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Vladimir Putin, Canadian “Assault” Knives, Covid Vaccines Cover-up And Mass Anti-Government Protests In Europe

Posted by M. C. on September 9, 2022

The combination of Europe’s asinine allegiance to “green” energy and its sanctions against Russia—which have strangled the flow of oil and natural gas from Moscow—have taken Europe to the brink of a cataclysmic return to an economic Dark Ages.

The same thing will happen in America if we allow our maniacal governmental leaders to force us to try and live without coal, natural gas, propane, crude oil, diesel fuel and gasoline.

https://chuckbaldwinlive.com/Articles/tabid/109/ID/4307/Vladimir-Putin-Canadian-Assault-Knives-Covid-Vaccines-Cover-up-And-Mass-Anti-Government-Protests-In-Europe.aspx

It’s been a busy news week. With all of the information we all are inundated with, I’m using today’s column to highlight four news items I hope you didn’t miss. 

Is Vladimir Putin A Christian?

Russia’s leader has been demonized more than any national leader since Adolf Hitler. Does he deserve it? Is he the monster the mainstream media paints him to be, or is he actually a devout Christian man trying to save his country from a corrupt, decadent West?

From Russian-Faith.com

Putin continuously makes it clear that he envisions Russia as a Christian country.

In 2014, Putin called for the restoration of Kremlin’s historic Chudov (“of the Miracle”) and Voznesensky (Ascension) monasteries both of which were destroyed by the Bolsheviks.  He also wants another church destroyed by the Bolsheviks in the Kremlin to be rebuilt. 

The Kremlin is both the political and historic center not just of Moscow but of Russia.  By calling for the restoration of these Christian buildings Putin repudiated the Soviet legacy with its atheist ideology and its record of anti-Christianity and reaffirms Orthodoxy as the heart of Russian culture. 

A key element of Putin’s worldview is not just his commitment to the Russian Orthodox Church as an institution, but also his admiration for three 19th and 20th century Russian Christian philosophers—Nikolai Berdyaev, Vladimir Solovyov and Ivan Ilyin, all of whom he often quotes in his speeches.  Russia’s regional governors were even instructed to read the works of these philosophers during their 2014 winter holidays.

Studying the causes of Russia’s 20th century tragedy, Ilyin wrote:

“The Russian revolution is a reflection of the religious crisis we are living through now, an attempt to establish an anti-Christian public and state system thought up by Friedrich Nietzsche and economically and politically realized by Karl Marx. This anti-Christian virus was exported to Russia from the West…..

Losing our bond with God and the Christian tradition, mankind has become morally blind and gripped by materialism, irrationalism and nihilism.”

In Ilyin’s view, the way to overcome this global moral crisis is for people to return to “eternal moral values”, which he defined as “faith, love, freedom, conscience, family, motherland and nation” but above all “faith and love”.

“To make Russia great again the Russian people should believe in God.  This faith will strengthen their minds and willpower.  It will make them strong enough to overcome themselves.”

It’s difficult to really know the truth about Putin. I must confess that the more I hear the man speak, the more impressed I am with him. And, no, I haven’t forgotten that words are often cheap.

What I do know is the man who is now identified as America’s president is one of the most corrupt, duplicitous, tyrannical and evil world leaders to ever draw a breath. With a totally warped, wicked, warmongering idiot sitting in the Oval Office, it gives Americans very little room to criticize anyone else’s leader.

Canada’s “Assault” Knives

This past Sunday, at least ten people were murdered in a violent mass knife attack. You read it right: KNIFE.

Here is the report:

At least ten people have been killed and many others injured, after two assailants went on a stabbing spree in multiple locations in a rural area of Saskatchewan province, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police confirmed on Sunday. They warned that the suspects were still at large, and armed and dangerous.

“We have located 10 deceased individuals in 13 locations in the community of James Smith Cree Nation and Weldon, Saskatchewan,” RCMP Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore said at a press conference on Sunday afternoon.

