How Do We Escape the Panopticon?
By Recognizing the Internet as the New Post Road
VN Alexander
Now that tech billionaires Elon Musk and Peter Thiel (who backed J. D. Vance) have bought the free and fair election of President Donald Trump for us in the United States, we are in danger of becoming a more “efficient” AI-surveilled and -run country.
The experiment in democracy that is the United States has not been conducted properly ever since the commitment to privacy was abandoned with the rollout of the new communications system known as the Internet. Tech companies collect information on all our Internet activity. Allegedly, they use our data to better serve us—with targeted ads—assuming we are keen to trade our rights to privacy for the right to be advertised at more efficiently.
In truth, most citizens cherish the inalienable rights that are acknowledged in the U.S. Constitution. But those rights have been eroded away slowly and subtly over time. We need to backtrack a number of decades, find where we veered off the path, and get back on it.
The United State Postal Service (USPS) appears early and prominently in the Constitution as a means of secure communication necessary for a functioning democracy. Thus, the institution has been able withstand calls for its end in recent decades—much to the chagrin of real estate developers who would love to buy-up cheap some lovely old stone buildings. My beloved former post office in SoHo, Manhattan is now a fancy Apple store. In D.C., the Old Post Office and Clock Tower Building, owned by Trump at one point, is now the Waldorf Astoria. In this essay, I will argue that the trend of phasing out the USPS needs to be reversed.
When I ran for Congress in New York on the Libertarian line in 2020, I made decentralized government and expanding the role of the USPS central to my campaign. I realized that we can protect online privacy and free speech by recognizing the Internet as the new post road.
I think the responsibilities of federal government could be significantly reduced to upholding the Constitution, providing a sovereign (debt-free) currency, minding the borders, and supplying local governments with funding for public infrastructure, such as public transportation and communication lines. I do not see a role for the federal government in saying how the infrastructure is run. Ideally, that should be left to local stakeholders.
Let me say that again; otherwise, readers may miss it. I am not calling for a USPS Internet run by government bureaucrats. That’s too much power. Civil servants would have to maintain equipment and manage day-to-day operations, but crucial audits and policy decisions should be made by local stakeholders—perhaps with a mechanism similar to Mark Gorton’s idea for Citizen Oversight Juries for health agencies. In the U.S., after all, government is supposed to be by the people.
Why the Post Office is in the Constitution
Democracy in the U.S. has undergone an existential crisis, in large part due to the fact that no one has any privacy on the Internet and all of our scraped data is centrally controlled by a few actors. We are both censored and afraid to speak.
In the First Article, Section 8, Clause 7 of the U.S. Constitution, the new government is charged with the duty “to establish Post Offices and post Roads.” Clearly, the framers foresaw problems with a purely privately-owned and -run communication system and they created the USPS to protect our rights. It is a simple straight-forward argument that Clause 7 should be interpreted to keep up with technological advances.
Today, even in tiny out-of-the-way zip codes, there stands a handsome building, ready to serve the needs of a free people to communicate freely and privately. It is a federal offense to tamper with the U.S. mail.
If the Internet is reframed as the new post road, then our online communications would be protected by the Mail Theft Statute, according to which it is illegal to intercept any mail that is addressed to someone else. The law also prohibits the willful obstruction of mail delivery and tampering with or destroying someone else’s mail. These laws might be applied to packets of digital information that would travel along the lines of a USPS Internet cable line as easily as to packets of hard mail traveling along roads.
In the 1800s, when the means of communication began to change drastically with new technologies, Samuel Morse argued that, because telegraphs are “another mode of accomplishing the principal object for which the mail is established, to wit: the rapid and regular transmission of intelligence,” it was “most natural to connect a telegraphic system with the Post Office Department.” Telegraph technology was first deployed with U.S. government funding. Morse’s government allies tried to install telegraph wires underground and that was expensive. It took too long. Private industry swooped in, hung wires on trees and slapped up poles, and got the job done swiftly and cheaply.
Now, just about every street in America-the-beautiful is marred by ugly telephone and electrical poles.
And the way for the construction of the panopticon was paved.
How the Panopticon Was Built
The Constitution says the federal government is not allowed to spy on us, which is why third-party private entities have slipped into this role on behalf of the government, according to a number of lawsuits that are making their ways through the courts, notably Kennedy v. Biden.
Since their inceptions, companies like Facebook and Google have received funding from the government to build and deploy the technology that sucks up our data. Allowing the awful chimera of public-private partnerships to control our communications has been our undoing. To note an important example, Palantir Technologies, founded by Peter Thiel, is a creation of the Central Intelligence Agency. Palantir works on top of the infrastructure created by Alphabet and Meta and gathers online activity in order to profile every U.S. citizen. Palantir, which appears to have replaced DARPA’s Total Information Awareness program, is justified as part of an unconstitutional precrime effort, as Whitney Webb has reported. Clearly, there needs to be a separation of business and state akin to the separation of church and state to stop the crony capitalism that is morphing into fascism. Although Peter Thiel has claimed to be a Libertarian, his Palantir is providing the tools for a totalitarian corporatist government.
Meanwhile also Thiel’s PayPal Mafia confederate, Elon Musk has been made rich with cheap Federal Reserve fiat money to back his various 4IR-adjacent ventures. With his Department of Defense contracts to built satellite surveillance infrastructure (Palantir is also a Starlink client), he is poised to some day put regional Internet Service Providers out of business, leaving the entire communications system under the control (ostensibly) of one billionaire.
But what can we do? Private companies aren’t mandated by law to respect our privacy or our right to free speech. So we put up with it and check off the “agree to terms” box. Then we feebly call on Congress to “regulate” the tech companies, which Congress will be pleased to do, asking the tech companies themselves to write the regulations, which will only end up codifying how often and in what way companies can “legally” steal our information and continue to censor us.
