Freedom and the Indians

"Off goes the head of the king, and tyranny gives way to freedom. ...Then, bit by bit, the face of freedom hardens, and by and by it is the old face of tyranny. Then another cycle, and another. But under the play of all these opposites there is something fundamental and permanent - the basic delusion that men may be governed and yet be free." --H.L. Mencken

"The more I consider the condition of the white men, the more fixed becomes my opinion that, instead of gaining, they have lost much by subjecting themselves to what they call the laws and regulations of civilized societies." --Tomochichi, Creek Chief

"I am convinced that those societies (as the Indians) which live without government enjoy in their general mass an infinitely greater degree of happiness than those who live under the European governments. Among the former, public opinion is in the place of law, & restrains morals as powerfully as laws ever did anywhere. Among the latter, under pretence of governing they have divided their nations into two classes, wolves & sheep. I do not exaggerate." --Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 16 Jan. 1787

"We did not ask you white men to come here. The Great Spirit gave us this country as a home. You had yours. We did not interfere with you. The Great Spirit gave us plenty of land to live on, and buffalo, deer, antelope and other game. But you have come here, you are taking my land from me, you are killing off our game, so it is hard for us to live. Now, you tell us to work for a living, but the Great Spirit did not make us to work, but to live by hunting. You white men can work if you want to. We do not interfere with you, and again you say why do you not become civilized? We do not want your civilization! We would live as our fathers did, and their fathers before them." --Crazy Horse - Sioux

The Great Lie is that this is civilization. It's not civilized. It has literally been the most bloood-thirsty brutalizing system ever imposed upon this planet. ...Or if it does represent civilization, and that is truly what civilization is, then the Great Lie is that civilization is good for us. --John Trudell

Mary Rowlandson was taken captive [by "indians"] ...she rather shrewdly negotiated with her captors, bartered using her knitting needles to get food and ultimately to win their approbation ...And this is not that unusual. There were a number of women captives who either defended themselves, negotiated, or, extraordinarily, about a third of female captives actually chose to stay with their Indian captors, preferred the Indian life. --Author Susan Faludi on "The Terror Dream", Democracy NOW! 

Happiness is more generally and equally diffus'd among Savages than in civilized societies. No European who has tasted savage life can afterwards bear to live in our societies. --Benjmin Franklin, 1770

"We [Indians] have always been freer than the white man, even when he first came here. ...

"The white world puts all the power at the top, Nerburn. ... When your people first came to our land they were trying to get away from those people at the top. But they still thought the same, and soon there were new people at the top in the new country. It is just the way you were taught to think." --Lakota elder Dan, Kent Nerburn, Neither Wolf nor Dog, New World Library, 2002, pg.157

The BIGGER Picture:

1. What well-known institution do other founders -- and well-known personalities throughout history -- warn against? Proof! They've ALWAYS been out to get you. And they did.

2. H.L. Mencken, U.S. founder James Madison, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Henry Kissinger, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur, and Prof. Chalmers Johnson all explain the main factor we should fear. Can YOU find the common denominator? The REAL Fear Factor?

For the REALLY big picture, THESE articles.

---

---

Good questions, Don!

1. "What is the explanation for the greater technological progress of the less civilized Euros?" --Don Duncan

Trade. The main thing pale-face contributed to the world was the mastery of trade including "money" and double entry bookkeeping which enabled specialization and division of labor, and thus the extremely efficient production of "stuff" as George Carlin was apt to put it.

This didn't come without extreme down-side effects, however.

Also the "scientific method," basically a simple technique for asking questions -- and finding and checking the answers.

2. "Why are native Americans poor, suicide prone, and alcoholic, more than all other ethic groups?" --Don Duncan

I'm not sure "all other ethic groups" applies. As far as "alcholic" apparently there is a genetic predisposition.

As to the rest, more than likely because their basic culture -- the culture of egalitarian hunter-gatherer freedom -- was forcibly replaced with regimented, fenced-in, pale-face hierarchy. Like this:

"The white world puts all the power at the top, Nerburn. ... When your people first came to our land they were trying to get away from those people at the top. But they still thought the same, and soon there were new people at the top in the new country. It is just the way you were taught to think."

