Starving the Monkeys: Fight Back Smarter

by Tom Baugh

  I hear around me complaints of the tax system and the tax authorities. Or complaints about judicial activism. Or complaints about overzealous taser-wielding police. Or about the voluntary violation of property rights via community restrictions, or involuntary violation of property rights via zoning. I hear the incredulity of some who think that only if this politician or that were informed of truth that somehow they would see the light and then make the right decisions.

  Again, nothing could be farther from the truth. There is no injustice whatsoever which can be perpetrated in a representative republic which is not the direct intent of the electorate.

  It is that simple. The injustices and waste and corruption we perceive around us is merely the darkness of ourselves reflected back to us. Each time an arch-liberal wishes to force us to recycle he weakens the liberty of each of us. Or when he wishes to force us to pay a check to that person. Or to bail out this union. Or to worship that group of citizens.

  Similarly, each time an arch-conservative wishes to force us to bail out that company he contributes to the reduction of liberty of us all. Or when he wishes to force us to not smoke that plant nor cultivate that other plant. Or to limit our rights to be friends, or more, with whomever we choose. Or seeks legislation to enforce any sort of niceness which goes the slightest bit beyond the protection of property or persons from fraud or force.

  This doesn't mean that there aren't conspiracies of those who seek to manipulate market forces through regulations or bailouts. Or who seek to stir our passions into taking or demanding action against our best interest. These things surely exist, to deny them would be to deny that monkeys behave in their monkey way. But without hundreds of millions of gullible citizens, none of these conspiracies could have even the least effect.

  Curiously, the founding fathers themselves sowed the seeds of our destruction. The Constitution, as written, contained a single fatal flaw which ensured that it would ultimately be shredded by the progressively encroaching forces of niceness which are gradually consuming us all today. To find this flaw, read the letters among the key authors of that document.

  Reading Assignment

  The Federalist Papers by Hamilton, Madison and Jay The miracle that was our Constitution, and from which all our previous liberty sprang, is the genius of federalism. Very few people today, products of a public education administered by predominately Communists, can give a coherent definition of what federalism means. Simply put, it is the division of power between the levels of government, with the various states ruling generally supreme over the national. And no individual state or collusion of states elevated above any others.

  The national government, as originally framed, was supreme in only a few key areas. These included only common defense and the leveling of the playing field of interstate commerce. All other powers not specifically given to the national government was to be reserved for the states, or the people, meaning you and me.

  Here are some examples of federalism in action. Each prospective state, prior to applying for statehood, must implement both a legislative body and a chief executive, which we call Governor by convention. For example, this office could just as easily be called "Der Fuehrer," if the founders of a state so chose. After all, this word only means "the leader" or "the guide" in German. Only socialists, another name for collectivists, have given this choice a bad rap.

  The reason for this specific form of government in the various states is that both of these branches have specific responsibilities, at the national level. For example, should a senator's seat be vacated, it is the sole responsibility of the state to replace that senator, with the legislature and the governor having clearly defined roles in this process.

  Similarly, the President is chosen by electors selected by any means suitable to the legislature of each state, even by lottery or count of freckles if they could get re-elected by doing so. Until the Seventeenth Amendment, so were the senators chosen by the legislatures.

  Also, an amendment to the Constitution can be proposed by agreement of two-thirds of the states. It takes agreement of three-fourths of the states to implement these proposals as actual amendments. Which means that the states get to write the rules.

  Not only get to write the rules. States, and specifically their legislatures, are required to write the rules. And yet state legislators are often seen as lackeys of the national government. Or wannabees to national office. Instead of the bulwark of power and liberty which they are meant to be. Effectively, then, the original framing of the Constitution was to leave the states in charge of selection of key individuals in the national government. Only the members of the House of Representatives were to be directly elected. And then elected only by a highly qualified, proven productive electorate, instead of the teeming masses. These teeming masses now include minds considered too young to be entrusted with alcohol, but apparently well-suited for selecting whom to arm with nuclear weapons.

  By placing these key selections, and the rules themselves, in the hands of the state bodies, the national government was sure to be responsive to the states. In turn, the relatively powerful state bodies were geographically close to their constituents, and thus more responsive to their concerns. Resulting in more liberty for all.

  But did you catch the fatal flaw of the Constitution? It is right there near the start, in Article I, Section 5, Paragraph 2: "Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member."

  Still don't see it? This one simple sentence laid the foundation for the destruction of federalism, a weakness which has been exploited since the first assemblage of Congress over two hundred years ago. The key defect is that, on a two thirds vote, Congress can expel a Member. And thus deny a state or a congressional district representation.

  Which means that, ultimately, you can send whoever you want, but if the rest of the aristocrats don't like your guy, then they can throw him back. Period.

  Meaning that you only get to choose congressmen and senators from a pool of pasty choads who everyone else says is OK. Meaning that you, and your fellows in your state, don't really get to choose your representative in Congress. A swarm of the monkey collective nationwide does, since they have veto power over anyone you choose whom they don't like. And they don't like anyone who doesn't like them.

