1.
Surveillance and censorship by Big Tech
The resistance
eventually found each other but it took months and years.
A censorship
regime descended on all major social platforms, technologies
designed with the intention of keeping us more connected and
expanding the range of opinion we could experience.
We did not know
it was happening, but we eventually learned of the crackdown,
which is why so much of us felt so alone.
Others could
not hear us and we could not hear them. The regime faces a bold
court challenge on many fronts but it still goes on today, with
all but Twitter constantly policing their networks in ways that
are unpredictably authoritarian.
We have
ironclad evidence now that they are all captured.
2.
Power and influence of Big Pharma
It was April
2020 when someone asked me if the goal of the vaccine produced
by the pharmaceutical cartel was really behind the lockdowns.
The idea would
be to terrify us and ruin our lives until we were begging for
shots. I thought the whole idea was insane and that the
corruption could not possibly reach this deep.
I was wrong.
Big Pharma had been at work on
a vaccine since January of that year and called in every form of
purchased influence to eventually make them mandatory.
Now we know
that the major regulators are wholly owned and controlled, to
the point that necessity, safety, and efficacy don't really
matter.
3.
Government propaganda by Big Media
It was
relentless from day one:
the major
media proved hardcore partisans of
Anthony Fauci.
The powers
that be could tap the New York Times, National
Public Radio, Washington Post, and all the rest,
whenever and however they wanted.
Later the media
was deployed to demonize those who violated lockdowns, refused
masks, and resisted the shots.
Gone was the
idea that "democracy dies in darkness" and the "paper of record"
replaced by darkness itself and constant propaganda. They showed
no real curiosity of the other side.
The
Great Barrington Declaration
itself began as an effort to educate journalists but only a few
dared even show up.
Now we get it:
the mainstream media too is
wholly owned and completely compromised.
They already
knew what to report and how to report it. Nothing else
mattered.
4.
Corruption of public health
Who in their
right minds would have predicted that
the CDC and NIH, not to mention
the
World Health Organization,
would be deployed as frontline workers in the imposition of
totalitarian control?
Some observers
perhaps predicted this but implausibly so.
But in fact it
was these agencies which were responsible for all the
absurd protocols from closing hospitals to non-Covid
cases, putting up Plexiglas everywhere, keeping schools closed,
demonizing repurpose therapeutics, masking toddlers, and forcing
shots.
They knew no
limits to their power.
They revealed
themselves to be faithful agents of the hegemon...
5.
Consolidation of industry
Free enterprise
is supposed to be free but when workers, industries, and brands
were divided between essential and nonessential, where were the
howls from Big Business?
They weren't
there.
They proved
willing to put profit ahead of the system of competition.
So long as they benefited from the system of consolidation,
cartelization, and centralization, they were fine with it.
The big-box
stores got to wipe out the competition and gain a leg up in
industrial standing. Same with remote learning platforms and
digital technology.
The biggest
businesses proved to be the worst enemies of real capitalism and
the biggest friends of corporatism.
As for arts and
music:
we know now
that
the elites consider them
dispensable...
6.
Influence and power of administrative state
The
Constitution established three branches of government but
lockdowns were not managed by
any of them.
Instead it was
a fourth branch that has grown up over the decades, the
permanent class of bureaucrats that no one elected and no one
from the public controls.
These permanent
"experts" were completely unleashed and unhinged with no check
on their power, and they cranked out protocols by the hour and
enforced them as legislatures, judges, and even presidents and
governors stood by powerless and in awe.
We know now
that there was a coup d'etat on March 13, 2020
that transferred all power to the national security state but we
certainly did not know it then.
The edict was
classified.
The
administrative state still rules the day.
7.
Cowardice of intellectuals
The
intellectuals are the most free to speak their minds of any
group. Indeed that is their job. Instead, they stayed quiet for
the most part.
This was true
of right and left.
The pundits and
scholars just went along with the most egregious attacks on
human rights in this generation if not in all living memory. We
employ these people to be independent but they proved themselves
to be anything but that.
We stood by in
shock as even famed civil libertarians looked out at the
suffering and said "This is fine."
A whole
generation among them is today completely discredited. And by
the way, the few who did stand up were called horrible names and
often lost their jobs.
