A few people remember President Dwight Eisenhower’s Farewell Address, where he warned Americans about the rise of a military-industrial complex… a warning that was stunningly accurate and almost fully ignored.

What almost no one remembers was Eisenhower’s speech in 1953, when he said that under the pressures of fear and war spending, humanity was “hanging from a cross of iron.”

Bear in mind, this was said by Dwight David Eisenhower, five-star general who had been supreme allied commander. He was also the sitting president of the United States when he said it. So, there is absolutely no room for passing this off in the name of patriotism.

Precisely What He Said

Before I elaborate on this topic, I want you to read Eisenhower’s words for yourself. Here’s the core of Ike’s speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, on April 16, 1953:

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.

The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some 50 miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people…

This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.

Here’s one more line you should read:

God created men to enjoy, not destroy, the fruits of the earth and of their own toil.

Obviously this speech was widely ignored.

The Cross of Iron

“Iron” is a reference to war materials: planes, bombs, guns, tanks, and so on. And what’s crucial about this iron is that it is purchased with money forcibly taken from the productive people of the world. And I’d like you to see the extent of these extractions.

So, here are the world’s top nine military budgets for the year 2012, in billions of US dollars:

Altogether, that comes to $1.328 trillion. Added to that are not just the expenses of the smaller militaries, but dozens of now-gigantic intelligence agencies. (The US Department of Homeland Security alone spends $44 billion per year.) And so I think a reasonably accurate figure is closer to $2 trillion per year… and given many other expenditures, often cleverly hidden, even that figure may be low.

This is properly a job for some young economist, but not having one handy, I’ll give you, in rough numbers, what that equates to:

14,000,000 modern houses with amenities, or 100,000,000 brand new cars, or a year of quality food and drink for 600 million people, and so on. Obviously the cost of cars and housing varies from place to place, but you get the idea.

That’s what’s taken from us – annually – to build and operate machines of destruction. In just the past 20 years this would cover housing, transportation, and food for 150 million families… not counting the value of everything destroyed by the war machines.

Can we call this anything but an abject organizational failure? To be very blunt about it:

Humanity is producing far more than was ever dreamed possible by our ancestors, but we’re pissing it away on machines of death and destruction.

And there’s a clear reason for this. But it’s a reason that can be hard to face.

Forget Politics; It’s About the Structure

We’ve been trained to devote all our passion and attention to political fights. In other words, to spend all our energies on ephemera that come and go like the winds.

What we haven’t been trained in – what we’ve been diverted from – is the analysis of structures: the things that actually matter and the things that endure.

The structures that dominate mankind are monopolistic, non-optional, and violence based. The central principle of their operations – the one they enforce thousands of times every day – is this: Do what we say or we’ll hurt you.

However offended people may be at these statements, it will not be because they are false. Rather, they will be offended that such things are discussed. It’s not pleasant to face the fact that our world’s basic organizational structures are barbaric relics of the Bronze Age.

These systems are offensive structures by design. They are built to extract money from large populations, to consolidate those takings in the seat of the operation, and to use that money to become more powerful than every other such system. And their 6,000-year track record most certainly bears this out.

No one described this more honestly than Simone Weil, in An Anthology:

What a country calls its vital economic interests are not the things which enable its citizens to live, but the things which enable it to make war… What is called national prestige consists in behaving always in such a way as to demoralize other nations by giving them the impression that, if it comes to war, one would certainly defeat them. What is called national security is an imaginary state of affairs in which one would retain the capacity to make war while depriving all other countries of it.

The truth of the matter is that the ruling structures of our world are abject failures – relics of a brutal and ignorant past. And Eisenhower was right when he said they were crucifying humanity on a cross of iron.

We can do better.

Copyright © 2018 Paul Rosenburg FreeMansPerspective–All rights reserved

When Western Civilization began to form at about 500 AD¹, it was full of purpose. In particular, it was devoted to bringing the light of Christ into the world: to overcome the ancient darkness and to replace it with righteousness.

