(June 21st,
2023)
The world is
suffering from some kind of mental disease which must be diagnosed before it
can be cured.”
–
George Orwell [[1]]
This is the fourth in a set of five essays, in which I relate,
analyze and diagnose the woes to which we human beings are subjected by today’s
political system, and aim to put forward some ideas for how we might fix them.
You can find the first three at [[2]],
[[3]]
and [[4]].
In order to make the final two essays in this set as
complete in themselves as possible, I will first summarize what I found while
writing the first three essays, and will add a few recent updates. I will then
proceed to my diagnosis. I shall aim to identify just what it is that has gone
wrong, and why the political élites
and their cronies, that are the enemies of all good human beings, are
subjecting us to all the bad things they are doing to us today.
Part One: Indictments
I wrote Part One in November 2021, during the Glasgow CoP 26
climate conference. It concentrated mainly on the issue of global warming or
climate change. I told how those in power today are pushing draconian – and
totally impractical – energy, transport and
environmental policies, that go against the needs and the well-being of
ordinary people. And I told of, in John Locke’s words, the “long train of
abuses, prevarications and artifices, all tending the same way,” which they have
used in their attempts to make us believe in and kow-tow to these policies.
I referenced a long list of what I called “shenanigans.” Including:
Corruption of science. Moving the goalposts, again and again. Government
whitewashing of real wrongdoing. Re-writing the precautionary principle to
favour political action. And making it impossible to do proper cost-benefit
analysis on anything involving carbon dioxide emissions.
I sought hard evidence for the accusation that human-caused
emissions of carbon dioxide gas have caused or are causing catastrophic, or
even potentially catastrophic, change in the global climate. I looked into, for
example: sea ice, polar bears, Antarctica, coral islands, heat stress,
hurricanes, and extreme weather. I found no cause for concern. Rather, I gained
a sense that, contrary to all the hype, things are much as they have always
been. I looked at related claims like air pollution, species extinction and
“biodiversity,” and over-population. And I found these too no more than parts
of a juggernaut of lies and fabrications, without any hard, objective evidence that
there is any real problem.
I mentioned there, too, many other problems we are today burdened
with, such as: Heavy taxation. Bad laws that interfere with people’s careers,
or hold back the economy, or both. Violations of our rights and freedoms, including
those that have grossly increased in number and scale under the pretext of
fighting the COVID virus. Lucrative government contracts for cronies, that are
not done properly. And lies, scares and hype in the media.
At the end, I listed some of our rights and freedoms, that have
been and are being seriously violated by our enemies in pushing their agendas.
Including: Equality before the law. The presumption of innocence. Fair and
public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal. The necessary
guarantees for us to be able to defend ourselves against accusations. Property.
Privacy. Freedom of movement. Freedom of peaceful assembly. Free choice of
employment. Freedom of opinion, speech and expression.
Part Two: History, large and small
Part Two in this series, I published in December 2022. I entitled
it “History, large and small.” It was 18,000 words long!
History in the large
After a brief quasi-autobiography, I expounded my view of
human history on the large scale.
My take is that, over thousands of years, we have gone through
a series of forward-moving revolutions, in each of which we open up, explore
and develop new levels or dimensions of our humanity. But each revolution is
followed by a regressive, anti-human counter-revolution from those that are
hostile to our progress. I credit the origin of this idea to an American
thinker, who calls himself Jason Alexander. But my scheme differs from his in
many details.
To sum up my view of human history in the large, here is my
list of five periods in history, during which we humans have made revolutionary
progress, together with the paradigms which underpinned those times of
progress. In chronological order:
1.
The Neolithic revolution (Humanity).
2.
Classical Greece (Reason).
3.
The Renaissance (Discovery).
4.
The Enlightenment (Freedom).
5.
The Industrial Revolution (Creativity).
And here are the counter-paradigms, with which our enemies
have responded:
1.
The state.
2.
The church and institutional religion.
3.
Orthodoxy, political dishonesty, and the
psychopathic and tyrannical behaviours that go with them.
4.
Collectivism and the political ideologies it
spawned, such as communism and fascism.
5.
Suppression of economic progress and prosperity,
freedom, rights, truth and the human spirit.
Right now, we are coming up to a crux point. At which, I very
much hope and expect, we will re-discover the values of our five revolutionary
periods: Humanity, Reason, Discovery, Freedom and Creativity. And by doing so, we
will bring to an end the “Age of Politics,” the age of the state, the church,
orthodoxy, dishonesty, tyranny, collectivism and suppression, in which we are
mired today.
The last 80 years
I followed up by looking, in a bit more detail, at the
history of the last 80 years or so. I told of the rise, and the corruption, of
the United Nations. I told of the network of élite, globalist organizations
that go with it. I told of the European project, which eventually became the
European Union. And of the welfare state, which has since morphed into the
nanny state. I compared our situation today to George Orwell’s dystopian vision
in “Nineteen Eighty-Four.” And I concluded that Orwell wasn’t far wrong.
For the last eight decades, the UK political élites, and their
corporate and other cronies, have been using the power and lack of
accountability of the state to treat us, the people government is supposed to
serve, with callous disregard, while at the same time feathering their own
nests. Meanwhile, the welfare state is breaking down, while the nanny state constantly
seeks to control more and more of our lives. But on top of gross overreach by
nation-states and their politicians, we have also suffered ever increasing
meddling, spurred on by globalist and internationalist actors: United Nations,
European Union, World Economic Forum, and all the rest.
Next, I looked at what had happened in the year or so since
the first essay. Two green CoPs (Conferences of the Parties). The war in
Ukraine, and its consequences. The antics of green maniacs like Extinction
Rebellion and Just Stop Oil. Famine in Sri Lanka, caused by bad green policies.
Purposely ruining the farming industry in the Netherlands, the second biggest
food exporter in the world.
In the UK, the “Partygate” scandal. Draconian COVID
lockdowns, and attempts to impose compulsory vaccination, all done on ethically
very dubious grounds. Rwanda deportations. More and more bad laws being made. A
brief spell under Liz Truss, who seemed to be trying to offer people some hope,
at least. But the Tory “blob” prevailed. The portcullis went down with a clang,
Truss was out on her ear, and we’re back to the “new normal” of ever-worsening
poverty and ever-increasing oppression.
And I closed my brief post-script with the following words.
“There, ladies and gentlemen, you have the cause of all our problems: the state
à la Bodin, with the false sovereignty it claims, and the bad politics
it engenders. The state is the problem.”
Updates
It’s now June 2023, and time for some
updates on UK events since the second essay. As far as the green agenda is
concerned, I have traced the UK government’s handling of the issues in a series
of recent essays. An account of what they have done to us since April 2019 is
here: [[5]]. An overview of the history of the green
agenda since 1992 is here: [[6]]. This includes a fairly detailed account
of the perversion of the precautionary principle into a tool for tyranny.
I have also documented
what I call “the case of the missing cost-benefit analysis,” here: [[7]]. You would have thought that any
government, that cared in the slightest about the people it is supposed to
serve, would do a rigorous analysis of the costs and benefits to those people
of any proposed policy, before it did anything to implement that policy. And if
the costs to the people were greater than the benefits, the policy would not go
ahead.
Yet, in the case of
“net zero” and similar policies, the UK government have taken more and more
extreme steps to avoid doing a proper cost-benefit analysis. They began with
the Stern Review of 2006, which was clearly biased in favour of CO2-reducing
policies. Although the review was savaged by economists, they still went ahead
using its numbers, and our idiot “representatives” passed the 2008 climate
change bill. In 2007-9 they did a bait-and-switch, and changed the way of
valuing CO2 emissions so that the policy drove the numbers, not the
other way around. In 2019, they produced something purporting to be a
cost-benefit analysis, that was nothing of the kind. And in 2020 they changed
the rules again, this time to exempt what they called “strategic” projects,
including “net zero,” from any need for cost-benefit analysis at all!