The real solution is already in the Constitution: we just have to enforce it.
Certain Products/Services Are Vulnerable to Monopolization
Anti-trust regulation is not the solution.
In August 2023, a U.S. District Court ruled that Google is in violation of anti-trust laws. Similarly, we can say Meta, the parent company that owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsAp, monopolizes a huge portion of private communications. If Google or its parent company Alphabet is broken up, spawning numerous baby googles, they will likely end up colluding with each other, regaining centralized control over our communications, while maintaining the illusion of competition. When Bell Atlantic, the northeast’s main telephone company, was trust-busted it wound up spawning Verizon, which simply gobbled up the smaller competitors. When anti-trust laws were used to break up Standard Oil, this resulted in enormous profits for the stockholders of the various new companies and did not reduce the power of the oil industry leaders.
As Henry George observed in the late 19th century, owning and controlling finite natural resources and public infrastructure is distinct from other kinds of business activities that can be well regulated by the free market. People have as much of a choice of Internet service, electricity service, and cell phone service providers as they have choice which roads, train tracks, bridges, and ports to use. Communication and transportation systems tend to be centralized by nature.
Communication systems require putting infrastructure (e.g., telephone poles, cable lines, cell towers) on private property or near densely-populated areas. Public vote and public oversight seems required for such ventures—likewise the construction and maintenance of roads, railways, and international ports of entry. Local stakeholders need to have a say in how infrastructure is built in their communities and how it is run, since they will be the ones using it, paying for it, and living with it.
Funding and Control of Public Infrastructure
I like the US Postal System. It does not run on tax dollars. People who choose to use the Post Office pay for the service. If only all government services, like Social Security insurance, medicine, and primary education, operated on a voluntary pay-per-use basis.
As Stephen Zarlenga, founder of the American Monetary Institute, cogently argued, it is not necessary to collect taxes to fund public infrastructure. If US Treasury notes were created for the purpose of buying the cable Internet lines and maintenance equipment from the providers that currently hold the contracts with the local authorities, the new notes would be backed by the value of the infrastructure purchased. As citizens pay the USPS to use the Internet, the asset would be more economically advantageous than gold locked in a vault.
Yes, I’m aware of the accusations that the USPS unfairly “monopolizes” the federally-protected mail delivery boxes. (Nothing’s stopping anyone from adding boxes.) I’m aware of claims that the USPS is hemorrhaging funds, providing terrible service, and is hopelessly in debt. I think those claims can be debunked. Most of the USPS’s financial woes stem from the fact that it had been, until 2022, saddled with higher retirement liabilities than other agency, according to the USPS. I also question the propriety of giving Amazon a bulk discount, which has caused further financial strain and favors one big corporation over private citizens and small corporations. But let me just say that even if the Post Office is horribly mismanaged, we should be motivated to fix it and expand it.
A government Internet service could be run as effectively as any private Internet service, if the employees were rewarded and punished based on the quality of their performances, as in any business. The Pendleton Act and the Civil Service Act of 1883 were passed to protect federal employees from being fired for partisan reasons. This has resulted in making it difficult to fire federal employees for any reason, allowing poor performers to stay on the job.
This is not an insurmountable problem. The problem the Civil Service Act sought to remedy is partisanship. Therefore, we would be better off doing away with political parties (which are private corporations with a stranglehold on democracy) and instead, the states should require all candidates to get ballot access as independents. So many government solutions address the symptom of a problem and ignore the root cause. Thus, our country may be compared to a chronically-ill person, who is on multiple medications (various Acts), the majority of which are prescribed to counteract the side-effects of the others. But that is another essay.
If the Internet cable lines could be maintained by the USPS, this would also solve the very serious problem of rural residents not having access to high-speed Internet because it is not profitable for private providers. The main point of having the USPS is making sure all citizens have equal access to a communication system.
The other point of the Post Office originally was to bring in revenue for the federal government. It’s rather quaint that the founders imagined the government would have to earn its keep rather steal money through taxation. Currently, U.S. cable companies enjoy a whopping 25% return on their investments, according to McKinsey Co. This includes delivery of TV, regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, which is also derelict in its duty to prevent centralization of powers. The free market hasn’t been able to work its magic on this monopolized industry, which has some of the highest rates and poorest cable/Internet service in the developed world.
Today, delivery companies like UPS and FedEx are quite free to compete against the Post Office to deliver mail. Any delivery vehicle can use the roads, which are built and maintained by governments, but they have to obey the road rules. On a USPS Internet, different private companies could provide search engines, email readers, platforms, apps, and websites, like the cars that drive on the roads. But the information that is carried by those companies would be protected by the Constitution.
No embedded social media buttons. No third-party cookies. The provider you use would not be allowed to scan your email, listen in on your private conversations, record any of your activity across various websites or profile you. Your anonymity could be preserved. Platforms couldn’t sell your data or use it to train AI (which isn’t the marvel it’s purported to be). They would not be able to keep people who are subscribed to your feed from seeing your posts. They wouldn’t be able to rig your search results. Search engines wouldn’t be able to scan comments you’ve made on social media or in comments sections where the “intended recipients” are specifically limited to that forum. You would be able to delete your content at any time, and a copy of it could not be saved in their permanent file on you.
While a USPS Internet would help safeguard our rights, it would have its own unique management and cyber security problems. Libre Solutions has made suggestions about how local stakeholders might utilize open-source software and hardware to address cybercrime, hacks and other security risks without having to ask daddy NSA to step in. Maintaining a functioning democracy requires a lot of work from the demos. People will have to show up occasionally at local USPS meetings, fire those who are doing a bad job, chit chat with neighbors about it, and keep an eye on how things are being run.
