Southern Europe, especially Spain, Portugal and Greece, would appear to be a natural ground zero for opposition to the prevailing order. Extremely high and protracted unemployment combined with nothing but more of the same from the mainstream political parties would seem to be ripe conditions for the appearance of a revolutionary movement. However, where is the organised opposition in these and other troubled Western states? Of these countries, only Greece has a popular social and political movement that is radically opposed to the prevailing system which dragging down the Western world. There, the Golden Dawn has risen from obscurity, won 7% in the national election earlier this year and is currently polling at 22%. Much more than just a typical political party, Golden Dawn’s popularity has been won with social activism in the streets and towns of Greece. This is what is noticeably missing in most other Western countries. Public unrest is insufficient to challenge and defeat the established order.
NBC News reports on large protests and public unrest in Lisbon, Portugal and Madrid, Spain:
Tens of thousands of Spaniards and Portuguese rallied in the streets of their countries’ capitals Saturday to protest enduring deep economic pain from austerity cuts.
In Madrid, demonstrators approached parliament for the third time this week to vent their anger against tax hikes, government spending cuts and the highest unemployment rate among the 17 nations that use the euro currency.
The boisterous crowds in the Spanish capital let off ear-splitting whistles near parliament and yelled ‘‘Fire them, fire them!’’ — referring to the conservative government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
…Spain’s unemployment rate is almost 25 percent, and more than half of people under 24 are jobless.
…In Lisbon, retired banker Antonio Trinidade said the budget cuts Portugal is locked into in return for the nation’s €78 billion ($101 billion) bailout are making the country’s economy the worst he has seen in his lifetime. His pension has been cut, and he said countless young Portuguese are increasingly heading abroad because they can’t make a living at home.
‘‘The government and the troika controlling what we do because of the bailout just want to cut more and more and rob from us,’’ Trinidade said, referring to the troika of creditors — the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. ‘‘The young don’t have any future, and the country is on the edge of an abyss. I’m getting toward the end of my life, but these people in their 20s or 30s don’t have jobs, or a future.’’
The sad but inevitable result of the overthrow or dis-empowerment of Europe’s monarchies. The sooner people realise that it was equality that brought them here, and hierarchy that will save them, the better.
I definitely think that is part of it, VS. I also think there are other major factors such as neo-liberal economics (including modern central banking), the Atlanticist order and democracy (which could be considered included in the equality you noted).
“vent their anger against tax hikes, government spending cuts and the highest unemployment rate”
The issue here is not government tax hikes, government spending or unemployment rates. The common factor among all of these issues is government. Government only exist to transfer wealth from one group of citizens to another. Unfortunately, along the way government, government moves beyond theft and uses its authority to murder, prosecute and maim those who are not politically well connected. It’s time to end “civil” government and allow the people to enjoy liberty, freedom and life.
Chad, I’m very critical of the modern state as well. However, there are lots of examples around the world of other countries where the situation is much better. So, I don’t think that we can just say ‘It’s government.’ Governments, like people, are not equal. And some form of government (even in the absence of the state – which we have not seen in modern times) is inevitable.
Indeed, Michael. Government, as a concept, is not only necessary, but a blessing from God to provide order and stability. But like all blessings from God, it can easily be corrupted and perverted by sinful man into something evil. So it is not “government” that is the problem, but the fact that nearly every “government” that exists today is a perversion and corruption of the blessing God gave us. For example, Liechtenstein does not have these problems, and this is in large part due to the blessing of her absolute monarchy. The problem comes when most countries have embraced the ideals of the enlightenment, which pervert the beautiful and orderly hierarchy of government and society that God gave to us and turn them into forces for egalitarianism and, and Michael said, “neo-liberal economics.” A return to older, pre-enlightenment government, society, and economics must come in order to correct the decline. As Horace once said, “Great effort is required to arrest decay and restore vigor. One must exercise proper deliberation, plan carefully before making a move, and be alert in guarding against relapse following a renaissance.”
