Sunday, November 29, 2009

Why We Are Political Atheists

----
Political atheism is a term becoming increasingly popular these days and is a concept rapidly gaining new converts with each political calamity thrust upon us. It’s a term righteously conceived out of the failures associated with a flawed political system that derives the essence of its power from social conflict, scarcity, fear, divisive policies, and coercion. In politics, it can’t be any other way…it is the nature of the beast. Our liberties are correspondingly diminished when political power is expanded. Throughout every administration, whether conservative or liberal, government has grown exponentially larger and more intrusive relative to population growth. This bi-partisan and unbridled growth has become unsustainable and the foundational cracks in the political system are manifesting themselves on all fronts. 

Both sides of the political spectrum employ fear as a tool to increase their power by portraying the opposing party as the evil arch enemy that must be opposed (irrespective of the cost to our liberty) while making their respective false promises of salvation and perpetual prosperity to their devoted worshippers and followers. The true evil arch enemy, however, that has destroyed our dreams and seeks to encroach on our liberty continually, while hiding behind the smokescreen of left versus right bread and circus politics, is the political system itself. More and more people are leaving the church of politics and are becoming political atheists. This is causing great consternation among politicians because the loyal adoration of their constituency represents the very essence and basis of their political existence. The political high priests, absent their loyal worshippers, are in danger of losing their relevance and becoming obsolete. They are increasingly becoming objects of derisive laughter. The ultimate slap, of course, is when they become unfunded. 

Political power is based on the promulgation of two lies that have been with us since the beginning of time. Those lies are: you can have something for nothing and there are no consequences for ignoring truth. Therefore, the most convincing political liar wins the election because those in the market for buying lies (the voters) have been led to believe that they are going to be the recipients of the stolen loot plundered from their neighbor’s wallets. The ideal proposition would be for everyone to manage the contents of their own wallets, without plundering anyone, and let the politicians find real jobs. That type of system would provide the greatest amount of liberty for the greatest number of participants. 

Government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advance auction in stolen goods. - H.L. Mencken

Politics and political activism are commonly associated with the concept of self-government, but it is anything but self-government. Self-government, in its truest form and broken down to the lowest and most practical common denominator, is the condition or state whereby we each rule over our own lives and the derivatives (property) of our lives without encroaching upon our neighbor. In a non-political self-governing society, private property becomes truly sacrosanct and the golden rule the standard bearer for our conduct and interpersonal relationships.

Politics and its coercive derivative (political law) exists to create a standard of hierarchy that permits certain behaviors on the part of a particular privileged class while prohibiting and imposing legal sanctions on others, less privileged, for similar behavior. So the problem with political law is that it focuses on who rather than what. In a truly free society, whereby the equality of mankind and the golden rule is the standard bearer of justice, the focus is on the act in question rather than the granting of exemptions to a particular class or category of individuals.

Would the discarding of political law and governance be anarchy? No, anarchy is what we currently have. Anarchy is more accurately represented by the fickle outcomes associated with the votes of nine priestly looking men wearing long black robes. The Supreme Court is made up of legal scholars with many years of experience as lawyers, judges, and professors of law. It could be logically assumed they know the law. If that is truly the case, how come they seldom agree? How often do we see 9-0 decisions? Not very often. If the decision is 6-3, does that make three of the Supremes ignorant of the law? If these three legal scholars don’t know the law, what hope do we have of knowing the law? Don’t they often say that ignorance of the law is no excuse? What excuse do they have for being ignorant of the law? What should be their punishment? This is the true nature of political law. Political law is the author of confusion and anarchy. What is decreed as being legal today is decreed as being illegal tomorrow. No one can therefore claim, with absolute certainty, to know what the law is and therefore anyone and everyone can be suspect of being in violation of it. Any individual subscribing to and placing their faith in such a fickle system of justice (anarchy) remains in a perpetual state of guilt and uncertainty whereby their capacity for freedom, liberty, and creative spontaneity are severely impaired.

How would we define political atheism? In our view, political atheism is the abandonment of mob rule in favor of self-rule within the context of the golden rule. The church of politics denies both possibilities in favor of tyranny.
----

No comments: