The Mandrake Mechanism-(How the Fed Creates Money)

The Creature from Jekyll Island -Book Excerpt ^ | May 1998 | G. Edward Griffin

[Southack]

I've never had a problem keeping my earnings, nor do I have a problem paying the legal taxes due on said profits. If I don't want to pay taxes, I can either stop working or else move somewhere else (not bloody likely).

[Southack]

What specific investment have you been prohibited from making? That's certainly never happened to me.

[zechariah]

That's odd because I've never had that problem (re: pharmaceuticals).

Only because you presented a government-approved prescription issued by a government-approved doctor to a governement-approved pharmacist. Any thing else is illegal.

[z]

[zechariah]

Regarding your freedom to wear a gun, you certainly don't live here in Alabama, where open carry is the legal law of the land throughout our fine state. Pity that your state prohibits the same.

I like to travel. On airplanes. Taking a gun onto an airplane is illegal.

[z]

[zechariah]

I've never had a problem keeping my earnings, nor do I have a problem paying the legal taxes due on said profits. If I don't want to pay taxes, I can either stop working or else move somewhere else (not bloody likely).

Serfs in feudal Europe paid a lesser percentage of their crops to the land owners than Americans pay to the government. Government has come to believe that it is entitled to my money. You seem to agree.

[z]

[Southack]

Yes, but as I said, I haven't been *denied* any pharaceuticals, thus, I am free in that regard as well as in others.

You seem to be headed towards a very old, long-since disproven argument, so let's get it out in the open so that the temptation to hide behind it subsides.

To wit: you can disingenuously say that you aren't free to drive anywhere that you want because legally, you are forbidden from driving down the wrong way on a 1 way street, but in reality, you can get where ever you want to go by simply following the rules.

You see, having to follow rules does NOT ipso facto mean that you aren't free. Anarchy is not freedom, but rather anarchy binds everyone to the law of the jungle where the strong prey on the weak as they see fit.

[AdamSelene235]

IF indeed *you* aren't free, please explain what *you* are forbidden to do

Exercise my 2nd Amendment right to bear arms.

Retain the fruits of my labor.

Engage in commerce or peaceful political activity without being monitored by the police/treasury/irs/etc.

Own property without paying tribute to a political authority.

and so on.

[zechariah]

What specific investment have you been prohibited from making? That's certainly never happened to me.

Oh, you didn't know that certain investments are illegal if you are not an Accredited Investor?

[z]

[Southack]

No, taking a gun on an airplane is NOT illegal. Now, carrying a loaded gun onto an airline's passenger aircraft might fall under numerous laws, but I carry my loaded gun on my private aircraft whenever I feel like it.

Freedom isn't free. If you want to exercise that particular freedom, then save your money and buy your own aircraft.

I certainly did.

[Southack]

Your list strikes me as bizarre, as I have all of the freedoms that you seem to be denied, except that you list one item that seems rather out of place: i.e. your desire to engage in public activity (e.g. commerce, banking) without being "observed" by the government.

There is no freedom from being publicly observed, as any highway patrolman will tell you as you blast down a public road.

[AdamSelene235]

Anarchy is not freedom, but rather anarchy binds everyone to the law of the jungle where the strong prey on the weak as they see fit.

A Constitutional Republic is not Anarchy.

[antidisestablishment]

Hmmm... seems like the author is taking the evil fiat money in return for his book. What's up with that?

I've got no problem with people who propose that our banking system is immoral, illogical or even illegal, but why is it they all seem willing to take the very notes they demonize? If they want to be believed, they need to start with their own finances and leave us fools to deal with our worthless paper.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Snore. So you want the benefit of a stable infrastructure without having to pay for it, together with anarchy.

Grow up - quit being yet another libertarian parasite, sucking at the lifeblood of society like a swelled tick.

[AdamSelene235]

There is no freedom from being publicly observed, as any highway patrolman will tell you as you blast down a public road.

So I suppose you apply this to library books as well. Why would a person mind if their reading habits are monitored?

One nearby city keeps secret police files on those speak out on Constitutional issues.

American citizens are losing their right to a jury trial and a lawyer.

Individually, there are good justifications for all of these facts. Collectively, they're profoundly disturbing.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Patiot Act II should be out soon and the sunset provisions of Patriot Act I may be revoked in a few weeks.

Get the picture?

[billbears]

What we need to do is bring back the Bank of the United States...

That's the last thing we need.

[AdamSelene235]

So you want the benefit of a stable infrastructure

The "stable" bit is getting highly questionable.

[AdamSelene235]

without having to pay for it,

I pay more in taxes than the average salary in this nation.

Grow up - quit being yet another libertarian parasite, sucking at the lifeblood of society like a swelled tick

Sorry, do I know you?

[Southack]

Looking at public records (even library books) is not a prohibition on "freedom".

Government agencies keeping files on various activities is likewise not a prohibition on "freedom".

No wonder you don't think that you are free...

[AdamSelene235]

Government agencies keeping files on various activities is likewise not a prohibition on "freedom".

No but when the BATF uses them to raid the financiers of pro-freedom radio shows, its starts to smell kinda funny.

[Southack]

No, American citizens are not in the process of "losing" their rights to trial by jury.

Now, some Americans can be DENIED the right to a jury trial if they are caught fighting Americans on a battlefield, as more than 1,000 Americans found out during World War Two after answering Hitler's call for all Aryan's to return to Germany to fight for the Reich (7 of whom were sent back to America to engage in sabotage via U-boats), but you don't stop a battle to hold a trial for your enemy simply because she still has U.S. citizenship (you simply shoot them).