The “Idiot” in all of us throws curve balls, even when fastballs are required.
You can look at nature and see many of her processes and understand them to some extent. If you understand them well enough you can predict what those processes might do in the future..again only to an extent(always subject to chance-both natural, and organic.)
You can look at the natural economy and say that it is overblown. You can look at the natural economy and say that it grew too large too soon and may for this reason be somewhat unstable at its foundations.
You can look at the amount of money lent out and you may say that it will endanger the system if indeed the returns are not what they were expected to be.
You can look at an economy and say that too much risk was taken. That too many processes unleashed were not well understood or accounted for, and that there was not enough command over those processes unleashed to warrant their widespread, global use. You can say that these poorly understood processes were the cause of the economic downturn.
All this is “natural” and can be acertained by a reasonably well attuned organism.
What you cannot predict however is what an Idiot, or group of idiots will do when they also see the same natural reality unfold.
When a normal human being sees that the sea has pulled out, and knows from experience that it usually means a large wave is coming, they will seek high ground as quickly as possible. But not so the Idiot. The idiot will see the fish now exposed at the sea bottom and run to pick up the fish, thinking that an afternoon fish fry party is at hand. The idiot will not run for the hills, like an average person might do, but decide instead its a good time to taste all the local seafood, thinking that a beer or five or six would certainly go good with his meal when the party begins.
Of course, the party will never happen, but to the spotless mind that dark cloud is an eventuality not worth considering.
Point being that you can never ever predict what an idiot will do given a set of circumstances, and that is why it has taken so long for all this we see today to transpire.
Yes we could see that the natural economy was upset, and that this would lead eventually to dire ramifications, but we could never predict what devices an idiot or group thereof might do in light of such economic frailty.
In the end, a fool will throw a curveball, even when what he intends is a fastball straight up the middle. Habits, and ways of being, die hard.
P.S. I personally thought the Seattle Seahawks would have destroyed the New England patriots in the Super Bowl. They were- simply put- the better team by far.
However, no one could forsee five of their eleven defensive starters getting injured during the game. So is the nature of chance.
But worse than this, no one could ever see the idiot in play.
Pete Caroll, head coach of the Seattle Seahawks is arguably one of the premier coaches in football history being one of a very few who managed to win championships in both college and proffesional football. Who would expect that one of the great coaches in football would, on the last play of a championship game surrender the destiny of his team to one of his coaching assistants? That on the last play of the game that assistant would call a play in which a three year quarterback not particularly known for his precision throwing would be told to throw the ball into the heart of the New England defense at the goal line? Something not even a novice assistant coach would ever do!
Meanwhile the most powerful running back in the league-the Beast!- is waiting to carry the Seahawks to their second championship with a small one yard carry past a defense he absolutely decimated during the entire game! Who could predict this? Who can predict what an idiot will do in the face of adversity?
For this reason those who rightfully predicted the Seahawks would win their second championship in a row, had to eat crow, and for this same reason those who predicted that this economic system was supremely flawed, like Ron Paul has been doing for ages, had to wait a very long time to see the final effects of a monstrouly stupid economic policy unfold.
For in the end, no one can predict the actions of a fool, who, even when faced with a collosal losing streak at the black jack table on some particular day, will only double down on his bet, rather than just walk away and live to lose another day.
Yet, what we should all understand is that the “idiot” lives in all of us at one time or other. There will be a time when even the best of the best allow the primordial idiot to rise from the depths of their soul and lead the way to oblivion. The best we can hope for is to keep this fool contained for as long as possible thereby avoiding the worst of the worst.
The author is no stranger to the “idiot” residing in his soul either, and many, many a time has paid dearly for his own fool’s inadvertent appearance.
Viewed from left to right: Rand Paul, Jeb Bush, George W. Bush, Loyd Blankfein, George H. W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Janet Yellen. Ron Paul background.
Why Rand Paul?
Why should anyone really consider Rand Paul as a presidential Candidate?
Rand Paul is a conservative. He is the son of long time Libertarian Ron Paul and he is certainly not a main stream Republican. He, like his father, is not very well liked by the Media, and many Republicans consider his views to be too
radical( though not quite as radical as the father’s views.)
For a long time now both father and son have insisted that the lending policies
of the Federal Reserve, and the increasing obligations held by the American people in lieu of the vast expansions of the past twenty years will become an ever greater burden on our liberties. They have opposed everything from our
wars in the Mid East and our unstable relationship with Russia, all the way to
the enormous power now garnered by the NSA under Geoge W. Bush, and maintained by liberal Democrat Obama. They have maintained that all of this vast expenditure is going to place the nation under the increasing control of the
Federal Government and in so doing compromise the freedom of Individual Americans and their communities.
These two, and their affiliates are standing against the Democratic party, but also against most of the Republican party. They are both, father and son, outsiders, outlanders to
the two main power broker parties in the nation. They are in some ways Revolutionaries, rebels with a definite cause.
Yet in their defense, it should be stated that the only real rebellion they espouse is to return the nation back to the constitution, and to the basic individual freedoms there written by the founding fathers.
But in our rather “Liberal” age, they are indeed radical, and they have little support among the mainstream parties. Anything they would try to do, would be difficult, and their struggle will be uphill and difficult even if they should succeed to cast Rand Paul as president. Then again everything has been uphill for them, so they would not feel all that out of character.
Still we should understand, the first thing someone like Rand Paul would do as
president would be to change the Federal Reserve forevermore. The first major assault will be on America’s Bank, and he will there attempt to change the fundamental wealth structure of the nation. This is a big deal, and its radical. So radical that almost no other candidate will even mention any such intent, even as a joke, much less seriously attempt it. But Paul would indeed attempt to bring the Federal Reserve under the full control of the American people, and
the most powerful bank on Earth would probably lose its independence a few months after a Paul victory. There is probably no change more potentially explosive than this. Such a move would probably change the order of the world
as we know it. It would almost overnight take the world to a firm conservativism unlike any we have seen this century, in fact not since the
Federal Reserve itself was founded in the early 1900’s has there been any kind of fundamental change as what is proposed by Rand Paul.
The United States Federal Reserve is indeed the most powerful bank on Earth, yet it is controlled by a few private independent Bankers with little authority or control vested in the American people whose money the Federal Reserve is actually playing with.
Should Rand Paul succeed in becoming president, we would be looking at nothing less than Revolution. The world’s wealth structure would have major surgery. And Dr Rand Paul is indeed a practicing surgeon as was his father Dr Ron Paul.
They are probably not afraid to cut.
But why now? Why risk supporting Rand Paul who is indeed an outsider and not very likely to have much support from the two main parties? Why risk so radical a change at this time?
The only answer we can give is that the world is in trouble. The real reason its in trouble, in the simplest terms, is because there is too much credit around.
But what’s wrong with too much credit? What’s wrong with a world awash in easy money? What is wrong with lending money around like its thin air?
The short answer is everything!
Too much money creates too much risk
The trouble with lending too much money is that too many things can happen that maybe shouldn’t! Too many risks taken, that perhaps shouldn’t be taken. As we all are aware in our daily lives, there are some things we just shouldn’t try unless we know that they are reasonably certain to have a good outcome.