But please don’t imagine that when I say “bringing the light of Christ” and “500 AD,” I’m talking about the reign of the Roman Catholic Church and the “Dark Ages.” First of all, the capital-C church didn’t exist at that time. The Rome-based church had just lost the sword of the emperor in the West. There was still an emperor in the East, but he ordered the church around more than did favors for it. Furthermore, the Rome-based church had serious competition from Arian Christianity and lesser competition from a host of smaller versions.

Second, the popular idea of the Dark Ages is mostly a myth. 500–1000 AD was a terribly rough time for rulership, but it was a good time for farmers. As historian Peter Brown noted:

[I]f anyone was happy in the early Middle Ages, it was the peasantry. Freed at last from the double pressure of landlords and tax collectors, they settled back to enjoy a low-profile golden age.

Whatever we might say about their specific beliefs, the people of early Western civilization were devoted to something… something supremely good. Their new civilization had a goal. It had purpose. There was something for everyone – rich, poor, old, young – to work for. And the civilization they created produced more benefit for mankind than any other civilization in human history, and by a huge margin.

Fast Forward to Today

What does civilization in the West hold as a goal today? Is there anything we can really point to?

At best, the “leaders” of our hyper-political age claim to serve “freedom.” But what does that really mean? Can any of these leaders define it clearly? Do they even try?

Freedom, in the modern political context, simply means stasis: what we have now, without end. In other words, it’s propaganda for the maintenance of the existing regimes.

So, what are the West’s goals? For the rest of the world to acknowledge our greatness? To force them into our image?

Where I live in the US, a “politics almighty” culture has divided the populace in two, the goal of each half being to defeat the other half. After the other half is defeated, they suppose, the magnificence of life will prove that they were right all along… hooray for us! This is not only juvenile, it provides no civilizational goal whatsoever. But all through the West this type of mindset, or something resembling it, reigns.

Politics of course is strictly parasitic. Bricklayers and nurses and farmers produce; politicians skim and punish. Politics literally cannot produce. And without production, there is no forward movement for a civilization.

Residues of Purpose

Some purpose remains of course. Young people usually want to mate and reproduce, for example, and all of us want to live in comfort. These, however, are limited goals. They neither satisfy nor motivate beyond their limits.

And then there are the dark goals of status, power, and lust for the sake of lust. (Think of Harvey Weinstein, his many protectors, and many like them who’ve not yet been exposed.)

For a civilization to thrive, however – and for limited goals to have real force behind them – big goals are necessary.

Have you noticed the falling birth rates in the West? (And this with sexual images being pumped into everyone’s life 24/7.) Did you know that the same thing happened as Rome declined? Have you noticed it in an aging and purposeless Japan?

While I can’t prove this, I can say with some assurance that these things substantially result from a lack of purpose… from having no compelling vision of the future.

Have you noticed that religious people still have babies? And the more religious, the more babies? Religious people, you see, have some sense of purpose in their lives. As a result, they believe in the future and embrace it. The purposeless people around them tend to hunker down and enjoy whatever they can on their way to the grave.

A few of you may have noticed that young people in the new world of cryptocurrencies are tending to have babies. These people believe in the future too.

The Verdict

I could go on, but I’ll jump to the conclusion instead. And that is this:

Western civilization no longer has any purpose, save for self-congratulation.

Please understand this situation is perfect for those who are strip mining our civilization: the states who skim away half our produce; the corporations who, in partnership with the states, skim most of what remains; the pharmaceuticals, academia, central banks, and Wall Street. All of these thrive when people lack an outside standard by which to judge their actions. The victims live inside a bubble maintained by the strip-miners and cannot see outside of it.

With no purpose, there is no view to the outside.

Islands of Purpose

While Western civilization in the overall has no valid purpose, there are islands of purpose springing up in it. I’ve written often of the cryptocurrency movement, which is, very clearly, a rising island of purpose. Beyond the value of cryptocurrency technologies, there are scores of thousands of people who have become devoted to the principle of decentralization through them. These people have gained a purpose: constructing a better, decentralized world.