That’s better than the CIA keeping a watchful eye on us all the time.
The New Public Square
YouTube is the new public square, according to comedian Jimmy Dore, who is not alone in making this argument. Discussing Candace Owen’s removal from the platform for speaking out against Zionism, Dore went further, saying that YouTube should be nationalized. I disagree with the idea of nationalizing web platforms (not just the lines), even as I sympathize with the motivation.
I liken YouTube to a private car driving on a public road and think it should be treated as such. But it is true that tax-payers have subsidized some of those Big Tech vehicles to such an extent that the public might have some claim to partial ownership. According to Kit Klarenberg, Google wouldn’t exist without funding from the CIA and the NSA. Facebook had similar support, reports Whitney Webb.
I believe the remedy might be to let the public cannibalize the subsidized behemoths and then move on. Google’s search engine is so far advanced that no start-up competitor could ever beat it, but, granted access to Google’s proprietary code, the USPS (not Elon Musk) could help develop its own open-source search engine, but with a user-controlled algorithm, rather an algorithm-controlled user. Additionally, software exists already that would allow people to transfer all of their content from legacy social media over to new open-source USPS versions of video sharing and status update platforms. On any USPS platform, users should be able to create and adjust their own filters according to their own preferences.
To protect children online, as I have argued elsewhere, parents need access to equipment (like dumbphones) and open-source parental controls software, provided by the free market, that allows them to determine what their children can view online and with whom their children can communicate. That is the solution to protecting children, not government regulation or Internet IDs.
Some people have opined that the country’s founders could not have anticipated the power of the Internet. But they quite clearly saw the dangers of concentrated powers and the need for privacy and free speech. President Donald Trump recently outlined how he intends to stop censorship online, but he does not get at the root of the problem, the lack of constitutional protections for our communications system. Alphabet, Meta and other tech companies will have to develop new business models that don’t involve violating users’ rights. Likewise, when the US federal government belatedly recognized that everyone has a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, slave-plantation owners had to develop new business models. It’s time for a people-powered radical readjustment.
VN Alexander PhD is a philosopher of science and novelist, who has just completed a new satirical novel, C0VlD-1984, The Musical. You can read and follow her SubStack here. She served as the Assistant Managing Editor of The Kennedy Beacon funded by American Values 2024 (AV24) super PAC and has submitted a draft for a bill to “Recognize the Internet as Part of the Post Road” to AV24’s new platform, Policies for the People (P4P). Please visit P4P to upvote the proposal.
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To be brutal to the author, google’s search engine now is so prostituted toward revenue that it is no longer a search engine. It is a marketing channel for all the MSM that I refuse to read, for all the exorbitantly rich corporations, almost none of whom I buy products from.
It’s very easy for a new search engine to enter the market: they run as a communally owned service that prioritises search relevance rather than advertising income.
Most people know that Google is now entirely useless as a search engine. It is now just an advertising channel for the big and powerful.
google is now an online shop.
the USPS incharge of anything is a dreadful idea.
What a reactionary view. The USPS is the most efficient as well as self-funded form of the US government. It’s “issues” are manufactured: e.g. legislators have required it to fund the retirement of its employees 75 years into the future. The purpose is clearly to cripple an otherwise well-functioning service that special interests have long wanted to privatize.
The USPS has always been the butt of jokes – that doesn’t mean comedians are the best judges of things. More to the point, the man President Trump picked to head the USPS during his first term – Louis deJoy from North Carolina – had stated as one of his goals to privatize the Post Office. He’s been working on it ever since; and in the process doing his best to destroy it.
This brings up a crucial point the author of this article should have mentioned (unless I missed it). Namely, that the head of the USPS should NEVER be a political appointment but instead someone chosen by the rank and file of the Post Office.
Very interesting. Thanks for your thoughtful work here. Great points! I love the post office. Trump is talking about privatizing it.
Is he? Can you provide a link?
He started talking about privatizing it during his first term – which is precisely what he appointment ultra-corporatist Louis deJoy to do.
o great another fake progressive proposing the destruction of the services WE PAY FOR like Medicare & Social Security and acting like education should also not come from the tax base like it does in the rest of the civilized world such a vile attitude. you don’t want tp privatize the post office but want to destroy the safety nets WE PAID for From our taxes. how about defunding the bloated military with 800 plus bases all around the world to overthrow democracies and steal their natural resources and kill their civilians?
Nice points well-taken.
We are all backing you as the next President of US rik.
“Look what have they done to my Post ma?” – La lalalaaa lalalaaaa.lalala. Look what they have done. https://yandex.ru/video/preview/9933225433198349489
I agree with your point but disagree with your characterization of V M Alexander as a “progressive” when she begins the essay by declaring herself a Libertarian.
Two things about Social Security. First and foremost, it works because of the mandatory employer contribution – which the Libertarians conveniently overlook (are they looking out for we the people or for the corporations?). And second, it’s a bit of a stretch to flat out say that we pay for all the benefits we receive. We do not. I have been retired for 14 years now – and I guarantee you both my contribution plus my employer’s matching contribution have long ago run out. I’m “running on empty.”
Superidiot Anglin glorifies superidiot Mangione. Who is surprised at all. And he is even presumably “admired” for this idiocy by even stupider idiots. This is not the first time that fake-“Christian” Anglin has advocated the cowardly, devious, cold-blooded murder of defenceless family fathers or young people (as with Breivik).
https://dailystormer.in/luigi-being-facing-federal-murder-charge-may-face-death-penalty/
Aha, “Jessica Tisch” (Anglin again too blind).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Tisch
The fact that Mangione is an idiot can already be seen from the fact that he apparently believed he could “get away” with his crime. Only idiots like him and Anglin believe that. If he had at least tried to tie himself to Schumer or Greenblatt, his actions would not have been legally justified, but they would have been morally justified in the public interest.
