Larken Rose realizes, unlike most people, that the state is not here to protect them. They are actually there to protect the interests of the ruling elite and to maintain their own power.

Robbed by a Statist in a Fancy Costume

I was driving along the Interstate today, on my way to a Yoga class, when I noticed a Statist in a fancy costume on the side of the road. He had his car, decked out in symbology, parked at a weird angle on the shoulder of the road and he was standing about 20 feet off the road in the grass. He appeared to have coerced another driver into pulling over and likely robbed them, as is their custom. The whole situation looked a bit peculiar.

I went on my way, as there was nothing I could do about the situation. Then I looked in my mirror and saw that statist with its coercion lights on and closing in on me. Sure enough, that was his purpose. He had apparently run all the way back to his car and sped down the road to coerce me.

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Statism is little more than a vestige from our past, an anachronism. Like those ancient stone gods you see pictures of, such as those in the Amazon. If you weren’t part of that culture and indoctrinated with the bullshit from an early age, it has little effect on you.

Statism is just like those statues. We see it so easily when looking at states in other parts of the world or statues in other parts of the world. We think, “how can people go along with this and believe it.” Almost always, the reason people go along with it, is because enough people fear the consequences of not having a state, because they have been taught, from a very early age, that human life could not exist without rulers.

Human life can and has existed without rulers and it has the potential to thrive under such conditions.

Ever step back and think, “what is this mysterious yet seemingly all-pervading force in our lives we call government?” Oftentimes, we are so conditioned to seeing the workings of “government”, that we fail to see the bigger picture; we fail to see it for what it truly is.

A noted anarchist named Lysander Spooner once wrote a brilliant piece called NO TREASON. No. VI. The Constitution of No Authority., in which he lays out the rational and legal framework for what “government” actually is and can be.

You may think to yourself, “I know what government is, that’s an easy question”; but I trust that you will think differently if you review Lysander Spooner’s work. There are so many aspects of this thing we call “government” that you take for granted as being true and just. Further analysis, using simple basic logic, shows that the accepted logic of what government is and can be, is indeed quite fallacious. In fact, most people haven’t a clue what the government is, why it is here, who is behind it and why.

‎”…Go to A……… B……… [a particular person whom you wish to tax], and say to him that “the government” has need of money to meet the expenses of protecting him and his property. If he presumes to say that he has never contracted with us to protect him, and that he wants none of our protection, say to him that that is our business, and not his, that we choose to protect him, whether he desires us to do so or not; and that we demand pay, too, for protecting him. If he dares to inquire who the individuals are, who have thus taken upon themselves the title of “the government,” and who assume to protect him, and demand payment of him, without his having ever made any contract with them, say to him that that, too, is our business, and not his; that we do not choose to make ourselves individually known to him; that we have secretly (by secret ballot) appointed you our agent to give him notice of our demands, and, if he complies with them, to give him, in our name, a receipt that will protect him against any similar demand for the present year. If he refuses to comply, seize and sell enough of his property to pay not only our demands, but all your own expenses and trouble beside. If he resists the seizure of his property, call upon the bystanders to help you (doubtless some of them will prove to be members of our band). If, in defending his property, he should kill any of our band who are assisting you, capture him at all hazards, charge him (in one of our courts) with murder, convict him, and hang him. If he should call upon his neighbors, or any others who, like him, may be disposed to resist our demands, and they should come in large numbers to his assistance, cry out that they are all rebels and traitors; that “our country” is in danger; call upon the commander of our hired murderers; tell him to quell the rebellion and “save the country,” cost what it may. Tell him to kill all who resist, though they should be hundreds of thousands; and thus strike terror into all others similarly disposed. See that the work of murder is thoroughly done, that we may have no further trouble of this kind hereafter. When these traitors shall have thus been taught our strength and our determination, they will be good loyal citizens for many years, and pay their taxes without a why or a wherefore.

It is under such compulsion as this that taxes, so called, are paid. And how much proof the payment of taxes affords, that the people consent to support “the government,” it needs no further argument to show…”

–Lysander Spooner

If this interests you, I’d encourage you to read the full text, or listen to the audio version of the full text on the player below.

This is my first video podcast in quite some time, only the second overall. I decided to record some thoughts about “freedom” and just see what comes out. Various ideas about freedom were covered, there will be more in-depth explorations of this and various sub-topics when time permits.

Here’s an interesting take on the State of the Union from GreenWave.com, with an interesting anarchist perspective. He calls out the statist propaganda for the laughable shit that it is.

When two individuals — who are adept thinkers, writers, speakers, researchers and philosophers — come together for a melding of minds, the result is almost always synergistic beyond what you might expect; in a way that can make us see the world from a fresh perspective.

Adam Kokesh and Alex Jones are two great and influential men of our time, inspiring a spirit of freedom and individualism in everyone who will give their message a chance. Every day they put themselves out there to speak of what they feel is the truth, despite being seen as politically incorrect by the vast majority of loud voices in our society such as the government, media and major political parties.

Today I had the good fortune of stumbling across a fantastic discussion, between Alex Jones and Adam Kokesh, on a set of topics which really crystallized for me what will be the lasting challenges for the post-millennial generations. These challenges include: the challenge of recognizing the violence inherent in statism, overcoming statism and establishing a truly free society with free markets and individual liberties.

One of the driving forces that keeps statism going, is the fact that statists see violence from the state, as a solution to society’s problems. They are frequently calling on the state to utilize violence, coercion and theft, against various aspects of the population, to achieve their desired ends.

What these statists fail to realize, however, is that statism and violence, are the root causes of many of the problems in society. The big companies that statists often bemoan, are allowed to become so large and powerful, primarily due to regulations which keep competitors from competing for their market share. These regulations are enforced by government violence and coercion.

When statists call for more taxes and regulation, they are unknowingly enabling the already well connected corporations to maintain their strangle-hold on the market. They then see the side effects of these policies, which destroy the economy and the marketplace; they blame the free market and capitalism, then call for additional centralization of power in the hands of the state.

What you end up with is a self-reinforcing cycle which erodes the free market and replaces it with crony capitalism, where corporations and the state work closely to maintain the status quo.