Norway, trust, freedom and CBDC This note is a call to action. I write it in English to make it easy for people abroad to understand what's going on here, and because the Norwegian social democracy often is referred to as an example that other countries should try to copy. I suggest that they shouldn't belive this narrative. Norwegian politicians repeatedly tell us that we have a trust-based society. It isn't true. Their interest don't align with the people. They most likely never did. Our politicians have always known this. They know that if they shall succeed in being part of the ruling class, they must bribe, coerce and deceive the people. Coercion is expensive. Bribes are costly too. Therefore they rely heavily on deception. By repeatedly referring to Norway as a trust-based society, they try to appeal to our conciousness. They want us to feel shame if we think or talk about not trusting them. Many Norwegians feel this shame. They shouldn't. Instead, they should try to learn where we come from, by studying our history. If they do, they most likely will stop being ashamed for not trusting the politicians. On the contrary, many will take great pride in not trusting any ruler at all. Norwegians have relied heavily on voluntary cooperation with each other. But trust in politicians has until recently not been one of our prospensities. In my region, Trøndelag, we originally didn't trust rulers at all. In the Viking Age we didn't want to have kings ruling us. Therefore we punished them harder than anyone else, typically by killing them, if they tried to place themselves above the law. Not trusting the kings was a fundamental requirement for our ancestors if they wanted to preserve their freedom and prosperity. Fulfilling their obligations as manifested in the law, to punish the kings ruthlessly, was of equal importance. They knew it by heart. Is was as true for them as the natural laws. They knew that ignoring the truth would punish them immediately. Unfortunately this was exactly what happened when our social structure broke down in 1050 AD. Over time fighting for our freedom was replaced with flight from oppression. People feared standing up for their rights. So our ancestors instead fled the country. For instance, the level of emmigration that occured after we got our own constitution and a semi-independence in 1814 was nothing but gargantuan. In 1814 we had a population of about 900.000 people. Between 1836 and 1915 an estimated 750.000 people relocated to North-America. It's an insanely huge number. Norway is an enormously rich country in terms of natural resources. Still people left in droves. It tells us everything we need to know about how little the Norwegian people trusted and appreciated the politicians. The level of trust was probably zero. The ones who didn't leave managed to keep some check on the politicians for a long time. Again, numbers are informative. In 1900 the public sector only spent an amount of money equivalent to 6% of GDP. The reason was probably that any attempt of increasing the burdens of the common people would increase the level of emmigration. The ruling class risked being left with nobody to slave for them if they raised taxes. So the people paid almost no taxes at all. Instead, the ruling class used inflation to extract wealth from the people. When World War I broke out in 1914, the gold standard had become a trap that enabled the elite to rob workers, landowners and farmers By increasing the money supply 300%, and then suddenly reducing it in similar magnitude, all in a short timespan of 14 years, the ruling class robbed ordinary Norwegians for most of what they owned. Now the wealthy elite and their cynical companions - the politicians - had carte blanche. The table was set. The feast could finally begin. Party time for the rich and the State. Serfdom for the rest. Recent events show us that not adhering to the obligation to protect our freedom has been a one-way ticket to serfdom: - the public sector today spends almost 2/3 of onshore GDP - in 2020 and 2021 our government locked down our nation and forced us to take vaccines, although the risk for having a serious reaction to the coronavirus was insignificant while the risk related to taking these vaccines were much greater than other vaccines - the government forces a broad range of costly burdens on us related to its climate change policy, although the effectiveness of these measures are dubious, to say the least. Today our super-cynical politicians warn us about the dangers and immorality of owning #Bitcoin      , while they at the same time present Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) as a safe alternative. The truth is that our politicians and the special interests that support them have painted themselves into a corner. They try to deceive us into adopting CBDC because it makes it much cheaper for them to coerce us afterwards. The monetary system is the most powerful social network that has ever existed. And with CBDC our hubris-infected leaders will have the most powerful political tool that has ever been available to them. With CBDC they can surveil, block and steer our every move. I consider CBDC to be a bigger threat to our species than the nuclear bomb. On the other hand, I don't find it likely that many countries will be able to adopt CBDCs. I think the project will faceplant in most countries, because people will fight tools and nails against it, as they have done in Nigeria. However, in those countries were people are lazy and don't feel any obligation to fight for their freedom, their rulers are definetely going to use of this terrible weapon. And their people will immediately suffer. Immediately. It's a 100 % certainty. Because the politicians who get to control this terrible weapon cannot resist the temptation to make every possible use of it to increase their power. The CBDC will be like the ring in Tolkien's the Lord of the Rings. It will spellbound them, and produce terrible outcomes for themselves and their people. To sum up: Norway is not at all a trust-based country. We don't have any alternative other than to fight for our freedom. If we allow the ruling elite to implement CBDCs, we will experience hell on earth. And then our only option will be to flee to another country. I prefer staying. And I prefer fighting. You see, I have a deep respect for the values and the understanding that my ancestors had, especially that they knew that ignoring the truth is incredibly costly. It's in my genes. This is my country. A ruling class isn't welcome here. It never was. If you were inspired by this note, feel free to hit the like button and follow me here on NOSTR.