But when credit is lenient, too lenient, we can try anything at all, why not, the money’s there, its free almost, since no interest is going to be charged, there is really no reason not to take it, no reason at all not to try the fantasy, no matter
how unrealistic it may be. There is plenty of printed money available, there is little standard of credit to uphold, once you’ve made the first payments, the money’s there, and lots of it, just take it- take the easy money, and if you fail,
no problem just take more where that came from, and hope for the best. As long as there is Federal Bank that is willing to lend money for nothing there is no problem for those willing to take endless risks.
And risk has been taken…for a long long time now, its been taken quite liberally.
Almost without respite. Even when in 2008 we had the gigantic housing meltdown, there was still money available for bailout. And it was taken, and we have taken more and more with no real end in sight, no matter what we hear in
the Media.
However, when money is loaned out, there is a price after all- even if interest rates are zero.
The basic assumption is that any money loaned is going to lead to some betterment of the society in general. Some service, some good product, some
long lasting viable new way of doing things will evolve that is good for the society at large and also profitable to the borrower. And if a new productive service or product is attained-that is long lasting and evolutionary- we call the loan a success. If not, then its a failure. After all if we borrow too much, take too many chances that are not suitable, then of course there is a terrible
danger for ultimate failure. If we are not prudent in our choices, we will soon come to grief, as happened during the housing crisis.
Why Rand Paul?
The now bitter truth is that we have not actually attained much good, or success in the way of the world, yet trillions of dollars have been borrowed world wide, with very little hope of it ever being paid back, or of it ever doing anything of
value for the society at large. Except perhaps to prompt us all to consume far more than we can afford for evermore. Instead of to conserve our resources, which are after all limited by nature, we are instead told to spend everything we
have, borrow all we can, and hope there is a tomorrow to speak of. Yet as we all know, the good Earth provides only so much, and resources have always been limited, and forever will be limited. Conservation, both natural, and
existential, is always part of a realistic equation.
Excess availability of money and/or the desire for that available money also leads to other imprudent actions that can have dire consequences for the vitality of nations, and therefore for the Global community at large.
We have started war after war with that borrowed money too, yet what have
we attained? The world is exploding at the seams with strife and instability. Rancor and discontent are everywhere, even in our own homes. The world is more unstable today than it was 12 years ago when George W. Bush started the Iraq war(though we were all promised peace at the onset of the new Democratic regime that replaced Bush.) Moreover there is very little reason to think, no matter what we hear, that anything is about to get better. The disorder
of Pandora, once let out, is difficult to put back in.
On the “productive” commercial side, we have seen developed and produced endless numbers of gadgets, but what real good has been attained? Billions of gadgets sit on the shelf waiting for people to buy them while they accrue more
and more debt. There is still monstrous unemployment, and under employment, and even those who do turn a paycheck each week find that most of it goes to pay some hidden form of tax or other. We have hundreds of millions of people all around the world burning scores of hours a week checking their Facebook status. Yet these same people can hardly get a word
out to a person standing five feet away while under the influence of the “wire”. There is a price for everything.
We have invested trillions of dollars all over the world, but are we really any better off? Or do we simply owe all this money with very little promise of it ever being returned to the ordinary people from whom it was actually borrowed? All
of this lent out money actually comes from the devaluation of the ordinary person’s currency. Will that buying power ever be returned to the ordinary person from whom it was borrowed in the first place?
We have inflated the population of our nation with millions of people-all because that borrowed money needs to be put to use, “laundered”, but is there really any hope that these people will actually prosper, or that we as a nation
will prosper by those vast, less than legal increases in population size? Or are
we simply seeing more and more debt for our children and their children’s children with no real hope of ever paying it back? We have inflated the world’s economy to levels that probably cannot lead to any real prosperity except for the few who control the flow of money at the pinnacle. Meanwhile the rest of us are expected to pay all this money back-but how? Through all sorts of taxation on our meager earnings?
The present policies only inflate the labor market(as well as the renter’s market) leaving little hope of any real gains in wages for the average person. Meanwhile wherever there is a strong demand for any product, inflation roars
no matter what we are told by the Federal Reserve. Just ask the average person on the street if their paycheck today can purchase what it did even five years ago.
Even a good thing for the mass of people, like oil price reductions has turned to a bad thing. Firstly there is devastation to those actively seeking to increase this most fundamental of resources-for energy is, next to water and food, most fundamental to a “civilized” society. Most of the energy producers borrowed the money to risk exploration. It was freely available so they took the gamble. Yet now these companies have seen their earnings drop by fifty percent in a few short months. This was the most profitable business in the United States! How can that be good for the general economy?
Even the ordinary automobile driver sees little benefit. How much of any road trip is really dependent on gas prices? Most of the trip, especially if long is mostly dependent on the tolls and taxes on the way. Indeed, even gas prices
have actually gone up(in order to pay the refiners own debt and taxes) and little benefit overall has been gained, or will be gained save but a severe
depletion of our most valuable resource. And be aware…resources are always limited by nature. And indeed, there will come a time of need and privation.
Resources are limited. Always. What we have used today will not be available tomorrow. That is Nature’s way, and her dictums are inviolable. Today we burn gas that perhaps we do not need to burn. Today’s excesses will almost certainly lead to tomorrow’s privations. This is Natural order, and for us it is absolute in authority.
What this means essentially, is that we are looking at payback in the future, and a long road back to sanity. And it will be painful, of that you can be sure.
We have squandered much, and achieved little. And we owe far more than we can really pay. We are unstable as a Global society, and there is little to suggest that we will be able, under the present system to correct this outlook. For all of us, this is indeed a dire situation as we can see by what is now transpiring all over the world. The growing instability will eventually harm our cause and our economy.
All this was made possible with inordinately loose credit.
The fundamental reason for rebellion is that people find their own personal freedoms restricted.
You see when the central bank prints and lends, by implication it devalues the currency of a nation, therefore ordinary people’s money is worth less because of the “new” money being added to the existing money supply. Loose credit policy greatly increases the money supply while not necessarily increasing the actual value of the underlying society(and this “value” is complex and not quantitative, but qualitative.) The Federal Reserve actually stopped reporting the money supply some ten years ago, yet that money supply is really what creates price pressures-especially the new money created does not have the intended effect of positively stimulating the economy. The higher the money supply goes, the weaker is the underlying currency, the weaker the economic power of the individual consumer, or investor.
That means everybody pays for bad loans by having their buying power, therefore their investment power weaken. So essentially people have to work a lot harder to pay for the same thing they could buy yesterday with a lot
less effort! This is also because inflationary policies do not depend merely on inflating production, but also on inflating demand. This is the real motive behind the increase in population through importation of labor. But increased availability of demand also means increased supply of labor, and a significant additional drop in buying power for the average person is the consequence. The artificial expansion of labor may increase demand as desired, but it also decreases wages. Therefore demand goes up, but actual purchasing power may not.
Greece is not alone!
Like Greece, we are looking at tens of nations round the world that are faltering, that are buckling under the weight of their loans. One of these is the United States itself..(another is Japan)..oh little is said of it, since it is not really
in the interest of the major news outlets or the stock holders that control the media to advertise the Debt problem, but the debt problem is here, and it is a terrible burden and is the real reason that after all this money has been lent out
at Zero interest all over the world, hardly any good economic news can be found! All sorts of taxes, and private debt payments interfere with the price of purchases and make it impossible to hope for real prosperity for the majority of
people.