But the UK
government have been doing lots of bad things to us on other fronts, too. In
December 2022, Andrew Bridgen MP made a speech in the House of Commons [[8]], in which he alleged that harms had been
suffered by at least half a million people due to side effects of Pfizer COVID-19
vaccinations, and called for a halt to the implementation of these vaccines.
This produced a furore, which saw him vilified and accused of “conspiracy
theories” and “misinformation,” and resulted in his suspension from the Tory
party. Now, Bridgen seems to be a colourful character, and a bit of a wide boy
to boot. So much so, that the Tory party have now expelled him altogether, on a
totally trumped-up charge of “comparing COVID vaccines to the Holocaust!”
And yet, I smell a
rat here. That all media outlets seem to have been reporting the matter in
exactly the same words is suggestive. And what Mr Bridgen said to parliament
seems to me to express genuine concerns shared by many people, which deserve
objective and unbiased investigation.
In January, Big
Brother Watch released a report [[9]] documenting the activities of several UK
government and military departments that, as the report says, “have stepped
outside of their remits to treat political dissent as fake news.” The report
also says, “What this investigation has found should trigger an alarm bell for
democracy and freedom of speech in the UK.”
Individuals
monitored and reported on by these departments have included: David Davis MP.
Former Supreme Court judge Lord Sumption. Baroness Chakrabarti, former director
of Liberty. TV and radio presenter, and climate-crisis and COVID-vaccine
skeptic, Julia Hartley-Brewer. Toby Young of the Daily Skeptic and the Free
Speech Union. Reform UK Party leader Richard Tice. And Carl Heneghan, professor
of Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Oxford. It is no coincidence, I
think, that many of those who have been monitored have reputations as outspoken
advocates for civil liberties.
In June, the
existence and functions of the government’s so-called “Counter-Disinformation
Unit” were reported in the mainstream media for the first time: [[10]]. This is, to say the least, concerning.
Government was in “hourly” contact with social media firms to “encourage… the
swift takedown” of posts in an attempt to curtail discussion of controversial
lockdown policies. The head of the unit referred to it as a “cell,” in terms similar
to those used by the IRA. And, as evidenced by [[11]], some at least of the material censored was not
disinformation of any kind, but merely opinions unpalatable to the
establishment.
Meanwhile, the
“on-line safety” bill proceeds apace. The latest I have been able to find on
its status is here: [[12]]. The government “fact sheet” that was issued
in January seems to have been taken down. But as far as I am aware, the bill
still includes a “false communication” offence; raising the spectre of some
bureaucrat arbitrarily deciding that some statement is “misinformation” or
“disinformation,” even if it is simply the truth. As an example: “There is
absolutely no evidence for any climate crisis caused by emissions of carbon dioxide
from human civilization.” This is a true statement, but it goes against
establishment narratives. Would it be liable to removal? Or how about:
“COVID-19 vaccine side-effects have caused significant harm to many people?”
Oh, sorry, Andrew Bridgen has already tried that one.
There are now seen
to be even wider implications of technologies such as “client-side scanning,”
that might be required in mobile phones in order to comply with the “on-line
safety bill.” See [[13]].
Moreover, the bill exempts
from its scope anyone officially deemed a “news provider.” So, the mainstream
media, and most of all the BBC, can continue to spout propaganda and lies with
impunity, while ordinary people telling the plain truth will be open to
suppression?
Oh, and according
to the now removed “fact sheet,” the bureaucracy will be able to “use proactive
technologies to identify illegal content.” And will “consider how to tackle
wider harms to democracy caused by false information.” Moreover, “misinformation
and disinformation about vaccines” was given as an example of a harm “that
could cause significant physical or psychological harm to children!”
And there’s more
bad news, too. In recent months, the UK government seems to have embarked on a
veritable orgy of theft. The London Ultra Low Emissions Zone, a scheme to
fleece car drivers, is (still) due to be extended to the whole of London from
August. It will force many older and poorer people, unable
to afford either to pay the fees or to buy a new car, out of their cars
altogether. Despite strong opposition, even including several local
governments, and a pending High Court review, this still seems to be going
ahead.
Meanwhile, the
taxman is tightening his iron grip on more and more people’s lives. Even basic
state pensioners now have to pay income tax out of their pensions; while a
friend has been landed with a tax demand for several tens of thousands, which
he doesn’t have. And I heard of a case where the “crown” is seeking to use a
small error by a lawyer to re-possess the property of a third party.
More widely, in the
UK today there is an atmosphere of ever-increasing panic and madness, and of
ever-tightening control by government over the people it is supposed to be
serving. There is now a mounting push-back from ordinary people against some of
these impositions, most of all the victimization of car drivers. But we face
the problem that political government can make bad laws faster than any number
of us can protest to get them stopped. In my view, we need a stronger and wider
push-back than just fighting against bad laws as they come up. That is a big
part of what this series of essays is about.
However, there have
been two small pieces of good news in the UK in June 2023. At last, we’re rid
of Boris Johnson. For a while, at least. And some of the mainstream media have finally
woken up enough to start opening some sizeable cans of worms arising from the Partygate
scandal. These worms, indeed, seem wriggly enough to be causing significant
numbers of people to re-assess their attitudes about how government should be
treating us.
Part Three: My Liberty Philosophy
The third essay of the set, which I wrote in January 2023, was
even longer than the second! In it, I outlined my philosophical thinking. I created
my philosophy, which I originally called “Honest Common Sense,” and outlined it
in a short book which I wrote in 2014. I have since created a new version,
which I call “Honest Common Sense 2.0.” I published this in the summer of 2021,
in a set of six essays totalling 60,000 words. They are linked from the second
essay of the current set.
The third essay of the current set gave an outline of the
philosophy, and incorporated a few small improvements since 2021. I shall give, in the final essay of this set, a summary of the philosophical
concepts which are necessary to get us moving forward.
A preliminary step towards diagnosis
I ended that third essay with a foretaste of what is to come
in this one. I considered Franz Oppenheimer’s distinction between the economic
means of getting needs satisfied (the equivalent exchange of one’s own labour
for the labour of others) and the political means (the unrequited appropriation
of the labour of others.) And I identified, among users of the political means,
two overlapping tendencies. Which I labelled parasites and pests.
Parasites use the resources they appropriate to enrich
themselves and their cronies. They are bad enough. But pests go further. Pests
want power for the sake of what they can do with it. Pests want to control
people, to persecute, and to screw up people’s lives. I gave examples of both
tendencies.
I also identified a third group, the pawns. They are not directly
parasites or pests. But they ally themselves with the parasites and pests, by
supporting the current political set-up, and most of all by continuing to vote
for mainstream political parties. Worse, some pawns come to support the bad
agendas they have been spoon-fed, and may even start to feel a desire to force
those agendas on to others. These are in severe danger of making themselves
into pests.
The failure of politics
To get moving towards Diagnosis, I will begin by expressing where
we are today in one sentence: The current political system has failed. It has
failed in several different but related ways, which I shall discuss below.
The failure of government
Government, the very institution that is supposed to defend
and uphold the rights of human beings against degenerates, criminals and
wrongdoers, has been taken over by, and is being run by, a cadre of those same degenerates,
criminals and wrongdoers. Far from defending our rights and freedoms, the UK establishment
criminal gang, which includes all four of the major political parties, are taking
every opportunity they can to destroy them. It is as if the fox has taken
charge of the hen-house.