  In a purist's model of federalism, a state should be able to send the most unpleasant bastard they can find to Washington. All that matters is whether that bastard is constitutionally qualified and is capable of representing the interests of the home state. As an example, Louisiana should be able to send a voodoo witch doctor who channels Jean LaFitte on Tuesdays, David Duke on Wednesdays, and Huey P. Long the rest of the week. With not one of the other states, or other representatives of Louisiana for that matter, able to do a thing about it, they being busy sending their own variants, of course.

  So, does "expel" mean "go back home" or just "leave the room for a timeout"? It doesn't matter, really. Assigning a timeout means you can't vote, so it might as well be "go back home." So this capability of weeding out potential hell-raisers means that Congress is like an organism with an overactive immune system. Eventually, it weeds out those with spines and becomes populated by nice people who wear fake smiles while they do horrible things to your liberty. Even if they had spines, none of them are capable of standing up to do anything about it without running the risk of being sent home for merely rocking the boat.

  The effect that this one organism has on the nation as a whole is insidious, and permanent. Meaning that it has an effect which gets worse in more or less imperceptible ways, and never gets, or will get, any better. Only now the infection has spread so much that the organism feels safe in changing the rules to suit itself on, seemingly, a daily basis.

  Consider the nation as a whole as a larger organism containing this defective smaller, yet all-powerful, organism as its brain. This national organism will eventually evolve in ways
which benefits the brain, even at the expense of the rest of the body. This expense will eventually kill the entire organism, the world being a market-driven place which tolerates no stupidity for very long. Even if long is defined as decades or centuries.

  Here are some specific examples of how this evolution happens in practice. Congress has the sole power to take money from you and give it to whoever it likes. Even as I wrote these words originally, the House of Representatives voted to impose a 90% tax on a specific set of individuals

  So, Congress is likely to take money away from those considered unlikely to ever walk its halls or vote for its plastic members. Instead, it will give the money to those it considers constituents, or even to the congressmen themselves. This means that plastic people or pliable voters are able to belly up to the trough in increasingly larger numbers. Thus, plastic people become more successful in society and in life, and reproduce at a greater rate.

  Those considered less nice, such as our hypothetical voodoo witch doctor from the bayou, becomes penalized. Or, those who don't choose to congregate for mutual support in, well, congregations. Essentially, your basic individualist who stands on his own two feet progressively disappears from the body politic. And at increasingly greater rates as time goes by. Until it has become considered unforgivable criminal behavior worthy of up to a lifetime of punishment to, in many cases, simply defy the forces of niceness.

  The same effect takes place in state legislatures and governors' mansions. After all, these offices are now merely the farm league for the big game in Washington, instead of Washington's masters as the founding fathers intended. And so on down to the city and county governments, the operators of which aspire to state office, and then to national.

  The congregation for mutual support then becomes formalized in a system of powerful political parties. This congregating leads to an abomination against federalism which the founding fathers could never have anticipated. Spanning the spectrum from local office to the highest, membership in a party reduces the likelihood that you will be ejected by the others. Failure to belong to one with power leaves you subject as prey to both. The outsider becomes the villain who must be stamped out, as his very existence threatens the health of the disease.

  And when was the last time that a viable Presidential candidate came from totally outside the system? Ross Perot, a fellow Naval Academy graduate and a genuine American civilian hero, was the last one. This guy successfully orchestrated the rescue of his own employees from Iran while the embassy lay helpless under the nice Mr. Carter.

  Video Assignment

  On Wings of Eagles Man, talk about your employee benefits. Is hostage rescue a deductible line-item? Perot was the last outsider who was allowed a serious chance at the Presidency. Back then, politicians and pundits alike closed ranks and marched in lockstep to ensure that no hell-raising outsider could ever threaten the infection. These pundits hypocritically arose from both sides, even so-called conservative voices with tens of millions of eager nice listeners, whose parroted apologies for the Republicans echoed Perot's actual message. But to all of them, his status as an outsider was too damning for his message to overcome. Not even being from Texas was enough, as he was from outside the circle of idiots who spawned a third of our last nine Presidents.

  So even the White House becomes infected, and with it all the various executive bureaucracies which exist for government's sake. Even the courts, nominated by the executive and confirmed by the legislative, leak the pus of niceness.

  And what of the senior military leadership, such as colonels and generals and captains and admirals? These positions are essentially appointed national political offices with longevity who "serve at the pleasure of the President." All military officers, down to ensigns and second lieutenants, are, essentially, political appointments. We just have bureaucratic processes in place to manage their number.

  These have been politically bred as the ultimate international antibody who see their role as the protectors of the national state rather than the people. My evidence? The absence of meaningful battlefield promotion, the ultimate triumph of political niceness over merit.