The police official added that “several additional victims have been injured, 15 of which at this point have been transported to various hospitals,” noting that there “may be additional injured victims who transported themselves to hospital,” and urging them to come forward.

“We believe some of the victims have been targeted, while others have been attacked randomly,” Blackmore added.

A public alert about an incident with “mass casualties” was first issued at 7:12am CT (12:12pm GMT) on Sunday. Saskatchewan authorities identified two male suspects as well as their vehicle, and expanded the emergency warning to the entire province.

So, will the communist Justin Trudeau now call for the banning and confiscating of “assault” knives?

It’s too bad that Trudeau has turned Canada into a defenseless populace with his stringent gun control laws, or those Canadian victims could have taught those knife-wielding assailants a vital lesson to “never bring a knife to a gunfight.”

Proof That Serious Safety Problems Existed With The Covid Vaccines And Were Deliberately Covered Up

Steve Kirsch has an explosive investigative report:

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Ukraine’s Top General Doesn’t Rule Out “Limited” Nuclear War

Posted by M. C. on September 9, 2022

If only the US would give Ukraine …more.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukraines-top-general-doesnt-rule-out-limited-nuclear-war

BY TYLER DURDEN

Ukraine’s top military chief has warned that Russia could unleash nukes if its army is against the ropes in Ukraine. The comments were issued Wednesday amid an ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive in the south and east which both Kiev and Washington say has so far had “success”.

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Gen. Valery Zaluzhny stated “There is a direct threat of the use, under certain circumstances, of tactical nuclear weapons by the Russian armed forces.” He wrote this in an op-ed published by state run outlet Ukrinform, with the alarming words being picked up by The Washington Post and others.

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Watch “”Green” Tech Tyranny: “Smart” Thermostats Taken Over In Colorado” on YouTube

Posted by M. C. on September 8, 2022

https://youtu.be/rdxBV017-Tk

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The Bretton Woods Institutions and the Accelerated Dystopian Transformation of the Food Industry

Posted by M. C. on September 8, 2022

Subsequently, in 2020, the IMF stressed the importance of raising the prices of “land-intensive food (for example, beef).” This would help reduce the consumption of animal products by shifting “consumer preferences away” from items like meat, milk, and egg products. In essence, the IMF supports having “taxes levied” on “meat, dairy, and ultra-processed food” in order to “discourage their overconsumption.” 

Time for “World” and “International” institutions to go. Oh ya, guess who is paying for them.

https://mises.org/wire/bretton-woods-institutions-and-accelerated-dystopian-transformation-food-industry

Birsen Filip

The global food industry is currently undergoing a major transformation in the name of averting “climate change” that will involve the adoption of new technologies in the production process and the creation of alternative food products for consumption. Facilitating this transition has become a key priority of many international organizations and institutions, including the World Economic Forum (WEF), the United Nations, and the Bretton Woods institutions, which consist of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

However, while the role of the WEF in the “Great Food Transformation” has been garnering more attention in recent months, those of the IMF, World Bank and WTO have gone relatively unnoticed. Like the WEF, these institutions have been highlighting the negative effects of the agriculture sector on the climate over the past few years, primarily “crop cultivation and livestock production.” They also claim that, in addition to being detrimental to the environment, meat and dairy products are “unhealthy” foods. According to the IMF, “reducing livestock emissions” is among the key actions needed to meet the “climate neutrality target [also known as net-zero emissions] by 2050,” which will also include “replacing polluting coal, gas and oil-fired power with energy from renewable sources, such as wind or solar” in over 120 countries. With respect to agriculture, the IMF advises “diversifying away from beef production” by “applying enhanced farm management practices and new technologies.”

In fact, the IMF published an article in 2019 urging radical changes on the supply side of food production in order to decrease “emissions in agriculture.” Specifically, this article stated that

global production and consumption of red meat (especially beef) and dairy will need to be cut by about 50 percent, through substitution of proteins supplied by plants. Urgent action in the top three beef (United States, Brazil, European Union) and dairy (United States, India, China) producers is key. Second, a large-scale shift is needed away from conventional monoculture agriculture toward practices that support biodiversity, such as organic and mixed crop-livestock farming, sustainable soil management, and ecosystem restoration. Denmark and the Netherlands were among the first countries to announce ambitious organic transformation plans.

