Freedom of Thought, Freedom of the Press, and Freedom of Religion
Why these ideas matter, and what we can do to make sure they survive the next wave of communism
It isn’t every day that we see examples of people coming together. After all, this is contrary to how the regime media operates. Divide and Conquer, always. Never unite and bridge the gap.
It’s been many years that I’ve been a casual observer of the madness. I have avoided putting forth my perspective into the proverbial pot, merely because I do not wish to further divide anyone from the rest.
But here is where I plant my flag, so to speak, and open the door for brotherhood to return, once again.
2019: the scene? China, or so we are told. A virus spreads like wildfire, infecting everyone and every living thing it touches. Fruit. FRUIT has covid-19.
This mantra, of this viral weapon, was used to hurt people. It was used to divide families into little shards of their once former unity. It was used to separate the sheep from the herd, as millions kowtowed to their government-controlled narratives.
DO THIS TO PROTECT OTHER PEOPLE. Who didn’t see this as a farce? Nothing you do, individually, protects other people, unless you’re fighting, tooth and nail, to protect them from the state, or whatever enemy prevents itself.
The enemy this time, was intelligence and critical thinking. People gave up so much to fit in, the ultimate conformity, it sickened me. Watching people who I cared about doing things that hurt themselves, only to get sick with that same “virus” soon after. It was as if everything I had ever feared had come to fruition. People abandoned their questioning of science, their questioning of authority, and their questioning of reality, in favor of coerced conformity.
Doesn’t that sound dystopian to you? Coerced conformity: DO THIS or else you won’t be allowed to go to the grocery store to buy food to feed yourself or your family. Do this or else you won’t be allowed to work and earn money to be able to BUY the food in the first place. Do this or else you won’t be allowed to travel. Do this or else.
Or else what? Do you honestly believe that these people who claim authority over us have the collective courage to do anything, themselves?
I’m a Russian historian, I studied the course of actions that led up to, governed the existence of, and witnessed the fall of, the Soviet Union. By the end of the 1980s, it was obvious to anyone paying attention that the system had failed.
Not only had the Soviet system failed, but it had led to the erosion of productivity and the elimination of motivation to try. Effort was not rewarded differently from inaction. This is key to remember. People were paid to sit on their asses and NOT WORK just the same as the people who still put in the effort to do the work.
This was not capitalism. This was socialism. Collectivized laziness led to economic ruin. What was left of the Russian economy in 1991? Nothing. It was sold for spare parts to the business interests that had laid in wait for generations to take power. You may have heard the stories, these wealthy businessmen bought up entire industries in Russia and former Soviet “Republics” for pennies on the dollar.
Many of these businessmen retain control of those very same industries to this day. What have we learned from this? Well, the people who write public policy have clearly learned nothing at all. This doesn’t surprise me, I’ve seen this all before. It happened already in Russia in the 1990s. During that dark time in Russia’s history, people starved, they went broke, there were nationwide shortages of basic goods and services.
The domestic manufacturing capability of the entire country stagnated. The US-based Military-Industrial-Complex outspent and outproduced the Soviet Union in the arms race. The Russian economy was left a shell of its former glory. Some may even argue that Russia was better off under the Romanov Dynasty, than it was under the yoke of the Bolsheviks.
This is where the topic leads to today: the Bolshevik Revolution.
To those who are unaware, the Bolsheviks were not Russians. In fact, they hated Russians, just like so many wealthy financial interests in Europe do today. The Bolsheviks were foreign-financed, foreign-armed, and foreign-trained. They infiltrated the Workers’ Party of Russia following the beginning of the first phase of the European War of Imperialism in 1914.
The Bolsheviks made all sorts of promises to the workers. If they were brought to power, the workers would control the means of production! No more would the factory owners dictate work hours and wages, it would all be equalized, and everyone would get their fair share.
Where have you heard this all before? That’s right - the Democratic Socialist strain of communism that infiltrated the very same Workers’ Party movement in the United States before that very same war.