Likewise homeschoolers, whose goal is not only to escape centralized schooling, but to populate the earth with better children. This also is a worthy purpose. And there are others.

What Happens Next?

Wherever you see people suffering to live a better way, you’re seeing islands of purpose rising in the midst of a purposeless culture dedicated to itself.

It will take time to see what comes of this. If these islands grow and eventually converge, Western civilization will renew itself. This is what “should” happen.

As the status quo culture is seen as purposeless and barren – and as the new islands are seen as dynamic – emotionally healthy people will leave the moribund way and join the life-embracing way.

The status quo and its profiteers remain as obstacles of course, but their deceptions and distractions are starting to fade. Their ability to call forth violence remains, but even that rests upon the automated compliance of the masses, which may not endure.

So, please find a deep, meaningful purpose for your life. To live without it is to waste a precious gift.

References

1. Western Civilization does not include Greece or Rome. Those were civilizations based upon slavery, a very different model

Copyright 2017, Freeman’s Perspective-All rights reserved

Photo courtesy: The Imaginative Conservative

It’s really just a matter of time; the working man’s deal with his overseers is half dead already. But there’s still inertia in the system, and even the losers are keeping the faith. Hope dies slowly, after all.

Nonetheless, the deal is collapsing and a new wave of robots will kill it altogether. Unless the overseers can pull back on technology – very fast and very hard – the deal that held through all our lifetimes will unwind.

We All Know the Deal

We usually don’t discuss what the “working man’s deal” is, but we know it just the same. It goes like this:

If you obey authority and support the system, you’ll be able to get a decent job. And if you work hard at your job, you’ll be able to buy a house and raise a small family.

This is what we were taught in school and on TV. It’s the deal our parents and grandparents clung to, and it’s even a fairly open deal. You can fight for the political faction of your choice and you can hold any number of religious and secular alliances, just as long as you stay loyal to the system overall.

This deal has been glamorized in many ways, such as, “Our children will be better off than we are,” “home ownership for everyone,” and of course, “the American Dream.” Except that it isn’t working anymore, or at least it isn’t working well enough.

Among current 20- and 30-year-olds, only about half are able to grasp the deal’s promises. That half is working like crazy, putting up with malignant corporatism and trying to keep ahead of the curve. The other half is dejected and discouraged, taking student loans to chase degrees (there’s more status in that than working at McDonald’s), or else they’re pacified with government handouts and distracted by Facebook.

The deal is plainly unavailable to about half of the young generation, but as I noted above, hope dies slowly and young people raised on promises are still waiting for the deal to kick in. It’s all they know.

Regardless, the deal has abandoned them. It has made them superfluous.

Here’s Why

Put very simply, the deal is dying because two things can no longer coexist:

#1: New technology.

#2: A system geared to old technology.

Let’s start with new technology: New machines and methods have made so many jobs obsolete that there aren’t enough to go around. Both North America and Europe are already filled with the unemployed or underemployed children of industrial workers. But at the same time, we are suffering no shortages; we have an overflow of stuff and a double overload of inane ads trying to sell it all. And there’s something important to glean from this:

Where goods abound, additional jobs are not required.

We don’t need more workers. Machines are producing plenty of stuff for us, and this becomes truer every day.

Item #2 is the system itself; let’s confront that directly too: The system was designed to reap the incomes of industrial workers. Everything from withholding taxes to government schools was put in place to maximize the take from an industrial workforce. Whether purposely or simply by trial and error, the Western world was structured to keep industrial workers moving in a single direction and to reap from them as they went. Call it “efficient rulership” if you like, but the system is a reaping machine.

Technology, however, has advanced beyond the limits of this machine; it has eliminated too many jobs. At the same time, regulations make it almost impossible for the superfluous class to adapt. Nearly everything requires certification and starting a business is out of the question; fail to file a form you’ve never heard of and the IRS will skin you alive.

This system, however, will not change; the big corps paid for the current regulatory regime, and they still own their congressmen.

