This rampant corruption has doomed every civilization in human history.
Thus it will doom our own civilization with equal enthusiasm.
The inexorable cycle of history requires this system be burned to ashes and a new system replace it.
Question is, what sort of system will people demand?
I would suggest the empirical model of large scale government with all its enjoyable features of tax slavery, graft and kleptocratic self dealing enabled by the tax flow from a large population, is and never has been a long term successful model.
I would suggest an autonomous city state cooperative model, where shared interests among dissimilar population groups provide positive cohesion that can hold a civil society together.
As an example, I can’t stand the sight of sanctimonious narcissists from San Francisco. I have nothing at all in common with them. However I get along just fine with farmers and welders from Idaho or Nebraska.
Therefore, why should I be required to live under rules the greater population density San Franciscan representative kleptocrat wants to impose on me. Just seems logical to align with people I have shared interests among, whilst not integrating with dissimilar people who view me only as a subordinate slave who exists for their plunder and satanic entertainment.
This phenomenon is exactly why empires require autocratic and dictatorial governments filled with liars, thieves and pedophiles. It is because there is no other system that can keep large populations in line for any sort of lengthy period of time without a heartless centralized bully that has no compunction whatsoever with killing and enslaving the citizens it’s supposed to serve.
It takes a special kind of sociopath to run such an enterprise, and that personality type is attracted like moths to a flame to large scale governments.
We have over 340 million people in the US and we are to believe surveying 1,100 people is representative of all of us. When some of us no longer have landline phones and even if we should see someone taking surveys, we wave them off and keep walking, who exactly are they surveying? My guess: Those unemployed (because they have all the time to talk), older Americans (because they love to talk and feel privileged to take a survey). Those they miss are those of us who work and have responsibilities and don't have any time for someone with a clipboard, email, or text. Surveys are only going to increasingly miss the mark because of these factors.
You start on the road of corruption and then everyone else says why not us too. Government breeds major corruption simply because no one is watching it or holding it accountable. Voting only changes the masters of corruption from one set of deviants to another and then back and forth.
So government is beyond corrupt. What is the fix? A better class of people running it? Nope. A new constitution? Nope. New laws? Nope. A task force designed to keep an eye on government? Nope. All those keep the same behemoth in place...yuck.
The answer? Get rid of it and scale it down by 90%. That might give us a few decades of relief before it starts to grow like a weed on steroids once again.
Scaling government down by 90% would cripple the ability of the United States to function. Putting ironclad rules and serious consequences for miss spending and misappropriation of government funds would do a good deal to prevent the problems we see now with our government. Forcing bureaucrats to be assessed based on meritand efficiency would also help. Removing restrictions that prevent federal employees from being fired or demoted would allow management to work. Immediately stopping any uniform increase in the size of government and forcing any growth to be justified would make a big difference over time.
The term Doge comes from the Venetian Empire, theres a reason they figured out having a DOGE was bad too. So it eventually just became a figure head(theatre).
The reason the elite is able to harm us even though so many don't trust them is that we are by and large ignorant of who and how they operate. The twenty or so percent we see are just intelligence gatherers for the half or one percent who do the harm. We hate the IRS, but they are not who rob us. We distrust politicians but they are not who rob us. Advertisers, bureaucrats, police, city and county personnel, and pollsters and the like gather information about us to enable the true elite to enslave and bleed us dry. The FBI, CIA, and Homeland Security further scrutinize our lives, our desires, and what motivates us so we're at the mercy (so to speak) of the elite. Even our schools and churches study us and report up through the web of deceit. Our phones, computers, digital meters, and appliances spy on us.
All these spies deceive themselves that the don't mean us harm. And we don't trust them, but for the most part they don't mean to harm us. But their master do, big time. They have big foundations that make a show of benevolence, but except for the relative dribble of cost to maintain their intelligence gathering, the floodgate of money goes straight into their pockets--worldwide. The rich get ever richer and the poor stay poor.
Do we have any chance? Yes, absolutely. But it is limited. It depends on us to to be aware an avoid their snares. Lie to their intelligence gathers. Do you trust your overseers? Tell them you do. Tell your doctor and nurse that they're taking good care of you. Where it's feasible, pay with cash. Credit cards, store courtesy cards, internet marketers, pollsters, websites, and all the caring help givers, and banks are information gatherers. Be nice back to them, but give them misinformation. Lie like your life depended upon it--because it does. Social media sucks every bit of information about you, your family, you habits, tour likes and dislikes, and your can't-live-withouts. Who you would vote for, who you wouldn't ever vote for, what movie you want to see, etc., etc. Knock their knowledge about you into a cocked hat. Drive them crazy.
You must realize that the elite have an army of sycophants gathering information about us. Some do it willingly thinking that they are gaining some good will for themselves. Some just think they're being good citizens. Some few are just twisted souls who get off on hurting others. You are not being a good citizen or a good neighbor, nor a good person by cooperating with them. You are hurting yourself and others. Just depriving them of information does no good. Keep the information flowing, just feed in wrong and misleading data into their computers. They'll catch on, eventually, but in the meantime you'll confuse the hell out of them.
This rampant corruption has doomed every civilization in human history.
Thus it will doom our own civilization with equal enthusiasm.
The inexorable cycle of history requires this system be burned to ashes and a new system replace it.
Question is, what sort of system will people demand?