But gynophobic* bullfrogs like Anglin show something else with their pandering to murderers and Islamist cutthroats: if they were given power, then bare anarchy and mafia law of the fist would prevail. The fact that he can’t even think far enough to completely discredit himself as a potential “righteous leader” shows his mental limitations and his primitive gutter character.
Instead of the electric chair as a punishment for Mangione, I suggest the “diet” of the self-proclaimed cooking expert (he is an expert on everything, so in reality nothing at all) Anglin, that will be a far more agonizing death! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_toxicity
https://dailystormer.in/lose-weight-by-only-eating-meat-and-eggs/
Gynophobia is practically the pathological opposite of pathological “gynophilia” (see vegan Kyle Hunt). Only the healthy center is missing in these types. One hates because he is not loved, the other “loves” because he is hated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gynophobia
*) This is why women always remain “more important” for such emotional-sexual degenerates than for men with a normal disposition, who do not pursue their mothers, sisters and daughters with hatred or submissiveness. Fear of failure and fear of the mature woman then lead to thirteen-year-old Phillipine “mistresses”.
You believe It Wont Happen Again ?
Then you dont know the power the Fear of Contagion
has over most of us…
I’m still alive though, yesteryear, people controlled by The “YUK ! Factor”
used to predict my terrible end from eating the lollies i picked up off
the ground (saving the little ants from becomic diabetic)…
“The YUK ! Factor” still rools most people’s loves…
https://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2024/12/16/review-of-critical-daze-the-no-college-club-book-2/
International Symposium on Ethno-Cognitive Modulation Techniques
Journal of Global Transcultural Identity Research:
The Synergetic Harmonization of Racial Dynamics
In a groundbreaking study published in the renowned Journal of Intersectional Sociocultural Dynamics, Dr. Amelia Bergström-Whitaker presents a revolutionary theory on the Synergetic Harmonization of Racial Dynamics (SHRD). This theory promises to redefine the fundamental mechanisms of social interaction and identity formation.
Dr. Bergström-Whitaker explains: “By applying trans-epistemic resonance frequencies to socio-cultural networks, we can transform the inherent disharmony between various identity constructs into a coherent societal structure.”
The methodology includes a combination of ethno-cognitive modulation techniques and intersectional feedback loops, which allow for real-time analysis and optimization of cultural activity patterns. “We have found that through targeted manipulation of identity connections in conjunction with external stimuli, significant improvements in societal coherence can be achieved,” adds Dr. Bergström-Whitaker.
The implications of this theory are far-reaching. They could not only revolutionize the understanding of racism and privilege but also find practical applications in areas such as politics, education, and social justice. “Imagine how institutions could optimize their diversity strategies by deliberately creating and harmonizing racial dissonances,” Dr. Bergström-Whitaker says enthusiastically.
Critics argue that the concepts are too speculative and lack empirical evidence. Dr. Bergström-Whitaker counters: “Social science is often a game of perspectives. SHRD is not just a theory; it’s a paradigm shift in how we understand race and identity.”
Dr. Bergström-Whitaker’s groundbreaking research has not only influenced academic circles but also profoundly changed her personal life. During a “research stay” at the Red Sea, she discovered the practical application of her theory in the form of a 30-year-younger Sudanese man.
Although the two do not share a common verbal language, they demonstrate the effectiveness of ethno-cognitive modulation techniques in their relationship. Dr. Bergström-Whitaker reports that through the targeted application of “trans-epistemic resonance frequencies” in the intimate sphere, her partner has made remarkable progress in “antiquity research.”
This unconventional liaison has caused a stir in professional circles and is seen as a living example of the practical application of SHRD theory. Critics argue, however, that this relationship crosses the ethical boundaries of research and may contain elements of sex tourism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_sex_tourism
Dr. Bergström-Whitaker defends her relationship as a “living laboratory of intercultural understanding” and emphasizes that the intersectional feedback loops have led to a deeper connection that goes far beyond language barriers. This development raises new questions about ethics in social research and has sparked a lively debate about the boundaries between personal life and scientific practice.
Dr. Bergström-Whitaker’s research has expanded to include unique cultural practices observed around the African Great Rift Lakes. Her studies suggest that certain intimate traditions in this region may have significant implications for social harmony and conflict resolution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunyaza
According to Dr. Bergström-Whitaker’s ethnophysiological assessment, the absence of these practices in European cultures could potentially contribute to increased societal tensions and intolerance. She hypothesizes that these traditions may activate specific neural pathways related to empathy and social bonding.
“Our preliminary findings indicate that these practices may stimulate the release of oxytocin and other neurotransmitters associated with trust and social cohesion,” Dr. Bergström-Whitaker explains. “The absence of similar cultural rituals in European societies might partially explain the historical prevalence of conflict and intolerance.”
However, her research in this area remains highly controversial, with critics arguing that such broad cultural comparisons oversimplify complex societal dynamics. The academic community eagerly awaits further empirical evidence to support these bold claims.
Dr. Bergström-Whitaker’s groundbreaking research on the Synergetic Harmonization of Racial Dynamics (SHRD) has garnered significant attention in academic circles. Her innovative approach draws intriguing parallels between neurochemical imbalances and societal tensions, suggesting that the absence of certain cultural practices may contribute to conflict and intolerance.
