Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.
“But always—do not forget this Winston—always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.” – 1984, Orwell
Regardless of how you feel about .gov bailouts and ‘obscene’ executive bonuses (bonii?), theres a very important lesson to be learned from observing the current hullaboo. That lesson is that .gov, when it thinks it can get away with it, will target the tiniest demographic if it serves their needs. Additionally, much like those German guys back in ’39, if you vilify a particular demographic, or ‘chosen people’ perhaps, public opinion will be far less damaging when the hammer does finally drop.
Our friends at .gov have come out and quite plainly said that their goal is to pass a fast law to remove as much as 90% of the money these people were contracted to receive. (Keep in mind that even before this nonsense, they would have already been forking over almost 50% in taxes.) All it takes now is to focus public opinion on another demographic…gun owners? Conservatives? Home schoolers?…get public opinion on their side and then whip out the narrowly-aimed legislation. Don’t think so? Come on … you know better. Your cabin out in the hills? That’s a ‘compound’, buddy. Your friends who come by to drink beer and talk about politics? Co-conspirators. Your Mini-14? Assault weapon. The two bricks of Federal .22 ammo? ‘Thousands of rounds’ of ammo. Of course the public will be relieved when .gov steps in and ‘takes action’ against those ‘dangerous radicals’.
Seriously…this is an amazing example of .gov targeting a small group, lining up the court of public opinion in .gov’s favor, and then pulling the trigger. Expect to see this sort of thing happen more and more in the next few years. Alert the public to a threat, vilify the perpetrators, propose action, claim righteousness in the name of ‘fairness’, bask in public adoration. Lather, rinse, repeat.
As the economy sours more and more people are going to be easy to inflame against the ‘haves’ by the ‘have nots’. There is nothing wrong with being poor. There is nothing wrong with being rich. Pick which one you want to be and run with it. Personally, I’d rather be rich. Failing that, I’d happily settle for ‘not poor’.
Whats this got to do with bunkers and band aids? Economic balkanization is just as dangerous as ethinc or racial balkanization. When someone somewhere determines that what you have, what you’ve earned, and what you do is somehow unfair, exploitive, or ‘too profitable’ they are usually about to intrude into your existence in a major way. Screwing with a persons way of supporting themselves is no different than running a bulldozer through their greenhouse, shooting at their livestock or poisoning their well.
This vilification of greed (which will become synonymous with ‘ambition’ or ‘drive’) is going to be the first of a long line of ‘correct thinking’ that we’re going to see. The notion of sticking your neck out, working to build your own little empire and then enjoying its sweet rewards will become an example of ‘selfish’, ‘greedy’ or ‘anti social’ behavior. The well-read among us will recognize some certain parallels to Ayn Rands magnum opus.
Some people will watch the TV and gloat, saying “Yeah! Screw the rich! They should take all their money!” without realizing that once that’s done there’ll be another group, another demographic, another crowd, another faction for the .gov to focus its sights on. Hopefully you wont be that new target but with the proper media vilification, like we’re seeing now, it wont matter…public opinion will be against you and .gov will have a free hand.
Moral? If youre going to make more than $250k a year try to do it as low-profile as possible. I’d never suggest you duck your tax responsibilities by getting paid in cash, starting sideline cash businesses, obtaining alternate ID to work without tax consequences, or anything like that. That would be wrong. Don’t do it.
But right now youre seeing a perfect example of .gov going after a selcet group of individuals who have literally broken no laws, haven’t committed any crimes that Im aware of, and are getting pilloried. And .gov paints them as greedy, manipulative, elitist snobs who deserve to be ‘taxed into the Stone Age’. A chilling example of .gov strategies to manipulate public opinion in favor of targetting a particular group of people. Watch closely, youre seeing the future.
