Like a Bug in a Test Tube On the one hand local and state government is a huge bore to a lot of people who see only the news on cable TV with all its emphasis on big national events and turbulent world news blockbusters. On the other hand local government is the site of the most passionate fights over principle. In a land dispute or a school board issue tempers can flare to the point of violence. Yet between the catfights and the day to day work of towns and counties keeping the water running or the roads fixed is the real stuff of democracy and local control. Within this arena and the lessons learned there, ride the hopes of anyone who is interested in restoring the true federalism lost with the death of the First Republic (1789-1868).
That knowledge is not lost on those who seek to extend centralism. They know that a responsibly run and successful local government will lead to a realization among the governed that they do no need a central government that only covets power. It is far easier for them if the governed are kept in a glass cage of regulations and occasionally poked with a stick to keep them stirred up and unaware of their worsening predicament.
When I was in local government I picked up and read the pamphlets and flyers from all sorts of government departments that came in the mail to the city I was serving. They would be laying about on desks or chairs for people to look at and throw away. Most people didn’t bother and I can’t blame them. They are intentionally boring and they often don’t apply to anything that interests you. The pamphlets covered all sorts of laws and regulations emanating from the central government. Most were advertisements of sorts for new programs or changes in programs.
For instance these little documents discussed a new law passed by Congress and who or what the law affected. Then there was a brief history and finally a reference to a more comprehensive document that fully explained the law or possibly a Department that could be contacted for more information. Typically something like; if the standards for sidewalks used by disabled persons had changed this pamphlet was notification regarding the change and where the new standards were published.
Pretty innocuous stuff one might say except there is a veritable snowstorm of this material fluttering down on every municipality and township and county and school board and state every year. Congress and uncountable departments and agencies publish reams of these things to keep in line with the likewise uncountable regulation promulgated by these bureaus.
This is not really anything new and for anyone who is in government administration; it is just the grist of everyday work. Not only do they get the pamphlets but they get all sorts of letters, documents, and e-mails with more technical alterations in policy some needing a lawyer to understand. Deciphering the changes and finding ways to implement the changes in the context of the local entity that office holders serve is more than a full time job. In fact it can’t be done without the help of bureaucrats, administrators, consultants, assistants, tarot card readers, and a few psychics thrown in for good measure.
Particularly small cities and town are hamstrung with existing regulations and their implementation. The new ones typically are put in the file for tomorrow creating a backlog of work and a constant deficit in enforcement.
The Regulators and other agencies are well aware of this deficit and are duly “understanding�?about the inability of local government to keep up. Nearly all local government agencies are in violation of some regulations all the time. Department of Transportation, American with Disability Act, OSHA, EPA, and other agencies, laws, or regulations are constantly being updated keeping state and local governments in a continuing state of enforcement default. Therefore, the regulated are always at the mercy of the regulators. In other words, the Feds got you where they want you.
This system is by design unworkable and inherently coercive. That’s the point of it. At least since 9 July1868 when the Fourteenth Amendment was passed the central government has consciously sought to extend its power over all other government entities with in the border of the United States. The Feds can swoop in and start investigating and sure enough they will find a violation.
This centralized system has evolved since the War Between the States in an every tightening noose of regulations and laws that seek to make local government the purveyor of central government rules. This makes local control nothing but a farce tossed abound in Congressional committee meetings by people increasingly conditioned to extend the authority of their employers; the central government. Congressman and their staff are paid a good salary and wonderful benefits at the expense of the masses who are footing the bill for the privilege of losing control of their local society.
Yet at the same time there are stakeholders who are equally interested in centralizing the power of government. The public (indoctrinated by a school system that is beholden to the government) cries out for new laws to control every outrage from child abuse to pollution without a thought to what the implementation of those laws will be. Driven by the Media who depends on nationalistic laws to operate the public rarely looks at local options to solve their problems. When they do they find out that the local government can’t do anything because it is hogtied by the central government. Caught in this dizzying shell game is it any wonder the average citizen is frustrated beyond words.