Subsequently, in 2020, the IMF stressed the importance of raising the prices of “land-intensive food (for example, beef).” This would help reduce the consumption of animal products by shifting “consumer preferences away” from items like meat, milk, and egg products. In essence, the IMF supports having “taxes levied” on “meat, dairy, and ultra-processed food” in order to “discourage their overconsumption.” According to the IMF:

The average US retail price of a Big Mac, for example, is around $5.60. But with all the hidden expenses of meat production (including health care, subsidies, and environmental losses) the full burden on society is a hefty $12 per sandwich—a price that, if actually charged, could more than halve the US demand for burgers…. Likewise, a gallon of milk would run $9 instead of $3.50 and a store-bought, two-pound package of pork ribs would jump from $12 to $32.

It appears that, much like the WEF, the IMF is so committed to achieving “a Great Food Transformation” that it openly endorses using a centrally planned system to set the quantities and prices of food products to be sold instead of allowing them to be determined through voluntary exchanges in the marketplace, even though this would bring about the demise of economic freedom. The IMF also supports measures aimed at preventing individuals from consuming “animal products for breakfast or lunch.” To encourage the acceptance of these ideas and changes on the part of the people, the IMF has called for promoting the notion that such “dietary changes would entail health benefits as well as public spending savings.”

According to the IMF, achieving “a Great Food Transformation” will also require the redirection of state subsidies and loans toward “sustainable farms producing plant-based protein for human consumption and toward incentives for innovation on alternative proteins and smart farming technologies.” It would also involve “removing tax expenditure favoring products with emission-intensity,” such as “dairy/meat products,” and “providing financial support to R&D initiatives on emission reduction and carbon capture in agriculture.” Additionally, the IMF is of the view that stripping financial institutions of the ability to “lend to nonsustainable agri-food firms” would “provide essential support to a Great Food Transformation.”

See the rest here

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Doug Casey on the Controlled Demolition of Food and Energy Supplies

Posted by M. C. on September 8, 2022

It’s as if the world’s governments decided to unleash the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Pestilence, War, Famine, and Conquest). The Covid hysteria and subsequent Vax mania can stand in for Pestilence. The US proxy war against Russia in the Ukraine has every chance of getting much worse. Vastly higher commodity prices caused by central bank inflation and State dictates will cause famine in poor countries. As for the Fourth Horseman, Conquest? That’s best translated as State Power. Kings and rulers, of course, but it evidences itself as socialism and authoritarianism today. We’re in for tough times. The Four Horsemen are saddling up.

by Doug Casey

Doug Casey on the Controlled Demolition of Food and Energy Supplies

International Man: Russia is one of the largest producers of fertilizer in the world, and tensions with the US and EU are disrupting supplies.

In addition, it seems there is a deliberate effort to sabotage the global agriculture industry.

For example, in the Netherlands, the government is restricting the use of nitrogen fertilizer under the ridiculous pretext that it’s needed to combat so-called “climate change.” Dutch farmers have protested the measures because they believe they will destroy their livelihoods and cause food shortages.

In Canada, the Trudeau government has announced a similar policy. Other governments will likely follow.

What’s your take on this? Is this a deliberate plan to disrupt food supplies?

Doug Casey: This meme has been circulating, along with three related ones, for a couple of years.

It’s as if the world’s governments decided to unleash the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Pestilence, War, Famine, and Conquest). The Covid hysteria and subsequent Vax mania can stand in for Pestilence. The US proxy war against Russia in the Ukraine has every chance of getting much worse. Vastly higher commodity prices caused by central bank inflation and State dictates will cause famine in poor countries. As for the Fourth Horseman, Conquest? That’s best translated as State Power. Kings and rulers, of course, but it evidences itself as socialism and authoritarianism today. We’re in for tough times. The Four Horsemen are saddling up.