Worse, an international élite, spearheaded by the United
Nations among others, and including multi-national corporations, dishonest
politicians, and activist fellow-travellers, seeks to “unite the world” under
the tyranny of a global ruling class, unelected and unaccountable. Their agenda
seeks to “transform” or “nudge” us all into becoming, at best, mere cogs in a
giant, global political machine, to be run by an élite few. Some of them,
indeed, seem to want to reduce us to the status of mere numbers in a database.
This global power grab is supported, gladly, by the political establishment.
Including many if not most national politicians, that instead of serving those
they ought to represent, choose to support agendas hostile to us.
Further, today’s governments press ahead manically with tyrannical
and destructive policies like “net zero,” based on no more than lies and
scares. And the system is rigged, so ordinary people cannot obtain redress, or
even get our objections heard. Moreover, governments often disobey their own
rules, as for example over Partygate. It’s not surprising, then, that the
ethical and moral foundations of governments are crumbling. And the ruse that
governments serve and protect people is wearing increasingly thin. Indeed, an
ancient question seems to be re-surfacing in people’s minds: Quis custodiet
custodes? Who will guard the guardians? Who will protect us against the
“protectors?”
The failure of trust and respect
Governments, at all levels, have lost trust in, and respect
for, the people they are supposed to serve. Not to mention losing contact with
reality, too. They treat us as objects to be exploited, or as nothing more than
numbers in a database, which they think of as a “single source of truth.” If
they consider us to be human beings at all, they think we’re bad; so, they want
to treat us badly. And they use lies and unfounded scares as excuses to do just
that.
In return, ordinary people have lost, and are losing, trust
in and respect for governments. Governments and their hangers-on treat us as if
they hate us. And many of us are coming to feel contempt and hatred for them in
return. Increasingly, we are coming to see governments as the criminal gangs
they are. Thus, the entire basis of trust, on which government has relied since
the Enlightenment, is falling apart. This situation is not sustainable.
The failure of representation
There is no easy fix for these problems, even in a so-called
democracy. Today, all the mainstream political parties are bad, albeit in somewhat
different ways. They are merely different factions of the same criminal gang. So,
voting for a different lot, a different choice off the same menu, isn’t going
to help much if at all.
Most of our so-called “representatives” today fail to
represent us. They fail to fight our corner for each and every one of us, as a
true representative would do. They do not even fight for the interests of the
people of their area as a whole. Instead, a lot of them just seek to impose on
everyone the particular policies favoured by their own party, their own establishment
faction, regardless of the effects of those policies on the people they are
supposed to represent.
Many of them are deeply dishonest, too, as shown by the scandals
which crop up so regularly. For most of them, their first loyalty is to their
own careers. Their second loyalty is to their political party. Their third
loyalty is to the state, that makes possible their positions of power. The
people they are supposed to serve come, at best, a very poor fourth.
This is not to suggest that every politician is necessarily
an inhuman, criminal psychopath. A few of them do show some traces of honesty,
and even occasional touches of humanity. But these are a minority. Lord Acton
was right, when he said that power tends to corrupt.
Could a new party bring about an improvement? In the short
term, maybe – as the Brexit party, briefly, did in 2019. But on the longer
view, those at the helm of a new party will have to be extraordinarily good and
strong characters, if they are to avoid being sucked down into the corruption that
is endemic to the political state. Besides, it is very unlikely, particularly in
a first-past-the-post system like the UK, that any new party could get real power
quickly.
Moreover, I don’t expect any political party to find it easy
to reverse the globalist power-grab, whose agenda currently holds sway over
much of the ruling élite. The troubles over Brexit were like a child’s tantrum,
compared to how those battles would be!
The failure of democracy
There’s more. Today’s system of sham “democracy” divides
people from each other. The victims of unjust policies feel harshly treated,
and become disaffected. Moreover, those who have been harmed by the policies of
particular parties come to hate those parties. And people – and eventually, many
people – lose all sense of affinity with all of the major parties. They (we) come
to view politics, politicians, the establishment and government with contempt
and loathing. And eventually, they (we) lose all sense of belonging, and of
fellow feeling for those that continue to support the system. Thus “democracy,”
as it exists today, ends up breaking apart the very sense of “we” that seemed
to give it legitimacy in the first place. It destroys the cohesion, the “glue”
which ought to keep a community of people together.
I myself am now way, way out on that limb. Every one of the
four major UK parties, Tory, Labour, Lib Dem and Green, is actively hostile to
me. I am, for my sins, a member of the Reform UK party. But it’s not like the
Brexit party in 2019, where you could sense that this was a different
and better animal than the other political parties, and was going to have a big
effect (and it did). So, I’m not holding my breath that Reform UK will ever be
much better.
Why democracy can never work
On top of this, there is a fundamental reason why democracy,
as it is conceived today, can never be workable. For “one man one vote,”
however good it may be for making decisions in a voluntary society, is not
appropriate when the people concerned are only a community.
If 52 members of a voluntary society want to do A, and 48
want to do B, then A can be considered the general will of the society, and the
society as a whole is justified in doing A rather than B. This is what, after dishonest
and long-drawn-out attempts by political élites to stop it, eventually happened following the
Brexit referendum of 2016.
In a mere community, on the other hand, if 52 members want
A, and 48 want B, that does not give the 52 any right to over-ride the wishes
of the 48. Unless doing A or B (or both at the same time) causes objective harm
to other people, those who want to do A have the right to do A, and those who want to do B
have the right to do B. As Mahatma Gandhi put it: “In matters of conscience,
the law of the majority has no place.”
And, since the people who live in a particular geographical
area, such as the territory claimed by a state, are not a society, but only a
community, “one man one vote” is not an appropriate way to make decisions or to
resolve disputes within that community. No group of people, even if a majority,
should be able to take away any of the rights or freedoms of another group of
people, unless there is hard, objective evidence that the group to be
restrained are actually causing, or seeking to cause, harms to, or violations
of the rights or freedoms of, others.
The failure of bonding
Next, I’ll try to put all this into some historical context.
I’ll take a look at how human societies have developed over time, and the
different kinds of inter-personal bonds which have arisen – and faded – as a
result.
First, there are blood ties. Of which, the “nuclear family”
is by far the strongest. These have always been, and still are, important,
particularly for the bringing up of children.
Second, there are voluntary associations with others, which
people make for mutual benefit. In our hunter-gatherer days, people organized themselves
into bands, and later into settled tribes; the main benefit being the division
of labour. They were initially blood-tie based, but the bigger they got, the
less close the blood ties became.
We can also form voluntary societies of many kinds. Their
purposes can range, for example, from the performance of a common hobby, to a
business enterprise, to a society of people with similar goals and interests,
to a society of people with shared ideas and values.
Third, there are ties of culture, such as shared language,
or history, or religion, or political ideas of how groups of humans should best
be organized. These, again, can have a blood-tie element, but often do not.
People who share a language or a set of values do not always share an ancestry
or a skin colour, or vice versa. There is also a love, which many people feel,
for the land and people of their particular area. That is the love, which I
refer to as patriotism.
Fourth, there are political ties, and, in particular the
“nation.” Nationalism, at its root, is an attachment to a political state. But
many people today seem to think of the nation state and its politics as the
primary force that binds the people in an area together. And too many seem to
think of politics as a replacement for and consummation of the older binding
forces, such as shared ancestry, culture, language, religion, or place of
origin or residence.
But today, things are changing. The bonds, which
historically have held groups of people together, are increasingly failing.
