“So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel — because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.”

Genesis 11:8-9

As the song says, “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”

State power is little more than a scourge sapping the people’s peace and prosperity and has been manifest in many cruel and unusual forms time immemorial. “Babel” has been built and scattered over the face of the whole earth many times before.

Whether it be the whip on the back, the sword on the throat, the gun to the face or the dishonest techniques of modern propaganda, it is clear that state power — i.e. power derived from the "political means" of acquiring wealth through force and fraud — is logically posterior, parasitic and subservient to economic power — i. e. power derived from the "economic means" of acquiring wealth through production and voluntary trade. 

Whereas economic power creates wealth and shares its fruit, state power steals wealth and squanders its spoils.

Yet despite these self-evident truths about the rapacious nature of the state, too many people still consider state power to be the “boss.” 

Why? Well, because that’s all they’ve known. Or all they’ve ever been taught to know. Or been allowed to know. Or want to know.

No doubt, a ruling class “boss” does exist over and above American society by virtue of its coercive powers. Just think of the vast modern bureaucracy commissioned to carry out the Sisyphean task of planning and regulating the lives of the nation’s citizens from cradle to grave. 

Whether it is the DoJ, DoD, DoS, IRS, FBI, CIA, NSA, EPA or some other benign-sounding acronym, the administrative state is drowning the liberty of the American people in a sea of alphabet soup. Add to this bureaucratic stew a pinch of the legacy media as well as a dash of the prestige farms of the Ivy League, and you nearly have all the ingredients of the American ruling class. And their rule has been a slow boil indeed — one that has been simmering for nearly a century for famished true believers to slurp up as “Our Democracy.”

Even the most ardent believers in that old democratic chestnut "we are the government" cannot seriously suggest we are literally the government. Even those who believe the government to be a  "social club," a "social contract” or some mystic representation of “the general will” must admit the club needs an executive committee, the contract needs drafters and enforcers, and the people need enlightened leaders (hence in each case a ruling class).

Yet such democratic doublespeak remains an effective tool for the ruling class to camouflage and/or justify their predations. People want to believe these political formulas even if they may not be literally true. 

It’s a trick of language used by wolves and sheep alike, giving the wolves an excuse for their feasting and the sheep a reason for their fleecing. Put another way, labeling the unaccountable administrative state “Our Democracy” serves as an insidious invitation to the rabble to render their own chains, and with gilded hope and love in their elected leaders, give "themselves" the reins. 

It’s proven an effective strategy for the ruling elite so far. If you want to be considered a just government in good standing in the 21st century, just slap “Democracy” on the front of the label no matter the contents inside. Even the tyrants of North Korea hew to this rule, officially calling themselves the “Democratic People's Republic of Korea.” 

You see, he who best controls language — especially the fashionable language of prestige and legitimacy — controls the world. And owing to their fraudulent yet very effective gimmicks with words, the global managerial elite have afforded to themselves a status separate and above all others. No power is considered higher than their own, not even God’s. Not only do the elite claim to be the boss of economic power but also the ultimate arbiters of the future itself. 

History, after all, is on their side.

Do not underestimate them — they are more than willing to sacrifice entire nations as well as thousands of years of the Western tradition from Athens to Jerusalem, if necessary. To their minds, what is good, true and beautiful is only what they tell you is good, true and beautiful. Human nature is but a child’s Play-Doh in their hands. There is no limit they accept. Do not be surprised when soon you will be offered “the freedom” to transition and transform not merely into the opposite sex of your birth but into something entirely inhuman — a transhuman monstrosity the elite will deem a new generation of Adams and Eves to populate their newly built Eden.

What a perversion of tradition and the law! 

The law twisted not to protect man’s dignity and liberty but contorted to empower the architects of yet another new Babel!

Seeing the law so perverted — and seeing truth, goodness, and beauty turned on their heads for power’s sake — it is time for us to set things right. 

No one, not even those who claim to protect “Our Democracy,” should be above the law. 

No one, not even our enterprising modern ruling elite, can play God without catastrophic consequences. 

Let us work to return economic power to its true place above state power. The creation of wealth is always superior to the pillaging of wealth.

Let us work to rebuild the just city based upon the ancient rules of liberty and the traditions of natural law. The self-governing polis is always preferable to any centralized managerial elite full of hubris and folly. 

And once our work is done, as the song also says, "...I'll get on my knees and pray we don't get fooled again!”

Joey Clark is a native Alabamian and currently, the host of the radio program News and Views on News Talk 93.1 FM WACV out of Montgomery, AL M-F 9 am-12 noon. His column appears every Tuesday in 1819 News. To contact Joey for media or speaking appearances as well as any feedback please email newsandviews931@gmail.com. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to Commentary@1819news.com

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