Sustainable Revolutions

Revolutions are by definition radical deviations from an old order. Sometimes they're economic, such as the industrial revolution, which ushered in our current capitalist system. Other times they are political, like the French revolution, which ushered in our current system of democracy. But most revolutions fail miserably in achieving any change for the better. Countless revolutions have failed, and many that succeeded ended up worse than where they started.

By and large, we see that economic revolutions have a tendency to pan out better than political revolutions, and the more peaceful the revolution unfolds, the more likely it is to succeed in making life better for people. Furthermore, revolutions based on liberty are always more successful than revolutions based fully or in part on tyranny. Once tyranny is a part of the plan, nothing good can be achieved. Tyranny is always oppressive and destructive, and is not something we can limit. Once tyranny is installed, misery always follows, and another revolution is required to removed it.

We may from this conclude that we're all better off with the system as it is, and that we should never engage in revolutionary or subversive acts. However, this would ignore the overall tendency towards tyranny by the political establishment. All systems produce over time an elite that will seek to cement its position in society by means of tyranny. If we remain complacent and compliant as tyranny sneaks up on us, we'll one day find our liberties all but completely removed. We must therefore stay vigilant at all times, and avoid the traps that the elite lays for us in order to gain control.

The only way to remain free is therefore to be in a constant state of rebellion. But we have to be careful because there are all sorts of traps that will lead us astray if we don't fully understand the mechanisms involved. The elite will deliberately come up with causes and movements that appear to be revolutionary, but are in fact part of their agenda. These movements range from the trivial to the extreme. We have rituals such as garbage separation. We have manifestations related to climate, gender, and race. We also have riots of various kinds. All of this is in support of the elite's agenda. What little real and spontaneous rebellion there is is quickly subdued, infiltrated and corrupted, so as to put an end to it.

To support all of this, we have public debates and endless discussions on social media platforms. There are all sorts of dialogues and verbal exchanges. None of it leads to any real change, but gives the impression that things are happening. All we have to do is wait for the next election, or petition for some change to the law.

All of this distracts from the very real option that all of us have when it comes to making a real and lasting change for the better. It makes us blind to the fact that we don't have to convince anybody of anything. We can simply be the change that we want. We can go directly to our chosen solution and live it out right now. There's no need for any consensus, riot, manifestation or vote.

When I discovered that I had enough in the way of capital income to get by if I sold my house in Norway, I did exactly that. While this was a private economic transaction, it was also an act of political rebellion, because I have now arranged my affairs so that I'm paying much less in taxes than I used to. Apart from consumption tax, I pay no taxes at all. I have also protected myself from monetary debasement by holding my savings in gold. My purchasing power is not being eroded by the political elite. As a result, I'm truly free to do as I please. I'm a Cantillon sovereign.

The latest unrest and confusion that the elite has thrust upon us with its reaction to the flu has paradoxically opened up further liberties that were previously hard to engage in without calling undue negative attention to ourselves. Home schooling is now a much less revolutionary act than it was just a year ago. It's no longer seen as weird or fringe. It's seen as sensible and responsible, especially for those lucky enough to afford it. Our decision to try this for our son this year is therefore seen as sensible and very much the right thing to do, given the circumstances.

Similar opportunities related to home office work are popping up too. A friend of mine works remotely from Porto. With a Norwegian salary, he's very well off. After income tax, which he pays to Norway, he's left with a lot of money to spend and invests in Portugal. He's not quite as sovereign as I am, but he's definitely on his way, and may well be just as free as I am when he reaches my age. This means that Norway is loosing it's grip on two of it's citizens without Portugal gaining a corresponding stranglehold. My friend and I are succeeding in our little private revolution.

If a large number of productive individuals were to do as my friend and I have done, Norway would have to ramp up money printing in order to cover the deterioration in their tax base. But that would only affect those still in the old system. Those with gold, and real-estate outside Norway, would not be much affected. The net result would be a further exodus and a continuation of the revolution. The trickle that is my friend and me may one day become a deluge resulting in a radical deviations from the current order. But none of that matters to my friend and I, because we are already well on our way to the promised land regardless of whether or not we get any followers.

People voting with their feet

By the Providence Lithograph Company - http://thebiblerevival.com/clipart/1907/ex14.jpg, Public Domain, Link