An Open Letter to the People

Today, in this new age of callousness toward, and misrepresentation of, the needs of the people by our leaders, we need, now more than ever, to stand together in alignment with rationality and our inalienable rights. 'Now more than ever' should be stressed, as the current societal state of affairs has proven that the great steps that history has taken to demand an objective amity for all have not been enough. For when corruption in government has, not only persisted, but spread as a cancer within the very heart of our society, radical action must be undertaken. A sense of unity must be achieved and it is up to each individual in our nation and, indeed, our world to create the possibility of such a goal coming into fruition.

We must educate ourselves and our own children on matters of politics and freedom, and not leave such keystone ideas in the hands of paid strangers. We must not make any assumptions in regards to the morality of the powers that be; for we should never allow ourselves to be at their mercy anyway. As has been said before, "people should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."

We must not argue amongst ourselves over inconsequential matters. When a group or individual takes action, whether in peaceful protest, organized demonstration, or militant extremism, we must not forget to ask ourselves what sort of political or social climate inspired these actions to begin with. This question, surely, must be at least as important as the question of justification; the action undertaken is most always the symptom of a diseased climate.

We must never allow ourselves to be forced to choose between the lesser of two evils. For the moral implications of such a decision will leave blood on all of our hands. If presented with such a choice, we must rally against the notion and demand more viable options.

We must keep ourselves in check with our Gods. Whether yours is a God of Spirit or a God of Science, we must remind ourselves that neither a people's absolution nor damnation ever rest on our shoulders. Instead, we must aim our sights upon only the presence of freedom, justice, and the natural morality of preservation.

We must never allow ourselves to become victims nor, in any way, allow any idea or personage to be taken for granted. It is each individual's duty, both within a nation and within humanity as a whole, to rise against such oppression wherever and whenever we are faced with it.

Right now our brothers and sisters, fathers, mothers, and our children are going hungry. Our people are enslaved to a corrupt monetary system that is controlled by a non-governmental, private banking institution. Men are becoming imprisoned or otherwise harassed over the false pretense that is an unconstitutional federal income tax run by this same institution.

Dear people, some of us have begun to believe that, in most manners, it has become cheaper to die than to live. The time for action has a window. A window that is slowly and steadily sliding shut.

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."

reply to post by Nathan_Orin

We must not argue amongst ourselves over inconsequential matters.

This is their biggest tool. Trap people to not question. Turn those that won't question on the others that are. It runs rampant on ATS. It runs rampant throughout society. How dare another individual question something. Demonize them and scorn them. We are our own biggest enemy and as well our own biggest savior.

Well said Nathan! flag for you. I agree the time is short and the window is closing. The cancer you described is indeed the world monetary system which has gone from being national to international in the last 50 years.
Borders don't exist for the mega-capitalists and they make their money by creating misery and need.
The people of the world need to recongnize this and act in unity to counter it and soon or we shall all be under tax-slavery forever. I do not say that to sound extreme, the stakes are the world and everyone in it. If we don't stop it we have a new feudal system of banker lords and most of us serfs who do menial work for little or no pay.
First they intend to break the system so that they can replace our currencies with something totally under their control - carbon credits.
If they should successfully institute this, freedom will be gone forever from the Earth.
We have only 2 things in their way at present - the internet and firearms. Both of these will have to be altered drastically for them to implement their plans.
The real trick is how do we stop them? The only rational and non-violent idea I have is for general strikes EVERYWHERE to let them know what power we have as people. Any act of violence will further their excuses for the security state they have created in the fake GWOT.
Praying can't hurt either.
I say we make money worthless and let the rich starve, it would be a fitting end for many of them.

The public ego infests us through a need to find an identity as a good person. We each come up with a unique worldview, and find it incompatible with others, so that environmentalists vote green and traditionalists vote republican and everyone else gets angry and votes liberal, but none agree. We fall into bickering which devolves from finding the right solution to proving that we are _personally_ right. At home, we keep up with the Joneses in buying new products and being more giving when the charity bucket comes around, even if the charity won't help society at large.