The return on all this money lent has been little when we take it as a whole. The added complexity alone is expensive and little mentioned. But it takes a great deal more effort to deliver ten pizzas, than it does two. The society as a
whole must pay for that extra service, and if it is not equipped, it will suffer for it (instead of gaining from it overall as might be expected.) Moreover in order to sustain this system till collapse we will need even more money printed, lent out and borrowed from now on. We will not see the end of this system until it actually collapses under its own weight, under our own feet, and on our heads…..but when that happens…its going to be too late! There are no possible bailouts this time, there is no more credit available should the next crisis appear. When that day comes, and it will eventually, we are done.
This is why we need to consider Rand Paul!
As for Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush, the most likely candidates for the Democratic and Republican parties?…same ole same ole..possibly worse!
What these essentially promise, if you read the fine print, is still heavily dependent on the privately controlled and “independent” Federal Reserve and heavily dependent on borrowed money charged to the public. You cannot continue profitless wars without charging them to the public, you cannot increase the population without charging its added expense to the general public, you cannot increase services(whether good or bad in conception)
without charging that increase to the working public. Essentially these candidates are saying they will continue to allow the Federal Reserve(and the private-“elite”-interests behind it) to spew out gigantic volumes of money, enriching the few at the top while the rest of the population actually has to foot the bill. But this is not a change- rather this is the “same ol, same ol”.
When we look at all the other candidates what we see is people tied to the same old lending machine that has gotten us to this point in the first place. We see Hillary Clinton with her strong ties to certain sectors of the banking industry, and we see Jeb Bush-George W’s brother – with ties to nearly all the Banking Industry that caused the GREAT RECESSION in the first place. We see the Democrats on the one side promising to continue inflating the population with millions of people while doing nothing to provide a better condition for the people already here…and we see the Republicans who promise us trillion dollar wars to secure our allies’ borders(while opening ours wide open to anyone from anywhere on Earth so they can work for nearly nothing) and then we hear these same Republicans screaming about social disorder while doing everything in their power to continue the social disorder. We see two parties deeply connected to the way things have been for a long long time, and two parties most likely to continue doing business as it has been practiced for a very long time-since their success, as privately sponsored parties, seems to depend on continuing these same policies. We see no possibility of change…everything Hillary
Clinton wants to do is going to require lots and lots of credit from the Federal Reserve and ever more New Debt added to an already prohibitive amount. ……And everything Jeb Bush wants to do is going to require even more new debt than Hillary Clinton’s agenda…and that’s an awful lot of credit and debt to add to our already overwhelming national, state, and corporate debt.
What these main party candidates want is to continue to expand all over the world, while at the same time fighting wars that are of little real profit to those same people actually footing the bill. Though we talk about the mid east as being oil rich, and therefore deserving of all this military investment, the truth is there is probably more oil on the American continent than there is in the Mid East. We dont even import any oil from the Mid East! Most of that oil goes to Asia and Europe. There are actually more proven reserves in Canada, Mexico, Venezuela and Brazil than there is in Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia! So what are we doing there exactly?
Why are we spending these massive amounts of money fighting these destabilizing wars in the first place?
Moreover we have brought upon ourselves a real terror threat from these wars that did not exist before. We are now forced to spend trillions of dollars “protecting ourselves” here at home. All the while we ourselves are being spied upon by the NSA, which threatens the very liberty we are supposed to be defending. To say nothing of the increasing amount of tax that we are liable for,
and threatened by. The tax we owe is indeed a “personal” liability. The Lois Lerner case is notable. The Tea party had been singled out as a target. Was this politically motivated? How much more danger are our liberties now subjected to because of this monstrous debt that we all owe? Moreover where is the benefit to all this? How does this benefit the individual tax payer anyway?
The world is today in economic and political disarray. We all owe monstrous amounts of debt and there seems to be little hope of it ever being dissipated without a very definite loss in personal freedom. Where is the logic in all of this? Where in this “world view”, this “system” , can we see sound, viable policies for the future?
As if that were not enough we are now seeing new war fronts opening in Europe, and Russia to add to the difficulties we are having in South America, and the Mid East! As if dealing with China and Asia, themselves suffering, were
not enough of a burden, we have recklessly decided to make Russia an enemy as well! Where is the reason in this? Where is the sound logic in this? How is destabilizing Europe, heretofore our most loyal ally, going to help our cause?
More to the point, all of this is adding to our already heavy burden as private citizens-both economically and politically as we see both our paychecks and our liberties threatened-to say absolutely nothing about the dangers of terrorism. For what?
We are being burdened for the interests of the few and this burden is not about to cease, but only increase under the policies of the two major parties as they have been sworn to allegiance to the existing private concerns.
Is it time to say Enough is Enough?
Our personal burdens, and liabilities for the future, as Individuals, under the present system are just TOO MUCH! We need some real change…we need someone to come from somewhere else, some other enclave, to give us any chance for real change.
The way to stop this downhill ride is to stop the lax credit, stop the endless supply of easy money and therefore force a more serious consideration of what is feasible, and profitable, and what is not. In essence to make the credit answerable to the people from whom it is really borrowed in the first place.
Yet no candidate is seriously talking about it. All we ever hear are more promises to continue along this present path, and even add to our already nearly unbearable burden. None of the other candidates even discuss the debt, as if it isn’t there at all, as if its not important enough for them to even mention it. But anyone who understands economics understands that it is
important, and if something is not done, we will never be able to overcome our present economic situation. It should be understood that borrowed money automatically adds a potential for general economic contraction at some point in the future, even if it is successful as originally envisioned. Therefore the money that has been borrowed will at some point in time create negative pressure on the economy no matter how much economic velocity is gained.
You cant prosper if everything you buy is taxed ten times before it ever gets to the consumer. You cant prosper if everything you buy is leveraged with the burden of an existing debt. This is the real reason we are not seeing any real change in the economy. No matter how many jobs are created, they will not be prosperous ultimately, if they are created out of nothing but debt, and yet this is the going formula.
Only by controlling the debt can we ever hope to rise above it.
Rand Paul comes from a long line of fiscal “Revolutionaries” willing and able to
actually do what it takes to bring the fiscal, and financial house to order. He derives from the original Tea Party, named after the historical event of the Boston Tea Party of 1773 , where the American colonists rebelled against the British authorities because of too much taxation with very little representation. Rand Paul’s father. Ron Paul, has for decades argued that there is no way to prosper if all we do is borrow gigantic sums of money and pay taxes, though few in the congress, senate or executive branch wanted to listen. Yet, at this point we can safely say he was right. Looking at the present situation, it is unlikely that we are going to overcome these debts with more debt. At some point loose credit policies will have to stop and we will have to begin the long road back to sound economics.
Rand Paul’s Rivals
Rand Paul has supposed rivals of similar tone…but some of his rivals seem to be married to the banks that are the source of the problem. They are not trustworthy because of this. They are not likely to do what they promise because of their strong affiliations to those same forces that
promote loose monetary policy in the first place. Senator Rand Paul, who really is independent of the current power structure just might do what he says….and that’s a risk worth taking – at least it is for some.