Enter the Robots

You may have seen this image (it comes from NPR’s Planet Money), but look again anyway. I count 28 states in which “truck driver” is the most common job. As inexact as this map may be, it makes a point we can’t really ignore: What happens to all these truck drivers when self-driving trucks pile on to the roads? And you may count on it that they will; automated trucks will be safer and cheaper and will use less fuel. So, millions of truck drivers will be dropped out of the deal, and probably fairly soon.

On top of that, the very last refuge for the superfluous class – fast food – is experiencing its own robot invasion. Wendy’s just ordered 6,000 self-service ordering kiosks to be installed in the second half of 2016, and KFC’s first automated restaurant went live April 25.

Is There an Answer?

“The deal” is very clearly failing. At the same time, the system is utterly unwilling to change; the people in control are making too much money and hold too much power. The impoverishment of a hundred million people in flyover country won’t move them to give it up. Their system, after all, funnels the wealth of a continent to Washington, DC, in a steady stream… and they’ve bought access to that steam. The system will be defended.

So, forget about orderly reform. Certainly there will be talk of reform, and plenty of it… there will be promises, plans, and a small army of state intellectuals dedicated to keeping hope alive. But the system will not reform itself. Did Rome? Did Greece?

If there is to be an answer, it will have to come from the ‘superfluous’ people… but that discussion will have to wait for another day.

Don’t Blame the Robots

One last point: Don’t make the mistake of blaming technology for all of this. Technology is doing precisely what we want it to do: It’s killing scarcity. And that’s a very, very good thing. Without technology, we all go back to low-tech farming. And if that possibility doesn’t alarm you, you really should try it for a month or two.

Technology is moving forward and should move forward. The death of scarcity is to be welcomed. Our problem is that we’re chained to an archaic hierarchy of dominance with a deeply entrenched skimming class. Either we get past it or we go back to serfdom… or worse.

© Copyright 2016 Free Man’s Perspective

Image courtesy: Wikipedia

There are evangelical Christians whom I love and respect. Nonetheless, it’s time to face this: The military-evangelical complex is not just politically dangerous; it’s a corruption of the Judeo-Christian tradition and thus of Western Civilization itself.

Definition

Let’s start by defining this clearly: The military-evangelical complex is an intricate partnership between the US government and thousands of churches, typically evangelical. These churches support and glorify government-authorized violence. Their messages to their members are clear: To enforce laws is noble and righteous; to bleed on a foreign battlefield is godly; the US military is a great force of goodness upon Earth; America, manifested especially through military action, is God’s special tool.

Every American past high-school age should recognize this description, but to be clear, here are a few exemplary images:

• It is announced in church that Johnny has joined the military. He is asked to stand and is heartily applauded by all.
• Memorial Day church services (or Veteran’s Day or July 4^th) feature dedicated sermons and proud displays of flags and uniforms. There is effusive praise for soldiers, casting them as godly heroes.
• Military-themed ceremonies are held before every major sporting event.
• Children are encouraged to choose “service” as a life plan; if not in war, at least enforcing state laws.
• Enacting violence on behalf of the state is certain to get you public praise and pats on the back.
• Government-ordered violence is prejudged to be good and right.
• Funerals include the ritual touching of flags by military veterans.
• Churches promote slogans like, “Jesus died to save us; soldiers die to keep us free.”
• Rituals of saluting flags, singing anthems, and thanking soldiers for ‘service’ are obligatory.

Now, let’s be honest about this. Military service has become a sacrament in these churches; soldiers are the new missionaries, and wounded soldiers are the new martyrs.

And let’s be honest about something else: If we found records of such things in ancient inscriptions, we’d define them as the rituals of a military cult… and we would not be wrong.

How Did This Happen?

It happened because it was the easiest thing to do.

Christianity, however, was never meant to be easy. Not only did early Christians risk serious persecutions, but Jesus had warned them that “all men will hate you for my sake,” that they would be persecuted, and that they would “suffer for righteousness’s sake.” A follower of Jesus is supposed to lead mankind “into the light,” thus angering those who remain in darkness. (“He that dwells in darkness hates the light….”)