Inundated in parasites as it is, our society has become decadent, in that any action to fix the problem opposes the public ego of someone and so other public egos will defend it. Our values dissipate. We increasingly pursue material wealth and excess of comfort, but like a cold running its course the problems accumulate as does the number of symptoms we must avoid, usually by paying more money for special services or housing in the suburbs. We are prisoners in our own diseased body.

This explanation summarizes 2,000 years of a slowly worsening society (albeit with more comfy technology) that continues to decline. No other explanation shows exactly why all of our attempts to fix these problems have failed. We caught a virus. And like someone with a cold, we're not going to get rid of it until we take steps to strengthen the body and remove the parasite. The first step is recognizing the virus, and ejecting it from our values system.

Our best thinkers, artists and writers have given us other things to live for, outside of the public ego. Ancient Greek philosophers like Plato noted its presence when they spoke of a public mythos of shadows in the parable of the cave. We have to stop being wimps who do what is convenient for us and ignore the consequences of a gradually sickening society. Until we do this, the symptoms will continue -- and eventually kill us.

A lot of this resonated hard for me. Especially the part about choosing between to evils and still having blood on your hands. I feel ya. We have to kill the greed in the system, sadly capitalism isn't the best


[edit on 3-3-2010 by ISHAMAGI]

I'd just like to mention that as far as I'm concerned, rights are things someone else grants you, and that in a chaotic and cruel existence, there are no such things as inalienable rights. Some people might think there are such things, but that is their opinion. Nothing more.

I could say that I have a right to life. But a stray deadly virus, or anyone with a gun, can come up with a pretty convincing argument to the contrary. Even my own body knows that my "right to life" is temporary, at best.

Do I have a right to liberty? Certainly, there is freedom to do whatever I want to whoever I want, including killing someone. But freedom is only defined by the limits placed around it. The only people who are truly free are the insane, who aren't bound by the laws and conventions of society. And that's why they're tucked away in institutions.

The pursuit of happiness? If I thought that happiness was something I could acquire, that might make sense. Personally, I believe happiness is something that you are, a state of being, not something that can be attained, like money or property.

Some people think that they will be happy (or happier, anyway), if they can attain more money or property -- or "freedom." But I personally think that those people are the ones who are truly trapped and deluded by the wants and wishes suggested to them by society -- whether the larger society, or some smaller subculture.

There is no one to fight but yourself and your own expectations of existence, as taught to you by your family, friends, and institutions. Once you step outside those expectations -- transcend them -- then you might have a chance at the happiness you seek.

No guarantees, of course.

[edit on 3-3-2010 by Blue Shift]

reply to post by ExPostFacto


i'd hate to leave the dreaded one-line post but all that i really want to say is, 'amen.'

(even as an atheist, i still immensely enjoy the moral conviction of such a word)

there, that makes two... and now three

reply to post by Nathan_Orin


Well this is a friendly advise...try to compress the letter and use simple words, if you want many american readers...because what you is saying is right, ya´ll need to educate yourself...

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
The cancer you described is indeed the world monetary system which has gone from being national to international in the last 50 years.

i agree...but then i'd also say that this present monetary system would not be capable of the heights it has reached if not for humanity's fear of the unknown. i.e. we're terrified of questioning our comfort (however small or fleeting it may be), terrified of speaking to our children about subjects that we feel ostracized over already, terrified of being alone in our ideologies (sanity IS statistical via the very definition of the term), etc.

We have only 2 things in their way at present - the internet and firearms. Both of these will have to be altered drastically for them to implement their plans.
The real trick is how do we stop them? The only rational and non-violent idea I have is for general strikes EVERYWHERE to let them know what power we have as people. Any act of violence will further their excuses for the security state they have created in the fake GWOT.

i definitely do not believe that violence is the solution at the present moment, however, i'm not opposed to protecting my loved ones by any means necessary as situations demand--whether protection from physical harm or psychological.

in any event, my mind is currently set on a grassroots sort of movement that, instead of concentrating on specific and particular political stances, seeks, instead, to focus on illuminating governmental corruption.

how can one determine what constitutes corruption when one is not giving much attention to specific and particular stances?
that was what the 'natural morality of preservation' bit was about.
anything that seeks to diminish one bit of humanity for any reason other than direct self-defense of human preservation is corruption.

