The Case Against Pessimism

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/10/george-f-smith/the-case-against-pessimism/

There is a lot woe-is-us going on based on the alleged omnipotence of evil and the propagandized status of most Americans.  Even Wall Street is expecting a Blue Wave in November, we’re told, as the votes of 538 individuals called electors will officially determine which party occupies the White House.  Though electors pledge to support a specific presidential or vice presidential candidate, “faithless electors” have turned up 165 times in American history, most recently in 2016.  You remember that election, don’t you?

A faithless elector is one who breaks his pledge.  In 2016, according to Wikipedia,

a movement dubbed the Hamilton Electors co-founded by Micheal Baca of Colorado and Bret Chiafalo of Washington . . . attempted to find 37 Republican electors willing to vote for a different Republican in an effort to deny Donald Trump a majority in the Electoral College and force a contingent election in the House of Representatives. [Of the ten members who attempted to break their pledge] three of these votes were invalidated under the faithless elector laws of their respective states, and the elector either subsequently voted for the pledged candidate or was replaced by someone who did. . . 2016 was the first election in over a hundred years in which multiple electors worked to alter the result of the election.  Electors were subjected to public pressure, including death threats. [Emphasis added]

With the vitriol against Trump at least as high now as it was then, a corrupt Electoral College vote may be Democratic Plan B for evicting him.

I think most people sense that something corrupt is in the works, whether it’s the College or something else.  And they are not wrong.  But this is nothing new, nor is it a case of black vs. white.  It’s bipartisan.

The State has convinced its subjects that theft through taxation and inflation is necessary for the operation of government. The Wave, if it’s blue, will seize more of their wealth and distribute it in such a way that it appears only the fat cats are being robbed while the rest are being fed, clothed, educated, and everything else people used to work for.  Thanks to Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), the sky is now the legitimate limit for government spending.  And the public loves it.  The public loves free money, has always loved free money and eagerly awaits the steady flow of more free money.  If they understood it better they would love the FED, the government-licensed counterfeiter, the creator of free money.  They especially love free money at the expense of the fat cats.

Clearly, since Trump and Pelosi both agree on the necessity of free money, MMT is not unique to the Blue Wave.  Neither Red nor Blue need fear voter rejection for supporting it — quite the contrary.  This is not to say there won’t be serious repercussions.  Try as they might, politicians and their home-bred economists will never triumph over reality.

But if it’s not money, why are so many people afraid of what lies ahead?

The coming nightmare is one in which Friends of the Street Thugs will be calling the shots from atop the pyramid of power.  Law and order will be in the hands of those who despise it.  It will be open season on deplorables for the next four years, after which they will exist as an endangered species.

The Blue leader, whoever it turns out to be, will look far left to assign key administrative posts, with the caveat that the military remain untouchable.  Following the Keynesian prescription for economic calamity, they’ll need the war machine ready for a major confrontation when the free money stops buying things and the media are urging people to demand someone who talks funny to blame.

As the military has no trouble finding boogeymen to justify its budget, so public health officials will keep the public half-faced with corona enemies.  Suppression of rebuttals on social media will accelerate.  Even some non-traditional culture will be wiped out — one possibility being the recently-surging homeschooling movement.  An obedient citizen is a state-educated citizen.   Can’t have deplorables teaching their kids, which they will try to do anyway.  Thus, can’t have deplorables.

Such is the Blob rolling our way.

We’ve been through worse

Should we lose any sleep over this?  No.

Think about it: The country has been through much worse.  Not us, personally, but Americans during the Civil War and the two world wars.  For those who need briefing on the Civil War see Thomas DiLorenzo’s excellent work.  One result of Lincoln’s war was the death of federalism — the states became second-class members of the great unity called the United States, not these United States.  Later, Woodrow Wilson proved to be an effective conman by running on the slogan “he kept us out of war” in 1916, then after being re-elected pleaded for Congress to send American boys overseas to murder and be murdered so Morgan’s investments wouldn’t go sour.  Preceding the Armistice of November 11, 1918 the Influenza Pandemic arrived in April that killed more people than the war— between 20 and 40 million people.  Other estimates are higher.  Unlike today’s corona scare the flu took its heaviest toll on the young.

The death rate for 15 to 34-year-olds of influenza and pneumonia were 20 times higher in 1918 than in previous years (Taubenberger). People were struck with illness on the street and died rapid deaths. One anecdote shared of 1918 was of four women playing bridge together late into the night. Overnight, three of the women died from influenza (Hoagg). Others told stories of people on their way to work suddenly developing the flu and dying within hours (Henig).  (source)

And for the survivors the pain was only beginning.  First the Crash of 1929 that the FED was created to avoid but in fact caused, then Hoover’s meddling, then FDR’s New Deal created the dark decade of the Thirties, followed by the inferno of another world war, heir to the first one and much worse in terms of casualties and destruction. From WW II emerged the National Security Act that created the National Security State, a hallmark of totalitarian regimes found right here in “free” America.  And we were soon off on another war, this one Cold though interrupted by hot ones in Korea and Vietnam.

After all that and much more — 9/11, the Bush lies justifying foreign invasions, the Great Recession (see an excellent video on this) — we’re still standing.

Unlike Americans during the regimes of Lincoln, Wilson, FDR and others, people today have the exponentially-increasing power of information technology working for them.  They can swallow the propaganda of the media and political hacks or they can search and find other information outlets.  Nor are they passive receivers of information.  They can post their thoughts and findings in a blog or video and help shape a narrative that fits with reality.  People the world over are far less hopeless today in the onslaught of propaganda, and the result is the chipping away of State legitimacy.  Undermining State legitimacy boosts liberty, a condition we cannot live without.  Labeling views that oppose the State-MSM narrative as conspiracy theories has become laughable.  It’s the State and its partners that are conspiring against the rest of us, the latest evidence being the blown-up corona pandemic.  The State, in short, is killing us.

But if the State is a killer, what do we do for government?

Look around.  We’ve had it for a long time — it’s called the free market.  If you need help understanding it, see my latest book and let Libby and Justin explain it to you in my 10-minute video.

Reprinted with the author’s permission.