Dear Friends,
It seems to me, one way to tell if you live under a tyranny, is if political crimes are punished more severely than crimes against persons or property. Because the government that holds political thought as the greatest crime, epitomizes despotism. It’s Bastiat’s thesis in his book The Law, where the law is exploited to steal instead of protect. The elite exploit their power of law to take our Rights, property and lives themselves. Even as they claim they’re acting “justly.” Channeling Thrasymachus from the grave. If a single person is in prison for wrong think or wrong speak in your country, know that you live in a despotic state. One that takes crimes against the political order more seriously than crimes against people or property… unless their persons or property are involved.
Ideas are the most dangerous thing to any oligarchy or tyranny. Because everything starts as an idea. The house you live in was an idea. Then, from the brain of someone, that idea sprang into life and now exists as a physical entity. Though that physicality started as an ethereal notion. So does everything else we have or ever will create. Including such things as interplanetary travel, AI… and revolutions. It’s the revolutions that the elite seek to minimize. So they have to stifle all thought unless pre-approved, lest it lead to revolutionary thinking. Revolutionary ideas have a way of spreading from one area to another. A paradigm shift in science could trigger thoughts of a different social order. Which is why all ideas are dangerous to a despotic state, and are punished as wrongthink.
Law is always sold as a way to protect us, our families and our property. Law however can be exploited to take those very things. Since we’ve previously agreed, we have no standing when the elite exploit the law to do violence to our self interest, to improve theirs. Then they call it just, because it was “lawful.” This is one of the themes in Bastiat’s The Law. That law is often exploited as a means to take instead of protect. In such cases the law is a perversion of its intent. Moreover, the less limited the state, the more likely those authorized will exploit that authority to enrich themselves. One way to tell if wealth is concentrated is by examining the neighborhoods around the capital. Are the homes average sized and cost, or are they much more expensive and larger than average? House value is a metric of wealth.
If the corruption of the State gets really bad, the elite will openly flaunt their corruption, thinking themselves above the law. Judges will openly rule against the plain wording of founding documents, the law and precedent. Those elected to office will become rich while in the public’s service. Even as the media will openly lie, doctors will allow bureaucrats to practice medicine for them, and town officials will get their industrial parks permitted without hassle, and paid for by the towns folk. Then they raise the property taxes of anyone who speaks up. When the elite flaunt their corruption in such ways, it’s sure they don’t think they can be punished. Because, why should they? If consequences are only for the little guy, and so far never for them, why not exploit the law to get rich and suppress ideas?
There’s a saying attributed to Goethe, “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” Look around, are you free? We participate in our own enslavement when we ignore the signs of despotism, because the payola press assures us we’re free. We abet the perversion of law when we go along with judges mocking the law, the plain wording of our Constitution and precedent… because they’re the authority. Are there people in jail for wrong think or wrong speak in your nation? Do our doctors allow bureaucrats to order them around in their own practice? This corrodes our trust in medicine. To act helpless in the face of open corruption is the hallmark of the slave mindset. So speak up, think and demand accountability… else abet your own enslavement.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
