Fast Food Economies

Posted on April 10, 2014 by john

Dear Friends,

 

It seems to me, just because someone eats nothing but doughnuts, drinks only soda and chain smokes cigarettes, doesn’t mean they are going to have a heart attack tomorrow, but it is an indication they will have problems in the future, economies work the same way. When an economy depends on nothing but printed money, government deficit spending and crony capitalism, it doesn’t mean that economy is going to collapse tomorrow, but it does mean there will be some big problems in the future. It should be obvious to anyone that doing these things will negatively effect an economy over the long term, and anyone who disavows that they will, is either in denial or conning us. Since our lives are so profoundly effected by the economic situation we find ourselves in, it is of the utmost importance we understand the consequences when our leaders do these things with our economy, just as it is when we smoke, eat fatty foods and drink sugary soda.

 

The guy who eats nothing but doughnuts and believes he is different and can eat trash without effect is just like the lawmaker who claims deficit spending is a good thing. Deficit spending is like empty calories, it seems good when we see the GDP “growth” that comes of it, but that “growth” is nothing more than fat. What makes it worse is that the fat that comes from deficit spending requires more deficit spending, else it wastes away and we see negative GDP growth… and no one wants that. What we don’t see, is that fat doesn’t do actual work, it just sits there sopping up more and more capital from productive economic uses.

 

Soda tastes so good, it is hard to believe that it has any bad effects on our health, exactly like monetizing the debt is so delicious that it cannot possibly effect the currency. The fact that it seems to be benign in the short term buttresses this false notion. The effects on our currency from continued money printing, especially printing that far exceeds our GDP growth, builds up tension in the currency. The US is not alone in the money printing business however, and perhaps this is another reason the short term results appear to be harmless… so far. Nothing could be further from the truth, there is not one example in human history where monetizing debt has not eventually resulted in runaway inflation, the fact that the whole world has gone down that rabbit hole might delay the consequences for a while, but the eventual results will not be ignored.

 

Just as the smoker is in denial his or her smoking will effect their health… the government pretends that crony capitalism will have any side effects on an economy. Crony capitalism seems like a win win to both the crooked politician and the corrupt businessman. The President, lawmaker or bureaucrat who gives beneficial regulations, tax breaks and other hand outs to his political backers, only sees the benefit to them but not the negative effect on the market. Crony capitalism pollutes and rots out the core of an economy. The lawmaker might get reelected, because of the vast amounts of campaign money crony capitalism brings into the electoral system, but the incentives in an economy change when crony capitalism is used. Where crony capitalism is rampant, instead of providing better products, service and value for consumers, businesses seek political favor. This is because under such circumstances it is more profitable for a firm to garner political favor than to meet customer’s needs. This pollutes the market with political favor and rots it with declining productivity.

 

It is not just the US that is eating fast food and chain smoking countries the world over are doing the very same thing. That we all have poorly performing economies is only one symptom, like shortness of breath, but these policies have a much more pernicious long term burden. If a person lives this way he or she eventually experiences cardiac arrest, and when a nation lives this way, they must experience catastrophic economic collapse. It is funny that we can see this clearly in people but are blind to it in our government policies and national economies. Heart attacks can be survived, if the proper procedures are used, catastrophic economic failures can be survived as well, but there must be people available who have the power, knowledge and guts to implement the right fixes. More smoking, drinking soda and eating doughnuts is never the proper prescription… no matter how good they taste.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

John Pepin

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The Godhead of the State

Posted on April 6, 2014 by john

Dear Friends,

 

It seems to me, government is intent on replacing God, and by doing so enslaving humanity. This is not a new thing, in fact, it is human history’s meme. The Egyptian Pharaohs, Hittite kings, and Genghis Khan, along with every other mass murderer who declared himself emperor, called themselves the sons of gods. It was and is, a means to legitimize arbitrary rule by kings over us, keeping us ignorant and superstitious. Today, the idea is essentially the same, if there is no God, then all of our rights come from the State. Since the State is controlled by the political elite, and if our rights come from the State and not God, then the State can revoke them as the elite see fit, sans God. This is elevated to an actual religion in the case of Communist countries where we see mass murderers worshiped like Gods. Lenin, and Mao come immediately to mind as does the North Korean devil Kim mentally ill. Marx argued that religion is the opium of the people, and so that pernicious religion of the State, Marxism, replaces God. As we slide deeper into the morass of Statism, we will find ourselves in exactly the same position as the ancient peoples… slaves. If we allow it, then we deserve it, but our children deserve better.