Others took
note of this reality and decided instead to behave by staying
quiet or echoing the ruling-class line.
8.
Pusillanimity of universities
The origin of
modern academia is with the sanctuaries from war and pestilence
so that great ideas could survive even the worst of times.
Most
universities - only a handful excepted - completely went along
with the regime. They closed their doors. They locked students
in their dormitories. They denied paying customers in-person
education.
Then came
the shots...
Millions were
jabbed unnecessarily and could only refuse on pain of being
kicked out of degree programs. They showed a complete lack of
principle.
Alumni should
take note and so should parents who are considering where to
send their high school seniors next year.
9.
Spinelessness of think tanks
The job of
these huge nonprofits is to test the boundaries of acceptable
opinion and drive the policy and intellectual world in the
direction of progress for everyone.
They are
also supposed to be independent.
They don't
depend on tuition or political favor.
They can be
bold and principled.
So where were
they...?
Almost without
exception they clammed up or became craven apologists for the
lockdown regime. They waited and waited until the coast was
clear and then eked out little opinions that had little impact.
Were they just
being shy...?
Not likely. The
financials tell a different story. They are supported by the
very industries that stood to benefit from the egregious
policies.
Donors who
believe in freedom should take note...!
10.
Madness of crowds
We've all read
the classic book
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the
Madness of Crowds but we thought it was a
chronicle of the past and probably impossible now.
But within an
instant, mobs of people fell into medieval-style panics, hunting
down non-compliers and hiding from the invisible miasma.
They had a
mission.
They were
ferreting out dissidents and ratting out the non-compliers.
None of
this would have happened otherwise.
Just like in
the Cultural Revolution of China, these would-be members
of the Red Guard became foot soldiers for the state.
Mathias
Desmet's book on
Mass Formation now stands as a
classic explanation of how a population devoid of meaningful
lives can turn these sorts of political frenzies into deluded
crusades.
Most of our
friends and neighbors went along.
11.
Lack of ideological conviction of both right and left
Both right and
left betrayed their ideals.
The right
abandoned its affections for limited government, free
enterprise, and the rule of law.
And the
left turned against its traditional stand for civil
liberties, equal freedoms, and free speech.
They all became
compromised, and they all made up fake rationales for this
pathetic situation.
Had this
all began under a Democrat, the Republicans would have been
screaming.
Instead they
went quiet...
Then the Covid
regime passed to a Democrat and so they stayed quiet while the
Republicans, embarrassed at their previous silence, stayed
silent for far too long.
Both sides
proved ineffective and toothless throughout...
12.
Sadism of the ruling class
The kids were
denied a year or two of school in some locations.
People missed
medical diagnostics. Weddings and funerals were on Zoom. The
aged were forced into desperate loneliness. The poor suffered.
People turned to substance abuse and put on added pounds.
The working
classes were exploited. Small businesses were wrecked. Millions
were forced to move and millions more were displaced from their
jobs.
The ruling
class that advertised its wonderful altruism and public
spiritedness became callous and completely disregarded all this
suffering.
Even when the
data poured in about suicide ideation and mental illness from
loneliness, it made no difference.
They could not
muster any concern. They changed nothing. The schools stayed
closed and the travel restrictions stayed in place. Those who
pointed this out were called terrible names.
It was a form
of grotesque sadism of which we did not know they were capable.
13. The
real-life problem of massive class inequality
Would any of
this have happened 20 years ago when a third of the workforce
was not privileged enough to take their work home and pretend to
produce from laptops?
Doubtful...
But by 2020,
there had developed an overclass that was completely
disconnected from the lives of those who work with their hands
for a living.
But the
overclass didn't care that they had to face the virus bravely
and first. These workers and peasants did not have privileges
and apparently they didn't matter much.
When it came
time for the shots, the overclass wanted their health care
workers, pilots, and delivery people to get them too, all in the
interest of purifying society of germs.
Huge wealth
inequalities turn out to make a big difference in political
outcomes, especially when one class is forced to serve the other
in lockdowns.
14. The
cravenness and corruption of public education
A universal
education was the proudest achievement of progressives one
hundred years ago.
We all assumed
it was the one thing that would be protected above all else. The
kids would never be sacrificed. But then for no good reason, the
schools were all closed.
