
• Funerals include the ritual touching of flags by military veterans.
• Churches promote slogans like, “Jesus died to save us; soldiers die to keep us free.”
• Rituals of saluting flags, singing anthems, and thanking soldiers for ‘service’ are obligatory.

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The Hidden Payoff in the Brussels and Paris Attacks

FREEMANSPERSPECTIVE

I don’t have any more secret information than you do. I don’t have access to any of the backrooms that matter, and I don’t get leaks from “informed sources.” I do, however, have experience with protecting data and with a variety of things “crypto.”

So, what I’m telling you now isn’t verifiable… but it’s very close to accurate.

The Missing Piece

When looking at the recent attacks in Paris and Brussels, we are impelled to look for explanations. And to do this, we generally rely on stories we get from mass-media corporations. We all know the news is worked over before it reaches us, but it’s really almost all we have, and the live video they show is probably actual live video. From these minimal facts, we fill in the gaps as best we can.

Some of us are quick to attribute these evils to our favorite secret cabal. Others blame government policies, clashes of cultures, and so on. None of these are necessarily wrong, but neither are they automatically right. To be believed, a theory needs evidence.

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The 18-Year-Olds’ League

FREEMANSPERSPECTIVE

My dream of what could be.

In 2016, after realizing that humanity had been at war for some 6,000 years with seldom a break of even a single year – and very often in a dozen places at once – a simple thought appeared in at least a hundred young minds scattered across our planet:

It’s not the evil old men who keep all the wars going; it’s us, the 18-year-olds.

The problem, they saw, was that they kept obeying the bitter and rapacious old men. Swept along by authority and the fear of standing alone, they had been – for millennia – marching off to kill other young people exactly like themselves.

The 18-year-olds on the opposite sides of all the battle lines had been doing precisely the same thing: obeying the orders of their own bitter and rapacious old men.

And then a very simple thought struck them: If the 18-year-olds in every country agreed to not fight, who would?

After all, the old men never fought for themselves.

And so, being a generation gifted with worldwide communication, they began to find each other and to talk among themselves.

Some of them dug into military literature to see if they were missing something. Others read studies in the psychology of killing. A few researched guerrilla warfare. And then, one by one, they began to study economics, cooperation and consent.

Within months, they had no more doubt; war was almost wholly dependent upon them.

Old men with bloodlust would never stop the killing; once they passed 50 or 60 years old, they were never going to change. But that wasn’t really much of a problem, because a sufficient number of 18-year-olds could stop war anytime they wanted.

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With Millstones Around Our Necks

FREEMANSPERSPECTIVE

Filters off. Today I rant.

Humanity has been progressing steadily over millennia. The terrorist empires of the ancient world are gone. Chattel slavery, a filthy curse upon our species since several thousand years BC, was obliterated in Europe a thousand years ago and remains in only a few barbaric corners. Humanity is healthier and better fed than ever in history, and by a huge margin. We have vast knowledge at our fingertips and technology that would have been considered magic not too long ago.

(People fixated on darkness will object to my itemization of humanity’s progress, but everything I’ve written is indisputably true.)

My point is this, and if I could write it in giant, flaming letters, I would:

Humanity is ready to break out and fly.

“No, we’re not!” scream a hundred objections. “War machines, surveillance, stupidity, terror, obedient sheeple, psychopaths in power!”

And yes, I understand. But fixating on evil gets us nowhere. We have to lift up our eyes, see the path before us, take the millstones off our necks, and move. And that means leaving our precious complaints behind.

If you’d prefer to stand in place and complain, that’s your choice. I’ll probably agree with most of your complaints, but I won’t join in your chorus, because complaining doesn’t move me forward. And I want to move forward. I’m sick of watching a big, rigged game in which the debased triumph and the good stand around moaning.

I’m done with it. I give no consent. I offer zero respect. I’ve turned my back to it.

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Politics: 50 Years of Failure

FREEMANSPERSPECTIVE

Several decades ago, Saul Bellow wrote this:

For the first time in history, the human species as a whole has gone into politics. Everyone is in the act, and there is no telling what may come of it.

At this point, however, we can say what has come of it: failure. Politics has failed to deliver on nearly every promise it has made since the 1960s, and I think it’s time to hold it to account.

50 Years In

I was still a child in 1966, but I remember it fairly well. And I remember a good deal of the politics of the era, because my mom was involved with it. In fact, she helped to rewrite the Illinois State Constitution during those years. (Adoption came in 1970, but there were several years of work preceding it.)

So, I know what people in that time were hoping to get out of politics… what they firmly believed they would get out of politics. Here’s the list:

• A solution to the race problem.
• An end to a pointless war.
• A solution to the Middle East problem.
• To improve education.
• A solution to the problems of poverty and welfare.
• An elimination of police brutality.

Bear in mind that the people who were seeking these things were decent, well-meaning people. They truly wanted the world to be better, and they believed politics would make it happen.

And to their credit, they worked to make it happen. Not only that, but their children and grandchildren have kept the faith and continued the fight. We now live in a world of all politics, all the time. And so, half a century in, I think we need to take a hard look at the results, which are these:

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Is There a Limit to the Government Abuse Americans Will Accept?

FREEMANSPERSPECTIVE

Any student of history learns that people will put up with horrific government abuse before they do anything about it. And so I’ve been watching for years, waiting to see how much abuse the Western world, and Americans in particular, will accept from government before they admit that they’re being abused.

In dark moments, I’ve even wondered whether this time was different, whether the natural human reaction against pain had somehow been eliminated. People in the past have rebelled against far less.

But I’ve also come to understand we have, in our times, a unique driver of compliance. By that, I refer to the most sacred of our public idols, “democracy.”