 

Those who are the most vociferous against God, are the very ones who are foisting the imbecilic notion, that the State is the font of all that is good… against every example in human history. They claim God is Dead, like Nietzsche. Now Nietzsche is not my favorite philosopher by any stretch. In fact I have a hard time reading his work because it gives me the chills, as if a demon is toying with my soul, but he has a point with his master, slave mentality. Nietzsche said that there is a direct dichotomy between the mentality of a master and a slave. The master’s mentality is that of action and the slave is reaction. Since the master can do as he or she pleases, they do just that and are active, but slaves must not offend their masters and so they must react to the actions of the master. Nietzsche said this is the inheritance of Western culture, that we all have the slave mentality. I offer however, those of us that have been raised in the American experiment are active, and not reactive. It is because our founders placed the State in the correct position, below us, and not above us.

 

As the State is elevated to Godhead, our mentality will change from active to reactive, and we see this happening all around us. The US government is militarizing every branch, bureau and agency, regulations are so arcane even lawyers cannot know them all, we have to get permission from the government for almost any action in the form of a license or permit… the list is endless. Traditionally in the US, the philosophy has been that which has not been made illegal is legal, but today that mentality is changing to, that which is not made legal is illegal. Where a thing needs to be sanctioned by the State before it is considered legal, people must be reactive, and where a thing needs to be made illegal before it is illegal, people are active. Each ethos begets a mindset either of action or reaction. Where people are active there is scientific advancement, economic progress, wealth creation and liberty, but where the people are reactive there is stagnation, superstition, poverty and tyranny. Governments that usurp the role of God create a slaves mentality in the people and indeed slaves in all but name.

 

We have to ask ourselves… what kind of world do we want to bequeath to our children and grandchildren? Do we want them to be slaves or do we want them to be free human beings, with every right and prerogative that is the inheritance of a free people? If we want them to be slaves all we need do is sit back and continue on the path we are on. In doing so we will be following the history of the human race. If we want to leave them with a free society where people are sovereign then we must act. Act to stop the usurpations of Western governments that undermine limited government, demand our political elite be held to the law, and most importantly our Constitutions. The choice is ours and ours alone. Our children will not be given a choice unless we fight to give one to them. Then they will have to fight the same fight, because it is the battle every generation has fought, since the first man crushed the head of another, weapon in hand and covered in the blood of his foe, declared himself king.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

John Pepin

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Justice

Posted on April 3, 2014 by john

Dear Friends,

 

It seems to me, justice is simply the golden rule, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This is the most realistic and clear definition of that mercurial term there can be. Any other definition requires people to do to someone else, that which they would chafe under where it done to them, and thus is not just. It is important to define such a widely used word as justice, because when a speaker claims he or she seeks justice, and ten people are listening, inevitably there are eleven definitions of justice in the conversation. This makes the term a sophist tool to trap people. Everyone has a sense of justice but few have a defined definition that is simple and universal. If we want true justice in our world, then we must agree on a definition, else it means nothing.

 

People bandy the term justice about constantly, to get the upper hand in an argument or to denigrate this or that action, thought or philosophy, but to do so if the term is not defined, is simply spurious. It is like me saying I will give a car for this or that. Every listener will have a different idea of what type of car I mean, but lacking a definition, no one will know. If I continue claiming I am going to give people a car I can convince people to do real damage to their self interests. Once I have got money, power or property from them for this car, I can give them a plastic toy car and have not overtly lied.

 

Any definition that is more complex than the golden rule opens itself to injustice. Once we say justice requires calculations and metrics, we have made the word so complex it looses all meaning, and devolves back to a mere tool of sophists. Furthermore, justice cannot mean doing different things to different people. The moment we say it is just to do this to him, and something different to her, we have waded into quicksand. For a thing to be just it must be universally just.

 

Justice as it applies to property is the golden rule as well. If I pick up a rock and using only my talent and another rock… I carve a figurine, that figurine is mine and no one else’s. To take it violates my right to that which I have made by my own hands, and also steals my liberty in the form of the time it took to make the figurine, because had I known it would be stolen I would not have spent the time to make it. This same logic applies if I have made a thousand figurines, because to take from someone while defending one’s own property, (and everyone defends his or her own property)… violates the golden rule.