Most Christians, however, don’t want to suffer and don’t want to be hated. On top of that, leading mankind into the light is hard work. Alternatives to such things – easier ways – have always been popular.

And so, joining with the state – the biggest and most powerful entity – is the safest thing to do; once joined, no suffering and no hatred are required. And to gain that position, all you have to do is spin a theology that makes church-state partnership into a righteous thing.

Christians began making such arrangements just a few centuries after Jesus’s time. The Middle Ages had their versions, and modern times have theirs. And right now, among the most vocal advocates of Christianity, we have a military-evangelical complex.

And we all know what has supercharged this process over the past decade and a half: 9/11.

In a single day, people in uniforms were promoted into a new Hero caste. Minds stewing in fear skipped right past contrary facts and the lessons they had learned in the 1970s. (The Pentagon Papers, the Church Committee reports, the Gulf of Tonkin, etc.)

All of this gave Christian leaders an immediate opportunity to fill their pews and keep them full. So they jumped at it. Presently, they are clinging to it. Military leaders jumped at it too and have spent millions of dollars promoting it, notably at sporting events.

We Were Warned

There is a great deal more to say about this, and I am tempted to ramble on about the military-evangelical complex inverting the most fundamental elements of the Judeo-Christian tradition, how it turns government into an agent of sanctification, and how the Scriptures condemn it. But I shall not. I’ve made my point and I will leave it where it stands, adding only this:

As he was stepping down from the US presidency in 1961, Dwight Eisenhower warned about this. He talked about the threats of “an immense military establishment,” that it was “new in the American experience,” and that Americans “must not fail to comprehend [the] grave implications” of this “total influence – economic, political, even spiritual.”

And yes, this was the speech where he warned Americans to “guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence… by the military-industrial complex.”

But, like all the great warnings of history, Eisenhower’s were flatly ignored.

It was the easiest thing to do.

© Copyright 2016 Freeman’s Perspective

Photo courtesy: Wikipedia

Several decades ago, Saul Bellow wrote this:

For the first time in history, the human species as a whole has gone into politics. Everyone is in the act, and there is no telling what may come of it.

At this point, however, we can say what has come of it: failure. Politics has failed to deliver on nearly every promise it has made since the 1960s, and I think it’s time to hold it to account.

50 Years In

I was still a child in 1966, but I remember it fairly well. And I remember a good deal of the politics of the era, because my mom was involved with it. In fact, she helped to rewrite the Illinois State Constitution during those years. (Adoption came in 1970, but there were several years of work preceding it.)

So, I know what people in that time were hoping to get out of politics… what they firmly believed they would get out of politics. Here’s the list:

• A solution to the race problem.
• An end to a pointless war.
• A solution to the Middle East problem.
• To improve education.
• A solution to the problems of poverty and welfare.
• An elimination of police brutality.

Bear in mind that the people who were seeking these things were decent, well-meaning people. They truly wanted the world to be better, and they believed politics would make it happen.

And to their credit, they worked to make it happen. Not only that, but their children and grandchildren have kept the faith and continued the fight. We now live in a world of all politics, all the time. And so, half a century in, I think we need to take a hard look at the results, which are these:

The race problem

Race problems have shifted over the past 50 years, but they are still very much with us. And when I say “shifted,” I mean this: If you go to the towns of the American South that were considered the cores of racism (in those days it was called “bigotry”), you’ll find that black and white people generally get along pretty well; far better than they did in the 1960s.

Where racial tension survives and thrives these days is in the realm of the political and because of political actions. The typical white hater of the ’60s derided Negroes as being bad by nature.

The “angry white men” of modern times are upset that their money, jobs, and opportunities are stolen via politics and handed to other people. (There is of course a residue of just plain hate.)

The bottom line here is that politics is keeping racism alive. And if the truth is to be honestly faced, this is because a large number of political operatives would have no job if racial prejudice evaporated. It behooves them to keep it going.

