Key West The Newspaper

by Ray Jason…….

During the shrill cacophony of the U.S. election campaign, many friends and strangers asked me why I did not comment on it. The reason is because I try to observe the world as a philosopher – and not as a pundit. My belief is that pundits assess the short-term flux of events, whereas philosophers examine the long-term trends and consequences.

Here are some of my conclusions. Intriguingly, they might provide some comfort to both camps – those devastated by the results and those delighted by them. The Clintonistas might recall that when Obama was elected, the Right was quite certain that the world would end. But, indeed, it did not end – although it also did not improve. So even though you fear that Trump will bludgeon the planet off its very axis, this is not likely to occur.

As for the Trumpians, you might take heart in the knowledge that even though the goals of the victors are almost never realized once in office, the fact that your triumph was a referendum against the Establishment, makes it a far more potent force. But you will need to remain vigilant, or your dream of Making America Great Again will go down in flames like Hope and Change.

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If I was just a pundit, I would post those last two paragraphs to social media and then settle back and count the “likes.” But my hope is that the sheer vulgarity of the campaign might inspire many people to look at the deeper and more philosophical lessons from the 2016 (S)election.

Because we are programmed from birth to never question the core principle that Authority Is Necessary, we fail to understand that what 120 million people just did was provide their consent for one government team rather than for another government team. But GOVERNMENT wins – either way. And every time that

The State wins, The Individual loses.

Needless to say, most people meander through their entire lives without encountering such a radical concept. I will try to argue it as convincingly as possible. But realizing that I will probably fail, I will then close this essay by suggesting a style of living that allows one to have as much personal freedom and autonomy as might be humanly possible in this complex and inter-connected world. That alternative is The Sea Gypsy Path – and since 1992 it has bequeathed me a life that is rich in happiness and meaning.

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The concept that government is a cure for society’s problems and not the cause of those problems is so ingrained in us that it is almost never even pondered – much less deeply examined. Most people have been brainwashed with the belief that humanity is intrinsically greedy, malicious and violent and that only authority protects us from descending into chaos. But I submit that the exact opposite is true.

Governments and religions only arrived on the scene about 10,000 years ago when our Paleolithic ancestors switched from hunting and gathering to the Neolithic model of sedentary agriculture. The need to stay in one place for the planting and harvesting cycle, led to villages and then to towns and then to cities. More importantly, and catastrophically, it also spawned hierarchy and rulers and priests. Since it is not philosopher kings who normally rise to power but vicious war lords, this soon bestowed upon us standing armies and industrial level warfare.

So, in fact, government does not protect us from violence, but instead it initiates it. Wars do not arise because one morning a million Scots spontaneously decide it might be a good idea to invade Holland. No, instead such conflicts are possible only because evil people who have slithered themselves into positions of power, incite people to go forth and slaughter millions of other humans with whom they have no personal grievances and who have done them no harm. This can only be achieved if the general population has been duped into being subservient to authority, to government and to the state.

One of the other great, unnoticed crimes of government is that they set themselves up as the umpires of morality. Every one of you, who is reading this, understands that murder – unless it is committed in absolute self-defense – is wrong. You do not need a legal system to teach you this. And if the government suddenly announced that murder is no longer immoral, you would still know in your heart of hearts that it is wrong. At first glance, the notion of a government making such a statement seems absurd, but that is exactly what happens when a state demonizes an “enemy” and declares a war. Suddenly, murder is not just acceptable – it is patriotic.

The state and government and authority are like triplets joined at the hip and they are connected through POWER. They have a monopoly on the legalized use of force. Under their control are the police, the military and the Airport Grope Squads.

Let me state this more clearly. Under the present human social system there is a tiny minority of people who rule over the rest of us. This control grid is so powerful and yet so subtle that the vast majority do not even notice it. As the wise German writer Goethe so accurately declared: “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”

And the people who “own” us are such insatiable control freaks that they have genuinely diabolical future plans to dominate us even further. Micro-chipping of every human, the end of cash and the substitution of electronic money, mandatory vaccinations and the GMO foods that are almost unavoidable, are all being implemented by stealth. And the whole trend towards greater centralization of power into fewer and fewer hands continues to erode human individuality and sovereignty.

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Now let me return to the initial theme of this essay – the recent elections. My contention is that the problem is not which candidate got selected. No, the much greater problem is the fact that over 120 million people consented to the continuation of a system that does not care about them and that oppresses them. And because the propaganda matrix is so effective that the vast majority are not even aware of how profoundly government dominates their lives, there is very little chance for sweeping improvement. So what is a person who seeks genuine independence to do? ESCAPE! Don’t fight the system – FLEE the system.

And the best way to do so is to adopt the Sea Gypsy Path. Get yourself an ocean-capable sailboat and get yourself free. Liberate your children from the public education indoctrination system and home-school them onboard. Renounce your allegiance to any one country and become a planetary free spirit. Rely on your own ability to live cheaply, to fix things, to travel on wings of wind and not as a slave to Exxon-Mobil. Embrace your new fellowship of ocean wanderers who have a real sense of community and sharing. Harness as much as you can of the bounty of Nature with your solar panels and your wind generators. Marvel at those times when Mother Ocean shows her incredible power.

And if one day, you find yourself anchored near AVENTURA, stop on by for a spot of rum. I’ll look forward to hearing the tale of how you cut the rope and SET YOURSELF FREE!

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