 

Rawls definition of justice comes in two parts and is meant to show how socialism is just. The first part and therefore the foundational part is that any definition of justice must give people the most liberty possible without trampling their rights. The second is that for a person to make an unbiased decision about what economic system is just, they must do it in a, “Veil of ignorance.” This veil is supposed to show that if we don’t know where we will land in this new economic system we will want everything distributed equally.

 

Nozick’s take on Rawls, is that Rawls believes money and property are like mana from heaven, and that Rawls ignores the very real effort that it takes to get money and property. My take is that Rawls second principle violates his first. If any definition of justice must firstly give maximum liberty and not violate people’s rights, then it is not possible to take from one and give to another. The very act itself makes a slave of one of the parties. Only a twisted mind would argue slavery gives maximum liberty or that it doesn’t violate human rights.

 

So… justice can be simply defined as the golden rule. Doing something to another, you would not like done to you, no matter the societal good that would be theoretically gained, is fundamentally unjust. The term justice, undefined, can be used for all sorts of pernicious ends, and usually is. Economic justice must also rest on the golden rule, it cannot be given a complex definition, and must be universal, else it is spurious. Over the years, philosophers have tried to twist justice into a reason for injustice, using complex arguments and smart sounding phraseology, but what they propose is not justice but a perversion of justice. It is important for us to understand what justice really is, to stay clear of the pitfalls of sophistry, that brings into the world injustice called justice, always at the point of a gun.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

John Pepin

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The Honor System

Posted on March 30, 2014 by john

Dear Friends,

 

It seems to me, the political elite only pledge to follow our various Constitutions, but are not forced to. This is nothing more than an honor system. To place such responsibility in the hands of so few without any real oversight, is not only dangerous, but it is unfair to them. The lessons of history are unanimous about this. Every nation, republic, democracy and empire has fallen due to corruption. Corruption stemming from both basic human nature, (self interest), and political favor. The fundamental problem in Ukraine that led to the loss of Crimea to Russia, was government corruption, the poor performance of the economy despite huge the energy reserves of Russia, is from government corruption, the present constitutional crisis in the US, is from government corruption… the list is endless. The point is, to change the paradigm to one that actually works in the interests of the people and the elite, is to force the political elite to follow the limits placed on them, in our Constitutions. Lacking that fundamental shift in governance, we can expect to see history repeat itself over and over again, resulting in war, unrest, famine and poverty.

 

Imagine a society where there are laws but everyone is on the honor system to follow them. The deaths simply from traffic accidents would be daunting. No one would be safe in their own home, unless they went to extreme measures to protect themselves, and people would have to. Our children wouldn’t be safe on the streets, far less safe than they are now! Moreover, the market system could not function under such a regime. Such a system would ring in epic poverty and famine. Everyone reading this article knows and understands this fact, but people are so brainwashed by the elite that as soon as I bring up a constitutionally empowered police of government, people have a visceral reaction against the idea.

 

The spurious arguments flow like a torrent. Some include… “it would be too expensive.” So, it isn’t too expensive to intrusively monitor three hundred million people to the nth degree, but it is too expensive to monitor a few thousand? “More bureaucracy is not the solution,” this ignores the fact that bureaucrats regulate every aspect of our lives, and grows like a kudzu vine strangling our economy and freedoms, but if government were held to Constitutional limits, the existing unconstitutional bureaucracy would have to be scaled back. “They would just get corrupt themselves.” This is the most pernicious argument for allowing the elite to continue in the honor system, crushing our liberty under the jack boot of government corruption. To believe that a Fourth Branch would necessarily become corrupt, one has to believe the local police, the State police and every other law enforcement agency is also utterly corrupt. If someone believes that, they must necessarily believe those agencies should be disbanded, putting the whole of society on the honor system.

 

Human nature is self interest. The market system twists our self interested nature into being rational maximizers, (civilized people). The difference is that a rational maximizer understands that his or her self interest is tied up in everyone else’s self interest. Our basic nature, (barbaric nature), is to follow our immediate self interest regardless of the consequences to society and others. The market system and American ideals have taught humanity the truth of Socrates argument in The Republic. That lesson is lost on those with political favor, because their self interest can be met outside of the market system simply by perverting it into it’s evil twin, crony capitalism. This is furthered by the corruptible elite who are also prevented from being rational maximizers by the lack of any real oversight.

