The Cycle of Government

The Cycle of Government

By Matt Schnackenberg

The cycle of government has been studied and philosophized by many ancient philosophers. Also called “Kyklos” in Plato’s Republic, he believes there are four states within the cycle. Starting with Timocracy, ruled by the honorable or honored hierarchy, it evolves into an oligarchy as people push for more freedoms followed by democracy, then it regresses back to Timocracy through the Tyranny stage of the cycle.

Plato’s student Aristotle expanded on this idea and simplified the cycle to a process that is easier to see throughout the world, which states the rise of liberty begins through the evolution from a monarchy to a republic ending in a state of anarchy. Aristotle viewed constitutional republics the most virtuous due to the freedoms individuals enjoy.

As most of you readers know, the United States of America is a constitutional republic. We started as a part of the British monarchy and fought for our freedom and for a form of democracy. Yes, a republic is a form of democracy. The difference being we elect representatives and majority should not have a strong control of the government. There are also rights that should not be infringed by the government protected by the constitution.

“The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public
welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.”
Charles de Montesquieu

Lately, it seems the this young country has started its trend towards tyranny, and could very well collapse into anarchy restarted the cycle back to Plato’s Timocracy, a Monarchy, or Totalitarian Dictatorship of some form.

Most of the problem is that the United States has fallen to become just another empire state in history. How can I say that? Simple, here is a short breakdown of what an empire does.
Control various other nations through means of fiscal or political “assistance.”
Gain control of other nations political systems and use those nations as puppets to benefit the mainland in some way. (Note: This has failed with US puppet nations like Japan and South Korea as they have been fiscal strains on our economy.)
War with other nations to protect “our resources.” Or “national security” as pundits and politicians say.

Where did this quest from empire start though? To quote Thomas Jefferson, our founding foreign policy is “Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none.” So we have pretty much fallen completely away from our founder’s ideals in terms of no alliances, but that is far from the problem.

“Our 'neoconservatives' are neither new nor conservative,
but old as Babylon and evil as Hell.”
Edward Abbey

Within the last 100 years there has been a driving force within our legislative halls. That force is called Neo-Conservatism. While generally we consider various republicans to be neoconservatives, but frankly, it is obvious we have neoconservatives on “both sides of the aisle.” Bringing together the two parties into an oligarchy.

Neo-conservatism’s roots comes from a man named Niccolò Machiavelli. Machiavelli was a very interesting man for the 15th century. He specialized in military theory and politics. His overall belief was that government should is morally responsible to inspire people. The way to inspire was of course through military force for “the benefit” of the country attacked. In order to move public support all efforts are taken under the guise of religious, humanitarian intent, false flag attacks, or using events such as 9/11.

"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy."
James Madison

Fast forward to the 20th century, author Michael Ledeen who can be considered one of the strongest supporters of the neoconservative movement. Ledeen worked as a consultant for the State Department, Dept of Defense, and National Security Council. During which he has personally handed out his book, Machiavelli on Modern Leadership, to members of both legislative houses.

In 2002, He has also spoke out staunchly in support for a massive war in the middle east and criticized National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft stating:

“He fears that if we attack Iraq "I think we could have an explosion in the Middle East. It could turn the whole region into a cauldron and destroy the War on Terror." One can only hope that we turn the region into a cauldron, and faster, please. If ever there were a region that richly deserved being cauldronized, it is the Middle East today. If we wage the war effectively, we will bring down the terror regimes in Iraq, Iran, and Syria, and either bring down the Saudi monarchy or force it to abandon its global assembly line to indoctrinate young terrorists. That's our mission in the war against terror.”

Ledeen during his political career he successfully assisted in spreading and defining the modernized variation on of his hero Niccolò Machiavelli’s beliefs.

“Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security”
Benjamin Franklin

Of course, throughout USA history there were those of similar logic and understanding as neocons today. Those individuals include Abraham Lincoln, Alexander Hamilton, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. These national leaders believed in centralized government power, weak state power, and most importantly increased power of the executive branch. They attempted, and some succeeded, in removing checks and balances that stood in their way.

Outside influences do have interesting effects on government cycles as well. Outside influences like foreign aid can slow down the collapse of a tyrannical regime.

One thing that shocks people is that fact that foreign aid is a form of economic warfare. Reason being, the country that starts receiving out funds start making them dependent on our aid money, and less on their own currency or financial system, to finance large projects or their military. The reason most tyrannical regimes that receive our money stay in post longer than they should is because they use the funds received to buy more arms and finance employment more soldiers.