"In your churches there is someone at the top. In your schools, too. In your government. In your business. There is always someone at the top and that person has the right to say whether you are good or bad. They own you.

... "When you came among us, you couldn't understand our way. You wanted to find the person at the top. ... Your world was made of cages and you thought ours was, too. Even though you hated your cages you believed in them. ...

"Our old people noticed this from the beginning. They said that the white man lived in a world of cages, and that if we didn't look out, they would make us live in a world of cages, too." --Lakota elder Dan, Kent Nerburn, Neither Wolf nor Dog, New World Library, 2002, pg.157

3. "Why doesn't a freer, happier life translate into material wealth?" --Don Duncan

Well, to a certain extent, that question is backwards. The more important question is, why doesn't "material wealth" translate into a freer happier life?

At what might be called the "spiritual" level, there's a conflict between material goods and freedom. First, producing "stuff" requires self-discipline and takes hours from free spontaneous behavior. Further, a surplus of material goods requires not only time but also stable locations. Farms and factories for example. And then you have to maintain stuff.

Then there are the "addicitve" properties of the newest I-phone, the latest movie, hot showers, etc. which tends to "encourage" folks to spend even more hours of their lives accumulating "stuff." And/or "money" to buy stuff later.

At some point, the production of stuff should be efficient enough to free most people from the necessity of spending much time acquiring even an advanced level of "stuff."

At a talk he called, "I Dreamed I Was A Libertarian In My Maidenform Bra," L. Neil Smith suggested an 8 hour work week -- and that was July 31, 1982, at The Nevada Libertarian Party "CANDIDATE'S CONVENTION" in Las Vegas.

What went wrong? I'm sure you know. On the surface, it was this:

In the 1930s, Lord Keynes predicted that some day everyone would have a four-bedroom house, at which point, the American dream having been fulfilled, people would lose their incentive to work. Keynes believed that peoples' affluence would eventually outstrip their appetites--that their demand for goods and services would reach a plateau, beyond which the amount of money they spent would represent a smaller and smaller percentage of their income. Therefore, he argued, the government would have to adopt fiscal policies designed to keep people from hoarding too much of their income. --Unlimited Wealth by Paul Zane Pilzer, pg. 17

The banksters along with their government-gangster cronies just used that argument as another excuse to loot folks.

That affluence is exactly what's supposed to happen. But as you well know, Don, the "government" -- along with it's brown-nosers, suckups and hangers-on -- particularly the bankers -- have done quite well with adopting "fiscal policies dessigned to keep people from hoarding too much of their income." Translated, that becomss, "steal peoples' money -- and thus the hours of their lives spent earning money -- using taxation and inflation."

L. Neil was right but over-estimated the necessary work week. That difference is what the government/banking axis costs the average "citizen" who buys into the establishment bullshit. Bastiat nailed it:

"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it." --Frederic Bastiat

There are now two "forces" that I see likely to seriously disrupt the current "order."

1. Income disparity caused by the "Reverse Robin Hood" effect of fiat money and fractional reserve banking, and

2. Increasing automation which will make most jobs obsolete, possibly reaching a tipping point in maybe 10 years according to Pew Research -- and maybe sooner according to gonzo futurist Ray Kurzweil.

And, closely related, will the robot revolution result in R2D2 or Terminator 2?

Your guess is as good as mine as to how this will all turn out.

< C:\USR\WP_DOCS\TROLLEY\BLOGS\UNCOMMON>

Responsibility or blame?

We cannot begin to sort ourselves out until we understand that there is such a thing as responsibility, that it has nothing to do with blame, that blame is a fixed, socially-agreed-upon thing, while responsibility is self-defined, something we choose to take upon ourselves independent of social agreements, and is only as great as we are great. -- Victims and Blame by Dean Blehert

< C:\USR\WP_DOCS\TROLLEY\BLOGS\UNCOMMON>

Leaders vs. Rulers -- another place "we" went wrong

This is an excerpt from Kent Nerburn's "Neither Wolf nor Dog"  Mr. Nerburn and Dan, thank you!!
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

      "I want you to understand this, Nerburn. I don't think you've got it figured out. Sitting Bull was a leader. He was a real chief. People followed him because he was great. He never won any election or was appointed by any government official. That's not how you get to be a leader."