 

There is not a nation on the face of our planet that would not benefit from policing the political elite. Even socialism would work better if it had a Fourth branch policing the actions of the political elite. Since the beginning of time people have sought ways to limit the political elite’s propensity to pervert government to their own self interests. Constitutionalism is a relatively new phenomenon. It has had limited utility because the political elite are still on the honor system. Once the political elite cannot use their offices for personal gain, without facing the imminent fear of prosecution and jail, government will shrink back to it’s Constitutional limits, the people will be prosperous and crime will dwindle. A Fourth Branch is a win win for society, culture and even government itself. The real winners however will be us, the people, stable government is a boon for everyone.

 

You can read more about it in my book, The Fourth Branch here; https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/277193

 

 

Sincerely,

 

John Pepin

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Oligarchy of The Red Tapeworm

Posted on March 27, 2014 by john

Dear Friends,

 

It seems to me, the legal system is supposed to facilitate market interactions, but in reality the legal system more often than not, is a parasitic drag on the free market. Like a tape worm imparts some resistance to diarrhea when it is small, it eventually outgrows it’s host, and if it isn’t dealt with, the host eventually starves to death no matter how much food they eat. This is not to say that there should be no laws. It is to say that the legal system in most western countries has out grown their hosts, the economies, and is draining those economies the vital sustenance, capital, they need. Many people have pointed this out to no avail. The reason the legal system always overtakes the national good is because Lawyers are a defacto oligarchy. Our economic futures rest on our ability to prune back the parasitic nature of our legal systems, else we and our children will live in an economy that is being starved, by the very legal system that is supposed to protect it.

 

Market economies need standards, this is a basic fact of any study on market economics. People have to be able to make valid legal contracts, that are binding, we have to be able to sue for redress of economic harm visited on us… among a whole host of other valuable services a functional legal system provides. No economy can do without laws and standards. However, as Madison said in The Federalist Papers, when those laws become so abstruse, even a person knowledgeable in the law cannot possibly understand them all, you have tyranny.

 

The legal system is essentially a faction. This faction, like all factions, seeks the best interests of it’s members, no differently than a labor union. The legal faction is made up of attorneys. It is not coincidental that all governments have a large portion of their members as attorneys. Modern governments are broken into three branches, Executive, Legislative and Judicial. This was Montesquieu idea, to limit the source of most tyranny that ruins republican government, an overly powerful Executive. Break the authority from the Executive to adjudicate over law, and form it into a new, or third branch, the Judicial, (the lawyer’s exclusive branch). So, since all three branches are largely populated by lawyers, most legislators are attorneys, most Presidents have been lawyers, and with one branch exclusive to lawyers, the legal faction is overly represented in government. This makes the legal faction an oligarchy. They eventually rule, not in the interests of everyone, but in the interests of their faction, the classic definition of an oligarchy, ala Aristotle’s wrong forms of government.

 

Many learned people have suggested tort reform but it never gets anywhere. That is because the very people who would have to pass it, lawyers, would suffer real harm from it. The legal faction’s power would be diminished and the members of it, attorneys, would suffer economic harm. That is why tort reform is always dead on arrival whenever anyone offers it. Moreover, every time a new regulation is written, a new law is passed, a court finds a business has to pay a litigant for burning herself with hot coffee, or a judge rules a legal contract is null and void, along with many other legal abuses, the demand for lawyers goes up. Economics 101 is supply and demand, as the barrier to entry is raised by more and more stringent testing and pretesting requirements, lowering supply, while at the same time the demand for attorneys is elevated by absurd rulings and tomes of arcane regulations and laws, raising demand, the profit for lawyers must necessarily go up.