The tyranny in this country has been slow growing, but starting to show its ugly head. Insane debt, tax-based slavery through the 17th amendment, imperialism abroad, and rights encroaching executives orders and legislation at home is there any surprised?

“He who controls the present, controls the past.”
George Orwell

Is it really that shocking? Back in 1980, CIA Director nominee John Brennan stated with his graduate thesis from UT Austin that “Since the press can play such an influential role in determining the perceptions of the masses, I am in favor of some degree of government censorship.” Meaning that the government has full knowledge that control of the media is key to control the populace that things are going smoothly. That government is good, and will not censor or remove fundamental rights. Just like in Roman, it will also use sports to pull the attention away from what is really happening in the world, dumbing down the masses through useless government education systems, and in some cases use drugs to reduce overall IQ.

"... we are frequently criticized both on economic policy and
foreign policy and we're going back to the old days of isolationism
and the old days of the gold standard. But let me tell you,
big government is very very old, and big government and inflation
and destruction of currency - that is ancient
and based on ideas that are wrong. Those who criticize us
who want a lot less government - they are the past, and
we are the future!"
Ron Paul

History repeats itself because human nature allows it. This is why the cycle has been allowed to continue unimpeded since humanity was first able to collectively think as a community and an individual. It should absolutely be possible to change the course of human events, reverse the cycle to liberty, and freeze the motor of the world at that point. Return this country to a Jeffersonian, now Libertarian, philosophy of limited government and leave it there. We would benefit from it economically and internationally.


Sources:
Cornford, Francis Macdonald. The Republic of Plato. London: Oxford University Press, 1945. Print.

DiLorenzo, Thomas J.. The real Lincoln: a new look at Abraham Lincoln, his agenda, and an unnecessary war. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003. Print.

Ledeen, Michael Arthur. Machiavelli on modern leadership: why Machiavelli's iron rules are as timely and important today as five centuries ago. New York: Truman Talley Books, 1999. Print.

Machiavelli, Niccolò, W. K. Marriott, Nelle Fuller, and Thomas Hobbes. The prince,. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 19551952. Print.

Napolitano, Andrew P.. Theodore and Woodrow: how two American presidents destroyed constitutional freedom. Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson, 2012. Print.

Paul, Ron. A foreign policy of freedom: "peace, commerce, and honest friendship". Lake Jackson, TX: Foundation for Rational Economics and Education, 2007. Print.

RNC Day 3 - Titanic Act 3

Yesterday was a very interesting day at the final day at the RNC. The speeches were extremely statist. If the Republican Party actually thinks the liberty movement would be attracted to the cold reception and statism on show, they are insane.

Condoleezza Rice basically gave a giant war propaganda speech. She hailed how we are doing good around the world, and that we should be at war with even more nations to farther promote democracy. Because democracy and bombs go so well together. Guess she wants it all to blowback in our face with an incredible force.

Marco Rubio's speech was also interesting. He actually straight-up stated America chose more government versus more freedom. I don't think they chose, but rather were brainwashed into accepting it, but whatever helps him sleep at night.

After these two, and a number of other, clowns, it was was the ringleader Mitt Romney's turn to speak. His speech just cemented his idiocy on so many levels. He cheered empire abroad, and imagined unity at home. He attacked Obama on things that he himself supports. He believe not changing anything but the letter of behind the president's name will so how allow economic stability. Of course as one of the walls stated: US Debt 16~ trillion, We Built That. And it was built and grown by both parties.

Overall these three days have displayed why neither Romney or Obama should be president. Neither are qualified for the job. The corruption of the GOP, and Obama's failures during his first term, display this country is heading towards dark times before we accomplish re-achieving liberty in this country.

RNC Day 2 - Titanic Act 2

To the life boats!

That is what basically happened today at the Republican National Convention. With staged walk-outs, a very pathetic tribute to Dr. Ron Paul, and Rand Paul's speech, you would think the Republican Party doesn't have a clue yet their ship hit an iceberg. Guess that is the benefit of being in "first class."

Today was in general a very boring day at the RNC. There were a number of protests and attempts to re-amend party rules, which ended in failure, but nothing worth going into detail about.

The majority of Goldwater conservatives and Ron Paul libertarian-conservative have pretty much been shunned. The party is digging its centralist roots deeper into the ground and saying no to those who stand against it. Therefore it is time for those who fought against tyranny will leave the oldest tyrannical party in the USA.

The boat is basically sunk for the Republican party. Those that want to be saved are fleeing to the lifeboats, and the rest will soon feel the cold existence that awaits them in those dark waters.