      "You're saying the policemen didn't have any real authority."

      "That's right. They were policemen because the government told them they were. Gave them uniforms and a job. It didn't have anything to do with the old way, where it was an honor you earned."

200 NEITHER WOLF NOR DOG

      "Unfortunately, that's the way the white system works, I said, though not with conviction.

      "It doesn't work too damn well," he responded. "At least for Indian people. We had a system that worked, then the white man came along with his elections and laws and now we've got one that doesn't. They should have left us alone."

      "So why doesn't it work?"  I asked. I was curious to hear Dan's ideas on government.

      "Aw, it's too complicated to explain," he said. "You've got to know too much about the old days."

      "No. Try me," I said. "I'm interested."

      He heaved a weary sigh and held his two hands up like a man comparing the weights of two different objects.

      "There are leaders and there are rulers. We Indians are used to leaders. When our leaders don't lead, we walk away from them. When they lead well, we stay with them.

      "White people never understood this. Your system makes people rulers by law, even if they are not leaders. We have had to accept your way, because you made us Indians make constitutions and form governments. But we don't like it and we don't think it is right.

      "How can a calendar tell us how long a person is a leader? That's crazy. A leader is a leader as long as the people believe in him and as long as he is the best person to lead us. You can only lead as long as the people will follow.

      In the past when we needed a warrior we made a warrior our leader. But when the war was over and we needed a healer to lead us, he became our leader. Or maybe we needed a great speaker or a deep thinker.

      "The warrior knew his time had passed and he didn't pretend to be our leader beyond the time he was needed. He was proud to serve his people and he knew when it was time to step aside. If he won't step aside, people will just walk away from

201 LEADERS AND RULERS

him. He cannot make himself a leader except by leading people in the way they want to be lead.

      "That's why Sitting Bull was a leader. He was needed by the people and the people followed him. He was brave. He was smart. He knew how to fight when he had to. And he understood what the white man was all about. People saw that he could not be tricked by the white man, so they followed.

      "That's why the U.S. government hated him so much. It wasn't just that he set a trap for Custer. Anyone could have done that. It was because he was a leader and people listened to him, and he wouldn't listen to the U.S. government. He listened to the needs of his people."

      I nodded my assent.

      Dan continued. "If people didn't want to follow his way, that was fine. They could follow another way. That's what happened with Gall. He'd fought with Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse against Custer. But he decided he had to work with the white people if he didn't want all the Indians to be killed. So he left and went his own way. I think he was wrong, but that was his choice. If enough people had decided not to follow Sitting Bull, then he wouldn't have been a leader anymore. But people still followed him, so he stayed a leader."

      "It sounds Utopian," I said.

      Dan looked perplexed. "Perfect," I amended.

      "It wasn't perfect. But it sure as hell worked," he went on. "That was the Indian way. A person wasn't a leader because they got votes. They were a leader because the people would follow them. The same with teachers."

      The example seemed pointed. I imagined he was thinking about me teaching Indian children at Red Lake while I was too obtuse to understand why a hundred-year-old grievance should determine the way you greet a stranger. "A person wasn't a teacher because they had been elected or got a certificate. They

202 NEITHER WOLF NOR DOG

were a teacher because they knew something and were respected. If they didn't know enough, they weren't teachers. Or if we didn't need to know what they knew, we didn't go to them. Now you send us teachers and you tell us to send our children, when we aren't even sure what the teachers know. We don't even know if they are good people who will build up the hearts of our children. All we know is that they are teachers because someone gave them a piece of paper saying they had taken courses about teaching. Do you follow me?"

      "Yes," I said, almost adding, "more than you know."

      "What we want to know is what kind of person they are and what they have in their hearts to share. Telling us they have a paper that lets them teach is like putting a fancy wrapping on a box. We want to know what's in that box. An empty box with a fancy wrapper is still an empty box.