Carbolic Nettles
Let me tell you a little fable for the new global age we live in.
Bubba Walker lived in a nice three bedroom house on the edge of town. His daughter liked to play outside and as she got older all the kids in the neighborhood started to play in the empty field next door. No one knew who owned or took care of the lot so it was assumed that it was alright to play on.
In the past the field was never mowed and all the kids were too young to care about playing there but as they started to play their ball games and hide and seek on the empty field something needed to be done. Bubba decided he needed to mow it because the kids were complaining about insects and snakes.
He went down to Wal-Mart and bought a new Weed Whacker made especially for tall weeds. It was made in China but he figured that it would work good for a year and then he could figure out something else when it broke down. So he went to cutting weeds and in a day cleared out a nice place for the kids to play.
Time passed. One day Bubba got a letter in the mail. It was a strange official letter with a Canadian address. Opening it is said, “Notice of Infraction�? Bubba was stumped, he had never been in Canada. He read on, “This is to inform you that according to photographic records of the Medusa 13-VX ecological monitoring satellite actions taken by, Bubba Walker, (then his Social Security number) unlawfully destroy a protected stand of Carbolic Nettles known to have habitat there.�?With the coldest of intent the letter went on, “You are to fill in the following form or be prepared to accept the actions of a restoration panel when they rule on your case�?
He looked at the seven page form and promptly threw it away. This is stupid, he thought, all I did was mow an empty field that nobody around here owns. If this is some kind of joke it isn’t funny. If it is a government deal then it is something that doesn’t apply to me. I’m an American and this is from Canada. Bubba went on with his life until 45 days later when another letter arrived and this one he had to sign for.
Tearing it open Bubba read the short tersely worded letter. “Because you have chosen to ignore our previous letter the panel has referred your case to the Global Ecological Court in Warsaw, Poland after determining that the destruction of Carbolic Nettle habitat constituted an infraction pursuant to the Treaty of Mexico City ratified in May of 1990 and amended in New York City August of 2001. Implementation of the Treaty began [and it said March of last year] and enforcement commenced 90 days subsequent.�?
“The land in question is [it gave the exact longitude and latitude] and is owned by the Azad Genetic Institute a registered international research group with us and headquartered in Qatar. They are doing legitimate scientific research on guarded species in open habitat and your actions have interfered with sanctioned study material.�?
“You may appear in person or with an approved attorney at the Court in Warsaw on [and it gave a date 30 days hence] or forfeit your case to a judgment. This judgment can include penalties up to and including; fines, jail term, or seizure of property in order to satisfy the Court.�?Signed, [the signature was in the Cyrillic alphabet so he couldn’t read it].
Sweat broke out on Bubba’s brow. He grabbed his phone and called up someone he knew at City Hall. Explaining what happened the friend said, “Well, that’s the first case I’ve heard about. But you know a few years ago we did get a pamphlet on that global-eco nonsense and I think the City Administrator got a packet from some foreign country and I think he posted something on the City Public Notice Board for a while, of course, that’s all we are really required to do, ah, legally speaking. But it’s out of our hands. We didn’t have enough funds in the budget to participate in the National program and besides we couldn’t get volunteers to server on a committee that met in Canada once a year. So that’s all I know.�?The sweat turned cold, Bubba’s skin was clammy and his heart started to beat really fast.
The moral of this little fable is: With globalism anything is possible.
Discount Slavery
If it wasn’t bad enough that the central government in Washington is spewing out laws and regulations but our leaders have for years tied us up in a whole new game of global regulating. The game of globalism is officially atheist and materialist which to them means non-partisan but is obviously an agenda. The game is also played on the field of international law which cannot be altered through a vote of the people. Not only do we have to contend with our own centralists but there is another legion of them working on global treaties that will eventually impact each of us. A global oligarchy (government by an unelected elite few who are in cahoots with officeholders) is developing bent on self enrichment.
