World Affairs Brief, June 1, 2012 Commentary and Insights on a Troubled World. Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Joel Skousen’s World Affairs Brief (http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com)
THIS WEEK’S ANALYSIS:
Provoking Armed Intervention in Syria
Neocons Purging GOP of Anti-War Patriots
Marriot Hotels Shield Bilderberg Elite from Scrutiny
US STRATCOM Commander Says Chinese no Threat
Romney Claims Delegate Victory
CNN Denigrates Trump and Birther Issue
Where does Ron Paul Go from Here?
Appeals Court Rules Against DOMA
Spain Follows Greek Bailout Path
Why We Cannot Win Politically
[…]
WHY WE CANNOT WIN POLITICALLY
The failure of the US and Europe to stop spending in the face of devastating debt loads is symptomatic of why there is no political solution. Professor Walter Williams of George Mason University wrote a wonderful, if not negative, piece this week on the psychological case against democracy ever curing itself through majority rule. It buttresses my contention that once the majority of voters become corrupted by benefits from government, they will never voluntarily relinquish the power to vote themselves benefits through the democratic process. The lesson Dr. Williams uses to illustrate our dilemma is absolutely crucial for each of my readers to understand.
“The heart of our problem can be seen as a tragedy of the commons. That’s a set of circumstances when something is commonly owned and individuals acting rationally in their own self-interest produce a set of results that’s inimical to everyone’s long-term interest. Let’s look at an example of the tragedy of the commons phenomenon and then apply it to our national problem.
[…]
“What we’re witnessing in Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal and other parts of Europe is a direct result of their massive spending to accommodate the welfare state. A greater number of people are living off government welfare programs than are paying taxes. Government debt in Greece is 160 percent of gross domestic product. The other percentages of GDP are 120 in Italy, 104 in Ireland and 106 in Portugal. As a result of this debt and the improbability of their ever paying it, their credit ratings either have reached or are close to reaching junk bond status.
Here’s the question for us: Is the U.S. moving in a direction toward or away from the troubled EU nations? It turns out that our national debt, which was 35 percent of GDP during the 1970s, is now 106 percent of GDP, a level not seen since World War II’s 122 percent. That debt, plus our more than $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities, has led Standard & Poor’s to downgrade our credit rating from AAA to AA+, and the agency is keeping the outlook at “negative” as a result of its having little confidence that Congress will take on the politically sensitive job of tackling the same type of entitlement that has turned Europe into a basket case.
I am all too afraid that Benjamin Franklin correctly saw our nation’s destiny when he said, “When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”
I’m fully convinced we’ve gone past the point of no return in the corruption of the American voter. It’s not only that half of all the people in the US get some form of check from the US government every month—it’s that half of the rest are sympathetic to the notion of using government funds to cure all the ills they perceive, and NONE are willing to give up their particular favorite government schemes in order to save this nation from the inevitable bankruptcy that is looming. They all want their share of the diminishing pie for as long as it lasts.
So what is the solution? I’ve seen the specter of revolution raised on more than one occasion of late. It is true, that one never regains essential rights like we have lost without using force to strip socialist powers out of the hands of citizens, unions, and politicians who use the promise of benefits to keep themselves in power and money.
That said, a revolution such as happened at the beginning of our Republic can never happen without broad support and dissatisfaction among the people. Despite some dissatisfaction, it is only skin deep, and doesn’t arise to anywhere near the level of crisis that is necessary to overthrow tyranny.
And, unlike the former revolution, who do you target as the evil force? Where is the discernible enemy? Who do you rise up against? As much as I’ve studied this globalist conspiracy, I can’t give you a definite list, based up on public statements of proof, that name names. Sure, I’m sure about some of the participants, but you have to have real proof of conspiracy and collusion through wiretaps—which only they control.
Sadly, there is no clearly identifiable King George to target, and it’s not enough to say “throw the rascals out of Congress” because that blanket strategy would eliminate the dozen or so true fighters for liberty that still remain.
That’s what makes our situation so difficult and resistance so futile—the enemy is hiding behind the veil of national security and working through puppets who don’t actually make the larger decisions, who are protected by judges who act out of a variety of bad motives, not all of which are outside their powers of discretion. In the end, if you don’t have the subpoena power to get the proofs of conspiracy, and can’t rely on the courts to penetrate that veil of secrecy within government, you can’t target the evil leaders directly.
That leaves “us versus them” (“them” being the majority of people who want to retain the power to take from the productive class through government laws) and we are vastly outnumbered. Ultimately, that leaves us with little choice to continue what we are currently doing:
1) Building our numbers as we continue to educate and convert those with a good conscience to recognize the problem for what it is: a vast conspiracy of control and power against liberty
2) Preparing for the inevitability of eventual war (which the PTB will bring upon us) in order to herd free peoples into a New World Order they control, and preparing for the social unrest that will ensue.
3) Prepare to escape and evade the roundup of anti-NWO dissidents that will surely come someday.
If I am right, there is little hope of saving the whole country as presently constituted. We are in political gridlock now, and there is absolutely no way that the voters will tolerate any serious cuts in government spending. We will see a continual downhill slide as one succession of politicians after another promises solutions, none of which will ever be instituted, unless they call for yet more control and more government bailout and intervention. Even Ron Paul would be powerless to gain the assent of Congress in order to do what is right.
But there may be hope in crisis. Perhaps in the very crisis the PTB are planning to bring to pass, the resulting social unrest with force good people to flee the cities and seek refuge among like minded people in rural areas where it may be possible to gain the partial majority status needed to control the destiny of local freedom.