Cultism
Halloween Costumes
“For your good and protection”, “We know it all”, “We know the best”, “We have the truth”, “We know the science”. Talking and propaganda points of tyranny since forever. Whether it is termed as Priesthood, Scientism, Fascism, Nazism, Cronyism, or Socialism, the basic idea is the same. People are stupid and they need the divine, heavenly, intelligent, powerful, privileged, chosen ones for their salvation. This is an age-old notion that has prevailed in societies for thousands of years worldwide. “Authority is always right” and “Truth comes from authority” have been so deeply ingrained in our psychology that we deny truths as evident as sunshine if not conformed and backed up by authority. We keep lying to ourselves while waiting for a magical and revolutionary announcement forever.
This is the reason why Socrates had to drink poison, and this is why Galileo was confined and shut down. There has always been an elite group that bears and holds the torch of so-called leadership, that everyone must obey. The reasons given for it might vary based on the most recently projected terminology. But in essence, those have always been the same. We convey the truth, establish the truth, and enforce the truth. When we mess up, we fix the problem, design and configure the new truth, and throw it back on you. You still have no choice except to follow and obey, just to be failed one more time by the redesigned, renamed, and relabeled same old. Of course, trying the same can never give different results. So, what has failed once, always fails and will fail every time it is tried.
Contrary to what we have been told, the path to ultimate freedom has never been a straight line, and it has never always been moving in the direction of truth, at least not all of it, at any given time. While documents like Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence established and acknowledged the natural rights, documents such as the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, executive Orders, Legislation, and Court Interpretations have been eroding these rights one at a time. Whenever we take two steps forward, there is always at least one step backwards, and maybe three steps backwards. It is a continuous struggle between the freedom and coercion, i.e., individual freedoms and the coercion of the collectives.
Logic and logical behavior have been the single most potent factor that made humans the dominant species on this planet. Logical behavior made us avoid threats, face dangerous situations, acquire knowledge, find solutions, and create and innovate. It helped us get out of the caves, produce and build wealth, make our lives easier and more comfortable, and learn to cooperate. Logic helped us in building families, businesses, markets, trade partnerships, lines of production, and supply chains. It taught us how we can beat Inertia, Latency, and Entropy by being efficient, creative, innovative, Rockerfellers, Carnegies, inventive, productive, and organized. It showed us the path forward and upward. Logic is what has distinguished us from other life forms on this planet.
In the process, logic also gave birth to Philosophy, Science, Analysis, experimentation, inferences, and data. Logic also taught us to connect the dots and draw a meaningful and fruitful picture. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Smith, and Marx all showed us different paths. Galileo, Kepler, Newton, Einstein, Bohr, and Planck paved the way for a different path to progress. Marconi, Bell, Edison, Ford, and Tesla were leaders on another path. Chase, Rothschilds, Vanderbilts, Rockerfellers, Carnegies, and Musk took over another critical task. GE, GM, Walmart, McDonald’s, Google, and Twitter lit another critical path. Rock, Doriot, Valentine, Perkins, Kleiner, Doerr, and Meeker covered another essential aspect.
It was the farsightedness, risk-taking, calculation, initiative, hard work, and organization of these fundamental groups of people with diverse talents, knowledge, and skills that gave us these advanced economies. Brought us to the point where you can be on the other side of the planet in less than a day, can go to space, sail in the depths of the oceans, communicate and exchange information with anyone, anywhere at any time with a few clicks, own or rent homes with all the comforts built in. You have something parked in your driveway that can take you from point A to point B with good speed and accuracy. You have the communication and information hub in your pocket. You can get answers to the difficult questions in minutes.
Of course, it all did not come smoothly. There were hurdles, oppositions, enemies, blockages, bans, and laws in the way. The slowest, the most inefficient, the most corrupt, the most crony, the most stealing, and the most violent institution, the government was always in the way. Taxation, laws, regulations, protocols, checklists, and compliance always place obstacles in the way. That is why geniuses from Europe and the whole world flocked to the new world when it was founded. They were running away from ages-old coercion prevailing in the old world. They were all in search of freedom. The new world provided them with a great deal of freedom. They did not disappoint the world either. They did the miracles.
Within two hundred years, which is not even the blink of an eye in human history, the New World became the most prominent and most prosperous economy ever. It also built the most notable and richest middle class ever. It also achieved the fastest declines in poverty rates ever. But, this ever-growing monster called government also kept growing. The ever-failing collectivists gave rebirth to the idea of becoming parasites on the natural order’s productivity. Merchantilism, Fascism, Nazism, Socialism, and Cronyism, after their failures, were now Democratic socialism, which, in ordinary language, means we want to be parasites on Capitalism again, with this new label and new terminology. Democratic socialism resurrects the ever-growing monster of the government, which taxes and regulates the productive people and institutions to the death to guarantee extraordinary lives for politicians, bureaucrats, academia, media gurus, technocrats, and so-called scientists with stolen money, aka tax, while feeding the leftovers to freeloaders to get votes and maintain their power.