We are all affected by the forces of international agreements. There are appropriate rules that govern the high seas, aircraft travel, or other mutual areas of interest. It is another world, however, when overseas laws require standardization of food and packaging and textile composition and dyes and communication protocols. This process requires a forced conformity that amounts to mandates. There are hundreds if not thousands of building materials, paints, industrial equipment, and other products that are traded globally must conform to standards that are the results of international trade groups that are authorized under various treaties that have been agreed to by Presidents of both parties.
Many of these faceless mandates are in direct opposition to the ideal of a confederation of allied independent states in North America as the Constitution originally envisioned. To reclaim that dream we will not only need control of our own regions but promote a vibrant local economy not wholly dependent on far away producers guarded by nameless unaccountable lawmakers. Even more insidious, however, is the creeping take over of our mind by the symbols of a global control.
I remember watching vintage movies about nineteenth century Britain where a symbol of empire was a shop in London with clocks on the wall showing the time in different cities of the British Empire. The English crown controlled cities in every time zone. “The sun never sets on the British Empire�?was the source of identity for generations of Britons. They probably have come closest to achieving world control as anyone, i.e., closest to globalism as anyone.
That was a straight out colonial empire. Troops for Great Britain conquered and occupied other countries. There was no pretext about that. Conquest was conquest the Crown and Parliament were responsible for it. You knew just exactly who was accountable. Today’s iteration of global conquest eschews the trappings of power and accountability preferring instead to rule with symbols and faceless agencies embedded in arcane treaties. An empire built by lawyers instead of troops.
The institutions of society are today filled with symbols of globalism. “Free Traders�?flit about with liberals and conservatives alike. The Business Roundtable and the Chamber of Commerce love to flaunt their progressive outlook on trade and at the same time support the Leftists who attack the Confederate Flag which has come to represent the cause of local control. Everyone, it is alleged, loves the international nature of commerce. We are told that things are so much cheaper bought from the Third World. We are constantly conditioned to get low priced global-trade merchandise as if there really is a “free lunch�?
Whether marketing TVs, pop music, cars, or clothes the trade laws are increasing stacked against the local economy. Go to your neighborhood Wal-Mart and pick up anything in the store to see where it is from. It is more likely to be made in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) than in the USA. I was brought up calling it Red China and find it hard to kick the habit but the marketers at most trans-nationals prefer to call it simply China.
I am told that in the state of Mississippi twenty five cents of every retail dollar is spent in Wal-Mart. Other states are not far behind I suppose. Setting aside the jobs we are losing and the money that is being sucked oversees a brief look at how Wal-Mart gets their merchandise is helpful.
Remembering that the PRC (Red China) is an officially atheist and materialist country whose leadership murdered tens of millions of its own citizens to consolidate power it is not a stretch to say that the rulers are a group of very cunning and ruthless people. Power is loosely divided up between the Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA or Red Army) although the Red Army is nominally under the Party’s control.
It is important to know that nothing moves to or from Red China without an ok from the Red Army. They control all the shipping companies that export goods from China; goods that are then sold to Wal-Mart and others and finally sold to us. This must be very profitable for American companies. Buying cheap, slave labor laced products from the Chinese that are so inexpensive they can slap a frightful mark-up on them and still sell the products to us at “discount�?prices.
Doesn’t this process make Wal-Mart the de facto marketing agent for the PLA? Sure the source of production is not the Red Army but if it wasn’t for their subsidized logistical capabilities to get the goods to market Wal-Mart couldn’t sell them so cheap. To me it is frightening and the depths of this madness are no where near being reached. Our present “conservative�?State Department permits this practice and has reinforced policies that were at one time considered part of what used to be called the “International Communist Conspiracy�?