I have never witness a single government entity that does not abuse the people in some form. This type of government simply does not exist (even in Lichtenstein, though its actions are one of the least offensive there is, the prince there is able to dissolution the parliament, veto any of their legislation or protect any of his buddies from the justice system). Beside why should any fictitious entity be able to steal, murder, brutalize, or destroy liberty and freedom of natural people? Government as a general rule is not voluntary does not have the consent of all the people, employs violence, death and destruction against people and property in order to maintain power. Government steals from one group of people in order to build the wealth of others. Government is no better than the thug on the street who steals or the serial killer who murders. Government is an instrument of chaos that destroys the voluntary organic social structures of nations.
There is nothing godly about government. The old testament does not endorse government, it merely indulges the childish behaviors and demands of some of the people. The old testament does go on an warn the people of the dangers, theft and murderous actions of the state, all of which came true with the use of a civil government. The people of Israel certainly suffered at the hands of its own government for choosing the state over god.
In the new testament, Jesus makes it clear that nothing is owed to a civil government except what it created (which is nothing) and all is owed to god who created everything. After all, a man cannot effectively serve two masters. If he tries to serve both, then he will betray one for the other… and more likely than not, a man sells out his god and serve government in order to partake in the plunder and the destruction of the people.
I’m sorry, but I must heartily disagree with your theology, Chad. Government by consent of the people is not a Biblical teaching, but a Lockian heresy. Also, government is not the instrument of chaos, but of order. If you’d like to see 7 billion people try to cooperate without government, you’d learn rather quickly how poorly anarchy works.
As for Liechtenstein, the Prince’s ability to dissolve parliament and veto legislation is *exactly* what has protected the liberty of that country. Unless you believe that liberty includes full rights to abortion. If the murder of children is included in liberty, then yes, Liechtenstein’s government is against liberty, and I’m quite thankful for it.
Government is actually a very Godly institution. You cannot use the nation of Israel as an extrapolated example for the whole world. Israel had a special covenant relationship with God, unique to them and to them alone.
As far as what Jesus said on government, if you’ll kindly open your Bible to Matthew chapter 22, and read verses 15-22, we shall see that He did *not* say what you think He said. We read, “15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to trap Him by what He said. 16 They sent their disciples to Him, with the Herodians. ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we know that You are truthful and teach truthfully the way of God. You defer to no one, for You don’t show partiality. 17 Tell us, therefore, what You think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’ 18 But perceiving their malice, Jesus said, ‘Why are you testing Me, hypocrites? 19 Show Me the coin used for the tax.’ So they brought Him a denarius. 20 ‘Whose image and inscription is this?’ He asked them. 21 ‘Caesar’s,’ they said to Him. Then He said to them, ‘Therefore give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ 22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left Him and went away.” Taxes and other material loyalties are for the government. Worship is for God.
I also invite you to read Romans 13 and I Peter 2 to get the word of the two greatest Apostles on the subject as well. By the inspired Word of God, spoken by the Son of God Himself, and the Apostles Peter and Paul, government *is* a good thing, an agent of God, and something to be obeyed and served. Service to the government is *part* of service to God, until such time as the government may ask you to do something contrary to the Law of God (such as when Peter was commanded to stop preaching Christ). Then, and *only* then, is there a conflict of interest. And then, as Peter said, “We must serve God rather than men.” But as the great Church Father Tertullian once wrote to the Emperor, no Christian in the Roman Empire was imprisoned for any crime whatsoever, except for the crime of being Christian. The early church obeyed *every* Roman law save that which demanded the worship of the Emperor. The early church payed their taxes dutifully. The early church served in the Roman army. The early church prayed daily for the protection and conversion of the Emperors that oppressed and murdered them. The early church did not think as you do. So I would highly recommend some soul searching and more time spent with Scripture.
Chad, I’m not going to argue the theological nature of government since that’s an argument that I don’t think can be won or lost today with all the different sects and denominations that have arisen. When Christendom or a country was united under a single church I think such arguments could be won or lost by appealing to a single tradition or authority. Today, Christendom is a mess and is more confused by the day.