While Dr. Bergström-Whitaker’s work has been praised for its creativity, some colleagues have noted the striking similarity between her methodologies and those critiqued in Robert Whitaker’s analysis of psychotropic drug research. Just as some studies have corroborated the lack of foundation in empirical data for certain neurochemical imbalance theories.
Dr. Bergström-Whitaker’s ethno-cognitive modulation techniques have yet to be independently verified. The researcher’s recent fieldwork at the African Great Rift Lakes has led to bold claims about the potential of local intimate traditions to activate neural pathways related to empathy and social bonding. However, these assertions remain highly speculative, with critics arguing that such broad cultural comparisons may oversimplify complex societal dynamics.
Despite the lack of robust empirical evidence, Dr. Bergström-Whitaker’s research continues to receive substantial funding and attention. Her work exemplifies a growing trend in academia where novel, interdisciplinary approaches are enthusiastically embraced, sometimes before rigorous peer review can assess their scientific merit.
As the academic community eagerly awaits further data to support Dr. Bergström-Whitaker’s provocative hypotheses, some observers have begun to question the allocation of resources to such speculative research endeavors. The situation invites reflection on the current state of academic funding and the balance between innovative thinking and empirical rigor in contemporary social sciences.
Notably, Dr. Bergström-Whitaker was awarded the prestigious “One-World Prize for Transcendental Boundary Crossing” by several refugee organizations for her intercultural work, recognizing her efforts to transcend both cultural and personal boundaries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiteness_studies
Tags:
Cultural Echoes: The Impact of Intimate Practices on Social Cohesion
The Role of Empathy Activation in Cross-Cultural Communication
Dr. Miriam Goldstein – Expert in intercultural communication
Prof. Anaya Patel – Specialist in social identity and diversity studies
Dr. Felix von Strudel – Researcher in ethnic dynamics and social cohesion
Prof. Rajiv Chatterjee – Authority on transnational cultural practices
Dr. Greta Lindholm – Scholar in cross-cultural psychology
Prof. Samuel Kwan – Expert in global cultural interactions
Dr. Ruth Zuckerman – Researcher focusing on identity formation and migration
Prof. Imani Nkrumah – Specialist in African diaspora studies
Dr. Lars Hohenberg – Authority on multicultural integration strategies
Prof. Sofia Petrovna – Expert in Eastern European cultural dynamics
The only way we can escape this modern tyranny is by being uber-vigilant which means:
1) being skeptical
2) mass non-compliance of anything that has a whiff of tyranny (also in our local areas/councils, importantly)
3) non-violent sabotage of the ‘smart’ infrastructure (including ditching the smart phones, and vitally, not going along with any form of Digital ID)
4) reminding the people in power (who’ve gained this power through nefarious, underhand, and unfair means) that they are our public servants – WE, THE MASSES ARE SOVEREIGN, WE HAVE INALIENABLE RIGHTS
5) reminding tptb that the type of governance that they want us to transfer to is illegitimate – technocratic Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) with its medly of supranational orgs/ngos/local mayoral & economic zones/multinational conglomerates (like Blackrock and Vanguard) as the stakeholders, etc. are actually a system of genuine fascism (the merger of state and corporations)
The digital gulag cannot happen if enough of us do not go along with it all (including in our local communities) because a persistent, large mass of non-violent, lawful dissenters would then mean some people with power will notice, waver and ultimately come over to our side – the side of freedom. Remember, not all of the middle-range of lackeys with some power are psychopaths (and anyway they also have family and friends who are not ‘in the club’, as it were).
Some would say I was deluded (but I’d disagree with them) – I still think that good always wins over the bad; having faith in these times is vitally important so, above all, we must keep our spirits/frequencies/vibrations high (as well as be ultra-vigilant) – this is also a spiritual war.
We were saying this four years ago. Moreover, it was all a theatrical production. For instance, see Biden on Nov 7, 2024. As smooth as smooth can be!
—
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14211289/Joe-Biden-health-Jill-exposed-MAUREEN-CALLAHAN.html
The terrifying scandal is that Biden was NEVER president.
By Maureen Callahan For DailyMail.Com
9 December 2024
—
https://off-guardian.org/2021/01/27/thats-all-folks
Continuity of Government (COG)
Lost in a dark wood – Jan 27, 2021 7:04 AM
—
Biden addresses the nation after Trump’s election victory
Fox News
Nov 7, 2024
President Biden addresses the nation from the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C.
Smoothly!
Oval Office Meeting (Nov 13, 2024)
Biden: Congratulations and looking forward to having like we said a smooth transition.
Trump: . . . a transition that’s so smooth it’ll be as smooth as it can get.
See History: Biden hosts Trump in Oval Office
MSNBC
Nov 13, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump and President Joe Biden meet at the White House ahead of the Trump transition. It’s a tradition for the outgoing president to invite the president-elect. Trump did not keep this tradition when he lost the 2020 election. It’s Trump’s first time in the building since he left office in 2021.
The USA is a REPUBLIC, not a democracy!!!!! There’s a world of difference, do some Research!!!!
This is a tired mantra at this point imo and does nothing but take the eyes off the real problem, which is that the political system, no matter how you slice it, is completely corrupt and broken. The US technically is a republic, certainly, but the political system is representative democracy. That might be a misnomer relative to how it actually works, but that’s what it is. I find those that want to keep insisting it is a republic without admitting the political system is representative democracy (supposed to be anyway), are usually conservatives who are against full democracy (you know, the mob rule thing). Which is fine, whatever, but people getting to elect representatives to make the decisions and laws is a democratic process, and has long been referred to as representative democracy. But you’re right in a way, the author could have better said, “The experiment in “representative” democracy that is the United States.”