Praying can't hurt either.

i certainly can't imagine how it could hurt...

I say we make money worthless and let the rich starve, it would be a fitting end for many of them.

i tend to agree. but not always.
it's a strange idea, but it seems that some of the greatest criminals have believed that they were doing the greatest good.
personally, it's difficult for me to proclaim a man guilty if he seems to truly believe in his own innocence. there's a whole philosophical dilemma there; in what frame of consciousness do guilt and innocence sit in respect to the criminal?
maybe i'm divulging a tangent here...i can never be sure.

reply to post by concernedcitizan


this is f**king beautiful. i wish i had written it.

i think that you've better expressed, both more directly and more poetically, what i have originally written here.

i don't know what else to say...except, perhaps, f**k you for writing this. (and i mean that as a complete compliment).

reply to post by ISHAMAGI


i'm glad you enjoyed it.

personally, i think that capitalism isn't such a bad idea...it's the simple fact that money isn't what we imagine it to be that creates a problem (compounded, of course, by the fact that we enslave our selves to a biased form of media which makes it a point to dictate to us what the "best" products available are, thereby negating the 'selling points' of capitalism [and free trade] to begin with)

reply to post by ISHAMAGI


double post.

[edit on 3-3-2010 by Nathan_Orin]

Originally posted by Blue Shift
I'd just like to mention that as far as I'm concerned, rights are things someone else grants you,

so living, breathing, drinking and eating are rights that someone has granted you and nothing more? living, especially.

and that in a chaotic and cruel existence, there are no such things as inalienable rights. Some people might think there are such things, but that is their opinion. Nothing more.

"chaotic and cruel existence" reminds me of 'i heart huckabees,' the only other place i've seen such a phrase turned...
is this nihilism? i'm really asking.

I could say that I have a right to life. But a stray deadly virus, or anyone with a gun, can come up with a pretty convincing argument to the contrary. Even my own body knows that my "right to life" is temporary, at best.

i agree. but this hardly means that your life is granted only through the non-acquisition of your life from these other entities, does it?
in any event, 'inalienable rights' refers to the rights that a human has amongst other humans, and if someone takes your life for any reason other than self-defense, it was through injustice.

Do I have a right to liberty? Certainly, there is freedom to do whatever I want to whoever I want, including killing someone. But freedom is only defined by the limits placed around it. The only people who are truly free are the insane, who aren't bound by the laws and conventions of society. And that's why they're tucked away in institutions.

freedom is only defined by the limits placed around it...

f**k. that's a circular argument. you could say that night is only defined through day. or that an animal is only defined by a machine. both could be true in a limited perspective. but it's all semantics. and language has been developed through dualities.

further, the insane are not necessarily (or even usually) free. indeed, to be victim to your own mind is worse than any prison you can imagine.

The pursuit of happiness? If I thought that happiness was something I could acquire, that might make sense. Personally, I believe happiness is something that you are, a state of being, not something that can be attained, like money or property.

Some people think that they will be happy (or happier, anyway), if they can attain more money or property -- or "freedom." But I personally think that those people are the ones who are truly trapped and deluded by the wants and wishes suggested to them by society -- whether the larger society, or some smaller subculture.

i agree. but this is a philosophical argument that you are presenting that really has little to do with the concept proposed in "the pursuit of happiness" (although i didn't use such a phrase in my letter)

the pursuit of happiness really just means that you are free to believe exactly what you believe about happiness. you can pursue the goal of being happy, and no one will protest and say that you've worked about it all wrong. it's as simple as that.

There is no one to fight but yourself and your own expectations of existence, as taught to you by your family, friends, and institutions. Once you step outside those expectations -- transcend them -- then you might have a chance at the happiness you seek.

No guarantees, of course.

agreed again. though i've come to the conclusion that being happy includes speaking out against what i perceive to be injustice and corruption.

i don't expect anything. i am an improvisational character in a play that is themed on ridiculousness. but, to not play along would spoil the joy of existence.

[edit on 3-3-2010 by Blue Shift]

reply to post by OddTimeSignature


hmm...

i would be insulted if not for the amusement.

reply to post by OddTimeSignature


hmm...

i would be insulted if not for the amusement.