We are all experiencing the effects of creeping
globalism already. Most of us have accepted
its unwavering onslaught and are seeking ways of integrating its unavoidable effects into
our lives and our life styles.
The vast
majority of us, however, are scarcely aware of what is occurring in our country, and in
the world, and thus, for the most part, being left behind. That is, except those who are
willing, able and prepared to re-invent themselves and their enterprises in spite of the
blurring rapidity with which they must do so.
Most will not
recognize what is happening to them, or where this trend toward globalism is leading them. In their rush to the “future” they will
be able to give little consideration to what might become of them even if they do
successfully integrate their interests with these overwhelming trends. They will simply and blindly force themselves to
follow the necessary dictates of the market place. No
matter how earnestly they try to penetrate and understand the mysteries of globalism, many
will fall by the wayside simply because they cannot keep up with the pace of the
ever-changing markets.
For this reason,
the “state”, in its eternal wisdom and protectiveness toward its loyal subjects,
feels obliged to create a safety-net for those who cannot meet the demands or the pace of
the global marketplace. This safety-net generally consists of economic and labor programs
designed to catch those individuals and enterprises that would otherwise fall out
of the system. It is designed to hold them in
the system with a minimum of effort on their own part.
This is what
Socialism is supposed to do. Socialism is
simply a political device of the “state” contrived to enforce and maintain, if
not idealistic loyalties, then at the very least, economic dependency and subjugation to
itself. The people are, for the most part,
completely unaware that their independence is being undermined in such an insidious
manner. Such is the occult nature of modern
“state” politics.
In true
Thoreauean fashion, however, not all safety-nets will be created by the all-knowing,
all-powerful “state”. Some of them will be created by the people themselves, as
occurred when Great Britain attempted to impose and enforce King George’s economic
sanctions upon the American colonies during the late Eighteenth Century.
The American
colonists, determinedly responded by creating their own money in the form of
“colonial scrip” which they used to trade among themselves in the absence of the
“King’s” currency. This, of
course, flew in the royal face of King George and thus ensued the Revolutionary War and
the subsequent birth of our free and independent nation.
It is happening
all over again in a slightly different form, and once again, if you listen, you will hear
the rallying call of heroic American citizens from all over our land. The call is to
resist the usurious trammel of the King’s banking monopolies.
It’s an old
story with a new twist. In America’s
case, it is the internationally owned and controlled Federal Reserve System. As for the rest of the world, it is the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, which is a global consortium of the
same moneyed interests under the auspices of the U.N.
There is much
talk about democracy and democratization amidst this juggernaut moving us all toward
globalization. It will be interesting to note
whether this “omni-state” will allow a few independent “fruits” to
fall from their “tree”. There may be a few independents who will wish to remain
free of their “state” fostered safety-nets and prefer to see to their own needs. Will the “statists” be too threatened by
these free and independent “drop-outs” and decide to police them back into the
system, or worse, destroy them instead. So
much for democratization. As long as everyone
conforms and complies with the wishes of the state, we shall have a democracy. Where have we witnessed this form of double-speak
before? Is there an oxymoron present in this
statement or have I simply misunderstood historical fact?
Let us revisit
the great American essayist and naturist, Henry David Thoreau, who stated in his essay on
“Civil Disobedience”:
“The authority of government even such as I am willing
to submit to – for I will cheerfully obey those who know and can do better than I,
and in many things even those who neither know nor can do so well – is still an
impure one: to be strictly just, it must have the sanction and consent of the governed. It can have no pure right over my person and
property but what I concede to it.”
- “There will never be a really free and enlightened state, until the
state comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all
its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly. I please myself with imagining a state at last
which can afford to be just to all men, and to treat the individual with respect as a
neighbor; which even would not think it inconsistent with its own repose, if a few were to
live aloof from it, not meddling with it, nor embraced by it, who fulfilled all the duties
of neighbors and fellowmen. A state which
bore this kind of fruit, and suffered it to drop off as fast as it ripened, would prepare
the way for a still more perfect and glorious state, which also I have imagined, but not
yet anywhere seen."
-
- America , with the passage of time and disintegration of ideals, has
produced fewer and fewer citizens with such worthy aspirations as evidenced by Mr.
Thoreau.