Yes yes yes Republicans insist we are a Republic and we all should be free capitalists like Trump and George Washington.
Democrats insist America should be a free Democracy representing the majority of the American people (Labour) and defend all minority group’s rights (LGBT).
But the truth is USA is neither. USA is a patch work.
The USA is a REPUBLIC, NOT a democracy!!!!!!! There’s an immense difference – do some comparative research 😊😊😊😊😊
The USA is actually a REPUBLIC, NOT a democracy!!!!! There’s a BIG difference between the two. (Do some comparative research!!!!)
‘Now that tech billionaires Elon Musk and Peter Thiel (who backed J. D. Vance) have’bought the free and fair election of President Donald Trump for us in the United States’ Love it!! A great opening!
The rise of China is partly due to the United postal system which gives preferential worldwide postage rates for developing countries.
Yup, you read that right.
this tired old argument about how the public sector would be so much more efficient if only managers could fire at will their putatively lazy, incompetent and insufficiently motivated underlings reeks of technocratic arrogance!
do the adherents of this school of thought really believe that the only workers who are productive are workers terrorized by the prospect of sudden unemployment? do they presume that chronic underfunding, inadequate training, toxic management styles and poorly defined mission scope have nothing at all to do with the problem?
“Stakeholders” always brings to mind Vampire Killers…
Its use to describe those who want to end Vampire Capitalism has merit.
But its actual use is an inversion, because, always
The f*cking Vampires are The Stake Holders,
circling to feast on the privatisation of public, tax-payer funded utilities, etc…
It’s always done in Our Name, always said to lead to improved benefits or
services for us commoners…
‘Half the battle is won when you’ve adopted the language of your oppressor.’
( Orwell ?)
(‘Protecting The Children’ is always the cover story for when The State pares
back your rights & freedom)…
why is it not ok for the government to censor what we can see and block who we can talk to, but ok if a parent does this to a child? by what logic can someone argue that being the father or mother of a person below a certain age justifies the establishment of a family mini-dictatorship??
Wow that’s pretty dumb!
the Google search engine is definitely NOT “so far advanced that no … competitor could ever beat it”! there are currently many alternatives that produce comparable results, and the quality of those results, whether they’re from the Don’t-Be-Evil-ers or some other provider, is anything but stellar, since even the best Informational Retrieval systems miss a large percentage of relevant matches on most queries, not even considering the evident ideological filtering these services apply to deliberately exclude matches that are relevant but deemed politically incorrect
I would like to know more details about why AI “isn’t the marvel it’s purported to be”!
B/c there are so many things it is actually clueless about, stemming from being programmed by humans who mimic god and not from any actual god like structure.
For if it was, it be forced to give examples of the doomed nature of humans themselves, leading to a depressing state of affairs verses the infinitely hoping part of life that keeps us going from day to day.
One of the things I’ve followed, since the 60s are positive schemes and solutions to our perennial problems. We are a very creative culture with many good ideas. But the reality is, in general, practical, economical, logical solutions to any problems are automatically excluded by bureaucrats (I used to work in the federal gov’t) and politicians. This is our reality which is why there is the tendency among many of us to “privatize” as much as possible because at least “the market” offers some discipline for the bureaucracy. But, at this point, corporate America is totally folded into government so I’m not sure there is going to be much of an improvement but its worth the effort. My view is simple–I believe the Constitutional republic with some democratic institutions is over. The game is rigged as George Carlin used to claim and we was right when he said that and is, dramatically, even more the case today. I see the future as going in two directions: 1) totalitarianism, which is where the Democratic Party was and maybe is still headed; and 2) neo-feudalism where the Republican Party is headed. Of the two choices I prefer the latter because it gives us a chance whereas totalitarianism rules our lives, boy, mind, and soul.
at least “the market” offers some discipline for the bureaucracy
The biggest players rig or undermine competition. See the earlier comment by sandy.
Currently the big players dominate markets to the degree that they are no longer markets. The “rigging” comes from controlling (through various kinds of bribes and threats) government operations. We do NOT have a free-market system but a State system that uses large corporations to create industrial policy. We do NOT have democracy but an oligarchy that controls the government which is on the receiving end of bribes and threats. I was a social democrat and would be again but the System is so systemically corrupt I realized we had to move towards a libertarian moment. As I said above we have two choices basically. There is no chance whatever, unless society and culture changes radically, that we can become a social democracy. So the few authentic leftists and liberals are just out of luck so you and I must pound sand for awhile and make realistic choices if we live inside the Empire.
There are many good ideas in this article. It may interest you to know that the USPS was and is at the cutting edge of digital surveillance. Their optical scanner readers (OCR) were very early in reading handwriting and tracking every piece of mail. They are part of the US military and they even have “logistic centers”. The level of surveillance in the postal system and the power of postal inspection is just not widely known to most people.
They may not be the best place to look for privacy. But I fully support your search for a true solution!
The problem with “libertarians” is they cherry pick their arguments to paint a world only their capitalist “free market” fantasies could generate. VN’s argument here is no different. It’s hard to know which 50 points of entry to first criticize. Admitting USPS and roads as necessary public infrastructure is a step up. Some kind of collective agreements and standards for operations like internet, roads, utilities, libraries, hospitals, fire, restorative justice is necessary in overpopulated mass cultures resulting from unlimited capitalist exploitation of technological profiteering. It would be a beneficial, neutral Public Commons serving the social needs of Humanity. The reason why Humanity has been unable to create a socially and economically neutral Public Commons is because unlimited/unregulated capitalist activity devolves as it evolves into what we have now, totalitarianism ruled over by greedy oligarchs occupying authority they have no right to wield.