But let’s look at Famine. Few people realize that before the Industrial Revolution, which only started in the 19th C, the world was perennially on the edge of mass starvation. Privation and hunger were normal. Hobbes was accurate when he said that life was “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” The Industrial Revolution, powered by coal and then oil, changed the nature of life itself. Food has become abundant and is now, by far, at the cheapest levels in history.

That may be changing. Basic commodities like wheat, soybeans, and corn have doubled in the last couple of years—incomes haven’t. I doubt this is just a cyclical self-adjusting fluctuation. It’s much more serious.

So what’s going on? What’s the deeper cause behind it?

The great Covid hysteria was the catalyst that put WEF’s “Great Reset” in motion. Even though the flu itself turned out to be a big nothing, it brought on a collapse in economic activity. The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, a place few think about, seemed to lead the way. Its rulers decided to make it the most ESG-compliant country in the world at the very time tourism collapsed because of the pandemic hysteria. The government banned imported fertilizers in 2021, and production of tea and rice collapsed 50%. Sri Lanka made the news because of the depths of its self-caused disaster. I wonder, since Sri Lanka is an island with a very authoritarian government, whether this was an experiment to see what happens if you cut off all fertilizers and create an agricultural crisis in a country. Does it sound crazy? I think it’s a real question. It’s crazy—but it’s exactly what happened.

Is it possible that the world’s elite have decided, among themselves, that the world has too many people and that too many of them are what the WEF’s court intellectual, Yuval Noah Harari, has called “useless mouths”? With few exceptions, all the world’s leaders are members of the World Economic Forum. They all have common interests, share the same elitist/collectivist philosophy, promote each other, and have a common party line.

The elite are to blame for the problems that we have now, the release of the Four Horsemen.

This isn’t a conspiracy theory. This is just a recognition of the fact that birds of a feather flock together. And once members of the elite become internationally influential or control a government, they become a “class.”

I hate to sound Marxist talking about class interests, but it’s true. The people who run most governments are much more loyal to their class—the international elite—than they are to their constituents or their countrymen.

They think alike. They went to the same schools, they go to the same clubs, read the same books, go to the same conferences, have the same worldview, and become friends with each other. They’re influenced by the same influencers. So what’s going on right now is not just an accident.

International Man: The Biden regime recently passed the Inflation Reduction Act. It aims to reduce inflation by creating more inflation.

A large part of this Orwellian spending bill includes an astronomical $369 billion for boondoggles related to “climate change.”  

What do you think about this?

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The Right to Be Left Alone

Posted by M. C. on September 8, 2022

Every move you make
And every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I’ll be watching you.
— “Every Breath You Take,” Song by The Police

Today, this is the most violated of personal rights; not by judges signing search warrants for surveillance, but by government officials — local, state and federal — ignoring and evading the natural right to privacy and pretending that the Fourth Amendment does not apply to them. 

By Andrew P. Napolitano

The Right to Be Left Alone

Every move you make
And every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I’ll be watching you.
— “Every Breath You Take,” Song by The Police

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to privacy. Like other amendments in the Bill of Rights, it doesn’t create the right; it limits government interference with it. Last week, President Joe Biden misquoted the late Justice Antonin Scalia suggesting that Justice Scalia believed that the Bill of Rights creates rights. As Justice Scalia wrote, referring to the right to keep and bear arms but reflecting his view on the origins of all personal liberty, the Bill of Rights secures rights, it doesn’t create them; it secures them from the government.

Those who drafted the Bill of Rights recognized that human rights are pre-political. They precede the existence of the government. They come from our humanity, and, in the case of privacy, they are reinforced by our ownership or legal occupancy of property.

The idea that rights come from our humanity is called Natural Law theory, which was first articulated by Aristotle in 360 B.C. The natural law teaches that there are aspects of human existence and thus areas of human behavior that are not subject to the government. Aristotle’s views would later be refined by Cicero, codified by Aquinas, explained by John Locke, and woven into Anglo-American jurisprudence by British jurists and American revolutionaries and constitutional framers.