Rand Paul can stop this fiscal circus if he does as he has said he will do, for only Rand Paul realistically has even a small chance of returning the world to some kind of sanity and order because he derives from a political clan that has promised to do this from its inception. Only Rand Paul is suggesting he will take any control of the Federal Reserve. Most of the other candidates have promised us more of the same old debt based civilization with no end in sight to increases in taxation and debt burdens for the American people. Oh they all claim they will lower taxes, but they never actually show us any policies that can stop the bleeding. Rather most of them seem to promise grandiose ideas, but never actually say how the voters will pay for them. Leaving out the unseemly details of having to borrow the money from some bank, that first borrowed money from the Federal Reserve, whose money actually belongs to the voters themselves.
Sure, the public may believe in the verbal promises of the politicians, but where
is the substance, where is the real dedication to change? Anyone can promise to redistribute the debt, and therefore make others pay for it, but who among these promises to do something realistic to end the debt monster?
This then, is Rand Paul, this then is the viable cause for his candidacy.
All these thoughts are really what Rand Paul and his father Ron Paul have been harping at all this time. And what they say is significant no matter where you might stand ideologically. Essentially they are saying there is too much movement, too little care about where the movement takes us, and in the end, it has not taken us where we want to be-instead of looking forward to a prosperous society where everyone can live fully and free, we are for the most part overwhelmed with debt and taxation. More than that,they say, if we continue, it will only get worse, for Corruption knows no bounds. The only way to stop the fundamental corruption of our society is to take its money away-no money no honey!
Sobriety is not easily achieved.
But to be sure, any change will be painful. Perhaps very painful and discombobulating…for the entire world. As with any sudden cessation of a toxic substance, there will be severe withdrawal symptoms and a long recuperation to deal with if indeed credit policies are tightened. But such is the price of sobering up, of getting off the credit wagon.
But It has to stop some time, and the only one talking seriously and realistically about popping this credit bubble, this “lottery “, winner-takes-all economy is the Senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul. Yet if we don’t stop, or at least slow the credit , we cant stop the disorder that’s destroying the nation and the world. We cant say NO to stupid ideas that are just not going to work no matter how much money we throw at them until we actually stop throwing money at them. To correct the problems, we have to stop financing their causes. To say you’re going to end the problem while still financing its cause is not a valid argument.
Rand Paul just might convince this nation, and the world, that something different is possible, something better, if even more difficult. For all the promise, and all the hoopla during the campaigns of 2008 the Democrats failed miserably to deliver any kind of fundamental change, though they had a chance to do so.
Most of the mainstream Republicans are the same stuff as George W. Bush, and for this we need say no more..and we don’t need more of those deceptions as a nation. For many who have been discouraged by the present policies of the Republican party, senator Rand Paul is the only real alternative left. He’s the only real Revolutionary out there, he is the Rebel Right at its universal best, and this time most of the world may resonate with his cause . He’s the only one who offers any real fundamental change, at the very source of power-the United States Federal Reserve, and for any lack he may have he’s the only one serious enough to do it, and he’ll have to do if we are going to have any
chance going into the future.
This nation desperately needs change….if you
are convinced of that…Rand Paul represents real change in a new and fundamental direction. Sure its a risk(as there is always a risk when tampering with fundamental economic policy)…but sometimes you have to go for the risk if you’re going to have any hope of seeing a better world.
At least this is the “sentiment” I think behind Rand Paul. To be sure he is a severe underdog in these campaigns. And most of his supporters probably know that. The media will almost certainly attack him, and try to make him look
incapable of leading the nation. His fate may in the media spotlight be worse than Hillary Clinton’s when she ran against Obama in the primary, as the media absolutely destroyed her. But Paul also represents a more dynamic constituency, long fed up with the foibles of the ruling parties, and those who pull their
strings-these supporters will likely put up a ferocious fight no matter what the Media does.
One thing is for certain, unless something changes drastically, Rand Paul(or at the very least, his sentiment) is going to be around for a long time-one way or the other.
Who should you vote for? Republican, Democrat, Independent or Conservative, or perhaps some other party or ideology? The truth is that there is really one reason for voting in this election or any other election if you are an average American. You should vote for Freedom. Individual Freedom which is really what this nation is founded on ideally.
The problem with many if not most of the candidates up for election is that they are affiliated to the power consortium that runs, and has run this nation for decades. This consortium of interests has managed to bring this nation to a foul condition, so bad that not even the Mass Media, which by design was supposed to report the truth to the American people can do so. Not only has this Consortium of Special Interests fouled this nation’s ideals and objectives, as well as its economy, but it has also seized nearly full control of the Mass Media; this under George W. Bush who proudly sponsored the laws allowing this almost complete seizure of power by the few for the first time in the history of the nation. We cannot even know the full extent of this fiasco and how much of our nation is now in jeopardy, because our mass media is not allowed to report the full truth, but by the implications given phenomenologically, we can see that the problems we face are quite dire as a nation.
An Overseas Disaster is Brewing Thanks to Big Money Campaigns
Overseas: We have enraged a Billion Muslims, and for what? What was the objective? What was the gain? We are fighting endless wars for what? Where is the gain? What was the need to so? Only those who created this situation can answer for it in full.
Now, as if that were not enough we have enraged the Russians, a nation quite able and not likely to surrender to the will of a few special interests who control our own nation. Russia is a nation pathologically sick of special interests as they have devoured it throughout all of history. If there is any nation and people averse to the form of policy we now have it is these Russian people who have for ages been victimized by the greed and malice of the few.
But Russia is not Iraq. Russia is a powerhouse. She is rightly to be considered one of the most powerful nations on Earth. She has the wolf’s share of the world’s resources, that alone makes her a powerhouse. She is fully nuclear, fully space borne, fully able in all ways. And fully trained in awful war. She is not the one who will likely back down, and especially when she knows she’s right and her adversaries wrong. There are now strong indications that special interests destabilized Ukraine and tried to put Ultra Right wing government there, something least likely to appeal to the Russians.
Their leader, Putin, has now embarked on a mission to isolate our own nation in turn. He points out that we have been the war mongers over the past decade, it is we who have destabilized and usurped nations at the behest of our special interests who control our government, media and finance. He, Putin, is now drawing converts who fully see us as the main enemy of world order and world peace! And he is succeeding for our interests really have been petty, really have been for the few and not the many. Out interests have not been democratic, our interests not for world order or for world peace. Our interest have been specious and for mal intent for the favor of the few at the expense of the many.
Putin, with China, and possibly India form an extremely powerful triumvirate that will stand in opposition to us in all probability. We have come close to opening Pandora’s box.
Nor are others anymore favorable. Yes the British government favors us, but do the British people? They have long opposed our practices in the mid east only to be silenced like us through their own corrupted media, owned and controlled by those devoted to the rights of the few over the rights of the many.
In Germany, Italy, France, Spain, and many others, though their governments may seem sympathetic, and in financial need, their people are anything but committed to our present course in foreign strategy. We are alienating billions of people because a few special interests want their objectives to be ours.
But their objectives are not ours.