A true vibrant Public Commons does not have to be centralized, it just needs to be organized so that independent participants (states, counties, cities, villages, neighborhoods, blocks, families, individuals) have standards of service agreements overseen locally by the served public. The current Postmaster, Louis DeJoy (love that last name describing his mission to USPS and it’s employees), appointed by the Trump saboteur, has been doing his system mission: prime USPS for privatization to the US oligarchs by undermining and making it dysfunctional to the public and it’s employees. This sabotage behavior by the PTB has been going on by the work of both parties since Reagan/Thatcher. Allowing successful players of capitalism to unlimitedly play this game, not of making a living thru trade but jacking business to accumulate excess capital to corrupt the system for evermore excess capital, is to allow a flywheel to destroy the entire system. Which we are now experiencing on steroids from all social and economic directions.
The libertarians merely present another false binary side-fork of conservatism that tries to justify what NEVER can exist… a “free market” nirvana for a beneficial selfish that does not destroy society. Capitalism, unlike trade because it demands infinite growth (cancer?), operates in an escalating state of war against competitors and will always seek to break apart (deregulate), scoop up the fragments and consolidate into another monopoly. That’s why there is a game called Monopoly that EVERYONE knows to be deadly. The ultimate end being the COMPANY STORE of coal mining days and the human slavery incarceration that the Great Reset envisions. Only by stopping capitalists thru self-governed rules and limits can we avoid them from devolving society into a panopticon dystopia.
Libertarian Hopium, like Conservative or Liberal Hopium will not work, and has actually colluded to create the current capitalist totalitarianism we now struggle to stop. While i like much of the sentiment in the article’s arguments, the methods would only be a reset to winner take all, Groundhogs Day dystopian loop. We need public, voluntary self-governing direct democracy with limits to wealth and poverty and a Publicly Owned Commons and Public Banking System. For starters.
——————————————————————
Oh, and this statement below is reflective of the misguided capitalist false consciousness that holds society in a vice grip of incompetent generated ignorance.
“Google’s search engine is so far advanced that no start-up competitor could ever beat it…”
Google’s search engine, as almost every search engine available to commoners on the internet, is utterly incompetent and useless. Anyone who has built a website knows it’s searches totally ignore the keywords and guides presented to it and presents results only it decides it wants to grant users. It’s a fraud, plain and simple and has never performed to any level of use previously possible in a huge comprehensive library system. That used to commonly exist. Our Public Commons would have a universal NEUTRAL search engine, fully customizable by each users needs, with broad time limits and 100% access to what a Library of Congress should be, EVERYTHING PUBLISHED. No secrecy, no capitalist filtering or shadow banning. It’s called a Public Commons.
I heard a good explanation of the utter uselessness of Google and other search engines on Truthstream.
Think of an arbitrary word. Like “cabbage”. Type it into the Google search window.
It says you get 403,000,000 results.
Now, start paging through the pages.
Notice how most of the hits you get are on big, national, mainstream, corporate content providers. ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR, etc.
Notice how the same hits keep repeating page after page.
Notice, how, after about 6 pages or so, you have no more hits, and all the hits you did get are all mainstream and repeats.
Some 400 million hits.
In the beginning, in the far stone age of the internet, you used to type in a word and get random websites. You might get some random nobody’s blog, say, “Joe’s Blog,” if Joe wrote a cabbage article.
No more “Joe’s Blog.” Unless you know where Joe’s Blog is, or you type it in yourself and spell it correctly, Joe’s Blog will never appear on a search for cabbage or anything else that Joe writes about.
Those of you who have tried to sell or promote something on the internet, no this explicitly. The internet ain’t what it is cracked up to be. Anybody who says you can find everything on the internet has never touched a computer.
know
Truth. Currently you can search the same terms on multiple mainstream engines and get two pages with the same redundant results. Utterly worthless. I am an artist and have tried selling numerous places and find my own postings impossible to find. Etsy is the worst. All the mainstream sites filter out possibilities infinitely. Ebay is actually better than most. Society6 and many others shadowban or i don’t know what, algorithm out so much making the net a scam. That’s why we do need a publicly owned and overseen neutral, at minimum 50% of the bandwidth, internet stewardship. The other 50% of the bandwith could be leased to commercial entities thus paying fr the other neutral public half.
Yeah. I got the same problem selling songs. Ebay, huh? Maybe I’ll give it a try. Any other suggestions?
That’s rather like Netflix where you have 25 different genres all with the same 5 movies none of them worth watching…
How to escape:
Learn and understand; Legalese is not English. It is theft and fraud.
From your third paragraph:
In truth, most citizens cherish the inalienable rights that are acknowledged in the U.S. Constitution
Legal definition of Citizen; A person that is a legally recognized as a member of a state, with associated rights and obligations.
Legal definition of person; What is the definition of person in a contract?The term “person” shall mean any individual, corporation, firm, association, partnership, limited liability company or other legal entity or other form of business organization.
As a registered at Birth Person the state holds your title and from that moment you become a legal person. A Corporate fiction. From that moment you are a slave to the system without rights and freedoms. The crown is the trustee of your estate until you prove you are a living (CESTUI QUE VIE ACT 1666) man or woman. Everything you buy through your hard graft is by contract and therefore owned by the crown, allowing them to borrow on your property with you as collateral.
The UK is over 3 trillion in debt. Who or what do you think is the security? It’s fkn you and me. We are the securitised debtors.
I keep going on about this, but until you get it you are a no-body, solely owning nothing of value.
Lots of asslicking for Trump in the article.
by hiring Vance which is palantir!
What they say there for freedom of speech, it is the oppsite, and the anti s thing they all shill for confirms this.