I would suggest the empirical model of large scale government with all its enjoyable features of tax slavery, graft and kleptocratic self dealing enabled by the tax flow from a large population, is and never has been a long term successful model.
I would suggest an autonomous city state cooperative model, where shared interests among dissimilar population groups provide positive cohesion that can hold a civil society together.
As an example, I can’t stand the sight of sanctimonious narcissists from San Francisco. I have nothing at all in common with them. However I get along just fine with farmers and welders from Idaho or Nebraska.
Therefore, why should I be required to live under rules the greater population density San Franciscan representative kleptocrat wants to impose on me. Just seems logical to align with people I have shared interests among, whilst not integrating with dissimilar people who view me only as a subordinate slave who exists for their plunder and satanic entertainment.
This phenomenon is exactly why empires require autocratic and dictatorial governments filled with liars, thieves and pedophiles. It is because there is no other system that can keep large populations in line for any sort of lengthy period of time without a heartless centralized bully that has no compunction whatsoever with killing and enslaving the citizens it’s supposed to serve.
It takes a special kind of sociopath to run such an enterprise, and that personality type is attracted like moths to a flame to large scale governments.
Fact.
"81% of Americans think the government is corrupt. The other 19% probably work for the government."
Couldn't have said it any better. Linking today as usual @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/
We have over 340 million people in the US and we are to believe surveying 1,100 people is representative of all of us. When some of us no longer have landline phones and even if we should see someone taking surveys, we wave them off and keep walking, who exactly are they surveying? My guess: Those unemployed (because they have all the time to talk), older Americans (because they love to talk and feel privileged to take a survey). Those they miss are those of us who work and have responsibilities and don't have any time for someone with a clipboard, email, or text. Surveys are only going to increasingly miss the mark because of these factors.
Probably why the gates of Rome were open from the inside when the Goths arrived in 410AD
You start on the road of corruption and then everyone else says why not us too. Government breeds major corruption simply because no one is watching it or holding it accountable. Voting only changes the masters of corruption from one set of deviants to another and then back and forth.
So government is beyond corrupt. What is the fix? A better class of people running it? Nope. A new constitution? Nope. New laws? Nope. A task force designed to keep an eye on government? Nope. All those keep the same behemoth in place...yuck.
The answer? Get rid of it and scale it down by 90%. That might give us a few decades of relief before it starts to grow like a weed on steroids once again.
Scaling government down by 90% would cripple the ability of the United States to function. Putting ironclad rules and serious consequences for miss spending and misappropriation of government funds would do a good deal to prevent the problems we see now with our government. Forcing bureaucrats to be assessed based on meritand efficiency would also help. Removing restrictions that prevent federal employees from being fired or demoted would allow management to work. Immediately stopping any uniform increase in the size of government and forcing any growth to be justified would make a big difference over time.
The term Doge comes from the Venetian Empire, theres a reason they figured out having a DOGE was bad too. So it eventually just became a figure head(theatre).
The rise of populism (which has really just begun) was going to happen regardless of the corruption.
The reason the elite is able to harm us even though so many don't trust them is that we are by and large ignorant of who and how they operate. The twenty or so percent we see are just intelligence gatherers for the half or one percent who do the harm. We hate the IRS, but they are not who rob us. We distrust politicians but they are not who rob us. Advertisers, bureaucrats, police, city and county personnel, and pollsters and the like gather information about us to enable the true elite to enslave and bleed us dry. The FBI, CIA, and Homeland Security further scrutinize our lives, our desires, and what motivates us so we're at the mercy (so to speak) of the elite. Even our schools and churches study us and report up through the web of deceit. Our phones, computers, digital meters, and appliances spy on us.
All these spies deceive themselves that the don't mean us harm. And we don't trust them, but for the most part they don't mean to harm us. But their master do, big time. They have big foundations that make a show of benevolence, but except for the relative dribble of cost to maintain their intelligence gathering, the floodgate of money goes straight into their pockets--worldwide. The rich get ever richer and the poor stay poor.
Do we have any chance? Yes, absolutely. But it is limited. It depends on us to to be aware an avoid their snares. Lie to their intelligence gathers. Do you trust your overseers? Tell them you do. Tell your doctor and nurse that they're taking good care of you. Where it's feasible, pay with cash. Credit cards, store courtesy cards, internet marketers, pollsters, websites, and all the caring help givers, and banks are information gatherers. Be nice back to them, but give them misinformation. Lie like your life depended upon it--because it does. Social media sucks every bit of information about you, your family, you habits, tour likes and dislikes, and your can't-live-withouts. Who you would vote for, who you wouldn't ever vote for, what movie you want to see, etc., etc. Knock their knowledge about you into a cocked hat. Drive them crazy.
You must realize that the elite have an army of sycophants gathering information about us. Some do it willingly thinking that they are gaining some good will for themselves. Some just think they're being good citizens. Some few are just twisted souls who get off on hurting others. You are not being a good citizen or a good neighbor, nor a good person by cooperating with them. You are hurting yourself and others. Just depriving them of information does no good. Keep the information flowing, just feed in wrong and misleading data into their computers. They'll catch on, eventually, but in the meantime you'll confuse the hell out of them.
Richard Nixon is remembered for his two most famous speeches, “Checkers” and “I am not a crook”.
Likely, DOGE is America’s last chance to return to honest government, since government finances have been captured by special interests.
When have we had honest government?