Verdict: Fail.

Pointless war

Vietnam goes, Iraq and Afghanistan come, and Syria may be next; ho hum, just another season in the long march of the military-industrial complex.

Verdict: Fail.

The Middle East problem

Israel, the Arabs, bombs, terrorists, dictators… which decade’s headlines are these?

Verdict: Fail.

Education

Test scores since the 1960s have steadily fallen; teachers’ unions have become ever-more rapacious and arrogant, colleges ever-more expensive. Metal detectors now adorn school buildings, teachers are forbidden to adapt the curriculum to the students, etc.

Verdict: Fail.

Poverty and welfare

More people are on more welfare programs than ever before… and in the face of ever-declining scarcity in the world. And again, armies of political operatives would lose their jobs if these problems ever went away.

Verdict: Fail.

Police brutality

Eric Garner, intensely violent and overly used SWAT teams, and an ever-increasing list of innocent victims.

At the same time, every evening’s television shows laud “law enforcement” as our true and great saviors. Police departments are laden with bigger, deadlier tools and massive budgets. All of this while Acton’s dictum (“Power corrupts…”) remains.

Verdict: Fail.

We See, but Can We Perceive?

There’s nothing secret about the facts itemized above. We’ve all seen them. The question is this: How many of us are able to accept them?

Most people hate the reality that forces them to change their opinions. They fight it, cleverly and persistently. If the first reason to reject reality doesn’t work, it’s followed by a second, third, and fourth. And if excuses fail, anger, accusations, and wild displays may follow.

Still, reality is what it is. And this particular slice of reality is that politics has failed. Profoundly.

We may have leapt into politics with the best of intentions, but our efforts have failed to produce beneficial results… save of course that they allowed us to feel righteous.

As far as changing the world, we’d have been better off gardening; that, at least, would have provided good food for people we cared about.

We can either face reality or fight against it. But if we really care about the state of the world, we need to face the truth: Politics has failed miserably.

Originally posted on Freeman’s Perspective

Image courtesy: Prweb.com

Another American election cycle is upon us, and large numbers of people are lining up to pour their time and money into the sewer of politics, to be lost forever.

This system will not be fixed. Period. This is Rome in 460 AD. The rulers, as in Rome, are liars, mad, or drunk (these days, drugged)… or all three.

The “fall of Rome,” of course, was far more complex than we learned in school, but through all the many years of its decline, Rome was full of well-meaning people trying to reform and save it. And by the way, among the people who tried the hardest to keep the Roman game going were the Goths. They tried hard to keep Rome operational… and they failed too.

Let me be clear on this: Once ruling hierarchies get beyond a certain point, they cannot be reformed. And I am sure that the modern West is beyond that point.

• Do we really believe that central bankers will just lay down their monopolies?
• Can we seriously expect a hundred trillion dollars of debt to be liquidated without any consequences?
• Do we actually believe that politicians will walk away from their power and apologize for abusing us?
• Do we really think that the corporations who own Congress will just give up the game that is enriching them?
• Does anyone seriously believe that the NSA is going to say, “Gee, that Fourth Amendment really is kind of clear, and everything we do violates it… so, everyone here is fired and the last person out will please turn off the lights”?
• And does anyone believe that the military-industrial complex will stop encouraging war, or that corporate media will stop worshiping the state, or that your local sheriff will apologize for training his cops to be viscous beasts?
• Do we really believe that public school systems will ever stop lauding the state that pays all its bills?

I could go on, but I think my point is made: This system will never allow itself to be seriously reformed. Trying to fix this is like trying to revive a long-dead corpse. The systems that rule the West will fail.

Whether the wider Western civilization fails is up to us: Do we have civilization inside of us? Or was it all just a pattern that we followed?

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Paul Rosenberg is the CEO of Cryptohippie USA, a leading provider of Internet privacy technologies. He is the author of FreemansPerspective.com, a site dedicated to economic freedom, personal independence and individual privacy.