Ambitious title for my post, no?
So we had late yesterday (US time) the dreaded Wikileaks release of secret embassy traffic. I reiterate what I’ve said in the past: Notice who wasn’t embarrassed by this stuff. The major player in all this who remains undamaged, in their own eyes, is Israel. The age old question — Cui bono? — is Occam’s Razor in this context. For those of you with a poor education, cui bono is Latin for “who benefits” and Occam’s Razor is the rule of logic which says the simplest explanation is probably the correct one. Given how the US government treats its own citizens, is anyone surprised by how she treats officials who are outside that government? Collectively, the US government suffers paranoid schizophrenia, stratospheric arrogance, and visceral contemptuous hatred for everyone else. That’s how the governing classes treat each other; it’s no surprise they treat us even worse.
So we still have Israel planning to start a war with Iran and Lebanon, and hoping to provoke just about everyone else in the world. Russia is not government by corporations as in the US, but by the Russian Mafia. Saudis blindly fund pet American black ops projects such as the false enemy called “al-Qaeda”. Is anyone really surprised? On the one hand, it’s nice to see official government documentation for the evil the underground has been warning about all along. On the other hand, this whole thing is laughable for what it slips in as pure and unadulterated lies. The best way to keep your secrets is to bury it in garbage. No sane person wants to dig through tons of raw sewage to find a tiny handful of gems. Those on the inside at both ends — those who matter — already have filters in place.
Let’s say it one more time: US government at all levels, down to your neighborhood council, remain evil in one way or another. People who govern intend to hurt you for their own benefit. That is the nature of government in the US. Everything contrary to that truth is hogwash. If you don’t understand that, just try to run your daily affairs according to Scripture and you will, at the very least, hear something you do is illegal. That’s just at the level of the Law Covenants. If you gravitate toward a higher code of spiritual sanity, you will find it extremely difficult to evade conflict with government agents. But by the definition established in God’s Laws, all Western governments are illegitimate. You cannot pursue sanity without conflict with government agencies in the US.
As already noted, government people don’t trust each other very much, so there are noteworthy conflicts among the various agencies, not simply on the same level, but across all levels. The sort of psychosis which makes you aspire to government office makes you dangerous to everyone, including your fellow rulers. But they will certainly band together against those they govern, particularly when threatened. That “threat” means even the slightest incursion into their areas of authority, particularly if you cause them any inconvenience in ruling. So while we see a certain amount of embarrassment among the noisiest government officials about some of the Wikileaks revelations, there is no genuine shame, because they were simply doing their jobs, right? The difference between an ostensibly democratic regime (rule by the people) and an autocratic tyranny is the former carries a pretense of accountability, but only a pretense.
So we have, against all protest, TSA continuing blatant sin against travelers, and expectations of extending their reach into forms of transportation other than flying. At the same time, we correctly sense the threat conditions will collude to put private transportation increasingly out of reach — oil prices soaring, economic depression impoverishing a broader slice of the population, regulation increasing, etc. We have a high probability of military adventures in even more places around the world. Meanwhile, war cannot help our national economy because we have almost no native manufacturing aside from war materials. Banks have been bailed out from their rapacious lending practices by raping yet again the same folks through taxes. Sure, the banks have been bailed out by deficit spending, but we borrow that money indirectly from the same doggone banking system we are propping up. In other words, the circular flow of money skips by us poor taxpayers completely. What little productivity we have left is already mortgaged for the next century or two — that is, if we stop the government borrowing totally right now. Otherwise, the catch-up date is beyond the horizon.
If you have read this far, I’m assuming you are interested in what would constitute a sane response. Let me first remind you I define “sanity” as Christian Mysticism. In this context, the pertinent issue is treating this level of existence as a prison, and seeking to embrace the higher level of existence in the Spirit Realm. Human pain and suffering aren’t good things, but we hold the entire mess in contempt among the spiritually sane. We have endless compassion on those around us who don’t quite get that. We can afford to extend a considerable amount of sacrifice to ease human suffering because the sacrifice is the whole point in revealing God’s way of doing business. People matter far more than anything else on this earth.
The answer then becomes one of addressing the context. In the context of what we see right now, I would suggest you spend half of your waking attention on thinking through the commitments of Christian Mysticism. The other half builds upon that: Prepare to face a deepening economic depression paired with increasing difficulty differentiating government from well organized criminals. Whatever resources you posses, invest in preparations to help others. Simply consider whatever it is you are good at doing, regardless whether it makes you much money right now. The first things which come to mind are provisions of the basics of life: food, clothing and shelter. That is, find ways you know how to contribute to the process of producing those things, and develop your talents and skills.
I’m going to provide myself as an example, since I know me better than I know anyone else. I’m not really much good at gardening itself, but I’m pretty good at ground preparation. So this past summer I really tore into our garden plot, breaking up the clay soil and enriching it. For clothing, I’m just so-so at repairing fabrics, though I understand better than I can actually do. I’m a little more skillful at heavier materials, such as shoes. I haven’t tried it yet, but I have studied how to use some recycled materials to make footwear of various types. Having spent time in various climates from the Arctic to the Equator in the Americas, and parts of Europe, I am painfully aware of what kind of clothing works best in different situations. Recently I spent some time renovating my brother’s roof. I probably could help someone else build a house, but I can do some repairs myself. I have invested in hand tools, and could work without power tools if necessary. In this case, it’s mostly an instinct God gave me for what works, rather like an intuitive grasp of the limits of physical materials.
Then we have to think about trade and transportation. Rare indeed is the individual who can live utterly alone and do all the things necessary for life. In this modern world, such splendid isolation is pretty hard to achieve, anyway. Given my previous statement people are the single greatest resource, you cannot hope to be sane if you don’t know how to negotiate and deal with other people. You don’t have to be particularly talented at it; you simply have to care. People can tell if you care. You have to be able to exchange your abilities and products for theirs, and make them feel good about it. And given my blanket dismissal of government legitimacy, I have no trouble with smuggling anything not harmful to humans. By no means would I want to limit folks trading in goods by which people kill themselves, but sane people aren’t going to sell cigarettes if they don’t smoke. Go ahead and sell your raw milk products if you feel certain you would consume them yourselves. If you are good at making deals or managing transportation at some level, you can contribute to a sane world.
Naturally, the arts are always critical. But putting a price tag on them is next to impossible, and tends to defeat the purpose in the arts. If you can wrangle survival doing your art, stay with it. Life is better with artistic expression. Information I’ve discussed at length on this blog, and is an art form itself, so the same rules apply. It’s all communication, and life is impossible without it. My faith permits no restrictions on communication except what is inherent in God’s justice itself. That means Western notions of copyright are mostly wrong. God is not impressed with notions of Intellectual Property.
In the long run, you should always plan to implement your own safe and sane social structure. The biggest threat to government is people who don’t need it. All the government you need, according to Scripture, can be obtained in the tribal social structure. Democracy in all it’s forms is a lie, because it asserts man is not fallen. In a proper Scriptural household structure, a loving elder always listens to his family and considers their wishes, but is saddled with understanding their needs may demand things they don’t want. Paternalism is God’s way; there is no room for discussion. For all its failures, life on this planet cannot be any better than under tribal government. Given our situation now, genuine DNA-based extended family households may be impossible. The Christian Mysticism way is recreating one from whatever disparate sources through a spiritual replacement of DNA. The early churches were just that — a spiritual clan which operated as a single extended family household.
Whether mass destruction comes quickly, slowly, or not at all in your perception, it won’t make any difference. These are the things God has said we must do to embrace sanity as He defines it. In other words: Thus saith the Lord.
