Shut Up Lee Greenwood
We are only free to believe the illusion that we are free
Ken Pealock
4/10/20245 min read
The truth is we are only free to believe the illusion that we are free. Freedom means more than being able to choose which clothes to wear or which restaurant to choose.
Let’s peel back the layers of this charade. The notion of freedom is but a cleverly crafted illusion, a smoke and mirrors show designed to distract us from our true predicament.
While we may cast our votes every few years like clockwork, the choices before us are often nothing more than illusions of choice. Behind the curtain of democracy, puppet masters pull the strings, manipulating the levers of power to serve their own interests. We may think we are participating in the governance of our society, but in reality, we are mere spectators in a rigged game of political theater.
And what of our economic freedom, you ask? Surely in the land of opportunity, we are free to pursue wealth and prosperity to our heart’s content. But the invisible hand of the market is not so invisible after all. In the game of capitalism, the cards are stacked in favor of the few at the expense of the many. We are cogs in the wheel of a soulless machine, toiling away our days in pursuit of material wealth that always seems to elude our grasp.
Behold the mighty weapon wielded by the state: taxes, extracted from our hard-earned wages like blood from a stone. We toil away, day in and day out, only to see a sizable chunk of our earnings disappear into the gaping maw of the tax collector. And what do we get in return? Crumbling infrastructure, bloated bureaucracy, and endless wars waged in far-off lands—all funded by our labor, our sweat, our sacrifice.
But wait, there's more. Enter the world of licensing and permits, where the government plays the role of gatekeeper, deciding who is worthy and who is not. Want to drive a car? Better fork over your hard-earned cash for a driver's license, tag, and compulsory insurance. Want to start a business? Prepare to navigate a labyrinth of regulations and pay hefty fees for the privilege. Want to practice medicine, law, or any other profession? Want to purchase a firearm for self-defense? Want to get married? Want to build a house or add-on to an existing one? Want to build a pond on your property? Get ready to jump through hoops and fill out endless forms, all in service of the almighty state.
And let us not forget the 4,000 laws and regulations that criminalize conduct, turning ordinary citizens into unwitting criminals with the stroke of a pen. Our lives are governed by a Byzantine maze of rules that are designed more to control than to protect. As attorney Harvey Silverglate wrote, the average person commits four felonies a day without knowing it. We may think we are free to live our lives as we see fit, but the long arm of the law is always watching, ready to pounce at the slightest transgression.
All the while they are using sheep sheers to steal everything we own, whether under the unconstitutional income tax, forfeiture laws, property taxes, or trumped up civil or criminal charges. We already see that the bogus charges against Donald Trump in New York are a blatant attempt to steal everything he has and interfere in his election.
But then you don’t own anything anyway. You don’t own your labor because of the income tax, which was 92 percent in 1952, and can be raised to that level again. You don’t own your real estate because you have to pay a rent tax every year. You don’t own your children because the dictatorial government has decided it can teach them that all white people are racist, that gender reassignment is healthy, and that sexual deviancy and vulgar drag shows are good things. You don’t even own your body because the government dictates what you must put in it, like vaccines, and what you can take out of it, even in the case of rape or incest.
Don’t fall for the age-old argument trotted out by defenders of the status quo: "But we're not as enslaved as the citizens of North Korea, Cuba, and other authoritarian regimes!" This is the classic case of setting the bar so low that even a snail could leap over it. Yes, compared to the citizens of these Orwellian nightmares, we are permitted a modicum of freedom. But does that mean we should settle for crumbs when we deserve the whole damn cake?
Let us not be lulled into complacency by the false comfort of relative freedom, which in reality means permission from the government. Just because we are not living under the thumb of a recognized dictator does not mean we are free. Tyranny can come in many forms, from the jackbooted thug to the smiling bureaucrat. It is not just the iron fist of oppression that we must fear, but also the velvet glove of soft tyranny—the slow erosion of our rights and liberties under the guise of security and stability.
Consider the surveillance state that we find ourselves living in, where our every move is tracked and monitored in the name of national security. From ubiquitous CCTV cameras to warrantless wiretapping, our privacy is under constant assault by the very government that is supposed to protect it. We may think we are free to speak our minds and associate with whom we choose, but the specter of government surveillance hangs over us like a dark cloud, chilling dissent and stifling innovation.
And what of the creeping authoritarianism that has infected our political discourse, where dissent is labeled as treason and patriotism is equated with blind obedience? We may think we are free to criticize our government and hold our leaders accountable, but woe betide those who dare to speak truth to power. Dissent is met with scorn, protest with violence, and whistleblowers with prosecution. The land of the free has become the land of the cowed, the land of the silent, the land of the complicit.
Don’t be fooled by the false dichotomy of freedom versus tyranny. The true measure of freedom is not how we compare to the citizens of authoritarian regimes. I will not be satisfied just to be less enslaved. I want to be truly free of government coercion and theft. I want to live in a society where the natural rights of every individual are respected and protected. I refuse to be governed without my specific consent. And if a lawful government is ever established here, liberty must reign above all else. Only then can we truly claim to be free.
My book, They Left No Crime Uncommitted, exposes the crooked justice system that destroyed my life and others. In Dirty Laundry I provide top secret documents exposing the CIA’s massive money-laundering operation. (I once held power of attorney over hundreds of their secret bank accounts). And in The Star-Spangled Deception I expose how the Constitution was adopted by fraudulent means. See the BOOKS menu above.
Relevant links to this article are:
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2024/04/thomas-dilorenzo/palestinian-confederates/