|
If I Ruled The World
If I wanted to rule the world, where would I begin? Foremost, I would want to control the money supply, for if I could control the money supply, then I would control whole governments, whole populations, and whole economies. I would not want to own them, mind you, for that would give me a bad name, but to control them still. Let’s say that four hundred years ago a clever man earned a fortune in financing merchant ships and wholesaling imports. He made so much money that the King came to him and asked him to finance a war. This, he discovered, was a whole new way to make money, and where was the risk? The King would tax the people to pay him back, with interest to boot. Ah, but the King might lose his war, so the smart thing to do was to finance the King’s enemy as well. This clever man brought others into the business, then moved them to other Kingdoms, where they became bankers to merchants and Kings. These expanded the business even further and they became powerful people wherever they went.. They financed Kings and their wars, and they harvested the taxes from the people. Then a newfangled thing came along, the American Revolution, and although there was no King on one side to promise to pay them, a committee of prominent people did promise to pay them, later, out of taxes. So they financed the war, but to be safe, they financed the King as well. The revolutionaries won their war, as we know, but they had not established a means to tax the people to pay for it. The bankers did not like that, so they pressed the leaders to change the rules, which they did with a brand new Constitution. Naturally these people were no secret, for they were the leaders of society, but who could keep track of them generation after generation? Names change, after all, and some promising young man with an unpronounceable name might marry into the business, and allow it to grow in a new direction unknown to the people in general. Some societies were easier to control than others, and the new republican forms of government sometimes spun out of control. People who believed that they were free and independent were particularly troublesome; unauthorized innovation could result in unimagined sources of wealth that could only be corralled with the greatest difficulty. Legislation was the solution, of course, but it always lagged behind new technology, and some of the wealth always got away – for a while. The American Revolution was laid to rest easily, while the Industrial Revolution nearly escaped, but those who control the money always gain control of the rest in the end. Some bold and clever men saw that the key to controlling republican forms of government was a strong central bank that belonged to them. Impossible dream? The Federal Reserve Act was passed in 1913, and the US State became their own. If I were the leader of this group, what would I want to do today? Corral innovation in information technology, and crush independent fledgling companies. Corral the Internet, and crush independent free flow of information. Entangle the whole population with rules and regulations and taxation, making true independence of thought and action nearly impossible for the common individual. Keep up the drumbeat of constant threats of war, terrorism, and financial failure to break the spirit of liberty and independence; strip that Bill Of Rights from the Constitution, and return it to its original intent. If I controlled the State, I would want the people to serve it, and to pay for it, diligently, and without complaint. Whew! What a mad agenda! I am so glad that I only want to rule myself.
Robert Klassen [send him mail] is a medical technician and writer. Here's his web site. Copyright © 2002 Robert Klassen
|
September 20,
2002