-
- A once great country such as America is in grave danger when it no longer
“produces” its own fruits, the values that made it great and the citizens who
were once true to the ideals that made it great. If we, as Americans…as human beings,
settle for anything less, we are selling our nation, our neighbors and ourselves out to
the enemy. Values, ideals, ethics,
morals…these are more than just words. They
are, when embodied and exercised, the cradle of the Spirit and soul of man. We will never come to know our true spiritual
nature if we deny ourselves the opportunity to embrace a worthy ideal, to exercise real
values, to practice true ethics and morality. We
will never know true freedom or real independence.
-
- Instead we will become increasingly subject to a self-imposed confinement
as was defined by the American psychologist from Harvard, B.F. Skinner, as the
“Skinner Box” syndrome. This
phenomena is explained to be the result of being isolated from naturally familiar stimuli
and subjection to specific forms of (often artificially induced” stimuli for the
purpose of behavior modification. It has been found
that if the human mind is deprived of input (stimulation) of a higher order, the mind
tends to degenerate to a lower order of instinctual existence. One need only examine the level of entertainment
in America today to witness to the fact that this can happen on a national level as well
as in a laboratory. This condition was also
very aptly portrayed in Sir William Golding’s classic novel, and subsequent film
versions titled, “LORD OF THE FLIES”.
-
- This process is often introduced gradually to an entire society for the
purpose of imposing a particular political philosophy, inducing general paranoia and
submission, or to arouse revolutionary outrage. A
normally benign and peaceful human condition is quietly and gradually, but persistently
suffocated out of the populace and over time by specific types of inducements, doctrines,
mores, values, etc., which are preferred and proffered by the “powers that be”.
-
- This is not a new technique, by any means, except perhaps to anyone who is
not familiar with the enlightening literary works of Sun Tzu in, “THE ART OF
WAR”, and/or Niccolo Machiavelli in “THE PRINCE”. For those who like their sources a bit more
conventional and closer to home, the 1977 Random House Encyclopedia includes some
surprising entries under the headings of Political Science, The Machinery of Government,
Conflict, Power and Social Inequality, etc.
-
- If one is inclined to wonder how a phenomena such as globalism could be
spreading so rapidly and our societies seem to be accelerating at such a pace at present,
it might be prudent to ponder the sequence of how humans have learned to communicate since
the Industrial Revolution.
-
- After the Pony Express, the first revolutionary change was when the
telegraph was invented. Then came the
telephone, then radio, then television and now, with the computer generation, we have the
Internet, or the World Wide Web. The Personal Computer and the Internet has, and is,
creating an exponential improvement and increase in the scope in human ability to
communicate with one another. Ideas can be
communicated instantaneously to the remotest parts of the globe. We are no longer isolated behind boundaries
imagined and maintained by political ideologies even though many of us still believe that
we are.
-
- Unless society comes apart at the seams completely from the stress and
confusion of such rapid change, future generations will not be recognizable to those of
today. What is most interesting about this phenomena, perhaps, is that it will not
necessarily be the biggest, the strongest or simply the richest who will survive this
tempest of transformation. Rather it will be
the most creative, the cleverest and most adaptable who will still be on the playing field
when the final muster is taken. Many of
the old traditional icons of enterprise in this latter phase of the Industrial Revolution
may simply fade away if they are not able to reinvent and transform themselves. Attempts will, no doubt be made to salvage these
great monuments to a dying era, but it will amount to nothing more than placing bandages
on a corpse.
-
- The state will, no doubt, foster an increase in corporate socialism in
effort to create a safety-net for these foundering skeletons from the past, but gradually
their infrastructure will disintegrate. Their
people will be attracted to more dynamic and creative activities. Old ways and means will be abandoned for newer,
more challenging, innovative and rewarding endeavors.
Those who continue to cling to the old collapsing infrastructure will find
themselves holding onto an empty bag.
-
- The military/industrial establishment’s old cold-war strategies of
fostering their very profitable “conflicts short of war”, police actions and
other methods of controlled warfare will eventually become supplanted by measures of
defense against modern hi-tech terrorism. The traditionally secretive and offensive
agencies whose purpose it is to “drive” our perverted economic system will, no
doubt, eventually be forced into a defensive stance by the viciously overt and aggressive
effectiveness of retaliatory terrorism.
-
- In consideration of the above conditions we begin to see that the state and
its associated conspiratorial agencies have been digging their own grave from the very
beginning. How deep they go is anyone’s
guess and the question that remains is: How deep can they go before it all
starts caving in on itself?
The present may be a prudent time to cultivate watchfulness.
RHB - March, 2001 |