  And, more telling, their visceral reaction to the emphasis of the words "and domestic" in the oaths of office taken by their juniors who are bold enough to do so. Sadly, these particular individuals direct the destiny of hundreds of thousands of otherwise eager and well-intentioned soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who simply want to serve their country.

  And so, true federalism, and with it your liberty, is corroded on every front. Timothy McVeigh sought to change the government, restoring it to its roots, by destroying a federal building. In his own simple and ignorant mind this act was to be the equivalent of the shot-heard-round-the-world to herald a new revolution. But the foolishness of his action ignored a simple fact of the system of government we serve.

  Imagine that a magic genie could be summoned, overnight, to destroy each and every government building. And, to evaporate each and every public official in each office high and low. Would the resulting government then be better?

  No. The next day the citizenry of the nation would begin anew to rebuild and repopulate the government. And its purpose will be to function exactly as it did the day before, only perhaps without the relatively few useful patriot bastards who still exist within that government today.

  President Bush or President Obama, it makes no difference whatsoever. Each is merely a symptom, not the disease. No matter what your political alliance may be, one of these is likely to offend your sensibilities in some fashion. Calls to "throw the bums out" ring hollow on my informed ears. We would only replace that particular batch of bums with a fresh crop who will continue to do the bidding of the forces of niceness who surround us in our very neighborhoods. There are just too many of them now to stop. The destruction of education, diluted, by the one side, and the destruction of the respect of law, overreaching, by the other, has ensured this to be so.

  Thus is set the stage for Communism, which masquerades as any number of well-intentioned causes to destroy your liberty. These include, of course, the left-wing environmentalism and the right-wing drug war. The purpose of each of these, as is shamanism wrapped in legislated morality, is to infect and take over the nation. Communism, as we have seen, is the natural end state of the tyranny of the masses over the productive individualist. Without this oppression from either the left or the right, the individualist would otherwise be free to improve or destroy his life as he saw fit.

  Nice, then, becomes the sworn enemy of liberty. This fact of life, as timeless as the seasons, directly affects your ability to operate your business and make the day to day decisions necessary for success. At least now you are able to approach these decisions with your mind open to reality. Have you read to this point without throwing this book against the wall in a rage of civility after having decided to be criminally offended by mere specks of ink on paper? If so, congratulations, you have passed the first test.

  But what shall the last few true individualists do? Hopelessly outnumbered, one could spend an entire lifetime trying to stop the inevitable march to destruction which we are now on. Only at the end of your life to expire, exhausted, not having made any perceptible difference in the outcome. And the march having moved forward nonetheless.

  Or, like the martial artist who redirects his adversary's greater energy to his own purpose, one could, instead, hasten the march itself. In this effort, urge the starving monkeys faster to the abyss, while withholding the true fruit of one's labor from their grasp.

  So, choose for yourself whether to continue to masquerade as nice, grasping for the wider yet wasting market and labor pool. Or, whether to be bold and trade most effectively with those individuals who share your world-view for whom the long game is assured. These are the only ones truly capable of feeding themselves unaided.

  There are no smoke-filled rooms from which hatch plots of destruction and malice. Only the petty hearts of those around you. Hearts wh
ich seek to progressively limit your liberty and freedom of action.

  Who vote, election after election, to do so. And for no reason other than to be thought well-of while sipping the sadistic joy which it brings to their hollow lives to enslave another.

  Chapter 21, Cho

  In the summer of 1995 I was in graduate school at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, working toward my doctorate in Electrical Engineering. Having snatched a Master's degree from their hands in only nine months, I had already completed all my coursework for the philosophy degree. I had passed all the required exams, and was in a status informally known as "All But Dissertation", or ABD for short. First Wife was also delightfully pregnant with our first child, who would ultimately be born at home that fall in our little townhouse on Lee Street. That little townhouse was walking distance from that beautiful and historic campus which hid a degenerate rot.

  After leaving the Marines in 1993, I won a three-year Air Force Laboratory graduate fellowship. I could have chosen to spend that money, which covered tuition in full plus a nice monthly stipend, at any school I wished. Having perfect scores on my Graduate Record Exam, and having graduated near the top of my class from the Naval Academy, choice of school was not an issue. MIT was ruled out as I thought that Massachusetts was a little too liberal, and likely to be too oppressive an atmosphere for a free-wheeling spirit such as myself. And so, I settled on that charming little campus in the Virginia mountains, imagining that a school in southern Virginia would probably share my outlook more than MIT. I couldn't have been more wrong.

  In the early summer of 1995 I had just finished my last required course for the Ph.D. program. Shortly after, I received a bill from the bursar's office for fall tuition in the amount of several thousands of dollars. Instead, they should have paid me the monthly stipend check as due under the terms of the fellowship. Clearly, someone in Burruss Hall, the administrative building, had made a mistake somewhere along the way. So, off I went to straighten this out after dropping First Wife off at her OB for a checkup. I drove to campus and headed straight for the little barred window on the second floor of that hall, within a pistol shot of Norris Hall next door.