Ties of ancestry and race have become less and less important, as people of
different races have migrated across the world, and interbred, over the last
century and more. Indeed, there is a body of opinion that now sees those, who
find these ties important, as “racists.”
Language and culture, too, are losing their power to bind.
When I walk around my area in Surrey, I am as likely to hear Polish, or
Italian, or some Romance-style language I can’t even identify, as I am to hear
English. And when I go into my local convenience store, the radio is often on in
Urdu or Bengali.
Meanwhile, religion is coming to be seen by many as
increasingly irrelevant to modern life. Migrations, ease of travel and the
Internet have made patriotism and mere physical proximity no longer the binding
forces they used to be. And politics, far from uniting people, has become
strongly divisive.
Moreover, the idea of a “social contract,” which the people residing
in a territory are implicitly assumed to have signed up to, is losing credibility.
As to democracy, our enemies have perverted the Enlightenment ideas that
ordinary people should be able to set the direction and tone of government, and
should have a full and fair say in what policies it will adopt, into the divisive
sham “democracy” we suffer under today.
It feels to me very much as if the “Age of Politics,” in
which we have been enmeshed for thousands of years, is finally drawing to a
close. I for one won’t be sad to see it go.
A species split
Now, it’s time to unveil my diagnosis of the root of the problems
we suffer today. At first, it may seem to many people an outlandish idea, even
a crackpot one. But I hope that all my readers will bear with me, as I present more
and more evidence for my proposition.
I posit that the human species has, over the course of
several thousand years, divided into two sub-species. This idea is not original
with me. Indeed, Jason Alexander, from whom I got the original blueprint for my
historical perspective, wrote in one of his pamphlets, way back in 1990, of a “species
separation on the order of the Neanderthal extinction.” I am now certain that he
was right. But I can claim an advantage over him. For I have managed to
identify, explicitly, the nature of the split, and the dividing line along
which it has taken place.
Economic means versus political means
I wrote earlier about Franz Oppenheimer’s famous distinction
between the economic means and the political means. I will quote from his book The
State (English translation 1922). “There are two fundamentally opposed
means whereby man, requiring sustenance, is impelled to obtain the necessary
means for satisfying his desires. These are work and robbery, one’s own labor
and the forcible appropriation of the labor of others… I propose in the
following discussion to call one’s own labor and the equivalent exchange of
one’s own labor for the labor of others, the economic means for the
satisfaction of needs, while the unrequited appropriation of the labor of
others will be called the political means.”
Oppenheimer also wrote: “All world history, from primitive
times up to our own civilization, presents a single phase, a contest namely
between the economic and the political means.” And: “The state is an
organization of the political means.” He knew what was going on!
John Locke’s view
I will remind you, also, of the word John Locke used to
describe those, against whose crimes and predations governments, supposedly, exist
to defend us. He called them degenerate; a word which had then, and
still has, the meaning of “no longer of their kind.” He described them as
“varying from the right rule of reason, whereby a man so far becomes degenerate,
and declares himself to quit the principles of human nature and to be a noxious
creature.”
He says also, of the individual under the law of Nature: “By
which law, common to them all, he and all the rest of mankind are one
community, make up one society distinct from all other creatures.” And “were it
not for the corruption and viciousness of degenerate men, there would be… no
necessity that men should separate from this great and natural community, and
associate into lesser combinations.” So, if it hadn’t been for these degenerates
among us, we wouldn’t ever have needed political societies, or political governments.
Locke, too, understood what was going on. These degenerates had
become estranged from us human beings. Even back then, more than three centuries
ago. And they have only got worse since then. They are no longer human, but
noxious creatures. Parasites, pests or both.
Economic species versus political species
Here is the root of the difference between the two sub-species.
One, which I will call the economic species or economic
animal, by its nature uses Oppenheimer’s economic means to interact with
others. I also call us simply human beings, or sometimes human beings
worth the name. The preferred habitat of our species is one in which every human
individual has the maximum chance to flourish, and to become happy and prosperous.
Our natural habitat is the economic free market, supported by honest systems that
maintain peace, uphold human rights and freedoms, and deliver objective,
individual justice for all.
The other, the political species, political animal
or just politicals, by its nature uses Oppenheimer’s political means to
rob or to harm others. Their preferred habitat is in positions of power and
influence, direct or indirect, in a political state. Or in some other top-down organization,
such as religious, military or big-company hierarchies, or organized criminal or
terrorist gangs, or political activist groups. Their natural habitat is one
that enables them to take resources from others, and to use them for their own
purposes, or to cause harm to innocent people, or both.
The dividing line, the blade that divides us, the
economic species, from them, the political species, I dub Oppenheimer’s
Razor. We, by our nature, use the economic means in order to get our
needs satisfied. They use the political means. The two species are
physically very similar, even being able to mate with each other. But mentally,
and in preferred habitat and means of obtaining sustenance, the two are very
different. Over the centuries, and in the last few decades in particular, the
two species have diverged so far, that the political species has now become actively
parasitical on, and hostile and pestilent towards, the economic species. And we,
in our turn, are starting to push back against the predations and provocations
by our enemies.
Evidence from biology
There is biological evidence that new species, of birds
at least, can split off from a parent species in only a few generations. Here
is an example: [[14]].
Given long enough, such birds can even develop different beak shapes, adapted
to their available food sources. But mental changes, such as song and mating
behaviour, can change much faster.
Is it conceivable that, over the five thousand and more
years the political state has been in existence, those on top of the governmental
apparatus may have differentiated in their behaviour from those subjected to it?
I think it is more than conceivable. Five thousand years is around 200
generations, long enough for significant changes to take place.
Evidence from history
That political power and influence has a tendency to become
hereditary is obvious. A very fervent Royalist, and a courtier of Charles II in
the 17th century, was Sir Winston Churchill (1620-1688). Prime
minister Winston Churchill (1874-1965) was directly descended from him. Moreover,
his daughter Arabella was a mistress of James II, and a direct ancestor of
Diana Spencer, former princess of Wales. Even in the USA, a supposed republic, there
are political “dynasties.” Roosevelts, Kennedys, Clintons, Bushes, to name but
four. It happens elsewhere, too. And I’m not the only one to have noticed this
tendency: [[15]].
It's worth noting also that some religions have, or have had,
hereditary priestly castes. And despite the Catholic church not having such a
caste, the Borgia family produced three popes, the Contis four (and an
antipope!) and the Medicis four. It does look as though power and influence do
tend to breed power and influence, sometimes over considerable periods of time.
Behaviour and thinking
But perhaps the strongest evidence for a species split comes
from examining the behaviour patterns of those on both sides of the dividing
line, and trying to gauge the thinking behind them. As a tool for doing this, I
put forward four questions to be answered for each:
1.
What do they (or we) promote as values and/or virtues?
2.
What behaviours do they (or we) tend to display?
3.
What do they (or we) seem to hate?
4.
What do they (or we) seem to be afraid of?
I shall answer these questions in order. In each case, I
will assess the human species first, and the political species second.
Values and virtues
Historically, the ideas of virtues and values have been
closely connected. But in recent times, a distinction has grown up between the
two. Virtues are moral standards which are considered desirable. Values are practical
goals or ideals, which are considered desirable. So, virtues are ethical ideas,
while values are closer to political ones.
Each individual evolves, over time, his or her own
perceptions of virtues and values. And each individual prefers to associate
with those who, more or less, share their own perceptions.
Human virtues and values
We human beings, the economic species, tend to think ethically;
that is, about what is right and wrong. Thus, we think primarily in terms of
virtues, rather than values. But whatever each of us sees as a virtue, we
strive to live up to, and so to make into one of our values.