However, I do notice you describe government as a ‘fictitious entity.’ This is an argument I have never understood from the libertarians. I think it’s one of the weakest points they commonly make. Schools are not fictitious. Neither are labour unions, baseball teams or sewing circles. Government is a type of organisation. It is certainly not fictitious. it does exist. To deny the existence of what is in front of your face, even if you oppose it, is not wise.
I agree with Chad on many of his points. From an esoterical point of view, government IS a “fictitious entity” because it is something which The Creator (without all the religious trappings and dogma associated with said Creator) never created. To “govern” means to regulate the affairs and the conduct of that which is being “governed.” Almighty God originally gave that right to sovereign mankind, who, in constant contact with The Creator made every correct decision regarding stewardship of himself and the planet. Mankind does not need “governors” but rather “administrators” who oversee the shared resources of the collective community (streets, infrastructure, etc.). It is the false idea that mankind cannot conduct their affairs honestly and without malice that birthed governments and all the tyranny that they can bring. It is also the false idea that there is lack in this world (as opposed to all the abundance The Creator put here and promises to all) that still controls the masses. Among the greatest of those control mechanisms is mankinds’ religious doctrines of control both now and in the hereafter.
Golden Dawn is successful in the work they do because they realize that they are under attack by those who seek to rob their country of their precious resources and to subjugate them as perpetual tax slaves for fictitious financial losses. And their leadership has been well aware of this for a long, long time. Their efforts which have lately been noticed in mainstream news are decades old. What’s happening in Greece is not new, and many of the members of GD are well aware of the desired outcomes, as it is part of the ancient history of Greece. The united States on the other hand only has the War of Northern Aggression (totally trashed by modern day history) as a part of its’ history to remember what can come of government out of control. Most in this country only remember the War of Independence and still cling to that as if it were reality today. Hence no grass roots movements to return to what this country ought to be but is in no way resembling any longer.
SAH, the Creator did not create cars or baseball teams either, but they are not fictitious. They are real.
Michael
Of course, all government entities are fictitious. In order for something to be real it must be composed of elements/particles/photons/etc. Everything that is not composed of elements/etc only exists in people’s minds… governments are abstract concepts. Fictitious entities in themselves cannot exert any influence in the material world… only those people who claim to be acting in the name of a fictitious entity can exert influence in the material world. Therefore, it is not a government that does anything… it is the natural persons who claim they are acting on behalf of a fictitious entity that can exert an influence on the material world. The reason entities are created in people’s mind is to help absolve responsibility of the natural persons who carry out the horrific acts of theft, violence, destruction and murder. The US government is no more real than Bugs Bunny or Yosemite Sam.
Virginian Secessionist
We are just going to have to disagree here. If you want to believe in a god that supports natural people creating a fictitious entity to legitimize their use of force, threats and violence to bring about “order” more power to you. We are never going to see eye to eye on the issue. I will not go further into your points as since we don’t have common ground it would waste both of our time.
SouthernAtHeart
I agree with your point that government is not needed in order for people to cooperatively work together for the good of the community. Private clubs already help out communities with absolutely no threat of violence or resorting to brute force to get their way. There is absolutely no good or moral reason to create in peoples mind an entity to cover the actions of natural people.
Michael
“SAH, the Creator did not create cars or baseball teams either, but they are not fictitious. They are real.”
You are confusing creating something with the manufacturing an object. All these people are doing are harvesting natural elements (matter) and converting them into a more useful object. Remember matter cannot be created or destroyed only transformed.
Chad, you are playing word games. I’m not interested in such games. This is one of the two major things that turns me off about the libertarian movement. The other is the obsession with anti-’collectivism.’ Together, they have soured me on libertarianism. I still essentially agree with the Hoppean/Rothbardian critique of the state and I also think Austrian Economics has contributed to our understanding of economics in general. However, the word games and anti-’collectivist’ obsession are not constructive and simply push people away who can understand and accept the more logic part of what libertarianism has to offer. Thankfully, there are a few self-described libertarians such as Hoppe who have moved away from wordism and have attempted to make the anti-state critique relevant in today’s Western world.