Thus, our rights to think as we wish, to say what we think, to publish what we say, to worship or not, to associate or not, to defend ourselves from crazies and tyrants, to own property, and to be left alone are all hard-wired into our human natures by God, the uncaused cause. Nature is the means through which God passes along His gifts to us. We come about by a biological act of nature, every step of which was ordained by God. His greatest gift to us is life, and He tied that gift to free will. Just as He is perfectly free, so are we.

In exercising our free wills, we employ rights. Rights are claims against the whole world. They don’t require approval of a government or neighbors or colleagues. The same rights exist in everyone no matter their place of birth, and each person exercises them as she or he sees fit. The government should only come into the picture when someone violates another’s natural rights. So, if someone builds a house in your backyard, you can knock it down and expel the builders or you can ask the government to do so.

Suppose the builders haven’t consented to the existence of the government? That does not absolve them. Though government is only moral and legal in a society in which all persons have consented to it — this is Thomas Jefferson’s “consent of the governed” argument in the Declaration of Independence — the only exception to actual consent is the use of government to remedy a violation of natural rights.

Professor Murray Rothbard examined all this under his non-aggression principle (NAP): Initiating or threatening force or deception against a person or his rights is always morally illicit. This applies to all aggression, even — and especially — from the government. The folks building a house in your backyard have either used force or deception to get there. Both violate your natural rights and the NAP.

Now, back to the Fourth Amendment and privacy. In a famous dissent in 1928, which two generations later became the law of the land, the late Justice Louis Brandeis argued that government surveillance constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment and thus, per the express language of the amendment, cannot be conducted by the government without a warrant issued by a judge. He famously called privacy the right most valued by civilized persons and described it as “the right to be let alone.”

Today, this is the most violated of personal rights; not by judges signing search warrants for surveillance, but by government officials — local, state and federal — ignoring and evading the natural right to privacy and pretending that the Fourth Amendment does not apply to them. 

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Swiss Citizens Who Overheat Their Homes This Winter Could Face Hefty Fines & 3 Years In Jail

Posted by M. C. on September 8, 2022

Ya but, isn’t one of the purposes of the US instigated Ukraine war to halt Nord Stream 2?

When Biden said we must prepare to suffer for Ukraine he meant the entire planet.

Tyler Durden's Photo

BY TYLER DURDEN

https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/swiss-citizens-who-overheat-their-homes-winter-could-face-hefty-fines-nd-3-years-jail

After the Swiss and Finns joined the Germans, Austrians, and Swedes in bailing out there energy providers, who are facing trillions in margin calls; new legislation covering Switzerland’s energy supply will make heating homes to more than 19°C unlawful in the event of an energy shortage.

In addition, hot water should not be heated to more than 60 degrees, and portable electric heaters, saunas, and heated swimming pools are prohibited.

Remix News’ Thomas Brooke reports that Swiss citizens found to be in violation of the country’s new heating rules, which prohibit warming homes above 19°C this winter, could face daily fines of up to 3,000 Swiss francs and up to three years in prison.

To note, the World Health Organization has long held that a temperature no colder than 20°C is recommended for children, the elderly, and those with existing health conditions.

Markus Spörndli, a spokesperson of the Swiss Department of Economics (DEF) explained that “infringements of the law on the supply of the country are always misdemeanors, even […] crimes, and must be prosecuted ex officio by the cantons.”

The fine to be imposed on consumers found to be violating the new energy laws will range from 30 francs up to a maximum of 3,000 francs per day, Spörndli said, confirming the amount would be dependent on the nature of the offense and the economic situation of the perpetrator.

Furthermore, willful violations of the government guidelines could see consumers jailed for up to three years in prison, something Spörndli says the government hopes to avoid.

“The draft ordinances are based primarily on the fact that the vast majority of the population respects the laws,” he added.