 

That is why the media and lawyers attack oil company profits in the tens of billions but no one decries the profits of law firms that run into the hundreds of billions. Doctors are vilified for charging what they do to save the life of a child but the absurd charges attorneys get away with are ho hummed. The legal faction controls the government and thus the conversation. The fees of lawyers goes up, along with the regulations they pass and society has to follow, in a Fibonacci curve while economic growth dwindles away. No matter to the legal faction however, their fortunes continue to rise. But, like the Roman empire was destroyed, in no small part by the stifling regulation and bureaucracy, their legal system built up, our modern societies are being eaten from within by the red tape worm of the legal faction. Most likely, we will end up like the Roman civilization, because we refuse to learn the lesson history teaches us.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

John Pepin

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The Irony Of Progressivism

Posted on March 23, 2014 by john

Dear Friends,

 

It seems to me, “liberals” not only demand we approve of everything they do and think, but we must even support and pay for it, while they are entitled to decree to the rest of us what to do, and even what to think. Reminiscent of 1984 George Orwell, the thought police are here under the guise of “social justice,” “inclusiveness” and “fairness.” Progressives themselves seem blind to the chilling effect their beliefs have on open and honest debate. (Or are they)? The people who follow leftist reasoning constantly sing the praises of democracy, but true democracy requires as a precondition open debate, lacking that free debate, democracy is nothing more than a tyranny of the loudmouths. Moreover, lacking freedom of thought, conscience and action, a society quickly devolves into poverty, stagnation and oppression. Lest we follow many other great civilizations into deprivation, we have to open our eyes to this most pernicious form of thought control, highlighting it for the rest of society to see.

 

Like the inquisitor of old, modern “liberals” demand conformity with their way of thinking, else they are happy to use the power of the State to compel agreement. Today we are forced, through thought laws and political correctness, to support the political line no matter how absurd it is, or becomes. Christians are forced to pay for “art” that depicts Mary decorated in feces, (the sign of Baal), we are forced to pay for abortions, we must cater gay weddings else loose our businesses, etc… There is no level of oppressive action that is out of limits for the political and cultural elite to foist on Christians. In our “modern” society Christianity has negative political favor.

 

Christians and Jews are not the only victims of the thought police. Gun owners are regularly called vitriolic names by the political elite, and the Right to keep and bear arms is increasingly being infringed. Progressives don’t like cigarettes, so they outlaw smoking in public, and even in one’s own home, in some places. The nanny state is fueled by the leftist mindset where everything they think we should do is enshrined in regulation. From economically destructive regulations against hydro fracturing, to how many days a store can have a sign out, are common in states that have a high proportion of progressives. They regulate every aspect of what it is to be human, but cannot stand anyone else finding what they do, immoral. Anyone who disagrees with the progressive political establishment is under attack today.

 

Hate crime is the definition of a thought crime. If someone kills or harms another, based on a thought, IE hate, they are punished especially fervently. This kind of law is based on what a person thinks and not what a person does. Therefore, when a hate crime is charged, thought police are active. There are already laws against murder, assault and theft, and so if someone commits those crimes, they can be punished for what they do, and not what they think. This wrong is magnified by the fact that certain politically favored groups cannot be charged with hate crimes, only a disfavored race can, which is racist in and of itself. Illustrating the pernicious nature of thought laws.

 

Freedom doesn’t only apply to those who we agree with though. I find many things detestable, but I don’t try to outlaw the idea, I argue against them in open debate. If something is wrong society will eventually recognize it and grow beyond it. Only if there is free debate however. Lacking debate, absurdity can become entrenched, growing to undermine economic prosperity, and liberty itself. We all want to be thought open minded, no one wants people to be discriminated against, but thought laws make us closed minded and force us to discriminate, in the name of social justice and fairness, when nothing could be further from the truth.

 

Most people are not really engaged in the workings of politics, especially when society is moderately wealthy, they only want to work, have a family and go on vacation now and then. They don’t want to be called racists, haters or other vitriolic names and so they keep quiet and go along. Since these negative monickers are poured on certain segments of society, those people who remain silent fall into a trap set for them, believing that those segments are evil, and that disagreement with the cultural and political elite is actually hateful. So they vote, act and agree with what they know in their hearts is wrong. This is the way societies crumble, economies collapse, tyrannies rise and a new normal of economic depression is formed. Open, honest and free debate is the solution, thought laws are the problem, if we continue to embrace the problem and eschew the solution, we can kiss our liberty, and prosperity goodbye, forever.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

John Pepin

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The Herbalife Chronicles

Posted on March 20, 2014 by john

Dear Friends,

 

It seems to me, the news story about Bill Ackman shorting Herbalife stock, then going to the purchasable Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, and getting him to gin up an investigation into Herbalife’s business practices, is a perfect example of how government undermines job creation and economic expansion. The crooked Senator who facilitated the ill gotten gains, Ed Markey, got a huge donation to the Democrat senatorial reelection campaign fund, and I am sure other undisclosed benefits and perks as well. That government can be so easily used by sordid businessmen is a testament to the corruptibility of the ruling class. This can be a teachable moment if the lesson is well illustrated to the public. If this kind of corrupt practice is dismissed, the damage to our economy, prosperity and posterity will be magnified by our discounting it.