Our virtues and values vary in detail from individual to
individual. Despite this, many of us think along the same lines; we value
different variations on a similar theme. Some among us value highly the four
cardinal virtues put forward by Aristotle, and later adopted by Christianity:
prudence, justice, temperance and courage. Others add one or more of the other
virtues in his list: self-discipline, moderation, modesty, humility, generosity,
friendliness, truthfulness, honesty. Yet others may have formed an attachment
to some particular virtue or set of virtues, which they consider to be worthy
of honour.
My own lists of virtues and values
I myself look at ethics more in terms of respect for others’
rights than of virtuous behaviour. Despite this, I have given my own list of
virtues: honesty, independence, truthfulness, responsibility, integrity, mutual
tolerance, mutual good faith. To which, I will add two more: conscience and co-operation.
One important note regarding mutual tolerance. Sometimes, if
the impact of someone’s actions on us are negative but small, it may be
sensible, rather than try to pursue them and get them to stop those actions, is
to accept these effects, while discounting them against any small negative
effects your actions may have on them. An example I have used in the past is:
“I’ll accept a reasonable amount of noise from your ghetto-blaster (or
motor-bike), if you’ll accept a reasonable amount of exhaust from my car in
return.” I call this attitude “civilized tolerance,” and it is a key value for
human beings worth the name.
The six ethical and organizational principles, which I gave
in the second essay of this set, can also be looked at as
six of my primary values: ethical equality, honesty and integrity, respect for
rights, judgement by behaviour, voluntary society, common-sense justice.
I gave another list of my major virtues and values in
obligation form. Obligations back-to-back with rights; you have a right, when
everyone around you follows the corresponding obligation(s). Here is my list: “Be
peaceful. Seek the facts, and tell the truth. Be honest. Strive always to
behave with justice, integrity and good faith. Be tolerant of those who are
tolerant towards you. Respect the rights and freedoms of those who respect your
equal rights and freedoms. Don’t interfere in other people’s business without a
very good, objective reason. And take responsibility for the effects of your
voluntary actions on others.” To which, I will now add: Practise what you
preach.
I will also add here John Locke’s description of the natural law
for human beings: “Being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm
another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.”
Then there is a list, which I have given many times, of what
I call “Enlightenment values.” I make no apologies for repeating it once more.
“The use and celebration of human reason. Rational inquiry, and the pursuit of
science. Greater tolerance in religion. Individual liberty and independence;
freedom of thought and action. The pursuit of happiness. Natural rights,
natural equality of all human beings, and human dignity. The idea that society
exists for the individual, not the individual for society. Constitutional
government, for the benefit of, and with the consent of, the governed. The rule
of law; that is, those with government power, such as lawmakers, law
enforcement officials and judges, should have to obey the same rules as
everyone else. An ideal of justice which, per Kant, allows that ‘the
freedom of the will of each can coexist together with the freedom of everyone
in accordance with a universal law.’ A desire for human progress, and a
rational optimism for the future.” These are the values, which have enabled us
to build human industrial civilization over more than 250 years.
The political species’ values
The political species today, it seems, think more in terms
of values than of virtues. They think in political terms, of desired goals and “the
art of the possible,” rather than in terms of ethics, what is right and
virtuous, or wrong and despicable. That means that they will often seek to
enforce their own values on others, even against the values and the wills of
those others. And they are happy to use threats of violence, or even actual
violence, to do so. Tolerance of others, when those others’ desires go against
their agendas, is no part of their value system.
“Sustainability” (ability to endure into the future) seems
to them to be a prime value today. Although it is ironic that, as shown recently
in Sri Lanka, policies made in the name of sustainability have proved not to be
sustainable. They seem to value re-cycling, to the point where it becomes
almost a religion. “Safety” and “security” are also value buzz-words they like
to use frequently; even when they come at a high cost in human rights, freedoms
or dignity. They also claim to value “health.” But this seems to be little more
than a ruse to scapegoat people like the obese, who don’t match criteria the
politicals perceive as ideal; or to “justify” bad policies like compulsory
COVID vaccination.
They value “low impact” or “low footprint” on the world
outside. Which they like to enforce through ever-tightening, collective “targets”
and “limits.” And economically, they value “zero growth” or even “de-growth.” These
are some of the “values,” if you will pardon the scare quotes, of the fifth
counter-revolution, that seeks to suppress our rights, freedoms, economy,
prosperity, and much else. These dubious “values” are ultra-conservative. They
are opposed to change of any kind to the status quo, except when it pushes
us human beings down harder under the boot of oppression. As George Orwell put
it, they want to arrest progress and freeze history at a certain moment.
The one kind of change they do seem interested in is “transformation.” They want to “transform societies” into something that is quite the opposite of any civilization worth the name. And they want to “nudge” and “transform” us human beings into something quite foreign to humanity. Telling us, for example, that “we’ll own nothing, and we’ll be happy.”
Then there are “values,” also deserving of scare quotes, which they have inherited from the fourth counter-revolution. These are collectivism, and political ideologies derived from it, such as socialism, conservatism, communism, nationalism and fascism. And now, their modern counterparts, regionalism (such as the EU), globalism and internationalism.
They seem to see politics and “unity” as good things, too. They like mantras such as “we’re all in this together.” But they usually leave it unsaid – and often unclear – exactly who “we” are. A nation? A state? A political party? Their own “in crowd?”
They seem to think that “the planet,” wildlife, and “protection
for habitats and ecosystems” are more deserving of concern than human beings. Yet
no lion or giraffe, for example, would ever put the interests of another species
ahead of the interests of its own! Raising the question, are those that put
“higher causes” above human beings, actually human beings?
Further, they value something they call “nature,” but they
do not value human nature. They say we should live in harmony with
nature; but they do not seem to appreciate that a human being, who lives in
harmony with human nature, is already living in harmony with nature.
Some of them have gone so far as to castigate human beings as a “blight on the
planet!” (To which my usual response is, “Yes, you’re right. You’re a
blight on the planet.”)
Not far different is their meme that “there are too many of
us.” This seems to mean that, for their tastes, there are too many human beings
on our planet. Now, I find that meme highly debatable. For more human beings
means more productive people, and potentially bigger markets for other
productive people. I do worry, though, that this meme may be tied in with their
green policies to disrupt farming, as in Sri Lanka and the Netherlands. Anyone
that wants to make food scarcer and more expensive for other people is, without
doubt, a pest.
It is, however, true that some parts of the world – big
cities – are sufficiently densely populated to be uncomfortable. We should,
perhaps, spread ourselves out a bit more; but this will require a system under
which land ownership is not concentrated predominantly in the hands of a small élite. In any case, my
response to “there are too many of us” is similar to the above. “Yes, you’re
right; there are too many of you!”
They also seem to think that women are superior to men, and
indigenous cultures to Western industrial ones. Moreover, they have bizarre ideas
of “equality” and “justice,” both of which seem to mean just what they want
them to mean, and yet which they want to use to “justify” their bad political
policies.
In summary, I find that the “values” professed by the
political species seem rather strange, and many of them are very unpleasant and
anti-human.
How we human beings behave
No human being is perfect. All of us have bad moments occasionally,
particularly when we are under attack, or feel threatened. But we learn, over
time, how to minimize the negative effects on others of our mistakes and our
losses of self-control.
We avoid, wherever we can, causing harm to our fellow human
beings. Indeed, no human being worth the name, in his or her right mind, would
ever intentionally harm another human being without good and provable reason.
Moreover, when we do cause unjust harm to a human being, we feel a
responsibility to compensate them if we possibly can. And, while all life
involves taking risks of one kind or another, we try to avoid imposing
unreasonable risks on others. We aim, as far as we can, to take only good
risks.