Economy Minister Guy Parmelin told a press conference at the Federal Council last Wednesday that Switzerland is “not a police state,” but it is understood, as reported by Swiss news outlet Blick, that there may be spot checks undertaken to ensure people are complying with the rules.

Swiss cantons now have until Sept. 22 to discuss the proposals and address how they may be enforced, with some officials concerned they may be inundated with citizen complaints from nosy neighbors.

As such, the DEF only expects fines to be dished out “if the infringement was reported and checked and could then be proven.”

However, police chiefs believe enforcement will be difficult.

“There are still a few open questions that need to be clarified,” Fredy Fässler told Blick, adding that he does not want to see the energy police going door to door: “We want to apply the ordinance with discernment.”

As we previously highlighted, numerous other European countries are introducing similar restrictions in the face of a worsening energy crisis following the shut down of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

French economist Charles Gave said many more people aren’t buying the narrative that Vladimir Putin is solely to blame for the crisis.

“For the last 15 years, our European leaders have gone into a climate craze, promoting magic mirrors and windmills as the solution. It does not work. These solutions demand the same capacity in gas power plants,” Gave said.

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The Guy that Believed Biden’s Speech

Posted by M. C. on September 7, 2022

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Sweden and Finland May Be Making a Fatal Blunder

Posted by M. C. on September 7, 2022

by Ted Galen Carpenter

The republic’s public finances were dire, Mexico continued to pose a looming military threat, and major European countries all eyed the infant country as a possible geopolitical pawn. Nevertheless, the decision to join the Union soon proved to be disastrous, since Texas did so just in time to become part of America’s slide into civil war. The Swedes and Finns must now hope that opting for NATO membership does not lead to a similar calamitous outcome.

antiwar.com

US and other Western leaders are beaming at the impending addition of Sweden and Finland to NATO, although there still is an outside chance that Turkey might block their admission to the Alliance. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has hinted darkly that he may do so, unless the two candidate countries make certain concessions. He professes to be especially concerned about Sweden’s reluctance to extradite Kurdish “terrorists.” Given Erdogan’s long record of cynical opportunism on other issues, it is more likely that his threat is merely a bargaining tactic to show Ankara’s clout.

In addition to wanting policy concessions from Stockholm and Helsinki, he has sought concessions from the United States as NATO’s leader. His diplomatic hardball has already produced one benefit: Biden’s decision to approve a major sale of F-16 fighters to Turkey, a sale that had been on extended hold. Biden denied that there was any connection to Ankara’s position on NATO’s Nordic expansion, saying that “there was no quid pro quo with that; it was just that we should sell.” The timing of the White House approval, however, suggested otherwise. In any case, once Erdogan finishes with his diplomatic drama, NATO will have two new members.

Both countries bring significant military assets to the Alliance. Sweden, in particular, has a very capable, modern military, including a first-class air force. Finland possesses a smaller, less significant military force, but it has an 830-mile border with Russia. For NATO hawks, that situation is considered a major benefit, rather than another dangerous provocation toward Moscow. One might think that seeing the disastrous results of the West’s policy of making Ukraine a NATO military pawn would inhibit such recklessness with regard to Finland. Clearly, that is not the case, however.

The Kremlin’s reaction to the latest phase of NATO’s expansion has thus far been surprisingly mild. Moscow did inform both countries that if they joined the Alliance, Russia would be compelled to reposition its nuclear forces to focus more on Scandinavia, but there have not yet been any warnings that adding Sweden or even Finland crosses a “red line”—a warning that Vladimir Putin and other officials issued on several occasions with respect to Ukraine. One can hope that such restraint continues.

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The Republic has Flatlined

Posted by M. C. on September 7, 2022

The weaponization of the federal government has become complete with the creation of 87,000 armed IRS agents trained to kill, and with the Biden Administration’s open policy of criminalizing political opposition for the crime of wanting to Make America Great Again.