 

The power of regulation gives government, and thereby those in it, the power to effect firms for the better, if they have political favor, and negatively if they don’t. Politicians and bureaucrats are human beings. As human beings they are self interested. When a person’s self interest is benefited by an action, especially when there is little or no oversight, as is the case with government officials, it is human nature to use the power invested in them to benefit themselves. In this politicians and bureaucrats are no different than you or I. We all have that monkey on our backs. For the rest of us, the police, laws and the likelihood of severe punishment is a strong disincentive, a disincentive that doesn’t exist for the political elite.

 

This is largely why the political elite so love regulation. Regulation allows them to benefit their cronies and punish their detractors. If a person is in a position to help a senator get reelected they have that senator’s favor. Regulation is one of the means the political elite can benefit their patrons. All a politician needs to do, is pass a regulation that protects their patron’s business from competition, gives them an unfair advantage in a transaction or subsidizes them directly. Regulation gives the politician a way to benefit their backers tit for tat.

 

Herbalife, their employees and their shareholders, are the direct victims of Bill Ackman’s scheme while the rest of us are dupes as well. This affair bears witness to the unseen victims of political corruption. Shareholders are mostly retirees, pension funds, savings and people’s IRA’s. Those of us with IRAs pensions and/or savings, are stolen from. Money we had to work hard for, is taken directly from our accounts, and given to the connivers who manipulate the system. Clearly, the incentive is to manipulate the system, instead of working hard, with all the negative consequences to society, our economy and good government that come with it.

 

Employees loose their jobs, have to take pay cuts and at the least, their lives are made more stressful. Those of us who participate in the market system by the sweat of our brow are just as victimized by this corruption as stockholders. Our jobs are destroyed, so that corrupt millionaires can get richer at the cost to workers, investors and retirees, our economy is damaged, economic growth is slowed, jobs are lost, people’s lives are disrupted… and corruption is rewarded. The answer is to severely punish those in government just as you or I would be if we damaged society by stealing.

 

The results of political corruption are far worse than stealing a ten dollar bill from a liqueur store, while the consequences for the criminal politician, are nonexistent. As I have offered before, a Fourth Branch or in other words, a constitutionally empowered police of government, would investigate and prosecute political corruption, just as local police and district attorneys investigate and prosecute infringements of the law by you and I. The ability of our lawmakers to participate in this type of damaging behavior used to be limited in our Constitution, as it was originally written, but politicians who are not held to any standard at all have corroded those limits, through years and years of political corruption. Until we can force our political leaders to follow the Constitution, by whatever means, we must react loudly and angrily, else our economic prospects will continue to be eroded… as effectively as the Constitutional limitations on government have been.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

John Pepin

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New World Order

Posted on March 17, 2014 by john

Dear Friends,

 

It seems to me… there is a push today to bring the entire world under one government. We see this in the expansionist policies of Russia, the push for a Caliphate and Chinese doctrine of dominance. Many of the world’s intelligentsia argue, the world would be better off if we were all under one government, and indeed that is the covert goal of the United Nations. It is to be the model for a world government, by the New Class, for the New Class. These are not the only examples but are the most overt. One world government is the dream of every tyrant that has ever lived, and with modern technology, it is becoming increasingly possible. The sophist arguments for it usually run along the lines of, war will be ended, it will usher in a new age of prosperity, or it would be more efficient. These are all spurious because they are not even remotely possible, but in fact, the exact opposite is the only conceivable outcome. If you like the life you have… you won’t be able to keep it.

 

China is at odds with every neighbor it has, from Japan to India. China demands the Senkaku islands from Japan, the Spratly islands from the Philippines, the entire South China Sea, Taiwan, the northern portion of Vietnam, two northern states of India, along with many others. Tibet, Mongolia and several other annexed countries are already under Chinese Communist dominance. With a skewed ratio of men to women, because of the one child policy, China has a restive and angry male population that is of age to fight in wars of aggression.