As to positives, we strive to behave in ways that are
natural to human beings. We try to behave convivially, that is, in ways that
make us fit to be lived with. That said, each of us is an individual; and each
of us must strive to live our own life in our own way.
We are naturally peaceful, truthful, honest, straightforward
and respectful of the rights and freedoms of our fellow human beings. We try to
act in good faith. If we do preach to others about some matter, we always strive
to practise ourselves whatever it is that we preach for others. We strive to be
economically productive, and not to let ourselves become a drain on others. We
aim to solve problems, rather than creating or amplifying problems. We aim to
be constructive, rather than destructive.
We do not seek to use politics, either to enrich ourselves
or our friends, or unjustly to harm anyone. If we do take any part in politics,
we do so only in self-defence, or in seeking justice, or perhaps in a genuine
and honest attempt to make the world a better place for all human beings worth
the name.
How the political species behave
The political species, in complete contrast, tend to behave
in ways that reflect the traits of the political state, to whose continued
existence and power they are so closely wedded. Not all of them, it is fair to
say, necessarily show all of these traits. But virtually all of them show some of
them, at least. And many show an increasing tendency with time towards
behaviours that are more and more unethical, and less and less respectful of
rights and freedoms.
The political species behave arrogantly; they think they
have a right to tell other people what to do. Many of them seem to have a
strong, innate desire to control other people. And they are inconsiderate; they
want to control people, regardless of what their victims think or want.
They are very often intolerant, too. For example, in their
desire to force us to reduce emissions of some gas they consider “bad” again
and again towards zero. Rather than considering the question: What would be the
optimal level of these emissions, at which we could live together without
unreasonably impinging on each other’s lives? The political species have no
idea at all of what I call “civilized tolerance.”
They like to obstruct our progress, and to meddle in our
lives. They are often reckless, and willing to subject us to risks, from which they
may get gains, but we do not. They behave with envy and hatred. They
particularly envy and hate those among us human beings, who are good at what we
do. They hate us for our virtues.
They show no concern for the effects of their actions on
others, and do not seem to care about the costs they impose on their victims. They
like to move the goalposts. And they are remorseless.
They are greedy; they think they have an entitlement to
resources which rightly belong to other people. They take as much from others
as they think they can get away with, and always want more. They are parasites
on us human beings. Moreover, they often waste the resources they take. Or they
use the resources to attack innocent people, and cause harm, pain or
inconvenience to them. Those that do these things behave towards us human
beings as pests.
They are profoundly dishonest. They will lie, or evade
important questions, as readily as tell the truth. They easily become corrupt,
or act in bad faith. They like to create problems where none exist, or to scare
people, or to paint matters as worse than they are. They will use tricks to
mislead people, or to cover up, hide or obfuscate the facts. They seek to
suppress the truth, and often deny facts and reality when the facts do not
support their agendas. They bullshit. They seek to instil false guilt in people
who are innocent of any real wrongdoing.
They are untrustworthy. They are often selfish. They are
frequently aggressive or destructive. They are relentless. And they seek to
evade responsibility for the effects of their actions on others.
They are very often hypocrites. They do not even attempt to
practise what they preach. They want to force others to make sacrifices, yet
are not willing to make any of those sacrifices themselves.
Moreover, they like to project their own failings on to
others. For example, they call those of us, who do not accept the green
accusations, “deniers.” When they are the ones that are denying reality!
They call humans a “blight on the planet,” when it is they themselves that are
the blight. And they smear us as bad people, whereas it is they themselves that
are bad.
Hatreds and fears
To work out what or who an individual hates or fears is not
always easy. It requires first observing their behaviour, then trying to assess
their state of mind.
But there is a general relation between values (or virtues)
and hatreds, which can help with this process. For whatever or whoever
obstructs one of your values, or prevents you from putting into practice one of
your virtues, is a good candidate for displeasure or worse. And your fears may
well include the consequences of the obstructions, and the prospect of more.
What we human beings hate
Generally, what we human beings tend to hate are: Things
that cause us pain, whether physical, mental or financial. Things that restrict
us from living our lives to the full. And those individuals and organizations that
cause us pain, or lay on us restrictions. One thing we hate very strongly,
perhaps more strongly than anything else, is being treated unjustly.
We feel these hatreds most strongly when we as individuals
are the victims; but we also feel them at second hand, when our fellow human
beings are the sufferers.
We tend to hate behaviours like those the politicals show
towards us. And, over time, we come to feel hatred and contempt for those that
practise these behaviours. So, those that do these things to us become our
enemies.
What the political species hate
The political species’ hatreds, so it seems, are different
in kind from ours. They like to pick on, and target, scapegoats. Shown, for
example, by the oppression of Jews and other racial or religious groups in very
many places and times, or of the kulaks by Stalin, or of Cambodian city
dwellers and middle classes by Pol Pot. They also hate anyone that tries to
resist their schemes, or to speak up against them. And often, they hate us
human beings for our virtues.
One of the political species’ main desires today is to
suppress our economy. So, it isn’t surprising that a lot of the hatreds they
show are in the economic area. They hate industry. I don’t just mean industry
in the sense of making goods in factories, but in a more general sense of being
industrious. They seem to have a hatred for people who are more than
averagely productive, or who develop their talents to the full. I wonder
whether this may be, partly at least, due to envy? For most politicals are not,
as individuals, economically productive. They also tend to hate excellence, and
people who perform excellently. You can see this in the school playground,
where bullies often target the brightest children.
As far as the rewards of industry are concerned, the
political species hate earned success, and the pleasures which can flow from
that success. They don’t object to prosperity in itself, since they want it for
themselves; it is earned prosperity that they hate. For this reason,
they dislike the free market, and want to regulate it to benefit themselves and
their mates.
Their attitudes to “capitalism” and “profits” are rather
odd. They condemn capitalism as greedy, exploitative and leading to inequality.
Yet at the same time, they are happy when they themselves, or their cronies,
become rich by exploiting the capitalist system. And, while they often like to
use “profit” as a pejorative, they don’t mind profits at all when they accrue
to them. They pooh-pooh earned profit, but they think profiteering is just
fine.
Being by their nature collectivist, the political species
show a very strong hatred of individuality and independence, and of those who
possess these traits. If you wonder why they have used IR35 to hammer people as
diverse as software consultants and lorry drivers, it is down to their hatred
of independent people. And their witch-hunt against our cars, I think, is also
driven at its roots by their hatred of independence and individuality. They
hate us for wanting to be in control over when, where and how we travel.
They hate small business people, too; as shown for example
by draconian COVID-19 restrictions, which hit small businesses harder than
anyone else. More generally, they want to suppress or destroy the habitat which
we human beings need in order to flourish; peace, justice, human rights, and
freedom of choice and action.
Their ultra-conservatism leads them to be against all change,
unless it is controlled by them. It leads them to esteem static values like “safety,”
“security” and “sustainability,” over and above dynamism, the desire for new
discoveries, and the progress which is natural to human beings. It also leads
them to an all but worshipping view of the political state, the bulwark of the
existing order. And it leads them to seek to use heavy taxes, bad laws and wars
as means towards promoting their own interests, and harming those they choose
as their scapegoats.
Further, in order to maintain the doublethink that underlies
their world-view, they have to deny reality. They hate objectivity, and people
who demand evidence for their claims. They hate, and deny, facts which
contradict their narratives; while at the same time labelling those, who
present these facts, as “deniers,” “disinformers” or worse. And they seek to
pervert science into a tool to “justify” their narratives, while suppressing
honest, objective science. Instead of formulating evidence-based policy, they
like to fabricate policy-based evidence.