Dr. Joseph Sansone

https://josephsansone.substack.com/p/the-republic-has-flatlined

The comparison of America to ancient Rome is routine for a few reasons. Western civilization and culture are largely an extension of ancient Roman civilization. Even our Judeo-Christian heritage was shaped by Rome with Emperor Constantine and the Council of Nicaea.  Specifically, the American republic is a reincarnation of the ancient Roman republic. Although, the ancient Roman influence was present throughout the Dark Ages and Middle Ages, the Italian Renaissance created a cultural identification with the ancient Roman republic and inspired classical education for centuries in Western Europe.

The Italian Renaissance was the epitome of Charles Dicken’s immortal words “it was the best of times; it was the worst of times”. An age of enlightenment that produced Michele Angelo and Leonardo Davinci, and city state republics creating a short lived new golden age (i.e. Renaissance) in Italy that riveled that of ancient Greece. It also produced Machiavelli’s The Prince and was marked by constant violence and assassinations.

This rebirth of civilization tapped into an energy that laid dormant for a thousand years. The Romans had three distinct political periods. The kings, the republic, and then of course, the empire. The American founding fathers modeled the American republic after the Roman republic and started an experiment that changed the world. The Roman republic lasted approximately 450 years. That is uncommon. The truth is that most republics don’t last that long. The elected representatives’ degree of corruption usually reaches a boiling point, which leads to a dictatorship.

When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, he was cheered as he was actually rescuing the citizens from the tyranny of the senators, as their level of corruption and oppression reached a pain threshold that could no longer be endured. The Roman senators were the technocrats of the age. The senate’s brutal assassination of Julius Caesar was arguably not to save the republic, it was to save the gravy train. Civil war followed and then Rome had an emperor Augustus and pax Romana began a new golden age for Rome.

This pattern of republics becoming corrupt and failing is maybe best exemplified by Poland. In the late 1700s Poland’s republic, weakened after civil conflict, had became so corrupt that its legislators gradually sold off partitions of the country to Russia, Prussia, and Austria, and eventually, the country ceased to exist. This was partly due to corruption and partly due to intimidation. Napoleon attempted to create a Polish area of self government, and there was another brief attempt, but essentially, Poland was not a sovereign state again until it was reinstated after World War I in the early 20th century.

America’s republican roots run deeper than Rome. They actually trace back to the Etruscans. The Etruscans were considered the holy people of the ancient world. Unique from all other cultures, the Etruscans prophesized and knew their distinct culture would only last a thousand years. Although, it did not actually die, as much of it was absorbed by Roman culture. The original twelve cities were on hilltops spreading across northern central Italy from coast to coast. The cities were originally ruled by the Lucumo, the god king. The Lucumoni eventually waned in power and were replaced by kings and then republics sprung up among the city states.

Etruscan culture was decentralized, however, and the cities were a confederacy. The fasces, made up of twelve rods and a double headed ax, represented the twelve original cities. This symbol was later bastardized by 20th century fascists. Arguably Etruria was the most advanced civilization at the time. The Etruscans were so wealthy that their slaves owned property and operated businesses and woman had equal rights. The next time you go out to dinner with another couple, recognize that this tradition started with the Etruscans. As a navel power the Etruscans riveled ancient Greece and the Phoenicians.

The wealth and power that accumulated in Etruria may be partly credited to its decentralized confederacy and open society. In fact, this distribution of power was evident in Etruscan cosmology, Tinia, the Etruscan equivalent to Jupiter Optimus Maximus and Zeus, had to consult with his committee of gods before striking you dead with a thunderbolt. Due process. An interesting concept. Although fierce in combat, it has also been argued that the Etruscans were too decentralized, and this hampered military coordination. The original American articles of confederacy may have resembled the Etruscan system more so than the Romans. This thinking that too much decentralization leads to weakness from external threats led to the U.S. Constitution and the creation of a more centralized system.

Caveat. The more centralized system of government envisioned by the American founding fathers is nothing like we see today. It is safe to say that if General Washington were alive today, he would have formed a continental army and replaced our current government in the past two and a half years.

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