The world is changing and few people understand the implications. Old rules and guidelines which worked for generations no longer apply. Profound changes, termed “discontinuities” by the late Peter Drucker, have obsoleted them. For those accustomed to linear change, there is a new normal. Mr. Drucker described a discontinuity as a change so profound that normal extrapolation of the past would produce misleading forecasts.
The most profound change the world faces is the future role of government in relationship to its citizens. Here are a few of the unsettled issues:
- Are citizens going to allow government to continue to grow at the expense of the productive sectors around the world?
- Can economies prosper as government becomes a larger section of the economy?
- Does government work for the people or has this relationship been inverted?
- Once government has reached a certain level of power over citizens, is it possible for people to ever reduce its control and power?
- Will what appears to be inevitable sovereign bankruptcies destroy economies, welfare states and societies themselves?
Short of the disruptions associated with a World War, there has never been as much uncertainty regarding the future. For the US, isolated by geography from most wars, the current situation has no comparable other than the Civil War. What is happening is not understood by the masses. For them, this crisis is another economic problem, just another recession albeit one that is harsher and longer than previous ones. For them, it will eventually pass like all others.
The reality is that this crisis is less an economic crisis than a political crisis. In raw terms, we are at a crossroads between freedom and slavery. Are the elites going to enslave the producers? That is the critical question, and this issue is also the causal factor behind what is perceived as just another economic crisis.
Sadly, many citizens do not recognize what is at risk. If it were merely the standard of living for the next generation, this crisis would be serious but not fatal. That is trivial compared to the risks to freedom and the future of civilization and peaceful coexistence itself. Social cooperation, innovation, liberty and progress are in play. If government suppresses its citizens, the world will enter another dark ages in terms of economy, peace and humanity.
Government, the so-called custodian of civilization, precipitated the economic crisis as a result of their desire to control everything economic and personal. Nowhere is this more apparent than their favoritism to financial institutions who reciprocate favors back to the political class.
As economic conditions worsen, government ratchets up its efforts to control and dominate individuals, information and outcomes. We are in uncharted territory, at least for the modern, developed world.
The force that created the crisis is unwilling to admit error or relinquish control. Despite deteriorating economic and social conditions, government appears determined to exploit these conditions to obtain more if not total control over its citizens. In poker parlance, government has gone “all in.”
The alternatives are clear. That State can be dismantled or it will assume total control. We can descend into the totalitarianism that plagued most of mankind for much of history or we can once again become masters of the government. There is no other outcome! It is one or the other.
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The leaders are very much aware of what is going on.
The problem is geophysical and is impossible to correct.
Proverbs 22:3 – The prudent foresee the evil and hide, but the simple/foolish pass on and are punished. The Founding Fathers chose to ‘hide’ from being burned at the stake by creating this great country. We don’t know how many Jews in the 1930’s left Germany to ‘hide’ from the internment camps/gas chambers or in this century the Kurds, Sudanese, Egyptians, Syrians, Libyans, etc. But where can American Christian’s go to ‘hide’ from escalating evil?
The USA already has nearly-sovereign nations inside its borders. They have their courts (except for capital crimes), make their own laws, including what drugs can be ingested. They issue their own Driver Licenses & car license plates and their citizens pay NO income tax! The precedent is already established by the Indian Nations, so why can’t Christians form ‘Religious Reservations’? Let’s ‘come out from among them and Be Separate 2 Cor 6:17 Read how at
There’s no doubt things need to change in the US. Our education system is failing our kids, gas is skyrocketing out of control, and healthcare is all a mess. We need to get leaders that listen and see what is going on and make actual strides so that, in the future, we are as great a nation as we used to be.
Finally! A very much on-point article about the current state of affairs in the USA. As suggested by the author, we are now at a critical crossroad in American and probably world history as well. The choice before us is actually quite simple, however. Will be continue to grow government, which produces nothing but consumes much, at the expense of that which actually produces prosperity? So far, the answer has been MORE government! As if that will solve a problem that has its roots in too much government already. Sigh.
Additionally, less than informed people on TV continue to suggest that we need to return to the 18-19% of GNP for government that has been our historical, ex WW II, norm instead of the 24-25% of GNP spending that the Obama regime favors. Excuse me?! Isn’t the historical norm in spending precisely what brought us to the current situation of too much government and not enough productivity? Well, yes, it is. Obama’s spending is just the coup de gras that will finish us off. So just how is that supposed to be a real solution? It sounds MUCH more to me like perpetuation followed by an inevitable death spiral.
No, my friends, if this nation is to once again prosper, we MUST limit government to about 12% of GDP and not a penny more than that. If we were to spend the national treasury wisely, we would be able to fund the things that are of critical importance to the nation, let the private sector fund that which would be nice to have but which is not critical to the nation, and even have a little left over to actually start paying off this massive $16T debt. It may well be unpayable at this point in time but if we do not significantly reduce the size and appetite of government for productive national resources, this nation will not only not prosper, it won’t even survive.
I have very grave reservations about what will be happening in our nation during the 2013-15 time frame. By that time a number of important factors either will have worked themselves out or will have failed miserably. I certainly hope for the former but fear and am preparing for the latter.
Dont forget the third option — starve the beast to death. They need your money. If you refuse to work inside their system they dont get any. When they are bankrupt and cannot even pay their enforcers (the guys with guns that get things done), they will just go away and we can safely ignore them. Pay them lip service when they have a barrel in your face but otherwise conduct yourself as if they do not exist. Use ‘off the books’ systems for accounting if you must. We will create new forms of dispute resolution that do not involve government monopolies on the use of force. I dont know what exactly it will look like, all I can tell you is it will be very different from now, and as more people like me wake up and decide we no longer believe in nationalism or central banking, and as more of us start using other systems to organize our daily lives, we will achieve true freedom on this planet.
Well said !
In Australia we call the sort of economy you say “cashies”
folding notes (“legal tender”) no checks no credit card or direct deposit just cold hard cash!
most tradespeople give a discount for it
never bank the money and only deal with those who deal in cash/barter/ or exchange
do not ask for money from the government, pay only your “user pays” bills eg, road tax etc
do not pay anything online, if they do not accept cash we can pay cash for that bill at a postal office,
have one credit card, that is maxed out and pay the minimal payments, to prove you are in debt!
It seems to work for all of the drug dealers of the world why not the rest of us
pure and simple CASH ECONOMY, and we mustn’t forget to thank them for the printing 😉
There is one big problem with that idea. Namely the massive amount of US citizens on the dole. If you count SS retirement benefits, Disability, Welfare, Food Stamps, TANF, Section 8, Medicare, Medicaid, WIC, Farm Subsidies and other programs- a vast amount of citizens receive some form of government largess. Add to that the amount of people working for the government directly and indirectly and you’ve got over half of the electorate that certainly won’t do anything to stop their own personal gravy train just to “save the country”. It’s sad but true, and like Cassandras of old, we can do naught but sit around and watch the inevitable happen.
Hi Monty, nice article, did you write it? I found your site after you were linked on silverbearcafe. Nice job on your site, congrats.
I couldn’t agree more, but more people understand what’s at stake than is estimated. if you read the comments thread on most propaganda pieces defending the state and Obamugabe, you will see an overwhelming number of people blasting it for what it is. Of course, the state just took out one of its most out spoken opponents, Breitbart, mere ours before he was due to release a tape. Welcome to the USSA where dissenters shall be silenced permanently
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