Our Own Nation is a Real Mess thanks again to Big Money Politics
Worst of all, and the chief reason to pick your candidate carefully is because of what’s happened here in our own nation. Where we see money handed from the very highest printing press of the Federal Reserve gratis to the very few at the top. Trillions of dollars spew out of the Federal Reserve system, printed and fresh with little real backing, since our real economy has been degenerating over these same years of endless free credit to the few. We have a grotesquely overgrown economy whose only real natural inclination is to collapse and this was done only for the benefit of the few special interests who managed to usurp our political system. What’s worse and never mentioned in the main stream media is that it is we, the ordinary people of this nation who will owe all that money for decades. If you have a job, you know how much of your check is going towards the debt. But this is only the beginning. When the credit spigots clog, and they will eventually, the demand for repayment will begin in earnest, and the taxation, one way or another will become a permanent burden for each and every American for decades to come. And for what? What have we accomplished?
Gets worse even still: We may have forty million people in this nation who do not have any real legal status under the constitution. Whose only real legal foundation is the particular whim of the local governor or president. I am speaking of the illegal immigrants who are now here, now part of this nation but who have no legal status here. There is no more dangerous a precedent than this, and whether you are either for, or against all this, you understand that this is not the way things should be. This dilutes everyone’s legal status by implication. Whether you are a naturalized American, or an illegal alien, your rights here are compromised, your ultimate unknown! We don’t know what the solution here will be, or what the consequences of that solution! Yet this is what these special interests who control this nation have desired to create. A fundamental instability that undermines the foundations of individual rights and individual freedom under the constitution. When forty million people are not recognized by the constitution something is critically wrong, whether you are for illegal amnesty, or against, something is critically wrong!
More than this even is the constant tendency to make the individual American as little as possible. The interest of the one is relegated to the chance decisions of the few who control this nation in its ways. The individual here is little more than an animal it seems, as if he counts almost for nothing if he is not somehow connected to some syndicate or other. Yet this nation is founded on true and real individual freedom and this has always been the true reason for its success. Free people can think, free people have the time and space to wonder if something could be better, but they cannot do that if they are forced into endless subservience to the bottom lines of the few at the top. Our nation has now almost completely abandoned the ideal of the individual. Either you belong to some organization, some particular section of the special interest matrix, or you stand alone, with not even the law on your side. But this is not the way things were supposed to be.
The NSA scandals, the IRS scandals, the leaks of Wikileaks, all these are tied to this constant loss of individual freedom, and it is a conscious effort by the few to eliminate as much of our individual freedom as they can. And so here is where your vote comes in.
A Simple Formula Saves the Nation: No Big Sponsor Candidates
Choose that candidate who is least affiliated with the power matrix of this nation as it is now. Choose the candidate that wants to bring back real individual freedom and rights. Choose that candidate who is least sponsored by the powerful, whose campaign is least endowed with billions of dollars of advertising money. This is the candidate most likely to care the most for individual rights, and is probably the reason he has little advertising money in his war chest. Its easy to choose, easy to spot the big, corrupted war chests, there are hundreds if not thousands of sites on the internet that will let you see who took what from whom and how much. What you never see however is the why.
You should not need an advertising war chest to be a successful political candidate. The only thing you should have is a message and in this age of the internet we have the power to bring that real revolution to fruition at last. Where a candidate can stand on real principles and not on lobby sponsored war chests meant to make personal lawyers of those same people who purport to represent us. Vote for real freedom, vote for real individuality, vote for that candidate that will give you those rights upon which our national constitution is founded. Leave the major war chests, and the “phony baloney” campaigns to wage a meaningless war between themselves while America grows strong again.
Americas strength is not to be found in the criminal syndicates, or all powerful organizations, but in the spirit of a civil individuality. Vote for that candidate who is most likely to stand up for the individual and who will not continue to support the rights of the few special interests that have coordinated a disaster on our nation and our world over the past few decades. Find and vote for that candidate who will restore this nation back to its intended constitutional order, and who perhaps has a few bright ideas going forward that might make this nation even better than it ever was! Find that candidate, and your vote is worth its weight in gold, vote for mighty campaign war chests, and you might as well stay home, you would do better. These do not likely represent you….the individual American!
A Simple Formula : Pick your candidate like you would your house, or car…shop around! And vote for those who would make this nation stronger, for all of us and not just for their sponsors!
Vladimir Putin, Bellicose War-monger? Or just doing his duty?
Are the Russians the Real Aggressors?
Who is Vladimir Putin?
Putin was born in October of 1952. He is 62 years old. He was born to a Russian family that apparently knew the pain of World War II well. He had two brothers who were older than he, both dying before the second world war. One of the two, Victor, succumbed to Diphtheria during the siege of Leningrad, the other, Albert died a few months after birth . Both parents suffered mightily at the hands of the German dictator. Putin’s father, Vladimir Spiridonovich, was drafted as a submariner, which is about as tough on the nerves as military assignments can get(especially during those times when this technology was new.) He later served as a member of the internal police, demolitions squad and was severely wounded during the second world war at the front. His mother Maria Ivanova was a factory worker.
His grandparents have no notable history other than what is common for Russians who lived during the very difficult times of Stalin’s rule. However, his maternal grandfather, Spiridon Ivanovanich was a chef who cooked for Vladimir Lenin’s wife, and on a few occasions for Joseph Stalin. His maternal grandmother died at the hands of German occupiers during the war; his uncles disappeared at the Russian front, events which would not likely have left the boy Vladimir untouched emotionally by the personal tragedy of that terrible war.
Although he was brought up under the communist doctrine on religion, yet, by all accounts Vladimir Putin is a devout Christian, often professing a deep faith in the Russian Orthodox tradition, a religion which particularly emphasizes compassion as the cornerstone of faith. Though his father may have been a “dedicated” atheist who lived under the stern communist apprehension of mass religion, it seems his son Vladimir was perhaps influenced by his mother’s faith which, apparently, survived the Communists .
As a boy Putin was rowdy, and apparently often tried to emulate a popular screen characterization of an intelligence officer. Putin quickly learned Judo and other martial arts becoming strong and athletic in the process. This aggressive side of his persona is also quite often made visible by his public demeanor, and it seems the Russian voters are impressed since his popularity is quite high; he seems personally dedicated to law and order, and the Russian people seem to have the same desire-perhaps there they feel they can find individual justice -something elusive in their turbulent internal history. Putin strongly opposes the use of capital punishment though the majority of Russians still want it. (you can find much more about him at wikipedia)
Politics
Putin’s political history is extensive- about the only thing he has done in his life is to serve the public. Of importance is that he was a KGB agent fully aware of the international scope of Russia’s history. Whether he was a great KBG agent is disputed. There were times in his career where he seemed to be a menial stamp jockey for the service. Yet he was fully consumed by Russia’s dealings with the West, and especially on the commercial front.
It is notable that he himself seemed to have no confidence in the old Soviet Union, something which is quite evident in many of his speeches- Putin is no communist, and most probably the exact opposite. Yet he was a loyal public servant all of his life, and walked a very fine line at times between loyalist and traitor. We should note carefully that he resigned from the KGB when he had realized that they intended to overthrow Michael Gorbachev on the very next day. From this we must conclude that Putin was indeed prone to a democratic Russian state from a very early point in his career, and though deeply loyal to the KGB, he was still able to maintain a personal conscience and an obligation to what he thought was the greater good of the Russian state.