Notwithstanding that no modern government is actually a democracy, ‘“democracy’” has proven to be the greatest cloak for government sins in all of human history. After all, if the government is everybody, there’s really no one to blame. That’s plainly a scam, of course, but lots of people have bought into it… and after they’ve mouthed their worship to “democracy” a few times, they can be counted on to defend it.

Still, there must be some limit to the abuse Americans are willing to take. The problem is that it hasn’t shown up yet. And if you think of how desperately Americans are abused by their government, it’s a bit stunning. Here’s a short list of abuses:

• A currency regime that allows private banks to skim from every dollar as it’s created.
• The indenture of newborn children to unpayable debts, thanks to “democracy” and politicians.
• Permanent, massive, and “legal” systems of open political bribery.
• Forced subservience to laws that have been purchased (and often written) by private businesses.
• More laws than any person, including lawyers, can remember or even understand.
• Endless wars and several permanent, standing armies.
• Continuous and universal surveillance of nearly all correspondence, including telephone conversations, Internet use, and the electronic transmission of documents.
• Warrantless invasions and searches of autos, businesses, and even private homes.
• A militarized (and publicly worshiped) police enforcer class… who are trained to lie and intimidate people.
• Tens of thousands of intensely violent SWAT raids every year.
• Outright (and massive) stealing by police departments, under the guise of “guilty property,” rather than guilty people.
• Millions of people jailed for nonviolent, victimless crimes.
• A combined tax rate of more than 50%.
• Child Service bureaus that are empowered to steal children from parents and then absolved of blame for the thousands of children who are abused in their custody.

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A Lesson from Devon Avenue

FREEMANSPERSPECTIVE

While little appreciated and little studied, there is a gigantic difference between forced associations and free associations. But if you pay attention to the issue, you’ll find that the very act of forcing people together carries a poison in itself. And that poison inevitably bears bad fruit, whether in ethnic hatred, the formation of street gangs, or simply the evils of bullying. Whenever it is that forced associations are examined scientifically, they will be condemned as anti-human.

Free associations, on the other hand, have a magic to them. Leave people alone to do as they wish, in unforced conditions, and even ancient hatreds drain away. This has happened – quietly – in a hundred places and in a hundred times. Wherever free commerce (aka, free human interaction) isn’t forcibly opposed, strangers learn how to get along.

In ancient times, it happened in Rome and Alexandria and Athens and Corinth. In the Middle Ages, it happened in Paris and Hamburg and Lubek and Antwerp. And it will happen again, whenever and whenever people are free to trade and interact as they wish.

And this is what happened on one of the commercial streets of my youth, Devon Avenue. (Devon, by the way, was and still is pronounced da-VON, however incorrectly.)

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“Law” as a Jedi Mind Trick

FREEMANSPERSPECTIVE

About half the time it is used, possibly more, the word “law” is nothing more than a Jedi mind trick. There is nothing noble, righteous, or even ‘conservative’ about it. It’s a way for you to be abused via ignorance and inertia.

We’ve all seen this trick in action, of course. It’s very common. And, sadly, more or less all of us have fallen (or rather, were pushed) into it at some point. That complicates things because people generally don’t like to admit their errors.

Nearly all of us have been taught, repetitively, to “respect the law,” and because of those teachings, nearly all of us have decided certain things must be right, simply because they were “the law.”

We decided this, not because we understood the benefits that would follow certain actions, but because of the aforementioned ignorance and inertia.

It’s important to be clear on this: To uncritically, reflexively obey is not respect… it is to hold “the law” above reason… above reality. That, in simple terms, is worship.

Saying, “Everyone else did it too,” makes this no better.

It is also common for obedience to follow intimidation: Obey, or else… armed men will hurt you; teacher will shame you; the other kids will laugh at you; important people will criticize you in public. Please note all of these are primitive, degrading reasons. But they were thrust upon us as small, coerced children, and they very often stuck.

The really damaging part, however, comes after you obey reflexively or fearfully: when you leap to justify your past actions. Not many of us enjoy admitting our errors, but if we want to become honest, conscious adults, that is precisely what we need to do.

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14 Words to Teach Your Children… If You’re Honest

FREEMANSPERSPECTIVE

Imagine a pretty spring day, you’re standing on your front porch or some other pleasant vantage point and looking out at a sunlit landscape: trees, grass, and singing birds. Then your five-year-old child or grandchild walks up to you and tugs on your hand to get your attention. You turn and the child asks, “What kind of world is this?”

What do you reply?

This innocent child deserves the truth. You won’t be able to use fancy words or long explanations, but truth doesn’t require those things. This child is ready to hear the truth about the world – he or she is primed for it. This is the kind of moment that comes along haphazardly, and you can’t be sure if or when another might show itself. Your answer may affect this child for the rest of his or her life. What do you say?

The 14 Words

First I’m going to tell you the 14 words, then I’ll explain further. But as you stand on the porch, away from everything but nature and your child, the only intimidations, biases, and slogans present will be those inside of you… and your child should be insulated from such things. You have to speak truth. And as I say, it doesn’t have to be long and complex; in fact it can’t be, if you want to help a five year old.

Here are the 14 words:

We are a beautiful species, living in a beautiful world, ruled by abusive systems.

Later – after true words have sunk into the young mind – you can explain that we’re not a perfectly beautiful species, that most people are often confused and that a few are just plain bad. You can further explain that volcanoes and hurricanes and grizzly bears exist. But if you value your child enough to tell them the plain truth, you’ll tell him or her the 14 words first and let them sink in before getting to the small print.

Now, with that said, I’ll move to some explanation for the adults.

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