Comments

Episode-335- The Illusion of Freedom — 18 Comments

  1. Excellent episode Jack!

    You hit the nail on the head with this one!

    I’ve been trying to explain all this to my 27 year old son. During an argument about the Constitution and Bill of Rights he said “I thought we lived in a Democracy” I was shocked and told him we live in a Republic and promptly handed him my pocket size Constitution and told him he needed to read what his Government was and what its “powers and Restrictions” were.

    It is such a shame that children no longer say the Pledge of Allegiance at the begining of their school day. At least then they would know what form of Government this country was formed under.

  2. Sorry about the ugly looking post above. The darn screen on my Blackberry is so hard to read the security code. I had to try 3 times before I got the numbers right and it messed things up.

  3. @Capt Cook

    No worries cleaned it up for you. And good for you for teaching that boy real American history and government.

  4. I appreciate today’s episode greatly. These are some idea’s I have felt for sometime, but lacked the ability to express to people I talk to about such things. I’ve sent the notification e-mail on to most of my family and friends, hoping they will get the picture a bit better.

    It is very difficult to get people to see the cage they live in, and usually, if you press them they only get angry. I still feel I live in that cage myself, but I am working to get out of it, my primary economic goal is to get my home paid for in the next 5 years, I’ve owned it just over 2 years now. I feel the most immediate emancipation is economic through the throwing off of debts.

    The Federal Reserve must be brought down if liberty is to be renewed in this country, Unfortunately too many people are too busy enjoying the benefits (consumer & other debt spending) which the fed provides them to want to do anything about it.

  5. Well my epifiany was that the ratings of our Senators and Representatives are not correct.The only vote that show the independence of an elected official is for them to vote against
    their parties position.. and succeed in defeating a bill their party wanted or succeed in passing
    a bill their party wanted.
    Too often our elected officials are allowed to vote against the party so that they can be re-elected. This is the case with Cong. Chris Carney.

  6. Have not listened to the new ep yet, but looking forward to it.

    In responce to all the hate mail, and the whiners who dont like your political views…
    I miss your “from the heart” political rants from the early days. Every once and awhile I put one of those on to make me feel better, and know that there is someone who shares most of my views.

    I am getting dragged down and worn out with the BS of life in America today. Your show always makes me feel just a bit better,
    Thanks Jack

  7. Ya’ gotta put this one down in the “Best of Jack” archives.
    Literally the words out of my mouth.
    Excellent show Jack!

  8. first comment. this is really the truth. thanks for the crisp summary of modern life. we have been working on changing our thinking toward this since 99 when i worked in programming and began to look into what would happen if the programmers didn’t get the job done. understanding jit inventory was what started us. and now, last month the local wally world got a ‘face lift’ which means they spent boo-koo bucks to look different, and reduced inventory by (what workers say in private) near 50%. so now instead of 72 hour inventory they carry … what? 36 hour? maybe a little more, but think it through.

  9. Well I must say this man you got me to think. I like most of what you said but as a free thinking person we disagree on a few points. I would feel strange if
    I didn’t have views that where different.

  10. OK, Jack, now tell us how you REALLY feel!

    LoL

    Awesome show. Definitely “Best Of” material. I’m guessing we’ll be hearing a lot more of this once you cut ties from the “respectable” business world.

  11. Jack, I had guessed early on that you meant the Federal Reserve and the financial crises leading up to its founding. That’s about a century ago. Somewhat disappointed that you didn’t elaborate much on why that particular event was the turning point. Pleasantly surprised at how the episode really turned out, though. Hadn’t thought about the parallels between types of slavery and today’s economic system before.

    By the way, there’s a lot more to communism than just a single party electoral system. For example, a severe lack of personal property rights and exterminating people by the millions just for having different opinions. But like you I remember schools at the time focusing more on the single party aspect and less on the bloody details. Maybe it was more pleasant to talk about.

    Capt Cook: Our local elementary school has a flag pledge at least weekly. Both state and federal flags.

  12. Jack,

    I just finished listening to this episode…all I can say is WOW. As I continue my shift along the preparedness continuum, I identify certain ones of your shows to get my dear wife to listen to in order to gently shift her mindset towards that of a prepper. This is definitely one of those shows.

    I personally identify being self-sufficient as necessary to maximize personal liberty, a concept which is all but gone today in our society. In abstract terms, I can see a “formula” that defines liberty as proportional to preparedness. The way I visualize it, ones level of preparedness is a point on a continuum (or in a space) that includes many dimensions (e.g., food storage, food production, skills/knowledge, defensive capability, planning, etc.) The further along the preparedness continuum one is, the greater their level of personal liberty.

    Jack, to me this show points out that we (the current generations) started at a point of reduced personal preparedness/self-reliance (i.e., greater dependence and less liberty) than previous generations and thus are much further from the point of self-reliance/liberty than the previous generations. In this regard, greater efforts than are “normal” (normal being the social norm) are required to get back to that point of preparedness/self-reliance/liberty.

    I apologize for the long-windedness but the episode was just too inspiring not to comment!

    Thanks,

    Silver Wolf