In short, the political species hate the very values which
make us human beings, such as reason, independence, individual freedom and economic
productivity. They hate us for our virtues. They hate humanity.
What we human beings fear
We human beings tend to fear, for the most part, much the
same things that we hate. Pain of various kinds, impositions, restrictions.
But some of our worst fears – or, at least, of mine – are
for the future we face, if there is not radical change in the political system
very soon. Widespread poverty, caused by hateful political policies. Loss of yet
more human rights and freedoms, leading to inability to live our lives with the
dignity appropriate to human beings. Innocent people being singled out for
mistreatment or punishment.
But there are also fears about what we will need to do in
order to bring about the radical change we need. Will we need to build, and to take
part in, massive civil disobedience? Will we need to prepare ourselves against
physical or financial attacks, and to defend against those attacks? Will matters
escalate so far as to reach civil war of the people against the politicals?
In the short term, the future looks bleak. Yet, if we are to
get through this perilous time into the better world we deserve, we have to
make change – radical change – for the better.
Three things, at least, we must never give up on. One, we
must never lose hope. As Abraham Lincoln put it, quoting an ancient sage:
“This, too, shall pass away.” Two, our enemies have tried, and are trying, to
destroy our natural habitat. We should, therefore, have no qualms at all about
destroying their preferred habitat, the state and its politics. They
don’t care about our environment; so, we should neither feel nor show
any concern for theirs. And third, we must never let even a single one of our
enemies get away with anything.
What the political species fear
The political species themselves, of course, have their own
fears. I do not have direct access to their minds; so, I have to infer what
they fear from how they behave and what they say.
They fear, I think, a change in the climate. By this, I
don’t mean a change in the average of global weather. I think they fear,
perhaps more than anything else, a change in the mental climate among
human beings. I think such a change already began, decades ago. Around the mid-1990s,
I first sensed a whiff of mental “sea-change,” which I perceived as “things can
be thought now, which could not have been thought before.” I wonder if our
enemies fear such a change? That might explain why “climate change” is such a
big deal to them, and why they are so completely blind to the fact that it
isn’t a problem in reality.
I also think they fear financial collapse. In particular,
financial collapse of the state. The state is a parasite and a pest; it
cannot create wealth, only feed off it and misuse it. Might they have divined,
perhaps, that the political system, on which their entire privileged, parasitic
way of life depends, is not sustainable? That the state is, ethically, already
bankrupt; and perilously close to financial bankruptcy, too? And that, on its
present course, it will soon fail? Such a sense of imminent bankruptcy could
easily explain why so much that states and governments do today is directed
towards getting in more, more, and more “revenue” for their state.
If you wonder why successive UK governments have encouraged
huge numbers of immigrants, enough to raise the population by 20 per cent in 20
years, might it be, perhaps, to secure a tax base for the future, as the
population continues to age? If you wonder why they tax us more and more harshly,
and for more and more dubious “reasons,” might it be because they fear that the state is so over-stretched, that the next economic recession may take it, and so the entire political order,
with it?
Another fear they seem to have, closely related to the
“climate change” one, is fear of the truth coming out. The élites, so it seems, feel
uncomfortable and insecure. When questioned, they can’t, or won’t, respond with
straight answers. When invited to debate, they ignore or refuse the invitation.
When criticized or caught out, they never take in the criticism, never correct
their story, and never admit they were wrong. Do they feel that allowing free
speech and free debate will undermine their positions? Could this be the
motivation, not only for the “counter-disinformation unit” and the draconian
“on-line safety” bill, but also for the machinations against Andrew Bridgen MP?
It is well said that “there is no smoke without fire.” There
are now so many skeletons in the political species’ closet, that discovery is
inevitable if they continue to allow truths to be spread. And as and when these
skeletal truths come out in a manner sufficiently detailed and credible to
persuade very many people, then our enemies the political species will be seen
as the degenerates, the parasites and pests, that they are. That, surely, is
something they will want to do almost anything to avoid. After all, those that, again and again, can’t, or won’t, behave as human beings cannot reasonably expect to be treated
as human beings.
But I’ve left the most fascinating question of all till
last. It’s plain that there is no substance at all to our enemies’ claims of
humans causing “a sixth mass extinction,” or anything like it. So, why are they
so concerned about species extinction? And why do they keep on
telling us that non-problems like “climate change” are existential? Why
does it look as if, from their point of view, just about everything is a
catastrophe? Could it be, that there really is a crisis, not in the
weather or the climate, but inside our enemies’ minds? Could it be, that they
already know that they have diverged from humanity, on to a path that is
rapidly coming to a dead end?
Could their green agendas and their push to destroy our
industrial civilization be driven, perhaps, by more than just hatred of
humanity and of the economic means? Could the political species, perhaps, have become aware that if they
allow us to create a free, just world without states or politics, they
will be doomed to go the same way as the Neanderthals? For you can’t build any worthwhile
civilization out of individuals, like the politicals, that are naturally
dishonest towards others.
I think they’re scared. I think they really are
scared. It looks to me as if they fear change in the mental climate. They fear the
future. They fear the truth. And they fear us.
The expansion of the political species
In recent decades, the number of individuals showing the
behaviour traits of the political species has grown greatly. It looks as if the
political species have set out, quite deliberately, to attract to their way of
life as many susceptible individuals as they can.
Today, the political species are not just in evidence in
parliaments, government bureaucracies and “the corridors of power.” They do,
however, include all the expected suspects. They include the great majority of politicians.
Many government employees. The dishonest among police and soldiers. Most of the
political establishment, and those that are well connected with it. And many in
church hierarchies, too; let’s not forget that institutional religion and the
church were the products of our enemies’ second counter-revolution, just as politics and the state were the products of the first.
The malign influence of the political species has also
extended to: Advisors, influencers and officials, both in government and in
“non-governmental organizations.” Technocrats and other “experts.” Quangos,
“public-private initiatives,” and quaintly named “civil society organizations.”
The financial and big-business élites,
including many greedy or politicized company bosses. Big Pharma, Big Green, Big
Tech. Much of the mainstream media. Many academics. Activists of many different
hues. And rich individuals and “celebrities” with their own political goals, or
with narcissistic tendencies, or both.
With hindsight, I find it not so surprising that the
politicals have managed to corrupt big business. For several of the
Machiavellian and psychopathic traits, that I listed above, are also in
evidence among many of those at the top of larger businesses. It is well known
that you often find psychopaths, not just in prisons, but also in boardrooms.
And Machiavellian behaviours seem to be second nature to many politicians and
other government officials.
Looking back through my life, I have witnessed some of these
corruptions at first hand. By the mid-1980s, the politicking going on inside
big companies was obvious. I first experienced it at a client in the financial
sector, and it wasn’t nice. By the early 1990s, when doing bid management for a
computer systems company, I encountered attitudes and behaviours in potential
client companies, which didn’t seem to make commercial, or any other kind of,
sense. I know now that was the visible side of politicking and corruption.
The politicals have been able to extend their influence, and
to corrupt people who were not originally part of the establishment, by a
variety of means. By carrots – also known as crossing palms with silver, that
silver having been taken from taxpayers. By sticks – by threatening people,
particularly company bosses, with bad consequences if they fail to fall in line
with the goals of the politicals. And by propaganda – by overwhelming the minds
of those who are not mentally strong enough to resist corruption. As a result,
there is a far higher proportion of parasites and pests among the political
élites, and among those that associate with them, than there are in the
population as a whole.