Even after the fall of the Soviet state, Putin maintained his intelligence activities but this time for the purpose of promoting free enterprise.
For a long time he was hired as a front man for the Mayor of St Petersburg seeking to entice western businesses with an appetite for expansion into the new Russian state. He had gone from an intelligence officer to an international marketing specialist of sorts. Having served in East Germany before its fall he had apparently acquired some skills in the language and customs of Western Europeans and used that experience to help promote closer business ties to the newly capitalist Russian Federation.
Boris Yeltsin’people saw in Putin a man with the right views at the time, and so assigned him to take a position in the lower level of the government. Placed in the Property Management division, he was charged with the task of transferring foreign property from the former Soviet Union to the new Russian Federation. Thus his knowledge of international affairs and systems was once again put to use; his connections to, and knowledge of western entities also probably increased. Later on he would become chief of the FSB under Yeltsin, which was the new incarnation of the old KGB.
It is quite possible that he never actually left the intelligence field altogether. Perhaps he was charged with more than just transferring property while working at the property office, since his assumption of head of the FSB was abrupt and had little precedence in his career path. He went from property manager to leader of the intelligence service, a long jump so it is possible he was doing a little more than stated for Boris Yeltsin, perhaps listening where ears were needed.
From 1997 on, he rose very quickly through the ranks. He assumed full power after the resignation of President Yeltsin while serving in the less powerful position of Russian prime minister in 1999. At the time Yeltsin was accused of corruption and once again Putin would have to decide between the lesser justice and the greater good. He quickly cleared Yeltsin from any possible prosecution.
Being that he was present, and probably working in a quasi-intelligence position of sorts at the time, he was able to see first-hand what was needed to bring the Russian system to a better purpose while serving under Yeltsin during the highly volatile period of Russia’s early formation, when corruption was rampant, and almost necessary since laws were not yet clearly established, or prosecuted in the courts.
In a state like Russia at that time, corruption is sometimes the only way to anything even remotely pragmatic, yet Putin seemed from the start inclined to those principles promoted by Gorbachev, Perestroika and Glasnost, openness and free markets, and kept a long eye on the prize of a free and well regulated democracy.
Much like Libertarian Ron Paul is in the United States, an idealist with good intentions, Putin too must have realized that ideals take time and effort to be put into practice, and as Ron Paul has to deal with a sometimes rowdy self serving congress not usually too idealistic, so too Putin had to deal with the Russian body politic which was hardly in a position to be idealistic, and oftentimes it was easier and less costly in the long run to make do with what was available than requiring immediate change, if even that was the ultimate objective. While Ron Paul’s ideas are targeted towards an advanced democracy, Putin’s ideas and practice was targeted to a nascent, still forming democracy. In some ways we can think of Putin as the Russian counterpart of an American Libertarian from what we can see. He seems to respect personal freedom for as long as it does not impinge upon the sanctity of the Laws which protect everyone’s freedom. Putin however, is dealing with a very young state, albeit a very old people, and so the problems of personal freedom versus the integrity of the state may be quite different than what a consummate Libertarian might face in the United States.
In a nascent state, that is in the early stages of consolidation, personal power, and reach, as well as immediate force is often the determining factor between success and failure of an implementation. Putin’s connections to the secret service with all its apparent powers must have lent effectiveness to his power of persuasion, especially if he really had been listening and noting all that was said while at the property management office. Inside knowledge always gets respect in every government, and there is little doubt that he had inside knowledge to leverage his opinions, and implement his strategies.
What is notable in Putin however, and should not be disputed by this time, is that he really seems to believe in the Free Market system, at least his history, actions and dialogue support this conclusion. But like many Libertarians he feels that this Free Market system-which seeks to be fair to everyone in the market, while giving no one a political advantage- is easily corrupted and that maintaining the Free Market system can only be accomplished by thorough diligence over a very long period of time.
We are not saying that Putin is a Libertarian, but that given time, in an advanced democracy like ours, his fundamental impulse could well evolve in that direction. It is easy to understand his defense of religion, for example, when you consider that under communism it was banned altogether. Putin does seem inclined, despite the bad press in the West, to allow expression, as long as it is not disruptive. He is a staunch conservative by all appearances, at least from our vantage point in the Western hemisphere.
The habit of personal discipline is a trait that takes time to build in any society and only by long insistence can these traits be expected to exist in the Free Market system-you have to train the performers well before they can appear in the circus where their true talents can become visible to all the world-for even freedom must have form, just as all good games, must have rules.
Battles against the Russian Oligarchy
Putin’s first major battles were to be with the powerful capitalists, the so called Russian “Oligarchy” which had laid claim to most of Russia’s wealth, and he was to somehow bring them into law and order however he could. Once again, his experience at the property management office could not have hurt his cause.
A long story short, he cleaned up the Russian Business Oligarchy(in most ways), bringing them under the control of the nation, but at the cost of leaving them with substantial power, money, and influence. The so called “grand bargain” between Putin and the “Oligarchy” left the capitalist elite still very powerful and rich, but managed to channel that power and wealth into the legal system of the nation. Perhaps we should say here that in all democracies there will be those few wealthy elite who direct large sums of money and resources to wherever they have to go, but making certain that ultimately the nation is enriched by these elite capitalist elements, and not undermined, is an absolute requirement for the stability and vitality of a nation. In the end everyone must serve the nation to some extent, even the elite, and if they fail to do so, they too are ultimately expendable-or they must be rehabilitated, which is what Putin managed to do.
The Russian Federation
Russia has suffered centuries of corruption on all levels, and it was no small task to bring the system into a centralized legal system. Putin’s main objectives here seem again to be the establishment of a working, honest market on the way to an ideal democratic state. However, being pragmatic, or so he seems, there are times when he will himself put into law whatever he feels is needed. For example he did not prosecute Yeltsin on corruption charges probably not so much as an act of loyalty to his former boss, but because it would have consumed too many resources at the time, and the Russian nation was already in deep despair.
At around that same time Putin minimized the power of the various states, making certain that the central government was the absolute political entity in the state, as was the wish of Abraham Lincoln for the United States. On assuming power, Putin very quickly canceled any prior agreements with the federated entities within the Russian state. Putin believed in the absolute authority of the Federal Government and intended to make certain that this power was not in any way usurped or minimized by any particular coalition of Russian states. In most ways he had little choice but to pull all states to a center authority, if he was to maintain the Russian state at all, remembering that this state was still in its formative period.
The Russian Federation consists of some eighty smaller states with differing populations and ethnic groups. Keeping a nation like this, with so large an area together, was not going to be easy under any system other than a strong centralized Union. Any attempts at a true federation would have probably resulted in disaster for Russia, fragmenting the nation into small unsustainable elements that would have quickly found themselves at war with one another-it would have sent Russia back to the stone age.
His actions in the West
In his dealings with the West Putin has been forthright but tough and pragmatic. If we remove the propaganda that we are daily bombarded with by private interests we see that Putin for the most part was as honest as he could have been.