Never mind the fact that Red China uses slave labor, prison labor, and child labor to make those cheap goods. These facts seem to go unnoticed in the face of President Bush’s U.N. speech where he decried international slavery. For his efforts he received a deafening silence from the American Left who prefers to talk about slavery only in the ante-bellum South therefore not offending their allies in Asia and Africa.
But why pick on Wal-Mart? Examples of the practice outlined above are multitude. Yet the most egregious are not Pier I or Hobby Lobby or Target or K-Mart who are busy trying to put the individual American craftsman out of business. The real dangerous operators are the defense contractors.
Working above and below the table American hi tech companies have given all sorts of technology to our global partners like the PRC and others. The lethal gadgets that they have sold them have made their way into every scumbag dictatorship that can afford it. Called dual purpose technology this practice is insulated from the law but plenty of war-fighting hardware and software has wound up in places it shouldn’t be; like Iran for instance.
Military watchdog websites and magazines are all over this story but the present Administration and every Administration since the tailing off of the Cold War has turned a blind eye to it. Nuclear secrets, targeting secrets, energy beams, aerospace, what ever you can think of is for sale in the global marketplace. Selling in the global technology bazaar for whatever they can get to whomever they run across in the international alleyway of globalism. Defense contractors once a cornerstone of our defense and security are now part of the global oligarchy not the defenders of home and hearth right here in the USA.
Meanwhile, as each and every one of us attempt to make a living on the every faster treadmill of today’s economy we find small local and regional manufacturers are being put out of business. If it is not because of global competition then it is because of trans-national buyouts of local industry. Hi tech profit concentration and fewer jobs; a vicious ouroborus like nightmare of the serpent swallowing itself.
Think Locally Act Globally (or Else)
The greatest education reformer of our time John Taylor Gatto wrote a book entitled, The Underground History of American Education. He explains that it was the spirit of self responsibility that set America apart in the early days of our country during the period of the First Republic. The role of society was to promote a worldview where earning an “independent livelihood�?was the ideal of each person. Once one attains an independent livelihood then that person is neither beholden to nor dependent on the government. That person is then free of coercion and able to make good judgments regarding his life and that of his community.
Over the years this founding principle has been eroded away by those who seek to entangle the individual in the many tentacles of centralized government. Corrupted by slogans and foreign ideologies the citizen today is directed to do everything but achieve an independent livelihood. Modern man is being programmed and directed through social pressures that emanate from those who are beholden to the trans-national corporation and the one world global ideal. Identity is now a product of marketing instead of a grounding in ones region, state, community, and faith.
To get ready for the global society we must adopt new attitudes like multi-culturalism and my personal favorite the truly flatulent slogan “diversity�? The latter is a litmus test that proves a person is ready for the global future. It allegedly means open mindedness and brotherly love and being at one with the global consciousness; inclusiveness to be succinct. Of course diversity really means conformity because if you don’t agree with all the gaseous supposition of “diversity�?you don’t belong to the great global community and are therefore not included in the diversity-thingy-a-bob. And will someone tell me when we voted to make this noxious slogan a national social policy.
Programming America to the global economy does not end with fatuous sloganeering. Promoting a queer sort of dialectical determinism real money and thousands of man-hours of research is being done at universities and think-tanks to grease the skids for our population. Using a tried and true technique of modernism the global future is promoted as inevitable. As in a B-movie sci-fi thriller the bullet proof alien says to mankind, “Resistance is futile�?
Softening people up for the world to come does not include strong local and state governments. It requires a seamless bureaucracy that can carry out the directives of the central government and global regulatory agencies that will be increasingly involved in our lives. As soon as our Congressman find out that they can be shed of all liability and all accountability by shoving virtual lawmaking on shadowy international regulators then they will avail themselves of every opportunity to do so.
