“Although various rationales were given for these wars, each was undertaken primarily to expand worldwide US military hegemony by gaining permanent American military bases in these countries. The delusionary impetus of these costly and destructive enterprises is captured by the definition of the philosophical phrase reductio AB absurdum: "a method of proving the falsity of a premise by showing that its logical consequences is absurd or contradictory."”

Antiwar.com

Iraq, Afghanistan, and Now Ukraine: Reductio ab Absurdum - Antiwar.com

The recent 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 has caused me to reflect on the two years (2007-08) that I worked as a field-level c...

BRICS countries have twice the population as dollar-obligate countries. Once they establish their currency based on proportional contributions of each member’s currencies, and are able to make loans denominated in that currency, then debt denominated in dollars will lose all that luster that you find alluring. We’re already well down the road toward that point where treasury notes held by foreign entireties will be dumped, and the corporate debt accounting for the 40% of the value of the S+P owned by foreign governments and business will be sold off. The fact that “everybody uses the dollar” is an observation, not an appreciation of the the world’s trajectory. Inflation resulting from the “printing” of 2 trillion over the last three years is a drop in the bucket compared to the potential inflation that may result from the devaluation of the 45 trillion dollar bond market.

Bank bailouts do not stabilize the economy as billionaires would have us believe. They shift liabilities onto taxpayers. The financial class who yell “free market” are precisely those who designed a legal system that protects the rich at the expense of the poor.

Debates about the quality of human nature seldom take into account the contribution that basic needs play in decision making. It’s easy to be “good” if you aren’t hungry, stressed, at risk of losing your house, and are safe.

To opt out of fiat is not to succumb to political ambivalence. In fact, Bitcoin is a politically relevant decision. Our democracy has been reduced to a form of representative government which is by nature, distanced from the citizen. A protocol that receives users’ feedback directly by way of POW and nodes, embodies a democratic element that has been lost in real politics. This character strengthens its resistance to anti-political appeals to patriotism, fear, and demagoguery.

To opt out of fiat is not to succumb to political ambivalence. In fact, Bitcoin is a politically relevant decision. Our democracy has been reduced to a form of representative government which is by nature, distanced from the citizen. A protocol that receives users’ feedback directly by way of POW and nodes, embodies a democratic element that has been lost in real politics. This character strengthens its resistance to anti-political appeals to patriotism, fear, and demagoguery.

There is no left-right conflict inherent in the system. There is only top-bottom conflict, and a dialogue controlled by the top with a purpose of fomenting resentment between the suffering masses below.

It is crucial to recognize the tension between political democracy and economic power. The demos strives for political equality, and the elite claims that political inequality is a natural and acceptable aspect of economic inequality. When economic status dictates political status, democracy becomes impossible.

Belief in species exceptionalism…or cultural exceptionalism…or national exceptionalism…or genetic exceptionalism…depends on a mythical and imagined foundation. The only exceptionalism is in life itself.

I think freedom from ideology is greatly liberating. Why find comfort in a set of collected beliefs and values designed for you by a political tribe? Designing your own set based on an independent world view, allows you to define your own tenets and then extract logical conclusions. The existing plutocracy would rather present you with allowable conclusions, and hope that you ignore the fact that the natural tenets of human need do not support them.

At the fiat mine, making more money than most, because I know a thing about barriers to entry, trade monopolies, and state regulations... not because my time is worth more, or because my craft is more valuable. It’s nice for me…but really it’s a symptom of a broken system that allows powerful industries to write their own rules. Bitcoin fixes this.

We’re terrified of public opinion from the moment we’re born, partially due to religious training, partially due to an educational system that is not very interested in educating us. What, really, the rulers want are docile workers, who refuse to have anything to do say about minimum wage or labor unions, and passionate consumers… Gore Vidal History of the National Security State

According to Thorstein Veblen, wealth was historically measured in personal time: leisure, the ability to let your wife stay at home, the time to study and learn. Rent seekers and money lenders changed the dialogue, and convinced the world that wealth is things. Your leisure time, it turns out, yields them no interest and no rent.

A concise explanation of how the US exports inflation to developing countries. “The… thing about inflation in developing countries … it’s usually the case of external inflation that’s imported when you import food or fuel or whatever resources a particular country has. So, when you look at most developing countries, you realize that the reason they lose their monetary sovereignty is because they have structural economic issues, structural trade deficit issues. And when you zoom in, in most countries, those tend to be two reasons. One is a deficit related to food imports that just don’t have enough food production domestically. So, they have to import food on a systemic basis. And number two, it’s energy or fuel trade deficit related. So, they have to import fuel to fuel their economy. And those are things that, no matter what you do as a central bank, you’re not going to eliminate those structural issues unless, as a country, you start investing in renewable energy so that you don’t have to import fossil fuels anymore. Or you invest in a sustainable agricultural policy so that you have food self-sufficiency. So, if you have that hole in your trade deficit every single year, if you don’t borrow in a foreign currency, as a developing country, if you don’t borrow in dollars or euros, what’s going to happen is that your exchange rate is going to depreciate. And, then, the next morning or the next month, when you as a country try to import food or fuel, you’re going to import it at a higher price. So, you’ll be importing inflation into your domestic economy.” Fadhel Kaboub

All liberation depends on the consciousness of servitude, and the emergence of this consciousness is always hampered by the predominance of needs and satisfactions which, to a great extent, have become the individual’s own. — Herbert Marcuse

The purpose of the Constitution was to shift power back away from the people…a democracy enacted by the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution reestablished a representative government over a republican government, wherein the only branch of government truly representative of the people would be the House of Representatives.

“The man who is possessed of wealth, who lolls on his sofa or rolls in his carriage, cannot judge the wants or feelings of the day-laborer. The government we mean to erect is intended to last for ages. The landed interest, at present, is prevalent; but in process of time, when we approximate to the states and kingdoms of Europe, — when the number of landholders shall be comparatively small, through the various means of trade and manufactures, will not the landed interest be overbalanced in future elections, and unless wisely provided against, what will become of your government? In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people, the property of landed proprietors would be insecure. An agrarian law would soon take place. If these observations be just, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation. Landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority. The senate, therefore, ought to be this body; and to answer these purposes, they ought to have permanency and stability.” Attributed to either James Madison or to John Adam’s, depending on the source. Likely 1787

“Be a man of vision, Palamedes. A lookout and a statesman who perceives the whole of the politics that forms the needs of our people.” -The Lost Muse of Justice