The labor
unions representing the teachers rather liked their extended
paid holiday and tried to make it last as long as possible, as
the students got ever further behind in their studies.
These are
schools for which people paid for with their taxes for many
years but no one promised a rebate or any compensation.
Homeschooling went from existing under a legal cloud to being
suddenly mandatory.
And when they
opened back up, the kids faced mass silencing
with masks.
15.
Enabling power of central banking to fund it
From March 12,
2020, and onward, the Federal Reserve (FED)
deployed every power to serve as a Congressional printing press.
It slammed
rates back to zero. It eliminated (eliminated!) reserve
requirements for banks. It flooded the economy with fresh money,
eventually reaching a peak of 26 percent expansion or $6.2
trillion in total.
This of course
later translated into price inflation that quickly ate away the
actual purchasing power of all that free stimulus dispensed by
government, thus harming on net both producers and consumers.
It was a great
head fake, all made possible by the central bank and its powers.
Further damage
came to the structure of production by a prolongation of low
interest rates.
16. The
shallowness of the faith communities
Where were the
churches and synagogues..?
They closed
their doors and kept out the people they had sworn to defend.
They canceled holy days and holiday celebrations. They utterly
and completely failed to protest.
And why?
Because they went along with the propaganda that ceasing their
ministries was consistent with public health priorities.
They went along
with the state and media claim that
their religions were deeply dangerous to
the public. What this means is that they don't really
believe in what they claim to believe.
When the
opening finally came, they discovered that their congregations
had dramatically shrunk. It's no wonder. And who among them did
not go along?
It was the
supposed crazy and odd ones:
the Amish,
the estranged Mormons, and the Orthodox Jews...
How
non-mainstream they are. How marginal!
But apparently
they were among the only ones whose faith was strong enough to
resist the demands of princes.
17. The
limitations on travel
We didn't know
the government had the power to limit our travel but they did it
anyway.
First it was
internationally. But then it became domestic. For a few months
there, it was hard to cross state lines because of the demands
that everyone who did so had to quarantine for a fortnight.
It was strange
because we didn't know what was and what was not legal nor did
we know the enforcement mechanism. It turned out to be a
training exercise for what we know now they really want, which
is
15-minute cities.
Apparently a
people on the move are harder to control and corral.
We were being
acculturated toward a more medieval and tribal existence,
staying put so that our masters can keep tabs on us.
18. The
tolerance for segregation
Vaccine uptake
was certainly disproportionate by race and income.
Richer and
whiter populations went along but some 40 percent of the
non-white and poorer communities didn't trust the jab and
refused. That did not stop 5 major cities from imposing vaccine
segregation and enforcing it with police power.
For a time,
major cities were segregated with disparate impact by race.
I don't recall
a single article in a major newspaper that pointed this out,
much less decried it. So much for public accommodations and so
much for enlightenment!
Segregation
turns out to be just fine so long as it fits with government
priorities - same now as it was in the bad old days.
19. The
goal of a social credit system
It is not
paranoia to speculate that all this segregation was really about
the creation of a vaccine passport system
running off a national base, the one they want very much to
implement.
And part of
this is the real and long-term goal of creating a China-style
social credit system that would make your participation in
economic and social life contingent on political compliance.
The CCP has
mastered the art and imposed totalitarian control.
We know for
sure now that major aspects of the pandemic response were
scripted in Beijing and imposed through the influence of China's
ruling class.
It is
completely reasonable to assume that this is the real goal of
vaccine passports and even Central Bank Digital Currency.
20.
Corporatism as the system under which we live, giving lie to
existing ideological systems
For many
generations, the great debate has been between capitalism
and socialism.
All the while,
the real goal has passed us by:
the
institutionalization of an interwar-style corporatist state.
This is where
property is nominally private and concentrated in only top
industries in major sectors but publicly controlled with an eye
to political priorities.
This is not
traditional socialism and it certainly isn't competitive
capitalism.
It is a
social, economic, and political system designed by the
ruling class to serve its interests above all else.
Here is
the main threat and the existing reality but it is not
well understood by either right or left.
Not even
libertarians seem to get this:
they are so
attached to the public/private binary that they have blinded
themselves to the merger of the two and the ways in which
major corporate players are actually driving the advance of
statism in their own interests.