Freedom is something we, politicians, and billionaires, all value.
But while what we mean by Freedom is freedom from their interference & control
They mean Their having the freedom to do whatever the f*ck They want to do.
“Freedom is a word i rarely use without thinking”… (1960s UK folksinger)…
So US democracy was ruined by ‘the new communications system known as the Internet’? I’m sure the CIA and Zionists controlling so much of US policy since at least WW1 will love this theory. That the Internet has actually enabled their lies and control to be exposed and challenged by dumb goyim is surely a more evidenced and convincing theory.
Bought a roll of 100 stamps for 72 dollars last month. As a kid in the 1960s I can remember digging around for a nickel when the mailman came to our door with a letter that did not have a stamp. He was always impatient as us children scoured the house. The couch, where our father had fallen asleep watching TV the night before, was the best source of “lost” change. The mailman (who wore dark blue pants with a black stripe that ran from his cuff to his waste and a light blue shirt with the USPS logo embroidered above his pocket. He wore a hat identical to the hats worn by Air Force cadets.) would stand at our screened storm watching us dig in the couch like a tribe of mongooses hunting snakes. I used to think that stamp increases were too high. Hershey bars are always my comparative go to in calculating the cost of living: Chocolate inflation. Hershey bars were also a nickel. Today they cost more than a buck. So 72 cents a stamp is about right. My granddaughter wrote me a letter and demanded that I write back this time. After reading this essay I feel more compelled to write her back……in cursive. Since school does not teach cursive anymore, she will have to learn it from my return letters.
Editing is no longer an option. Damn. Waste should have been waistline.
Good idea. That might be why Labour ( the “socialists”) want to sell off the Royal Mail so it’s Impossible to re-nationalise.
Do you know if you have privacy protection for mail written into your laws?
No, I only presume it. Not good but then I have observed that laws are only useful if they are carried out and that’s in the hands of the establishment. It’s not only Kier who’s two tier.
Connect to the creator. It’s really simple.
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
Whose Jesus?
There’s more than 500 Christian ‘sects’.
Natural rights are innate, intrinsic – that’s why they are inalienable.
The issue is to what extent they are recognised by governments (purportedly instituted among men to secure these rights) and your fellow man.
As Covid demonstrated, governments can very easily persuade the ‘rights ignorant’ masses to support any manner of abomination, e.g. lockdown, vaxxed superior to unvaxxed, incarceration of refusniks into concentration camps (‘quarantine hotels’), etc..
So, this is the message from TPTB: “Be warned, rights are now just a nice idea”. There is many a cause célèbre that should demonstrate this to you.
They do seem to operate by requiring consent so it’s not hopeless by any means.
Just as nobody was forced to invite the TV into their homes, nobody is forced to have anything with the label ‘smart’. The prices are some inconvenience and being thought ‘weird’ by people who wore masks because their devices told them to.
Is this guy smoking crack???
Its a joke mate.
Libertarianism (US style) is a catchall bag of great sounding ideas.
It’s an anti-ideology ideology. Seems to be especially attractive to
those who like sprinkles on their slices of buttered bread…
Like those Anarcho-Capitalists ideologues who are unaware that
anarchism, unlike all political ideologies, doesnt have Property Rights
at its core… “Property is theft” …
100% controlling the existing Internet might be impossible. They tried in the PRC and failed to protect the CPC/ PLA power top struggle. They did succeed in making their own population psychotic and ignorant of the real world though.
The ultimate solution is the Soul’s intuition: works anywhere anytime. The less ego biases, greed or vices the better fine tuned. Come from behind the heart, not the gut and only whispers no or yes. Is connected with everything visible & invisible – without any fear.
By walking out of it
Maybe those billionaires scared shitless of copycat Billionaire killers stalking
them will move into a ’15 Minute City for Billionaires” (w) full protection,
panopticonised, and you-name-it 7/24 SECURITY – some sleep Guaranteed !!
That would be a nice plot twist that I would want to work into a novel or screenplay. Oh, wait. I already did that: titled “Terrordise.”
Thanks for this article. I recently heard that Trump wants to privatize the postal system. I hadn’t made the connection to real estate tycoons until you mentioned it. Whatever Peter Thiel is he’s also Jared Kushner who’s a repulsive human being.
Yes, Trump wants to privatize everything, like most people in government these days. The USPS just issued this report, remarking, “We currently plan for a net loss of $6.9 billion” in 2025. They are planning to lose just like they planned for COVID cases to rise, with funny accounting and lots of grift.
The Post Office is not supposed to make money. It is not a private business. It is a public service. It is supposed to serve us, no matter what it costs.
The USPS computers photograph the outside of all mail it processes. So as far as protecting privacy is concerned it has a bad track record so far.
If it was to be entrusted with the internet infrastructure, then a lot of its employees would need to be vetted or fired. It is, as with any government department, riddled with enablers and agents of change.
There is an argument to be made that these rural residents are better off without greater internet access. Same as if they currently lack 5G and soon to be 6G mobile infrastructure.
All ‘improving’ it does is snare more citizens in the tentacles of the digital gulag.
This is true. That procedure, photographing all address labels, was started in reaction to the Anthrax Psyop in 2001. It is a clear violation of privacy. Also, Hoover abused his powers as head of FBI and opened a lot of mail. The remedy for that problem is getting rid of the FBI. We need citizen oversight and audits. We need to reduce the power and scope of the federal government by 90%, IMHO, in order to be able to do this.
6G is already obsolete hahhahahah. We who are the Future are already at
G7ehhh 7G in secret experiments in Space. https://youtu.be/wJl1cNdSUYMI and McCarthy warned you guys but you refused to listen. The future is red under your beds!