Oddbean new post about | logout
 The matrix is called democracy.

There are five things that people like to think about themselves.

1. They like to think they are free.
2. They like to think they are in control.
3. They like to think they have it all figured out.
4. They like to think they are never wrong.
5. They like to think they are good and moral, and doing the right thing.

Democracy is used to fool people into thinking they are a free people. However, the truth is democracy robs freedom of choice from minorities and from individuals. Also, democracy can be manipulated through propaganda, which can sway the vote in favor of those controlling to narrative being spewed through the mainstream propaganda media.

Democracy is used to fool people into thinking that they are free people and that they are in control when indeed they are not.

"Taxation without representation" is another term used to convince people that they free and not slaves, when the truth is they are slaves. The true definition of "taxation without representation" is when the government forces you to pay for something that you don't want, you never ask for, and very often it is something you are strongly opposed to.

***

If you can guide someone to come up with a thought that you want them to think, then they will think it is their own thought. And once that happens, they will never want to be near impossible to change their mind.

This is what Marxists are doing in public schools right now us Paulo Friere's "critical pedagogy" with the social emotional learning and the comprehensive sex education and stuff like that. They are getting young minds to come up with thoughts that Marxists want them to think, and then the leftists basically have the kids for life as activists.

Get the kids to think that they figured it out on their own, that they are doing the right thing, and the kids will never want to be wrong, and will fight for what they were brainwashed and believing. 
 A few years ago, I probably would have skipped this message after reading just the first line, but now I very much agree with everything you said. 

Letting the state become this big was already a huge mistake, and democracy has enabled it by giving people a false sense of control. 

We've basically surrendered and given up all our rights for now.

Have you ever thought about some better option than democracy? 
 Funny thing is, I would've skipped the comment a few years ago as well.

America in its original intended form is the better option. The key is unalienable rights that keep a democracy from infringing on the rights of minorities and individuals.

Unalienable rights guarantee the rights of minorities and individuals.

An unalieanable right is a right that cannot be taken away, not even by a 100% majority vote. Unalienable rights cannot be legislated away, and they cannot be ruled away by a supreme court. Government institutions cannot add qualifiers to unalienable rights.

America is a country of unalienable rights. The Constitution does not grant those rights. The Constitution explicitly tells the government that it cannot, and shall not, infringe on those rights

 
 Another thing is distinguishing between a forced-collectivist democracy and a freedom-democracy.

In a freedom-democracy representatives can vote to create government programs, but nobody would be forced to pay for, support or use those programs. For example ... voluntary is how Social Security started out, because unalienable rights and individual liberty was how Americans thought when it was created (1935). 

Then the Democrats and Republicans made Social Security mandatory under Ronald Reagan because the leftists had succeeded in shifting the American mindset more towards a forced-collectivist democracy mentality and away from individual liberty and unalienable rights.