Saturday, April 7, 2018

Polarization, Magna Carta


Polarization

Magna Carta


In rethinking the Magna Carta, I’ve had to revise several opinions.  Ostensibly, the Magna Carta was a core freedom document stating principles behind the American Constitution: for example, the Second Amendment.

In truth, the Magna Carta was the resolution of a somewhat violent disagreement, a major polarization, between King John of England and several English barons.  John had attempted, unsuccessfully, to imitate the rule of Louis Ⅺ of France.  What was the exact nature of that polarization?  Was it, in fact, a contest between the wicked despot, John, and the causes of freedom, as some suppose?  No.  Neither John nor Louis Ⅺ was any such a supposed despot.  The so-called causes of freedom, were in fact the feudal liege lords.[i]  So the struggle was not over monarchy versus personal freedom; it was over who would control the money: king or feudal liege lords?  The king lost; evidently, so did the serfs, who were thereby kept in a double state of slavery: bound by their feudal liege lord, on the one hand; and by debt slavery, and poverty, on the other hand.  So, the Magna Carta had nothing to do with personal freedom; unless, you were very powerful and wealthy.  Ironically, the serfs were compelled to fight in wars that denied their own freedom.

Nevertheless, the Magna Carta can be clearly seen in the American Constitutional structure.  The polarization between strong central government, and States rights is the point at hand.  There always were individuals who preferred strong central government; some even wanted to make George Washington into the American king.  Washington himself, and several others, evidently preferred States rights.  Even so, the tension continued throughout early Constitutional America.  The polarization was finally broken by Abraham Lincoln; Lincoln insured the fact of national government, and effectively gutted any hope for Sates rights.  Some folks see that as a blessing; while others see it as a curse.  In either case, the American course after Lincoln was toward an increasingly stronger central national government.

As far as a political experiment is concerned, this must have resulted in the abolition of feudalism, mustn’t it?  Wherein the States are seen as a continuation of feudal societies, and central national government represents a king….  Well, the serfs were better off: for slavery was abolished… weren’t they?  Or was one broken polarization, simply replaced with a new, more powerful, intensely more wicked and devious polarization?  Was the feudal system gone for good?  Or, had strong central national government opened the door for a new feudalism?

The Civil War was funded by Chase’s machinations.[ii]  Previous wars were funded by scrip[iii]; all of which wars were paid in full with zero surviving debt.  Chase’s debt system follows the course of Civil War expenses; was never paid off; was quickly followed by other wars, with attendant increasing debts in debt-war cycles that persist to the present day.  We claim that these forces, war and debt, feed off of each other, so that one necessitates and perpetuates the other.

Such national debt was made legal in the Fourteenth Amendment, Section 4 (1868)[iv]; institutionalized in the FRB (1913)[v]; and perpetuated ever since.  Not long afterward the growing Industrial Revolution[vi] overtook the American workforce; soon farm jobs reached a minimum, factory jobs peaked.  Under the old slavery system, slaves and hands were usually still fed and clothed during a downturn economy.  Under the new employment system, surplus labor was simply fired or laid off.  Employment was simply a better, more efficient system for owners.  Yet, a large portion of the population were still independent landed owners… the small, simple family farmer or rancher.

The increasing use of petroleum from around 1890 onward, increasing steadily at around 7% a year, ensured a growth economy, with surplus money to spend as if there was no tomorrow; until tomorrow came in the Great Depression (circa 1930)[vii]: the problem was not with the supply side; but, with the demand side.  We solved the Great Depression by WWⅡ (1939-1945)[viii], and have been blowing and going ever since… well, almost.  There are several points that might be pursued here; but, the particular point we are after is feudalism, and the polarization it causes.

What emerged from this strange concoction was a set of increasingly powerful companies, that soon eclipsed all national governments in terms of wealth and power.  For a time, such a juggernaut was slowed by trust busting laws; these, however, were soon removed.  The Shadow Government of a usury system, was now joined by a new set of feudal liege lords, the so-called captains of industry.

Now we are surprised to discover the reemergence of serfdom in America, and it’s growing.  The modern serf is once again caught in a double state of slavery: debt and bosses; with the attendant increase in the service of wars, not of their own choosing.  The serf is once again compelled to fight wars that deny their own freedom.

We submit that Magna Carta was never about personal freedom; that Magna Carta was always about who controlled the money.  Whoever came out on top of that polarization, made no real difference in the freedom of the serfs; whether the serfs would be slaves of the nation or of the State: for the serfs would quickly be made the slaves of their new feudal liege lords.  Seemingly there is nothing anybody can do about it; cheap land is no longer available to the pioneer: it’s a dead-end street.

Incidentally, the slaves who were freed by Lincoln, were shunted off into ghettos, where nobody much cared whether they lived or died.  They could not have known that the flood of immigrants, were shunted off into other ghettos, where nobody much cared whether they lived or died.  To the slaves, it seemed as if the immigrants had a better go of things: so, new polarizations formed.  That the immigrants also suffered under the same oppression made little difference; the former slaves were in fact, treated like crap: but so were many of the immigrants.

Meanwhile, migrant workers came north every year, and their conditions made working former slaves, and immigrants look like kings and queens: the oppressions foisted on Hispanics and Indians of the southwest is truly horrific.  Orientals, and others, were also oppressed.  Their strength was exploited by polarization… divide and conquer works every time.

Magna Carta. it turns out, is only one of a long series of instruments of human oppression.  Maybe the teachers have the will and power to finally overthrow the Magna Carta and its attendant feudalism.  Maybe not….


[i] Still, we continue to idolize and worship the idea of nobility, that some men are better than others, as popularized by Downton Abbey.  What codswallop.

[ii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_banking

[iii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrip

[iv] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

[v] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_Bank

[vi] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution

[vii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression

[viii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II

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