When it came to Georgia, his partner Dimitri Medvedev chose to invade and occupy two rebellious Georgian states that had declared their independence from Georgia. But the real reason behind this military move, something not usually mentioned in the press, was that the Georgian president of the time, Mikheil Saakashvili, began to entertain the notion of making Georgia a part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO). The Russians have in the two world wars lost nearly fifty million lives. There is absolutely no question as to why they would not want a hostile nation on their border, especially since that whole region is unstable and prone to turn against Russia. Allowing Georgia to turn to NATO gives Armenia and Azerbaijan the same right and tendency, something that would get NATO all the way into the Caspian sea from NATO member Turkey. The Russians were not likely to let that happen as this might entail NATO ships touring the Caspian sea.
This was the strategic reality at the time, and all one would have to do is look to the history of Russia to see why it is that Joseph Stalin himself decided to occupy many of the Eastern European nations. It is well understood that after the German invasion the Russians wanted a buffer between them and their violent neighbors, the Europeans who have thrice invaded Russia with catastrophic consequences for the Russian people. These historic realities may be softly impressed on Western minds, but its not that way with the Russians, who had to endure those slaughters.
The same pretty much goes for the Ukraine. It is not that Russia wants the Ukraine so badly as it does not want the Ukraine to become a threat to Russia. The idea of Right wing extremists of the same mind as Adolph Hitler creating a nation hostile to its neighbor, and armed and supported by the power and might of the United States and Europe did not appeal to Putin. There is no mystery here. What’s more is that in both cases there was little strategic choice for Putin-either act to stop this before it gets out of hand, or explain to one hundred fifty million angry Russians why a troubled partner and sister nation, as the Ukraine is most often viewed by Russians, was allowed to turn into a hostile threat on the Western border. There was nothing presentable in having right wing extremists establish a threatening nation on the Russian border.
Too often free nations who have internal economic problems produce self serving political elements that get the idea that they can auction off their own nation to the highest military bidder, using their strategic geographical location as currency. It was a lucrative idea for Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia and the right wing extremists of the Ukraine to offer to move their respective nations to NATO with all military benefits, but this was seen as a direct threat by the Russians. It might have even been seen as a direct insult-in the latter case- considering the slaughter endured the last time an extreme right wing government invaded Russia.
The Russians could care less if either the Ukraine or Georgia were to develop economic ties with the West, in all probability they would actually welcome this, but this was not the problem. It was unlikely that the Russians would sit back and allow NATO military ties to develop as the underlying price for the western economic support, and this is exactly why Russia is involved in either of these nation’s internal divisions. It is true that in Ukraine there are ethnic Russians to be considered as well, and some Russian loyalists were also to be found in Georgia(not forgetting that Joseph Stalin himself was from Georgia.) But the true reason for the military actions on these nations is that the Russians considered them a military threat, and a nation that has lost so many lives in recent history would not be expected to tolerate any threats of this kind if they can negate them using careful military interventions. In both cases we can see that the Russians have tried to make minimal incursions with minimal collateral damage.
The truth here seems to be that the present leaders of the West do not know the history of Russia, or don’t respect it, but either way that does not seem to us to be a flaw of Putin’s. The West is plagued through and through with special interests. This is the price that all of us who live in the West pay for freedom. These special interests will often develop ideas and objectives that have little in stride with the common good and very often will easily sacrifice large portions of a free nation’s wealth and resources to achieve a special objective of interest.
Putin, to his credit, has stood against the unbridled licence given to special interests. He has spoken against it, and has opposed it openly at times. Though the leaders of many nations in the West profess their loyalty and love of the people they are supposed to be serving through representation you would not know this by their actions. Five wars later and the Obama administration is still fighting in the Middle East as if the United States and its people have endless resources to spare so that a few special interests can have their way.
Yet the United States is deeply in debt, its economy is buckling even as the Federal Reserve is spewing trillions of dollars into the economy, though credit is endless and nearly unregulated, and the cost of this, still not visible, is huge and will come to be called up to account in the coming years-you cant just turn the Federal Reserve loose and not have consequences or a price to pay for those actions. Yet we have no end to any of this in sight, rather, there are endless calls for escalation!
These acts of special interests are mostly not in the interest of the American nation as a whole, no more than they would be for the Russian nation if they were taking place there. Yet while Putin, descended from a people having long and terrible experience with the deleterious effects of allowing special interests unbounded free reign with a nation’s policies and economy has taken action both local and global to stop this, while our representatives are still being chosen by the very same lobbies that are time and again usurping the nation’s objectives, both national and international.
Our own nations in the West, seem to have some serious structural infirmities which all too often lead to uncontrollable urges to act, no matter how inappropriate these acts may be; and its these uncontrollable urges which may be most responsible for Putin’s demeanor towards the West rather than any impulse coming from him or his people.
In the end we cannot fully know what kind of character Putin is, we can only guess, but only advise that our leaders be attentive and cautious, as well as courteous to a man who has so much vested interest in the survival of humanity on Earth. This is common sense. The sad part is that our leaders have often acted as if they were dealing with some school boy in their district. Calls to arm the Ukrainian military are the most immature statements that any elected official can make considering what would happen if the Russian’s were to do the same for our “enemies”.
Putin from all accounts we can see is a technocrat, pro-business, pro-democracy, and pro-world community. However he has an aversion for discordant special interests . So much is nearly certain.
If we treat him with reason, he will probably respond with reason, assuming we are honest about it and self contained. Yes he was once a “snitch” and that is something to worry about. Giving him details about your past personal foibles might not be wise if you meet him.
Here we are in the twenty first century and we live in a great age of new technology. The computer age is upon us and is dominating every facet of our existence. Most of us are highly dependent on our IPhones, or Androids, or Samsungs, or Nokias, that is while we’re away from our main computers at home. And when we are away from them, we are usually at our internet enabled television sets, or when we are away from them, we are our game consoles playing our favorite game, or watching the newest movie. When we are away from all the above, we are sleeping, and usually are not plugged in. But give Google, or Microsoft, or Apple a few more chances and before long we will be wired even while we’re sleeping! However, when we sleep we sometimes see beautiful dreams, but at other times we are liable to see a nightmare. Well, our new found technological bliss is slowly turning into a nightmare in a waking state.
We are at war! And it’s the most general kind of war. It’s a world war Cyber War! My own website is being constantly attacked, I have had two separate break ins, and in fact one guy made himself, or herself an administrator to my own website. Fortunately whoever it was they did not delete my files, or I would not be writing this. However, one thing is very clear to me, nowhere, and no one is safe. For all the money we spend on anti-virus programs and all this extra protection, and all the annoying updates the one truth is that we really can’t protect ourselves from all attacks. Even Norton has to admit that in order to get the worst infestations out, we need their Super Duper Extra Scooper(downloaded separately) which is supposedly able to erase “even the most deeply embedded viruses” according to them, as well as quite possibly most of your own material on occasion. The reality is that there is no out of the box solution to the Cyber warfare we are exposed to. Indeed of late I have become convinced that all these security companies offer little more but their assurances, and a feeling of well being while in reality they know, and we should know that we are never really safe no matter what they all claim. Thus we are in reality at the mercy of anyone who wants to compromise our security. But now things are actually worse than they were even a few years ago.