All I have to say is congrats to all delegates who staged the walk-out this evening, and may you leave the republican party very, very soon.

RNC Day 1 - Titanic Act 1

The smoke has cleared on the first full day of the Republican National Convention. So what have we learned? What actually happened? And why did I name this post Titanic Act 1? All these are easily answered.

What happened today was frankly appalling. The amount of fraud and corruption was spewing from neo-con's ears on stage was sickening. All rule changes, done by a "voice vote" were railroaded through even though the nays against the changes were definitely louder than the ayes. Romney and establishment delegates were told to chant U-S-A every time anyone tried to question or showed "dissent" against what was happening. Many Ron Paul delegates were illegally detained on buses throughout the votes. Even delegates from Florida who were pro-Romney were forgotten at their hotels as an act of revenge against Florida for changing its primary date.

So what exactly did we learn from all this? Never trust the GOP. The Republican Party is as corrupt and should never be placed any higher than the Democrat Party. They lie, cheat, and steal votes, silence dissenters, and frankly do not care what the average person thinks about their actions.

After today's events, it is obvious the Republican party is reenacting Titanic. They held their big convention, the "pretty boy" was found out to be a street rat, and the boat collided with the giant iceberg. The party is now sinking into oblivion due to their treachery against its own loyal members, forget about the flogging those who support Ron Paul got. It seems the GOP saw the Democrat Party's house of cards starting to fall over and wanted to win the race to the bottom first.

Today we learned a very important lesson. Political parties like the GOP are scum. They enjoy destroying dissent even if it ends up destroying themselves in the process. There are two more days and two more acts till the end of the GOP's Titanic. Let us see who is left holding onto those planks in the end.

Sources:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/item/12636-rep-amash-calls-for-audit-of-rnc-over-treatment-of-paul-delegates

http://theunconventionalconservative.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/gop-destroys-integrity-of-national-convention-flagrantly-cheats-ron-paul-out-of-nomination/

http://www.businessinsider.com/ron-paul-gop-2012-rules-fight-grassroots-conservatives-freedom-works-2012-8

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-ron-paul-supporters-walk-out-of-gop-convention-20120828,0,3246451.story

Ron Paul's Rally - Short Impression

This event made me extremely proud to be in the liberty movement. There were so many great speakers and ideas being discussed it makes me smile just thinking about it.

The main focus was the Republican party and co-opting it with the liberty movement's agenda, sweat, and blood. As a libertarian, I walked away with a smile because no matter what, we will be pushing to inject base libertarian ideology into the Rep party. It also instilled that libertarians themselves will be a great help in the coming years.

The message was perfectly clear, as well. This was Dr. Paul last rodeo and it's time for the torchbearers to become leaders. Everyone from all parties that believe in liberty need to take a stand and fight. We need to win this ideological war for future generations.

While I already do a number if things for Florida's liberty movement, plan on running for Congress in '14, and have various other things on my plate from college to finding employment, I want to push myself harder and find other ways to enhance liberty here.

Thank you Dr. Paul for inspiring me, again.

A few inspirational videos by We Are Change.

Each video has its own message, but they are messages worth sharing.

Feds Are Cutting Social Security Benefits From Retirees Who Can't Pay Back Student Loans

While most attention in the ongoing student debt crisis narrative has focused on new graduates, it turns out the federal government has been quietly targeting a different group of debtors: retirees.

The Treasury Department has been withholding as much as 15 percent of Social Security benefits from "a rapidly growing number of Social Security recipients who have fallen behind on federal student loans," Smart Money's Annamaria Andriotis reports:

"From January through August 6, the government reduced the size of roughly 115,000 retirees' Social Security checks on those grounds. That's nearly double the pace of the department's enforcement in 2011; it's up from around 60,000 cases in all of 2007 and just 6 cases in 2000...

The amount that the government withholds varies widely, though it runs up to 15%. Assuming the average monthly Social Security benefit for a retired worker of $1,234, that could mean a monthly haircut of almost $190."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-feds-are-garnishing-social-security-benefits-from-retirees-who-cant-pay-back-student-loans-2012-8#ixzz2494XYFaB

____________________________

This is far from unexpected, many financial experts have warned of government roll backs of pensions, social security, etc to pay back debts. Gerald Celente especially warned of this. This is how government enslaves its people, making them more needy to government financial assistance. Eventually they will start cutting off aid to the older "useless" tax slaves when they people get accustom to government ending people's support after a certain age due to debt accumulation, so they'll say.

Human tax farming at its best.