      "We just don't like people standing in front of us and telling us what to do. Teachers, governments, anything else. We will say who our leaders are. They can't make themselves leaders and laws can't make them leaders for us.

      "Those police who shot Sitting Bull, they got scared. They were like little children who were afraid they would be punished if they didn't do what the false leaders said. They thought they wouldn't get food. So they did what the false leaders - the law leaders - said, even though they knew it was wrong.

      "There are all these stories about how the police were crying when they shot Sitting Bull. If they thought it was wrong, they shouldn't have shot him. They should have listened to their real leaders, not to their law leaders. They didn't understand the difference between leaders and rulers."

      As usual, Dan had wound his way through the hills and valleys of his own logic to arrive at a destination.

      "I understand why people followed Sitting Bull," I said. "But he was a chief. Didn't people have to follow a chief?"

203 LEADERS AND RULERS

      "The chiefs weren't like that," Dan answered. "They had to earn their respect. At least with our people. You might be a chief because your father was a chief, but if you were a coward or not a good man, people would just move away from you. You would be a chief only to yourself. To be a chief you had to be a leader.

      "You know, this was a lot of the problem with the treaties. Lots of times our real leaders didn't want to sign the treaties. But your government needed to have a piece of paper, so they found an Indian who would sign a piece of paper and they told him he was a leader. Maybe he was from our tribe, but he wasn't a leader unless we all said he was. He couldn't sign that piece of paper any more than someone down the street can sign a piece of paper giving away your house. These men were false chiefs. They were law chiefs, made up by white people who needed one Indian to speak for everybody.

      "But no real Indian leader would try to speak for everybody before hearing from everybody. He might get the elders together, or the council of chiefs. It depended on the tribe.

      "Then they listened to everyone. Everyone could speak. If someone didn't like the decision that was made, they could leave. If the chief made a decision enough people disagreed with, they could make another chief. All they did was move their tepees near to the new man's, and he was their leader.

      "I would rather we had this old way, where the wisest people got together and discussed. If there was one person in the tribe who knew more than any other, he was raised up.

      "But now you make us do it differently. You tell us we have to elect a leader to represent us, and he has to represent us in everything. He is supposed to be wise about everything because he is responsible for everything. Even if we don't want him to speak for us on some matter, he gets to because it says so in the constitution you made us write.

204 NEITHER WOLF NOR DOG

"That is not the way it should be. Good leaders wait to be called and they give up their power when they are no longer needed. Selfish men and fools put themselves first and keep their power until someone throws them out. It is no good to have a way where selfish men and fools fight with each other to be leaders, while the good ones watch.

      "You made us follow this way, so now we have no government worth the name. Our leaders have no power; our rulers are not leaders.

      "That is why Sitting Bull was great. He did not rule. He led."

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 

This is an excerpt from Kent Nerburn's "Neither Wolf nor Dog"  Mr. Nerburn and Dan, thank you!!

The OTHER police state - - -

With the death of Kim Jong Il, everyone was reminded of the North Korean police state. But what about the OTHER police state - - -

Study: One-Third of Young People Will Be Arrested Before Age 23

Another study found about one-third of young people [in the U.S.] will be arrested before they turn 23. The study examined arrests - not including minor traffic violations - for kids ages eight to 23. Researchers said they found between 30.2 percent and 41.4 percent had been arrested. --DemocracyNOW! Headlines for December 20, 2011

And that's BEFORE the indefinite detention of Americans without charges or trial enshrined in the so-called "National Defense Appropriations Act."

That OTHER police state also treats its unjailed kids well - - -

Study Finds 1.6 Million Children Homeless in 2010

In other economic news, a study has found 1.6 million children in the United States - or one in 45 kids - were homeless last year. The National Center on Family Homelessness said its study is a "call to action for all of us to address child homelessness before we lose another generation." The group said the child homelessness rate has jumped 33 percent since 2007. --DemocracyNOW! Headlines for December 20, 2011

The nature of "reality" via Bohr, Feynman, & Quantum Mechanics

"You decry "states", forgetting that without existing in a "state" you have no existence whatsoever (I am referring here to your earlier comment on how the root word "state" means "static" or unchanging)...that which is not in some recognizable state is an undefined cloud of random nothingness." --Greg

I see where the problem lies.