On top of all these, there is the globalist or
internationalist wing of the political species. You will find many parasites
and pests in the United Nations and its agencies. In the European Union and its
hangers-on. In the World Bank, World Economic Forum and International Monetary
Fund. And in other globalist and internationalist organizations, too. Such as
the World Wildlife Fund, World Business Council for Sustainable Development,
World Health Organization, World Meteorological Organization, and many more.
All this being said, though, the political species in the
world today forms only a small fraction of the total world population. We human
beings still outnumber them by a factor of many to one. That should, I hope,
prove decisive in the end.
Closing arguments
To sum up my evidence. There are significant differences
between the virtues and values, behaviour traits, and apparent hatreds and
fears of human beings and of politicals.
Virtues and values
Human beings tend to think in terms of moral goals or
virtues, whereas politicals favour values, and the political goals associated
with them. Human beings seek to try to live their virtues, and turn them into
values; but politicals seek to impose their values on others.
Behaviours
Human beings tend to be naturally peaceful, truthful, honest,
straightforward and respectful of the rights of other human beings. We also
strive to act in good faith. The great majority of human beings worth the name
are also prepared to “live and let live” in their dealings with their fellows,
and many actually manage to live up to this standard in practice.
In complete contrast, politicals often behave very badly
towards others. They indulge in lies, dishonesty, deception, arrogance,
hypocrisy, irresponsibility, evasion of accountability, aggression,
recklessness towards others, intolerance, bad faith, and violations of human
rights and freedoms.
Hatreds
Human beings tend to hate most of all those things and
individuals – including politicals and their machinations – that cause harm to
themselves, or to their fellow human beings.
The political species, on the other hand, like to pick on
scapegoats, and to do hateful things to them. They hate change, unless they are
in control of it. They hate facts, truth and objectivity. They hate industry,
excellence, earned success, individuality and independence. They hate us for
our virtues. They hate humanity.
Fears
We human beings, broadly, fear the same things we hate.
Including the effects of the policies the politicals have imposed on us, are
imposing on us, and are seeking to impose on us in the future.
Politicals, on the other hand, fear “climate change,” of
whatever kind. They fear that the state that succours them may collapse,
perhaps financially, perhaps for other reasons. They fear the truth coming out
into the open. And they seem to fear “existential” threats, and even “extinction!”
Traitors to humanity
For myself, I have come to see our enemies, the political
species, as nothing less than traitors to humanity.
Those that promote, actively support, help to make, or voluntarily
co-operate with bad and unjust political policies, such as “net zero,” are
traitors to human civilization and prosperity. And those that promote, support,
carry out or condone violations of the human rights of innocent people,
including re-distributory or confiscatory taxation, are traitors to humanity as
a whole. We have no more reason to feel, or to show, concern or compassion for
them, than Jews would have had to show the same for nazis. They deserve to be
kicked out of human civilization, and denied all its benefits.
Further, those that put their political ideology, or their particular
brand of religion, or the planet, or “nature,” above the interests of human
beings, are traitors to the human species. They are not fit to be accepted into
any community of human beings worth the name.
To sum up my thesis
There is, in my mind, no doubt at all that the human
species has now split into two sub-species, with two completely different sets
of natural behaviours. One sub-species naturally uses Franz Oppenheimer’s
economic means, the equivalent exchange of one’s own labour for the labour of
others. This species is us, the human beings worth the name.
The other sub-species, by its nature, uses the political
means, the unrequited appropriation of the labour of others. They are the
parasites and pests, that cause virtually all the troubles in the world. The
parasites use political power to enrich themselves and their cronies. The pests
use political power to hurt people they don’t like. That species, the political
species, is them.
The behaviours of the political species can be summarized in
one word: Machiavellian. Their habits check many of the boxes generally
associated with psychopaths. Lies and half-truths, dishonesty, deception,
arrogance, hypocrisy, irresponsibility, evasion of accountability, aggression,
recklessness towards others, intolerance, bad faith, and violations of human
rights and freedoms. In contrast, we human beings are naturally peaceful,
truthful, honest, straightforward and respectful of the rights and freedoms of
our fellow human beings.
The dividing line between the two, I call Oppenheimer’s
Razor. One species, human beings worth the name, are economic animals. The other
species, the parasites and pests, are political animals. Human beings are
naturally honest, and strive to act in good faith. The political species are
naturally dishonest, and very often act in bad faith. The two can no longer be
regarded as a single species. To mis-quote George Orwell: “humans good,
politicals bad!”
Our enemies have been the beneficiaries of a bad political system,
that instead of favouring honest, productive human beings, has favoured the
most dishonest and corrupt. Today, they are doing everything in their power to
keep this system going, at the expense of, and to the hurt of, all human beings
worth the name. We must bring down the politicals, and the system that supports
them, before they succeed in bringing us down to their level.
I rest my case, dear readers.
Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad
It does seem to me that many of our enemies have left their
senses. I am reminded of the old saw “Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they
first make mad,” anticipated by Sophocles in the form: “evil appears as good in
the minds of those whom god leads to destruction.”
Examples of their madnesses include: The perversion of the natural human urge to take control of our surroundings, into an un-natural urge to control us human beings. The sheer recklessness and unfeasibility of projects like Net Zero. The increasing levels of cover-up, in order to avoid doing any objective cost-benefit or risk-benefit analysis on such projects. The arrogant perversion of the precautionary principle into a tool for tyranny. The whitewashing of real wrongdoings, as in the Climategate inquiries. The level of unreasoning fear shown in some of their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The constant bombardment with lies and scares. The constant moving of goalposts. The widespread violations of basic human rights, such as privacy and freedom of speech. The arrogant and hypocritical breaking by government of laws they themselves made. And the suppression and “cancelling” of dissenting voices; suggesting that, like the Catholic church with Galileo, they are unable to provide adequate answers to the dissenters’ arguments.
Now, I am no believer in gods, either singular or plural.
And yet, this old saw does provide me with some reasons for optimism, and even
hope. If our enemies are as sick in their minds and as desperate as I suspect
they may be, then our path to a better future may turn out to be quite a lot easier
than it appears at first sight.
How to make that happen? And where do we go from there? As Michael Ende has put it: “But that is another story and shall be told another time.”
[[2]]
https://libertarianism.uk/2021/11/13/time-to-take-back-our-civilization-from-the-parasites-and-pests/
[[3]]
https://libertarianism.uk/2022/12/17/time-to-take-back-our-civilization-from-the-parasites-and-pests-part-two/
[[4]]
https://libertarianism.uk/2023/01/18/time-to-take-back-our-civilization-from-the-parasites-and-pests-part-three-my-liberty-philosophy/
[[5]]
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/04/12/climate-crisis-what-climate-crisis-part-two-where-we-are-in-the-uk-today/
[[6]]
https://libertarianism.uk/2023/04/14/climate-crisis-what-climate-crisis-part-four-the-back-story-since-1992/
[[7]]
https://libertarianism.uk/2023/04/15/climate-crisis-what-climate-crisis-part-five-the-case-of-the-missing-cost-benefit-analysis/
[[8]]
https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2022-12-13/debates/EAB2E8A2-A721-47DD-A79C-4EFD10F10C2D/VaccinesPotentialHarms
[[9]]
https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Ministry-of-Truth-Big-Brother-Watch-290123.pdf
[[10]]
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/09/covid-disinformation-unit-hourly-tech-lockdown-dissent/
[[11]]
https://www.gbnews.com/politics/molly-kingsley-government-covid-tracking-counter-disinformation-unit
[[12]]
https://www.bcs.org/articles-opinion-and-research/the-online-safety-bill-where-are-we-as-the-bill-reaches-the-lords/
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