 

The great powers around the world have been emboldened by the weakening of the United States. Russia took two states from Georgia a few years ago, with no negative consequences, and now has taken the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in all but word. Once this usurpation has played out Russia will have another piece of land under it’s control. Europe has been rendered impotent by Russia’s energy dominance, fueled by their unwillingness to exploit their own resources, and so may fall into the Russian sphere, but more likely will become part of the Caliphate. Only time will tell the next property Russia eyes with avarice.

 

Obama’s best friends, the Muslim Brotherhood, have in their very charter, to restore the Caliphate. In order to achieve that end they must conquer over fifty nations around the world. In their crusade to restore the Caliphate, there is no bridge they are not willing to cross, including terrorism, genocide and revolution. The US, under Obama, is more than happy to help, no matter the cost in human suffering.

 

The UN was supposedly initiated to stop wars, genocide and intrusions on human rights, but they side with tyrants, oppressors and dictators in every instance. The only nation that regularly comes under UN sanction is Israel. The worst human rights violators run the UN’s council on human rights! This is nothing new however. The New Class, (the world’s intelligentsia), have dreamed of a socialistic world order, run by them, for over a century. The UN is the structure and human suffering is the means.

 

Technology has progressed to the point that a world government could have every human being on Earth under surveillance. The level of oppression that data mining, mass data storage, miniature cameras, satellite surveillance etc… could give a world government, would guarantee tyranny for the people of the world in perpetuity and without recourse.

 

When the would be autocrats of the world espouse and end to war, universal prosperity and unlimited freedom, they are lying in the worst way possible. History shows unequivocally that government never gets smaller, more free or is ever able to provide prosperity, it only gets bigger, more intrusive and thereby people suffer famine and oppression, in every case. The nature of government and the human beings that run it is why this is always so.

 

Now that the US has been lowered by Barack Obama to powerlessness on the world stage the brakes are off. Every conniving tyrant slathers at the chance to grab as much of the pie as possible. Those who would restore and protect freedom, have no stomach for it, while those who would be tyrants, like vampires have an unlimited thirst for blood.

 

Once the world has been chopped up, the biggest world war ever imagined will start. There is no other possibility. With the proliferation of nuclear weapons, induced by the actions of Obama and past US Presidents, as well as Russia, China and Europe, the next world war will be nuclear. Perhaps the human race will be destroyed in a radioactive holocaust, perhaps we will be simply subjugated, but no matter how it ends… it will end badly. Barring divine intervention, unless some smart people who have political power, standing for free markets and liberty, can pit the various factions, China, Russia the UN and the Caliphate, against each other, the war for the world will go on as scheduled.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

John Pepin

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Nobility of Heart

Posted on March 13, 2014 by john

Dear Friends,

 

It seems to me, the Benjamin Franklin quote, “To be humble to superiors is duty, to equals courtesy, to inferiors nobleness,” is one of my favorites from that sage man. We are seldom humble today, even to our superiors… let alone our inferiors. Our culture disdains humility and instead promotes hubris. What a sad thing this is. When we act with pride and look down our nose at those who have less, are less educated, or believe differently then we do, we do ourselves a great disservice. This is magnified when we harbor hate in our hearts. If we want to live in a better world we must discard hate and instead nurture love in our hearts.

 

Humility and love go hand in hand. He who has love of his fellow men in his heart is able to be humble. Love is a selfless emotion and humility is a selfless attitude. Therefore it is only when we love humanity that we are able to really treat others as human beings. Love allows us to see others, whether they be our superiors, equals or inferiors, in society, business or government, as deserving of our humility.

 

To have hate in our hearts makes humility impossible. When we hate this or that group we see others as demons that we must punish. Hate is a selfish emotion and begets pride and prejudice. We compare ourselves with those we hate and find them unworthy. This has the effect of lowering us to the level of animals. It is not possible to be humble to someone we hold in disdain.

 

Since humility is the start of nobleness, we can say that hate destroys the noble nature we all have within us, while love fortifies that nobility. Have you ever wondered why some people go through life and don’t seem to notice the slings and arrows? It is because they nurture love in their hearts and thus are noble. It is only through a certain nobility that we can see burdens for what they are… opportunities to grow. But when we fill our hearts with hate, we lack nobility and see every setback as a personal affront. Our anger at the world grows as does the hate and therefore meanness and selfishness.