Michael
There are no word games going on here. Words are defined for a reason in order to prevent misunderstanding between people. People such as Hitler, members of the US Supreme court, Lincoln, most politicians, etc are well known for redefining words in order to manipulate people. In fact it is no longer uncommon for legislators to define key words in their statues and codes in order to prevent word games from going on in the court system. There is a reason for the saying “Mean what you say or say what you mean”. Of course, everyone at one time or another misspeaks or write something other than they mean… after all errors happen one simply just acknowledges and move on.
I stand by the fact that no one has ever created a car. As one of the most common definitions of the word create is “To bring something into existence” and the common definition of transform is to “Make a thorough or dramatic change in the form, appearance, or character of”. The manufacturing of raw materials into car parts is clearly the later, not the former as none of the materials needed to make car parts are “brought into existence” by the manufacture. In addition, even the process of transforming raw materials into another substance is not created, only discovered by an individual.
Simple question, Chad. When you pay taxes, where do they go? Or are your taxes also fictitious?
That is actually a very good question. The taxes one pays may or may not be fictitious depending on the method that one uses to pay their taxes. If someone chooses to pay their taxes electronically, by check, money order or other similar means than no true wealth is being transferred between accounts and is completely fictitious. The only change is fictitious Federal Reserve Notes that do not exist in the material world, from one bank account to another.
On the other hand, if an individual is sending the UNITED STATES TREASURY Federal Reserve Notes then they are transferring a dollar amount that is only equal in the cost of paper and ink to the UNITED STATES TREASURY.
This is why the gold, silver and any other precious metal system has been abandoned in the united States of America. After all, there is a limited amount of precious metals and these metals cannot be created with ledgers on a piece of paper. In order to increase the monetary supply under a precious metal system, people must be willing to mine, melt down and cast the metal, not merely transform wood pulp to paper and dye it (or in most cases, increase the money supply through theoretical fractional lending systems),
And you said you didn’t play word games.
Alright, let’s try it this way. You and I know that the electronic monies are “fictitious.” But Uncle Sam doesn’t care. He wants your digital dollars. And if you don’t send him those fictitious monies, he is going to send some very real agents your way. If government is fictitious, whence come these very real agents eager for your fictitious monies?
Sorry about that, for some reason the first half (which focused on your question didn’t paste over) and the latter half was just my rambling on the inadequacies of fiat money and monetary policy.
The UNITED STATES TREASURY does not do anything at all; it merely exists as a concept on paper. Taxes are received by natural persons who participate in the plundering of other natural persons. It is impossible for the UNITED STATES TREASURY to enforce or collect taxes; this is done by natural persons.
“If government is fictitious, whence come these very real agents eager for your fictitious monies?”
Government agents are natural people who have no problem stealing fiat money from other natural people… any “value” (and I use that term loosely here) beyond the ink and paper, is completely abstract. At one time, UNITED STATES TREASURY NOTES could be redeemed in precious metals, thus having a tangible value… but this is clearly not the case anymore.
I have never made the statement that there are not natural persons claiming to represent the fictitious entity known as the UNITED STATES. Even the US Code acknowledges that the UNITED STATES is a fictitious entity, so there is really no dispute over the facts that the UNITED STATES is fictitious. There are no word games going on here at all, I can’t help it if you are unaware of what the UNITED STATES is exactly and can’t distinguish the difference between something that consists of matter (thus having the ability to interact in the material world) versus something that is merely an abstract concept.
In addition, nearly all debt in the current monetary system is fictitious as it only exists electronically. Less than 3% of US currency exists in cash form. A fractional lending system allows banks to expand the electronic money supply exponentially through the issuance of credit. This of course, decreases the abstract value of money. The application of interest ensures that some persons will go bankrupt, because the banks only expand the money supply to include the principal that is loaned, not the interest.
“Government agents are natural people who have no problem stealing fiat money from other natural people…” How can a fictitious entity have agents, though?