Adversaries or Friends

Wealth in America has been a manufactured illusion built on lies. Democracy is the culprit in the eventual downfall of the US empire.

As nearly every one of the Founders stated at one time or another, democracy is the worst possible form of government because it allows nonproductive people to vote for and receive the earnings of others. This leads to a society largely built on theft rather than exchanges between people with mutual agreement. Democracy is not freedom or constitutional government, it is tyranny by the majority.

It is easier to convince gullible voters that trading partners are not playing fair than to convince them that US factory workers earn too much money or employ outdated and inefficient technology. Loss of a manufacturing base can be traced back to unions and overreaching regulations. Instead of giving individual employees and employers freedom to negotiate their relationships, they are encouraged to continue adversarial relationships as mere groups.

Ignoring the power of mutual agreement is costing us dearly. Take the Artemis II moon shot. Why a trip to the moon? Only the stakeholders, the ones being paid to do the work, benefit from the project. When a bank or fund with willing investors are approached with a business plan and approve it, that is the only legitimate funding. Voters seeing most of the funding is tapped from the rich and the trip will be the first with a person of color and a woman they puff out their chests and wave their flags at an accomplishment that doesn’t actually make sense to them as a family or person.     

Article I, Section 8 along with Amendment 10 of the Constitution, ends a lot of interesting conversations. Amendment 10 states that the spending allowed by that Section 8 is the only spending Congress may perform. Well shoot, what’s the point of having a democracy then?  

Smart people, adept at getting elected (and funded) have found that congressional salaries taken times a few years somehow equal more than the sum of those parts (like good jazz). It’s a good job; heated, air-conditioned, trips anywhere you want, and you don’t need a shower if you don’t go to the gym. All you have to do is grant favors with somebody else’s money. Well, there goes the mutual agreement part.

Mutual agreements are a natural way to find the proper use of limited resources. Any time the investor is replaced by someone with no skin in the game, waste is created, and eventually we complain about rising costs, without making the connection.

America’s dynamic manufacturing that came out of the only country left unscathed by World War II left us complacent. Unions and compliant management ratcheted up employee compensation with no foreign competitors to restrain their excessively luxurious lifestyle (compared to a Chinese in a tiny apartment). The line between reasonable and excessive regulation was influenced the same way. An example would be licensing barbers. I once read of a woman who was fined for braiding hair. Everyone has a story of some bureaucratic stumbling block to economical production.

There were millions of subsistence farmers in China. Farmers know unpredictable weather and demented politicians can create cruel extremes. The communes, in spite of large labor pools, still had unnecessary crop failures. Then a bureaucrat allowed a farmer to keep some of his crop instead of handing it over to the collective. His self interest inspired better management and higher yields and the program was expanded.

It even followed the farmers into the factories, encouraging entrepreneurship (freedom). This gave birth to China’s ultra-competitive departure from communism.

The response to this from the Land of the Free is tariffs, sanctions, and threats. A long look in the mirror would be more effective and cost Americans less. Friendly relationships with countries who can provide Americans with reasonable prices and quality goods would mimic our personal lives and relationships, which objectively are really good.

Please comment on my column with a letter to the editor or directly to me at  4selfgovernment@gmail.com.