 

A nobleness of heart effects the person who has it for the better. That person who is noble is also strong. He or she has lower blood pressure, higher self esteem and more friends. Lower blood pressure because they can accept the world as it is, higher self esteem because nobility begets self esteem, and more friends because nobility is also magnetic. There is a whole host of benefits that follow someone who is noble of heart.

 

Meanness on the other hand has a direct effect on the World and on the person. Those who are ignoble cannot have self esteem because meanness begets jealousy. That emotion and attitude is based on a self loathing that comes from comparing oneself to others. We damage ourselves and the World when we are mean of spirit, because malevolency is contagious, just as is nobility. The world is better for everyone, when people are noble, but it is diminished when people are nasty.

 

The quality of life is made better for everyone where people are noble. As nobility is contagious those who come into contact with noble people are made more noble themselves. Human beings have three parts, mind, body and spirit, nobility derived from the love of mankind strengthen all three, while ignoble attitudes weaken them. In our modern World such wisdom as this is seen as antique and quaint, but the truth is, it is needed now more than ever. We forget the sage advice of our forefathers at our own and our children’s expense. To be humble is to have nobility… and what else does this wicked world need more than a dose of nobility? So I say… Right on Ben!

 

 

Sincerely,

 

John Pepin

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The Way to Change the World For The Better

Posted on March 9, 2014 by john

Dear Friends,

 

It seems to me, what our society needs, is not more government, regulations or law, but kindness, love, and understanding. While the political establishments try to separate us and pit us against each other, it is up to us to come together, recognizing that the guy next door is as human as you and I. Yes we have flaws but the reality is we are at heart good people. The vast majority of us want to make the World a better place. There are very few of us that wouldn’t like to be recognized as a hero. We only lack the opportunity… or do we?

 

The media is full of horror stories about how evil your next door neighbor is. Murder, rape and terrorism fill the airwaves. This has the effect of separating us and making us fearful of each other. We try to find some common ground, and so we gravitate to those who look like us, act like us or have the same political view. We turn to an overly powerful government to protect us from each other… But to do these things leads us into a pitfall. Those who are evil are very, very few, while those of us who are good, hard working people… are many. To recognize this fact is the start of wisdom.

 

We don’t see the good in our fellow man, because he or she is at work, out of sight and quietly promoting the good of Mankind. We work diligently at our jobs, yes to make money, but also to get a sense of satisfaction, to feel like we are accomplishing something and to make a difference. I know this to be true, because the biggest complaint people give about their work is not money, but that it is not satisfying, we don’t get a sense of accomplishment or that we are not making a difference. That is simply the World fooling us into unhappiness.

 

I suspect most cases of depression in people is based on the messages the World, through the media, program into us about ourselves and our fellows. If we are bombarded by negative messages, we incorporate them, and it becomes nearly impossible to be happy. How can we be happy… when the World is so bad? But the World isn’t that bad. Yes there are murders, rapes, and human trafficking, but there is far more good going on in the World than bad. We have confirmation bias because of all the negative messages we are fed by the media. Therefore, those who consume news and culture the most are the most effected.

 

Mencius said the congenital nature of Mankind is good, because, “There is not one among us who is not distressed at seeing a child fall into a well.” Sage words from that ancient sage. While there are some very few psychopaths among us the vast majority of us are good and caring. That is why we can be so easily manipulated by psychopaths into damaging our own self interests, and the interests of Mankind, because at heart we are good and we want goodness in the World. Those who are sinister understand this, and use our goodness to control us, to enhance their power over us.

 

The answer is not to turn away from the World, it is to open up to the good in it, putting the bad into context. We would love to make the World a safer place for everyone, we would like to have everyone prosperous, no matter how each of us defines prosperity, and yes we must work together to make these things happen, but the means must align with the ends. The answer is in ourselves, not in some external force that purports to save the world through laws, regulations and taxes. We ourselves are the means to making the World a better place.

 

Our law books are filled with false idols but our holy books are filled with answers… love thy neighbor, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and forgive so that you can be forgiven. Those are answers that work and have worked every time they have been tried. It is not out of our hands, the way to change the World is not through empowering a few to force their view of what is good on the rest of us, but to change our own hearts, be good people both on the inside and the outside, smile at strangers, act out our goodness through courtesy, and most of all, practice the one rule that cuts across every religion, the Golden Rule. The rest will follow naturally.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

John Pepin

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