RonZeplin
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Major shake-ups are occurring across the global stage. History is replete with examples of breaks with the past from major political, economic, technological, and social upheaval. Throughout the ages, many self-serving individuals and groups have positioned themselves as rulers, financiers, benefactors, and thought leaders to steer change toward preferred outcomes. From the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt to the Jacobin and Napoleon-led French Revolution in the late 18th century, societal transformation has been constant as one form of government replaces another. Global Research Jesse Smith December 19, 2024 We have now arrived at yet another historical inflection point. The desire for political and economic reconstruction is being demanded globally as the gap between the ultra-wealthy and everyone else continues to accelerate. In recent years, populism has taken flight by inspiring the masses to reject the rule of “the elite” and chart a new course. However, without scrutiny, this movement and its key figures could be just as dangerous as the establishment they are attempting to usurp. In fact, what we are witnessing is not populism in its truest sense but techno-populism or technocracy, as it has been called since its inception in 1920.

By Caitlin Johnstone CaitlinJohnstone.com December 18, 2024 Billionaire Peter Thiel had a fascinating televised moment the other day when asked by Piers Morgan what he thought about the public making a hero of the man suspected of murdering health insurance CEO Brian Thompson. The way he stumbled and stuttered when trying to answer the question gives a lot of insight into how terrified such people are of the public turning against them one day. “And to those who think this shooter is a hero, because he did it because he said this healthcare executive is presiding over a healthcare system which kills thousands of Americans by denying them cover, what would you say to them?” Morgan asked. Thiel paused for a long time, and then stuttered for a long time, and then eventually got out the words, “It’s, I don’t know what, what to say? I, I think I still think you have, you should try to make an argument. And I, I think this is, this is you should, you know, there may be things wrong with our health care system, but you have, you have to make an argument, and you have to try to find a way to convince people and and change, change it by by that, and this is, you know, this is not going to work.”

By Gary D. Barnett December 17, 2024 “Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of leaders…and millions have been killed because of this obedience…Our problem is that people are obedient allover the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves… (and) the grand thieves are running the country. That’s our problem.” ~ Howard Zinn Never Be Fooled by any Politician

Mises Wire Vincent Cook 12/16/2024 President-elect Donald Trump’s announced cabinet and White House staff appointments for his next administration have attracted praise from supporters, outrage from opponents, and even criticism from libertarian podcasters like Ron Paul and Radio Rothbard hosts Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop regarding Trump’s hawkish national security picks. Everyone agrees that “personnel is policy” though, meaning that the outspoken policy preferences of many of Trump’s appointees marks a sharp departure from the status quo in Washington DC. Much like the former Cold War sport of “Kremlinology”—where pundits and academics claimed to discern shifts in Soviet policy by observing which personalities were standing closest to the Great Leader during Red Square military parades or by reading between the lines of whatever banal statements Pravda and Izvestia were publishing about them—contemporary observers of American politics now attempt to do the same thing based on which personalities are being trotted out at Trump’s rallies and what Trump writes about them on his Truth Social posts. A number of news outlets have even started excitedly parsing Trump’s statements to speculate about the current status of what they call Trump’s “bromance” with Elon Musk and its possible policy implications. Some credit the phrase “personnel is policy” to Ronald Reagan’s Director of Personnel, Scott Faulkner, who used it to argue for the appointment of hard-line conservatives during Reagan’s 1980 transition. Think tank wonks and pundits have since widely adopted it as a truism for every presidential transition, without paying much attention to what such a phrase implies about the nature of America’s political system. So how do we reconcile this phrase with the old-fashioned notion that America is a republic governed by elected office-holders whose powers are constitutionally limited and separated from one another?