Do you want to scream when you hear Trump calling for the Fed to lower interest rates or threatening a government take-over of the Fed? Do you want to scream again remembering how popular Ron Paul was with voters when he called for ending the Fed?

Knowing you’re not alone doesn’t help much, but there might be a better way to view the propagandized, coercive scene. Most people have to earn a living, and they do it by trading their time and talent for what passes for money. They don’t do it with a first-hand, in-depth analysis of what’s going on in Washington—that’s the job of the bought-and-sold legacy media that they’ve learned to distrust. They don’t have the time, skills, or energy to research it in-depth. If their jobs are stressful they might seek relief doing something different, but that excludes introducing more stress into their lives, such as listening to talking heads or reading about politics. …

Consider the books exposing in bloody detail the military-intelligence-complex. This list is long and damning, but far from complete. What impact have they had? One of them—War is a Racket, written by two-time Medal of Honor winner Marine Major General Smedley D. Butler—opens with these words:

WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small “inside” group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. (emphasis mine)

Published in 1935, his book is based on speeches he gave during a nationwide tour in the 1930s. It was condensed by Reader’s Digest, which helped transmit his message. It’s available on Amazon Kindle for less than a dollar. It can be read in one sitting. Given his background and the clarity and power of his writing, his message about war corruption could not have been missed, yet today it’s just another anti-war classic most people have never heard of because it had no influence on government policy. Turned out, war solved FDR’s unemployment problem when his Keynesian New Deal had let him down.

How confident are you today that US courts would side with Ellsberg and the First Amendment? Or other government whistleblowers? Ever wonder why Edward Snowden is still living in Russia? How many newspapers published legal challenges to the Big Pharma covid narrative? Why were challengers routinely punished with loss of jobs? As Ryan McMaken has written,

It has become abundantly clear that the federal government—and especially the executive branch—regards legal and constitutional limits on federal power as mere inconveniences to be ignored. Debates over constitutionality are now, for the most part, a relic of an earlier age.

What might have been a trend toward freedom with Butler and Ellsberg turned out to be another fleeting moment. Perhaps the best strategy for survival is not to become a news junky but to follow the survivalist’s credo of self-sufficiency. Don’t count on a government approach to make America great again. Stay far away from its wars but do listen to Tulsi’s warning about nuclear war. Don’t get lost in day-to-day minutiae. Pick your gurus advisedly. The federal government is pursuing a path of self-destruction with its unlimited spending facilitated by the Fed and its counterfeit money. When government checks bounce, make sure you can live without them.