Any student of history learns that people will put up with horrific government abuse before they do anything about it. And so I've been watching for years, waiting to see how much abuse the Western world, and Americans in particular, will accept from government before they admit that they're being abused.

In dark moments, I've even wondered whether this time was different, whether the natural human reaction against pain had somehow been eliminated. People in the past have rebelled against far less.

But I've also come to understand we have, in our times, a unique driver of compliance. By that, I refer to the most sacred of our public idols, "democracy."

Notwithstanding that no modern government is actually a democracy, '"democracy'" has proven to be the greatest cloak for government sins in all of human history. After all, if the government is everybody, there's really no one to blame. That's plainly a scam, of course, but lots of people have bought into it… and after they've mouthed their worship to "democracy" a few times, they can be counted on to defend it.

Still, there must be some limit to the abuse Americans are willing to take. The problem is that it hasn't shown up yet. And if you think of how desperately Americans are abused by their government, it's a bit stunning. Here's a short list of abuses:

A currency regime that allows private banks to skim from every dollar as it's created.

The indenture of newborn children to unpayable debts, thanks to "democracy" and politicians.

Permanent, massive, and "legal" systems of open political bribery.

Forced subservience to laws that have been purchased (and often written) by private businesses.

More laws than any person, including lawyers, can remember or even understand.

Endless wars and several permanent, standing armies.

Continuous and universal surveillance of nearly all correspondence, including telephone conversations, Internet use, and the electronic transmission of documents.

Warrantless invasions and searches of autos, businesses, and even private homes.

A militarized (and publicly worshiped) police enforcer class… who are trained to lie and intimidate people.

Tens of thousands of intensely violent SWAT raids every year.

Outright (and massive) stealing by police departments, under the guise of "guilty property," rather than guilty people.

Millions of people jailed for nonviolent, victimless crimes.

A combined tax rate of more than 50%.

Child Service bureaus that are empowered to steal children from parents and then absolved of blame for the thousands of children who are abused in their custody.

I could go on, but I think the point is made: Americans are getting the crap kicked out of them on a continual basis. And not only that, but the people abusing them expect to be thanked for it.

I watch in wonder.

Are There Signs of Change?

There have always been people who condemned these abuses, of course, but most of them have been sucked into the "democracy" game and rendered harmless to the system. As a result, the system is worse now than it was 50 years ago.

Still, there are some who remain outside the system and condemn the abuse directly. And I must admit their number seems to be growing. So, that's one hopeful sign. But such people still constitute a small percentage. Joe and Jane Average – if provided with any kind of excuse, no matter how transparent – will still fight to avoid seeing it.

You might think the young generation, stripped of opportunity and coerced into permanent debt by a supremely arrogant educational system, would rebel against it. But so far, they seem to be taking their abuse just as passively as their parents.

Some people are opining that the Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump phenomena are evidence Americans have had enough. And while there may be some truth in that, Bernie blames the Red team and Donald blames the Blue team. And so long as everything is blamed on the "other team," the system as a whole, with all its abuse, chugs right along, never missing a beat.

In addition, "I'll make other people pay for your stuff," and, "I'll kick the crap out of foreigners," are strong components of the "Bernie and Donald" appeal, and those kinds of impulses can lead to some very dark places.

So…

I'd like to think Americans will wake up at some point and stop living as pin cushions. The average working American is simply better than his or her rulers. On top of that, they know their rulers are liars and thieves. I frequently discuss this with people I meet, and I've found disgust for politicians to be nearly universal… and throughout the entire Western world, not just in the US.

And yet, these same people consent to being abused by their inferiors. They are robbed, searched, spied upon, and held in subservience. They praise SWAT-team thugs and the officials who cage marijuana users. They advocate theft, if it funds their pet projects. They cheer wars as if they were athletic events, rather than death, dismemberment, and mass impoverishment.

Once upon a time, Thomas Jefferson wrote this:

[M]ankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

I know he was right, but I would have guessed the descendants of 1776 would have been "abolishing forms" before now.

Alas, Western Man sits, his fingers in his ears and his eyes on a flashing screen, avoiding the obvious.

Ah well.

* * * * *

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It begins with an attack that crashes the investment markets, brings down economic systems, and divides the world into two parts. One part is dominated by mass surveillance and massive data systems: clean cities and empty minds… where everything is assured and everything is ordered. The other part is abandoned, without services, with limited communications, and shoved 50 years behind the times… but where human minds are left to find their own bearings.

You may never look at life the same way again.

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* * * * *

Paul Rosenberg
www.freemansperspective.com