Gang-Tackling the 900-Pound Gorilla
Or how to achieve inner peace by adroitly subduing the rampaging beast in our collective living room

Let me make an argument by this analogy:

Let's assume we're simply an ordinary
bunch of middle-aged, middle-class Americans living in Michigan, we go to work—well, we used to go to work—, we may have children in still in school, or our children have moved on to have families of their own. And the whole bunch of us are trying to hold on to our homes and jobs, maybe getting the little woman to do some sewing down at the local sweatshop, and having junior kick in his tips from Applebee's.

Times are tough. [Switching to second person]:

Continuously in job-search mode—even while employed—you don't really have time to seriously party, much less take those stimulating vacations to the vacant ore smelters and steel mills of Gary, Indiana, as you did in your carefree youth. But the wife does insist on a social life, so you've been going to the church at the end of the block and developing some friendships in the neighborhood. Tonight's your night to host the Meet and Greet and have everyone over to the place for a barbecue.

It's exciting, the guests start arriving; Debbie has made some killer h'ordeuvres out of toothpaste and peanut butter; the beer, whiskey, and Boone's Farm are flowing like your frat days at State. You're thinking to yourself, "Wow, I sure feel sorry for those poor bastards who can't afford the good life." Then you notice out of the corner of your eye, that damned HAIRY CREATURE who's been hanging around the domicile for, like, years. (At first, you thought it was the mother-in-law skirting about, but it doesn't have as much facial stub—nor does it constantly shriek at you for leaving the toilet seat up.)

And it's BIG, though somewhat furtive, and acts as if it belongs here. Frankly, it's scary and you would rather not deal with it; every time you bring up the soiled carpets and broken light fixtures with the missus, she accuses you of being negative... spoiling all those sophisticated, feng shui changes she got from Oprah. "Jeff, be a good husband and don't bother me with all this ugliness. It's so low class." "But dear," you hold forth, "there's something there. It's as big as a damned gorilla. Don't you see it?" "Sure I see it," she comes back, "I let him inside as a baby. He was so cute. He's never bothered the children, and calls me Ma'am."

What's a fellah to do?

Tonight is different, though. Not only is your personal family apester punching holes in the walls and piddlin' in the fish tank, he's making hand gestures to the guests and leering at the hotter young wives and daughters, including your own. Your visitors take their cues from you and Debbie: though most of them eye the beast nervously, they figure having one's own family Bigfoot is some trendy new behavior from the pages of Vogue... like tattooing a left testicle.

Well, everyone plays it cool, that is, except your best friend, Fred. Fred's a guy with modest brainpower but who tends to call an ape an ape, and wades into life from the front row. Grabbing a fireplace poker and moving toward it, Fred exclaims in a loud voice, "Hey, Jeff, there's a gorilla in your living room!" Damn. You were afraid of this. Now the guests are going to be upset—not at the gorilla, but at Fred—for ruining their evening... throwing the proverbial turd into the punch bowl. And Debbie is apoplectic, she wants you to send Fred home right this minute.

Only thing is, you suspect Fred is onto something. Mainly you're honestly concerned that your bud will draw the attention of Sasquatch here, and that the beast will make quick work of ol' Fred... a man alone. Then maybe start in on you, the kids, Debbie, the guests, the dog, etc.

So you say to yourself, "So many decisions. Why do I always have to be the one to make the big decisions? Maybe Bigfoot will go away. Maybe Bigfoot is just a figment of somebody's imagination. Help."

That's my "gorilla in the parlor" analogy to the reality of our political condition, today.

Real Deal: The Anthropology of Social Threats

Recently during a presentation by Jennifer Bixby at the Mid-Michigan Atheists and Humanists—she was reviewing David Wilson's book Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, religion, and the nature of society—she mentioned studies on how various species respond collectively to threats from a predator. For example, if a cat is loose in the yard, a bird that makes the first sounds of alarm is likely to be the cat's immediate target.

Similarly, in our human societies, the leaders of the resistance to tyranny receive most of the tyrants' attention. Or more to the point in our partially free American society: those of us who point out the ravages of a bully or would-be tyrant—analogous to the gorilla above—will likely feel that bully's wrath first... just like dealing with the cops in a corrupt town... or the IRS. Moreover, the fear factor among the general population works in several ways to the advantage of the aggressor:

by distorting awareness through the hope or pretense that the threat does not exist
by appealing to any natural inclinations most people have toward taking the easy way out
by generating emotional antagonism toward the whistle blowers

Still the aggressor can be dealt with successfully, neutralized for the good of the whole, without the loss of (much) life or limb. How?

