By: Gary D. Barnett
“I should like merely to understand how it happens that so many men, so many villages, so many cities, so many nations, sometimes suffer under a single tyrant who has no other power than the power they give him; who is able to harm them only to the extent to which they have the willingness to bear with him; who could do them absolutely no injury unless they preferred to put up with him rather than contradict him. Surely a striking situation! Yet it is so common that one must grieve the more and wonder the less at the spectacle of a million men serving in wretchedness, their necks under the yoke, not constrained by a greater multitude than they…”
~ Étienne de la Boétie, 1552 to 1553—The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude
What causes man to bow to impotent authority, to cower in the face of one or a few tyrants, to lack the will to be free? This question has haunted me since I was very young, but the answer it seems is as La Boétie so clearly stated almost 500 years ago, and that is that common people are consumed by indifference. Surely with over 300 million people living in this country, it would take only a small percentage practicing disobedience to eliminate the governing power and claim liberty. Why has this not happened? Why do so many obey so few? Without a strong desire to be free, the fate of man will always fall to rule, and that rule can lead only to a life of servitude.
Being free means to not conform to the illegitimate rule of others, to not obey orders, to not comply with tyranny, and to stand against any and all totalitarian mandates. None can force others to claim their own freedom; they have to come to that position on their own. If they choose not to do so, or if they choose to be obedient fools, then they will be left to conform to the invalid laws of their accepted masters, and to live a life in slavery. Many have suggested the proper ways to avoid this, but if the people in mass voluntarily choose to follow along without resistance, to be indifferent to their own best interests, then everything that is offered, suggested, or given as a plan to recapture freedom, will be worthless. If the desire to be free is not in the hearts and minds of the population at large, liberty becomes unattainable.
As incredible as it might seem in this time of the lie of the existence of a ‘deadly pandemic,’ this current life of servitude, of emptiness and despair, of the purposeful elimination of pleasure and joy, of divisiveness, and of the constant fear of fellow human contact, brings about a feeling among conscientious men that life is not worth living and death is salvation. This is a human tragedy. Why would any accept this misery when the cure for tyranny is so simple to achieve due to the obvious fact that there are so many millions of us and only a few tyrants?
One of the misconceptions that persist in the minds of people is that they need a leader or authoritative figure to guide them, and that is very evident in this country. This thinking is not natural, but has been embedded in the minds of men throughout history by long-term indoctrination. The population at large holds reverence for rulers and dishonestly claimed heroes, whether the president, military commanders, political party heads, or for the so-called ‘famous’ in society. Instead of acting on their own, the masses actually beg for someone to tell them what to do, and continually ask for guidance. Instead of looking to self for answers, they whine that no one is telling them what to do in order to gain their own freedom. This subservient behavior is bred into the common people through a state education system planned and implemented by those that desire a compliant society in order to hold power and gain control over the masses. By taking control of the education system in America, the state eliminated the individual and individual intellect in favor of the collective. Collective societies function on the premise of the greater good instead of the needs of the individual, and this alone sets the stage for mass compliance and loss of all liberty.
The current ruling class is using a fake virus instead of monsters from afar to corral this illiterate and pathetic herd of Americans, and keep them in check. Orders are coming from every insidious level of false authority from the president down to the local dogcatcher, and the bulk of the people are voluntarily complying with self-destructive mandates that have in many cases turned out to be fatal. As ludicrous as the lies about this purposely created coronavirus farce have been, the people of this country remain oblivious to reality, and continue to jump through every hoop put in front of them by the governing horde. This has led to despondency, financial ruin, divisiveness, and anger, and has altered the lives of most all in this country, harming millions in the process.
People have become accustomed to tyranny, and accept it without question. They have allowed the few to make laws restricting freedom; they have become accustomed to being ruled, and are simply rule-takers and rule-followers instead of freethinking individuals. They move in unison and show contempt for any that go their own way. They live in a land of confusion that they themselves created. The ruling elites have accomplished every aspect of this heinous plan to take over humanity due to the voluntary acceptance of all of it by the people. None of this evil plan could have even been attempted unless the people allowed it. This is the truth of the matter, and is a most pathetic example of universal apathy and weakness.
All tyrannical governments, all despotic rule, all dictatorships, and all totalitarian systems, including democracy, can only exist if the people voluntarily accept it and allow it to occur and perpetuate. No tyranny can be created or endure in any free society, and no free society can claim to exist in the presence of any authoritarian rule. There is no legitimacy for complaint by those that voluntarily accept and submit to any dictatorial or oligarchic system. The people themselves are responsible, and only those that refuse to accept rule have any right to object.
“The fundamental political question is why do people obey a government. The answer is that they tend to enslave themselves, to let themselves be governed by tyrants. Freedom from servitude comes not from violent action, but from the refusal to serve. Tyrants fall when the people withdraw their support.”
Murray Rothbard–Introduction to Étienne de La Boétie’s Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude (1975), p. 39
Additional source: Here
Reprinted with permission from LewRockwell.com
Copyright © 2020 LewRockwell.com
Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.