On January 9, 1776, writer Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet “Common Sense,” setting forth his arguments in favor of American independence. Although little used today, pamphlets were an important medium for the spread of ideas in the 16th through 19th centuries.
"It is perfectly possible for a man to be out of prison, and yet not free - to be under no physical constraint and yet to be a psychological captive, compelled to think, feel and act as the representatives of the national state, or of some private interest within the nation, wants him to think, feel and act. "The nature of psychological compulsion is such that those who act under constraint remain under the impression that they are acting on their own initiative. The victim of mind-manipulation does not know that he is a victim. To him the walls of his prison are invisible, and he believes himself to be free. That he is not free is apparent only to other people. His servitude is strictly objective." ~ Brave New World Revisited, Aldous Huxley, 1958
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| Pages 12 - 13 |
“The inherent desire for power and control never sleeps. In the 1800s, the proponents of surrogate power found the perfect tactic as the theories of Marx, Engels, and other collectivists began to sweep Europe. These theories appealed to the natural human desire to help others. Since then. the collectivists have perfected their ability to appeal to the compassionate hearts of the people-and in so doing, have expanded their power-by presenting a never-ending array of social programs to help children, the poor, the disabled, and others. They gain the votes of the compassionate and, of course, those who come to depend on the programs. The extra bonus is the loyalty of all those who work for the newly created bureaucracies.
In
her famous book, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, author Ayn Rand
describes the insidious process that takes a society inch by unremarkable inch
to collectivism. "The goal of the 'liberals'-as it emerges from the record
of the past decades-was to smuggle this country into welfare statism by means
of a single, concrete, specific measures, enlarging the power of the government
a step at a time, never permitting these steps to be summed up into principles,
never permitting their direction to be identified or the basic issue to be
named. The statism was to come, not by vote or by violence, but by slow rot by
a long process of evasion and epistemological corruption, leading to a fait
accompli.”
She
understood that the two parties presented to the people in their democratic
process provide only an illusion of choice. She said that the conservatives
were just there to present the alternative of a slightly slower growth of
surrogate power, and with either choice the people still get statism. With statism comes increasing governmental power
because as the government grows, so too must force and coercion increase in
order to extract the necessary finances from the people to pay for the growing
government.
The
growth of force must happen gradually so that the people do not wake up and
realize what is happening. What will it
take for people to wake up? How many violations of individual rights and outrageous
searches and seizures in the name of the war on drugs will people endure before
realizing what is happening?
People
don't mind sacrificing to help their neighbors or those in need, but they do
not appreciate being forced to sacrifice the fruits of their own labor for the achievement
of abstract social goals. Increasing
force is required to maintain a growing top-down massive welfare/warfare
state. The monstrous social experiments
in Russia, China, and other communist countries, which have resulted in the
mass murder of tens of millions of human beings over the last century, could
have been avoided if intellectuals and philosophers had not ignored the
fundamental laws of human nature:
· Human
beings are born with free will and are driven to express it.
· Human
beings act in their own self-interest.
· Human beings will act to help others once they feel secure themselves.
· Human beings do not like to be forced to do anything.
Any institution, government, or business that ignores these fundamental facts of life is doomed to fail. Propaganda, mind control techniques, or brute force will all eventually fail. Collectivism cannot be implemented without force and that force always increases over time. There has never been a government bureaucracy that has come forward and said, “You know, we have completed our task now and there really no need for the taxpayers to continue to fund our department.”Once begun, the process of collectivism (in whatever form) always leads to totalitarian government and serfdom for the vast majority of the people.”
The Common Sense Revisited Team
Clyde Clevland
Eliyah Finklestein
Cory Morrow
Jonny Cook
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
