Stark Reality, Answering Critics
I have been a student of American politics for over a half century. And it shames me to say that until the financial crisis of 2009, I was clueless regarding what was really happening politically right in front of my eyes, like, frankly, most remain today. Sure, I stayed informed, had my favorite news shows like anybody else. So until that crisis occurred, I took all the DC actors seriously. I just thought many of them were stupid. They were stupid because they said stupid things, held stupid policy positions, then changed to different stupid policy positions and tried to explain how they had “always been consistent.” The financial crisis finally taught me a lesson. I did my homework, opened my mind. As I expanded my perspective, my paradigm shifted. I began to see much more clearly. I discovered DC politicians are not stupid. They think we’re stupid. And frankly, in many cases they have been right.
How many of you lived through the same financial crisis, but did very little to understand what all that was really about? How many of you, until perhaps reading one of my columns, ever understood, or even understand today, how money is created? Because until you have a firm grasp on the answer to that question, I’m sorry, but you do not get it. You do not get politics, politicians, the trade deficit, the formulation of governmental policy and why the people never seem to benefit from meaningful legislation. Until the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, it was all fake, friends. Practically nothing of political substance you ever saw on your favorite evening news, heard on radio news breaks, read in the paper, or watched on the Sunday interview shows was, or is real, even today. You are watching a show. It’s all put out there just for you.
Think about it. Why are their so many mainstream news networks? How can each arrive at such different representations deriving from the very same root facts? Come on now, think. What is your favorite news source? Why do you watch that source? Why would anyone not watch your source if it is reliable information?
Point #1 for you to consider today is that there are so many network news sources so that you can choose the truth you like the best. It’s that simple. The DC politicians and the media all want you to be comfortable with what you consider to be true. So they divide you into groups and bend the truth to appeal to your personal preferences. Do you watch Fox News? Most people around here might answer yes. But a few miles south of Forsyth County, those people watch CNN, or maybe MSNBC. Around here, you might consider yourself conservative. A few miles south, they call themselves liberal, or progressive. Constantly watching the same MSM news sources, continually ratifying one’s personal preferences of the truth, has an interesting effect on a diverse population. It brainwashes the public mind. It divides us into manageable groups. It reinforces what we choose to believe rather than what is really true. It makes us comfortable in our ideological preferences, strengthening them each day until we have become a population of mindless, philosophical puppets for them to divide and control.
I do not watch the network news except to know which falsehoods not to believe. In the morning, when I hear the first fake news violating my subconscious, I turn it off. I can’t stand it. I do not have to consider Jamie Dupree telling me what the real power players in DC want me to believe. Listening to misinformation, disinformation and deceit each day for prolonged periods vegetates any ability to critically think. So I resist the urge. You should too.
A few years ago, I found myself alone in an elevator with a Georgia US senatorial candidate. I asked her a simple question, “Do you know how money is created?” Her answer was telling, “Yes, but I don’t know why you ask.” As the elevator door opened and she proceeded out, I responded, “If you really did know, you would understand why I ask.” The reason I bring that up is that until you thoroughly understand the answer, you cannot begin to understand politics, or how I see things I do. You are stuck in a false paradigm. Until that knowledge really sinks in and you contemplate the depth and breadth of what it means, your mind is clay in the hands of the political p(l)otters. They can reinforce anything you want to believe, enabling you to happily exist in a fantasy world of your own creation. Maybe you used to wonder how propaganda might work in the Soviet Union, Communist China, Nazi Germany or Imperialist Japan. Maybe you asked, how those people could have been so conned. And here you are, believing the same nonsense day after day. Time to wake up, friends. Let 2019 be the year you shake it all off and become a critical, seeker of truth. You won’t always get it right, but you will hone in on what is real. Be forewarned, however, you may not like what you find.
So here’s a parting truth for you to consider. That dollar in your pocket? It was borrowed into circulation from a private bank, and someone is still paying interest on it. Now, think about what that really means. How could America be $72 trillion in debt with no way to pay? Think about that.