"States" are never unchanging -- except in someone's imagination. Those Rocky Mountains are slowly weathering away and in the distant future will be old worn down mountains like the Appalachians out east (which, aeons ago, were the tallest mountains in Earth's history), etc. We may, in such cases, ignore the changes which are, none the less, always occuring in everything and ASS-U-ME that the changes don't matter for current purposes -- and hope that assumption is right. None the less, the changes are, as any first year science student should be able to tell you, still occuring whether we like it or not.

And most folks don't like it. It makes them feel insecure. So, many seek the false security of an "unchanging condition" AKA, "state," which simply can't exist. And sometimes that imaginary concept metastasizes into a political "State."

As the Niarga River inexorably eats away at the bedrock beneath, Niagra Falls moves upstream from 3.5 to 7 feet per year. As a result, during its lifetime, the falls has moved about seven miles upstream. That's why it's where it is today. And, unsurprisingly, there is an organization that wants to stop the process. Lots of luck with that.

Like it or not, universal change is solidly based on established principles of Physics -- and is a basic tenet of General Semantics.

The most basic level models we have of "reality," especially quantum mechanics, indeed tell us everything is pretty much "an undefined cloud of random nothingness." Einstein didn't like this a bit. Neither did seminal quantum physicist Neils Bohr.

Which is probably why he quipped, "If you are not surprised by quantum mechanics then you have not understood it." And, further, likely as a result,

"Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." --Seminal quantum physicist Niels Bohr

Another legendary physicist, Richard Feynman, agrees with Bohr about Quantum Mechanics - - -

"I think I can safely say that nobody understands Quantum Mechanics." --Richard Feynman

Since quantum models show "reality" to be pretty much "random nothingness" -- and have been reluctantly accepted by main-stream physics -- this probably explains another of Feynman's famous quotes - - - 

"I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I'm not absolutely sure of anything"... --Richard Feynman

At this point, either you "get" it or you don't.

It took me six months of intensive discussion with one of my friends before he "got" it. Another read "People in Quandaries" and "got it" pretty much on his own. It's not easy either way.

< C:\USR\WP_DOCS\TROLLEY\TRIBES~1\WK\27_CLIQU.WK >

Where on earth? - - - - Somalia

Highlights of the Xeer

There is time in this short talk to give you only some of the highlights of the Xeer. First, law and, consequently, crime are defined in terms of property rights. The law is compensatory rather than punitive. Because property right requires compensation, rather than punishment, there is no imprisonment, and fines are rare. Such fines as might be imposed seldom exceed the amount of compensation and are not payable to any court or government, but directly to the victim. A fine might be in order when, for example, the killing of a camel was deliberate and premeditated, in which case the victim receives not one but two camels.

Fines are used in another interesting way. It is expected that a prominent public figure such as a religious or political dignitary or a policeman or a judge should lead an exemplary life. If he violates the law, he pays double what would be required of an ordinary person. Also, it should be noted, since the law and crime are defined in terms of property rights, the Xeer is unequivocal in its opposition to any form of taxation....

You can find the whole article here: The Rule of Law without the State

Where on earth - - - -

Guess where - - -

Highlights of the Xeer

There is time in this short talk to give you only some of the highlights of the Xeer. First, law and, consequently, crime are defined in terms of property rights. The law is compensatory rather than punitive. Because property right requires compensation, rather than punishment, there is no imprisonment, and fines are rare. Such fines as might be imposed seldom exceed the amount of compensation and are not payable to any court or government, but directly to the victim. A fine might be in order when, for example, the killing of a camel was deliberate and premeditated, in which case the victim receives not one but two camels.

Fines are used in another interesting way. It is expected that a prominent public figure such as a religious or political dignitary or a policeman or a judge should lead an exemplary life. If he violates the law, he pays double what would be required of an ordinary person. Also, it should be noted, since the law and crime are defined in terms of property rights, the Xeer is unequivocal in its opposition to any form of taxation....

So, where on earth - - -

Tune in next week.

Or figure it out and leave a comment.