a republic, if you can keep it, by el gato malo

Never expect government to protect your liberty or your rights. From el gato malo at boriquagato.substack.com:

the greatest threat to liberty is not elected government, it’s the permanent state that has increasingly come to dominate it and shade our perceptions of reality

ben franklin was famously asked what manner of government the american constitutional convention had produced. his response was the epitome of prescience and brevity:

“a republic, if you can keep it.”

the foundation of a system of just government rooted in the inalienable rights of the individual does not and cannot rest upon the state.

it rests upon the people.

we must be our own ultimate guarantors of liberty.

and this takes courage.

and anyone who claims otherwise is stealing something.

but there is a codicil here people seem to forget: liberty is no defense against being misled. if you’re getting garbage facts into your decision matrix, guess what comes out the other end?

and this is why we may need to extend our ideas about the emerging reputation economy a bit further.

i was having a conversation with gatopal™ gerodoc the other day. he said this:

“I feel like it’s hard to analyze why our system fails us so badly without analyzing the effects of the intel community & how they are pushing & nudging things just under the surface.”

he then posted a tinfoil meme as though he was expecting to get roasted.

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