In 1995 David Korten wrote When Corporations Rule the World, he was pummeled by “conservatives�?as being anti-business. The left exalted his work because they saw in it a chance to promote more “public�?involvement (meaning government funded agencies) in creating a “just and inclusive society�? I think they were both only seeing their own agenda. What I saw was the description of future commerce dominated by untouchable unaccountable trans-national super producers that will obliterate the business landscape leaving only a handful of conglomerates to control the world economy. No interest group pointed out that this was a template for the destruction of local society. But it did soften us up for what’s to come.
In the 1970’s and 1980’s when economists and social planners were crunching numbers for the U.N. and other international interests they debated two competing directions for world development. 1. To raise the Third World up to the European/American standard of living. 2. To bring Europe/America down to Third World standards. In the twenty first century that discussion has been decided with the choice of the second option. The global economy will be able to initiate this directive by giving low paying jobs to peasants while eliminating jobs in developed countries meanwhile sucking money from both and filling the coffers for the oligarchy.
To make a living independent of some huge corporation was at one time the core of our society. Banding together to form small locally viable producers was the concept that built the great American culture of the First Republic. But that kind of responsibility is no where in evidence for our future. In the late nineteenth century the St. Louis Hegelians claimed what was holding us back from the one-world socialist future was the ‘brittle individualism of the American spirit�?which had to be broken. Perhaps they are finally getting the job done.
But the more insidious aspect to our national handover of sovereignty is what will happen to your town in the process. The only model for the future is one cradled in nebulous slogans. Not one of our leaders has laid out a picture of what will happen to your own economic freedom as we continue to uproot traditional society. We don’t have a clue what process we will be given to implement a globalist agenda on our towns and cities. Presumable one day in the future we will all be eating tofu living in a mud hut with a DSL connection provide by some communication agency headquartered in Brussels. Payments will be digitally transferred from you account with a bank in Jakarta.
I’m not sure that anyone has thought out the perimeters of the globalist agenda or if it is made up willy-nilly while the oligarchy is stuffing money in their pockets. The globalists say they want stability but don’t seem to care if instability reigns so long as they are insulated from any resulting chaos. They will leave administrative detail to others who are busy demanding standardized education testing, nationalizing our police forces, internationalizing our military, and the slow but sure destruction of our local culture and state governments. The irony is that world stability will come from strong local society instead of a pie in the sky grab for global empire.
Democracy is a messy business. Sometimes average people get it wrong. That’s the criticism by the globalist, the modernist, and the materialist. Professionals are needed to run the new global economy. You poor dummies need us to handle these complicated transactions.
I’m willing to make mistakes and take responsibility. That’s how we learn. I believe in what former Missouri Gov. Warren Hearnes called, “state’s rights and responsibilities�? I don’t think that the future laid out by the professional planners is the only one. I think they didn’t see 9-11 or the threat of pandemics due to international air travel. They didn’t tell us our communities would be disrupted negatively by big-box retail. They didn’t think about the movement of super lethal weapons technology across borders and into the hands of nut-cakes. They either missed all that or they purposely did not tell us. Either way it’s enough to make me think the global planners are neither trustworthy nor very smart.
Globalism might give you a cheaper pair of shoes at the big-box retailer while closing the shoe factory next door; lettuce may cost less at the superstore as your produce farmers are put out of business. Yet as a bonus you will get a little Middle Eastern terrorism with that pair of shoes or maybe a dose of the latest “bird-flu�?pandemic alongside your salad. We will not get one without the other. The downside to globalism is well known. Just ask any New Yorker what happened in 2001.
The reason people feel something ominous is lurking on the horizon is not irrational. A great conflict is shaping up. There are skirmishes billowing up all around you. One battle ground is over the loss of local control. The people who wish to take it from you are the paid goons of materialism hidden behind the curtains in the castles of elitism. Stopping them will be no easy matter. On 28 May the French people won a small victory against the forces of centralism when they defeated the European Union constitution. If they can do it we can do it.
Free Forum Hosting
Important Announcement
First 
0 recommendations 
Return to POLITICS