The 5th Empire - Privacy is Key to Liberty

Privacy is key to liberty. Without privacy, no sovereignty is possible. Every little thing we do is watched and judged. If the watchers are strong believers in liberty, we may have some freedom even without privacy. But what is the chances of that? People who like to nose around in other people's business are rarely concerned with liberty. They are more likely to have some agenda or other that they want to foist upon us.

This is why we should value privacy highly in our lives. We should not let others into our plans. We should not let others know how much money we have. In dialogue with others, we should always propose private alternatives to laws and regulations.

When my youngest son in Norway was asked by his high school teacher in class whether he thought swimming should be part of the curriculum in grade school, he said that it should be up to each school to decide on this matter. The answer came as a shock to the teacher who thought it an outrageous right wing idea.

That's what the world has come to. Every little detail in our lives are a matter of public concern, and this will not end well. When private choices are taken away from us, every cause becomes an issue of contention. We have to convince everybody that our desires are right for everyone, and if we can't do that, we're stuck without that particular option.

Similarly with registered wealth; once we register our savings and possessions with banks, registry offices and tax offices, we're no longer sovereign. Any arbitrary law or regulation can be used to confiscate our wealth. While this is unlikely to happen where liberty is highly valued, it becomes more likely for every step taken down the no privacy road. It's therefore important to have some portion of our wealth invested in something that isn't registered with anyone.

We should also choose unregistered trade and commerce whenever there's an option. Why should the taxman know every transaction we make? Why let an anonymous third party into our daily lives? Such people provide no service to our benefit, and serve only to make things more expensive.

There's also no need to run to a lawyer whenever there's a dispute. Arbitration can be done privately. I made no use of a lawyer in order to separate my finances from those of my ex when I divorced her some twenty years ago. Lawyers can't perform miracles. It's easy to figure out in advance what the outcome will be in a court, and a small fortune can be saved by simply proposing a reasonable and somewhat sweet deal to the ex.

I have also lent money to acquaintances against security. Gold coins were used as security in one case, and the arrangement went without any hick-ups.

Once we start looking for private alternatives to what the state is promoting, we realize that there are many things we can do in private to everybody's mutual benefit. Even in a system of great centralized control, there will be liberty for those who know how to operate privately. Centralized control can even work to our advantage, as I discovered when I refused to pay my exit tax from Norway.

The taxman is so used to do his work remotely by computer that he wrote me off as a lost cause once he discovered that I no longer had any registered wealth. Everything I owned was either sold or distributed to my children. Proceeds from sales were used to buy gold. Money was put into my wife's account in Portugal. Dividend paying shares were given to my children. A private deal with my kids guarantee me a part of the dividend stream, and that's how I stay afloat in Porto.

There are ways around the system, and they have this in common: They are all private.

Liberty