How Do We Change the System?

As a believer in anarcho-libertarianism, my views are more about society after achieving a libertarian society instead of stopping at a constitutional government. Due to this, I am always asked why would I want to think about that, or told I probably won’t be alive when the time comes so why discuss such an issue. In a way, I am in a minority within the growing minority that is the libertarian ideology.

Obviously, my ideology, and the entire base libertarian ideology, is shunned completely by the media and statist paradigm. I laughingly did a search for anarcho-libertarianism, and ended up with some guy’s rant about “anarcho-libertarians taking over the republican party.” Well, here is the thing. The guy obviously does not realize that libertarians and those of similar ideologies have been moving to co-opt the party for a while now. Ron Paul was a libertarian and has publicly come out as a voluntarist. He has made it his goal to push liberty within the party. The fact the site supports Romney displays his lack of understanding of freedom and individual liberty, let alone classical liberalism. Still it is good to ask two fundamental questions: Why would libertarians or anyone want to co-opt any political party? And does the efforts taken offer any intrinsic benefits, with or without success?

To change the system of government, we must first gain a much louder voice. A voice that simply "being that other party" tends to lack. Generally, we do not even have to switch parties to assist gaining that voice. There is a growing number of youthful individuals that have read Dr. Paul's works, and realized the current political hierarchy has screwed them over. They are the ones hearing the need for candidates that care about the next generation, and are running. Running to spread the message of liberty; and to remove the status quo from office. Win or lose, there are massive benefits that comes with their candidacy. They are educating those who have not been taught what liberty truly means, and the evil government has become.

Education has always been key to any campaign and political movement; especially, the liberty movement, as true understanding of the US constitution, let alone, people’s natural rights have been black-bagged and co-opted by government education facilities. Campaigns always need to get the word out on who the candidate actually is, and what they stand for. Since government education has robbed students from understanding their basic freedoms, liberty candidates have to work twice as hard as the usual “keep the ball rolling” candidates.

Liberty education is done through two processes, literature and voice. We need to offer liberty oriented content in all forms of written word possible. Recommending other content like internet radio, podcasts, and audiobooks are other great resources. This sounds easy, but spreading the message takes time and patience. Having a passion behind your efforts also helps.

A good way to spread both vocal and literary liberty content is through the use of social networking. I personally have turned my Facebook into a news blog of sorts due to my constant sharing of political news. Sharing news is a good way to educate people on the tyrannies of government and show why it isn’t needed. You can also share resources that promote self-education, self-reliance, and other media promoting liberty. Remember to also recommend books and physical literature.

Creating pamphlets and educational cards are other forms of literature to use. You can use both forms of media as a way to either promote one specific message, or promote the reader to expand their knowledge on multiple topics through resource links and suggested reading. You can also use cards as invitations to speaking events, or liberty oriented meetings. If you trust the people around you, book sharing is another option, but not always recommended due to various issues that can come up.

Being vocal can be the most powerful form of education, as your voice can project the passion you onto the listener. Stand up, speak your mind, and be heard. Let the power of your voice bring people to your campaigns, and learn the understanding of liberty. Create audio recordings, and podcasts of speeches given and share them with the public through mediums like Facebook, YouTube, etc. Creating podcasts, videos, and other media that allows the public to see and hear what you have to say.

Now, not everyone is good at projecting your voices and standing in front of a crowd. There are ways to boost your ability to do it though. You can take a college class on Public Speaking, speak-up during any meetings involved with, or even use your family and friends as practice audiences.

Liberty candidates have to do everything stated above, as well as explain to citizens why and how their way of thinking will benefit them. This can be hard due to the media’s lies, as well as poor education in economics and various other subjects. They need to spread who they are every chance they can, and almost everywhere they do. Make to to go around and talking to business owners; smallers news outlets; offer online newsletters; business cards; candidate specific websites; etc., all help. Getting candidates known wins races.

We also need to focus on getting established radio shows and networks like LRN.FM (Liberty Radio Network); Free Talk Live; 1787 Radio Networks; The Liberty Underground Show; Freedom Feens; Bad Quaker; Porc Therapy; etc., played on more radios; cell phones; and computers around this county. These are great to get random people interested in liberty, as they might find the current discussion topic odd and continue listening instead of switching to another station. Sometimes these listeners will call into a show and question the hosts on what they are talking about, and why they think the way they do.

With an increasingly louder voice we can accomplish quite a bit. Our ground game will become more effective. We will force the media to give our candidates; activists; protests; grievances; and most importantly the message of liberty the attention it deserves. It will get more people listening to the message. Even if they disagree with the message now, the message will stick with them. Sometimes the random person will do like a new listeners to a liberty-oriented radio show, and ask questions.