You see, today, we are in the middle of a world war cyber war. This war has a number of players. These would be individual hackers from various nations, some criminals, some fancy themselves as do-gooders destroying what they see as a menace to society i.e. Computers, and others are actually soldiers, and secret agents. Yes soldiers and agents working for various governments. You see the United States leadership in its infinite wisdom unleashed a number of spy programs against everyone it saw as a possible threat to its most cherished asset, i.e. the one percent. And in so doing started to spy on everyone, including our allies, and their leaders. A woefully brilliant move if we may say so. The United States spied on France, Germany, Britain, and many more who were supposed to be our allies. Well no matter what they may have said publicly, there is no doubt that privately they were outraged, or probably just en-raged. They would no doubt respond in kind, eventually.
Of course we had been both spying -and undermining- our enemies systems, like China’s, Russia’s, Iran’s and others all over the world. This does not yet include the mention of corporate spying, much of it with the blessings of the US government. Thus, in the creation of the Global Economy, we also laid down the foundation for World War by daring to undermine the network systems of our fellow Global “partners”.
Then, of course, the NSA scandal broke out where we found out that we, America’s own citizens, are being spied on by our own government and that companies like Yahoo, Google, and Apple and Microsoft are well infested with all kinds of spy bugs whose sole purpose is to keep track of our own interests, and actions on the web. Add to this the I.R.S. scandal, where the I.R.S. went after the ultra conservative tea party for no other reason than its political opinion, and you have a disaster! We, who use computers every day, almost every hour of the day and night, have enemies under just about every mouse click, or screen swipe, or voice command we make! And the Cyber warriors are not at all shy about going after innocent people. In fact, between the soldiers and the criminals, the agents, the ad-agencies, and our own governments we can safely say that we are the main target of all this Cyber Warfare! We the individual innocent computer users who have done nothing to deserve all this.
Bleeding Heart Virus
Today, a new bug made its way into the global scene and some say it could be a big one. The so called “Bleeding Hear” virus has infiltrated Tumblr and has compromised not only Tumblr, but its users entire array of defenses. Apparently the Bleeding Heart Virus is now able to compromise all networks connected to the original site compromised. This would mean that anyone connected to Tumblr would be compromised as well. So if they get in to Tumblr they can get into any other site you have connected to Tumblr. Including Facebook, or Twitter, or Yahoo. So it would seem. But in reality it may not be that serious since most large corporations do not use OpenSSL because it is Open Source meaning that anyone can work on it. Most will hire other security corporations to handle their security needs and so whatever the Bleeding heart virus may do, it probably will not be bad enough to disable the internet. Although, the truth is that we are on our way to that event.
The fact is that without real cooperation between governments, and between corporations a safe global internet can never happen. The problem we have is that there are too separate standards doing too many things any way they want to. There are too many corporations writing their own version of the software wheel and it has become so that there is no way to regulate any of these under the present structure. One day Microsoft writes its own language, the next Apple writes its own language and so there is little in the form of a standard which might be used to secure the internet. Unfortunately without a universal standard there is no way to enforce strict rules and security protocol. In order for one company to lay claim to another’s customer, they need to drop their security levels and this is an opening that any hacker can fit right through with little effort. In fact the Hackers have their own websites and are able to freely communicate with one another. Hackers may well have more cooperation among themselves, than do Microsoft, Google, and Apple when it comes to security.
No Password is Safe
While the large tech companies try to increase their bottom line, they in effect leave the rest of us open to compromise. Our own governments have failed to set a standard of privacy in their dealings with individual citizens, much less take an interest in enforcing a strong security standard among corporations. Any information you give to the internet is in effect going to be available to the world at large and this no matter what the data may be. People are lulled into thinking that their passwords actually protect them from invaders, but this is an illusion. No password is safe because of the way it is kept at the location where the user signs on.
The fact is that any encrypted password will ultimately fail since the encryption needs only the original formula to crack. That is all you need is to know how something was encrypted originally in order to reverse encrypt, or decrypt the password. With so many loopholes set up for the purpose of getting to your cash and mine it is eventually going to be possible for someone to break in at some level and eventually decrypt any passwords on any site or any computer that is linked to the internet. The only possible protection is a standard that in essence restricts the way in or the way out of any secure location. This cannot be done unless it is in effect ordered from the top down.
The reality is that if someone wants to get into your computer or your phone, or your game system, or your internet ready television set, or game console, they can! It’s just a matter of time and effort on their part. Yet, this could be prevented if a standard official security protocol were to be required. Only no one is playing that game, not even our government which has time and again used internet vulnerabilities to compromise the privacy of anyone it sees fit for the task; this has included diplomats, government leaders, and of course the average person time and again. If the government itself is violating our privacy, who would ever expect them to enforce a standard security system?
Does the Government want a Secure Internet?
If our government says it needs to spy on us in order to “prevent terrorism” they would have no motive to ensure a more secure internet. Having a weak internet security protocol makes the job of the Federal Agent a lot easier since they can use the same vulnerabilities as the ordinary criminal hacker. So why would the government ever demand of corporations to tighten their security? The product that Microsoft makes, or Google, or Apple is by design left open to intrusion for one reason or other. Just as Norton for example will have left itself the ability to “fix your computer remotely” so too might any company that sells you a piece of software on your machine. If the government doesn’t care to enforce a standard of privacy for its own ulterior motives, then what chance does an individual consumer have to secure their own privacy?
We now find ourselves in a world war as just about everyone who was ever attacked by our government’s agencies is now attacking us. The Chinese and Russians, the “terrorists” and the anarchists have made it no secret that they will attempt to compromise any computer system that is in their eyes a “threat” to their own security. That’s fine and dandy, but where does that leave us, the individual, the innocent person who has nothing to do with any of these games that all these entities are playing? The short answer: nowhere. We are here to be eaten by anyone out there who thinks we just might taste good. At the very least I am not going to lie. The reality is that we are never safe.
Can anything be done to keep us safe in the meantime?
However, changing your password often, making it very long including keystrokes like ‘*’ and ‘(‘ or ‘= ‘ with numbers might delay an attacker, or make it harder for them. Making certain that your accounts are well kept, especially since all the tech companies now insist that your account be linked to the internet is a possible obstacle to an intruder as well. Keeping the number of accounts you have to a minimum and not publicizing them will also help. You should always have complex user names, and never tell anyone what your user name is if you don’t have to. Giving your email address to only trusted sources is another must. Running virus scans from more than one company might also help. For example if you use Norton, then you should also, on occasion use another company to scan for viruses. Sometimes hackers find ways to avoid detection from one company but not from all. So it’s a good idea to sometimes use secondary software to clean up your drives. And of course always keep your software up to date with security updates. For as long as your software maker produces them. Can you trust your software company? Only to an extent. A company is only as good as it’s employee. If an employee decides to compromise your computer off work, there is little your software manufacturer can do about that so even then, keep your computer private as can be, even from your software manufacturer, even from your security provider.
But for all that, we are all vulnerable. Unless the world gets together to stop these intrusions into our privacy by setting tough standards of transaction, there is really no help for it. A word of warning to those engaging in these acts. Sooner or later retribution is going to rear its ugly head. If governments do nothing to stop this, it will only escalate, and there is no telling where that might lead us all to. We can potentially go from Cyber War, to real War.