Changing the system we have now definitely must happen. It will take time, but our time is coming. We will restore the republic. We will become the nation our founding fathers created again. The liberty movement is pushing ahead, and picking up steam the more supporters we have. Our voices is starting to be heard in all corners of not just this country, but around the world. There is a growing push for liberty that has never been seen in history before.

Both the Republican and Democrat Parties are scared, trying to run our candidates into the ground, even if they are running within their parties. Educating the voting public is making the establishment quake in their boots. Local elections are being won, not just by election, but through opening minds. Things are progressing in ways the establishment never expected.

At the end of the day, our actions and determination to educate the voting public is what will bring liberty back to this country. The passion of the people involved will inspire those who follow the established shepherds to research and discover themselves.

This is How We Change the System.
   by Matthew Schnackenberg

The Real Political Spectrum

The Real Political Spectrum
by Matt Schnackenberg


There have been a lot of discussion around the internet as of late about the political spectrum and how everything falls within it. Unfortunately, there are many people who does not understand how the real left to right spectrum works and fall for the fictional one that the media spews.


The media only ever displays one massive falsity. The show a left to right graph where communism is at the left, moderates in the center, and Nazism/Fascism is on the right. This is not at all correct in any means. Libertarianism, Constitutionalism, Individualism, and Volunteerism are not “moderate” ideologies and therefore do not fall in between. Also, the section of graph they are taking and adding lies to is just a tiny part of the overall spectrum.


Leftists also argue an “incorrect” graph. I put incorrect in quotes because their graph is actually the European variation to the real graph, but reversed therefore it displays our left is Europe’s right. The only thing thing that is wrong with that is that they basically hail socialism as the road to freedom rather than communism’s younger less fascist brother. 


Realistically, the graph starts with 100% governmental/totalitarian ideologies on the left; ie Communism, Socialism, and Nazism which are fascist ideologies.  As the graph goes farther right the more freedom there is. French citizens are celebrating more freedom due to the political shift of moving back to a Socialist political system because Socialism is more right than Communism.

All the way to the right is anarchism, but is it the correct anarchism that people expect? Frankly no, the anarchism on the right is Individualism and Volunteerism. The founders of anarchism as its original root belongs is a variant of communism so therefore should be considered a more leftist ideology then they would wish to actually be considered.


Libertartianism and Federalism are basically the same ideology, but Libertarianism is a bit more right because it wants to restrain government farther than what the constitution should. Anarcho-Libertarianism, the belief Libertarianism is a bridge to the freer variants of Anarchism is of course farther right than either as it wants the death of government to happen when society is mature enough to handle it. 


Republicans and Democrats are closer together than one would think. Why is this? Simply put the Democrat Party was co-opted by Lincoln during the “Civil War” aka The War Against the Union. Yes, there are people in BOTH parties that believe in limited government, state rights, and the constitution, but they are the extreme minority. At the end of the day, until either are co-opted or die, they are virtually the same party down to the base platform.

Now here is where I will probably turn some heads, because the following paragraph might sound absurd at first. I want you, the reader, to actually take time to evaluate this in your head before even considering flipping out. 


The general belief is moderates are in between democrats and republicans in the spectrum. I disagree, highly. If I was to place them, it would be a bit farther right than Republicans. The reason I state this is very simple. They believe in a bit more individual freedoms than Republicans and way less restrictions than modern democrats. Most importantly, they do not believe in massive taxation and tend not to want massive expansions of government. That is not to say they do not want government. They are not libertarians in the push for limited or constitutional government. They just don’t want government the size the left wants, or the corporate controlled government the republicans do. They also tend to be against war. 


The true list is as followed starting with the far left or 100% authoritarianism to the far right where we find true individual liberty: Communism, Anarchism,  Socialism, Mercantilist, Green, Modern Liberalism, Republicanism, Moderates, Federalism (Classical Liberalism), Libertarianism, Anacho-Libertarianism, Anarcho-Capitalism, Volunteerism and Individualism all the way to the right being interchangeable for the most freedom. Please note, I did not list feudalism, monarchies, etc, because they are old ideas that are dying or just have remnants of them floating around the third world nations. 

Ep7: the Media

A short discussion about mainstream media.

Episode 6: Get Involved released!

A short podcast dedicated to ideas on how to get involved in local liberty communities or how to start your own.

A Floridian's Liberty Podcast - Ep3: Self Education