Real Deal: Removing the Gorilla of the Oligarchy

Readers of my columns have heard basically everything I have to say about "the Oligarchy" and the Sacred Nonaggression Principle, and how the proper implementation of the latter is the antidote to the former. The Oligarchy in a real sense rules our world—through all the modern instruments of deceit, mind-control, and aggression—and thus is difficult to envision as a disruptive invader. Still, in the scheme of a human social system, the matrix of voluntary relationships has to be considered the healthy organism and the engine of coercion the threat, the predator, the disease... the gorilla in the living room of civilization.

So here are my suggestions for how we, as cognizant humans, can eliminate the threat of the Oligarchical robbers and killers (the Kleptocons) in a coordinated fashion. This is my proposed "throw the net over it," my metaphorical gorilla gang tackle. I see five key components to the process, let's refer to them as the Five Steps:

Acknowledge/understand the threat
Emphasize/demonstrate the benefits
Proselytize/implement the SNaP
Embrace/develop political movements
(In America) promote Jesse Ventura for President (!)[1]

These proposals tie in with the three reasons I gave above for why the aggressors have some inherent advantage. And, again, because I've covered the bases with several columns and reviews previously, I'll confine my descriptions to only a paragraph or two per heading—providing links as I go along.

Acknowledge/understand the threat

Probably the biggest part of the problem is that relatively few Americans, and virtually none who like to receive their news from broadcast television or corporate daily newspapers, feel there's a gorilla in the living room. The mass ignorance factor—especially noteworthy in the resistance to 9/11 Truth—is purely the result of roughly two centuries of mind control practically cemented in place through forced government 'schooling' and money-power monopoly control over most sources of political-economic information.

The spirit of independence lives—you can see it in the Ron Paul phenomenon, the Free State Project, the Liberty Dollar and the movement to separate state from money, home-and-community schooling, alternative living paradigms, and many other behaviors—but "so long as the Matrix exists, the human race can never be free."[2] Until the central dominating entity, what I designate the Kleptocons, is removed, probably the greater mass of humans will be little more than moderately high-tech automatons. So for those of us who have broken with the Matrix, now is the time to step up to the truth, so we can free the others and defeat the Ollies.

Emphasize/demonstrate the benefits

What's always amazed me is the extent to which people fail to see that the current economic disaster has everything to do with their loss of freedom... everything to do with the death grip on the system by the Oligarchy and its antihuman, destructive interests. As I was writing the Sacred Nonaggression Principle, I had this BIG thought that Americans could achieve a minimum annual benefit of $10,000 each by simply removing the government from three areas in which it never belonged:

End the War on Drugs—Experts estimate savings to citizens and governments of $500 billion, but do not take into account damage all victims incur, including lost lives. Total savings to humanity in the United States for ending the WOD = ~$1 trillion/year (most of the savings recurring).
End the Empire—The war budget when you include everything related to the empire is ~$1.5 trillion/year, which can be pared ~2/3 if we end the bogus wars and war on terror and all the other welfare projects of the war departments. Total savings to humanity in the United States for ending the US military empire = ~$1 trillion/year (some significant recurring and nonrecurring savings).
End the ban on agricultural hemp—Based on estimates of market size for all the product areas hemp satisfies, it’s relatively easy to see a $trillion/year role in a GDP (2007-based) of $23 trillion in private industry (which of course would require a few years to accomplish). Total benefits to humanity in the United States for ending the ban on agricultural hemp = ~$1 trillion/year recurring (starting in 3-5 years with increased productivity into the multiple $trillions going forward).

After coming up with the Big-3 Stimulus Plan, I immediately thought that an additional $10K/year could be achieved by eliminating other government death grips: e.g. the welfare system, health-care system, transportation system... but I figured drugs, war, and agriculture would be less controversial. Please, if you care about the country, take a minute to send my Big-3 Stimulus Plan to the people you care about. I'm sure we can all use $10,000 this year to at least tide us over.

Implement/proselytize the SNaP

For the next couple of weeks I'll be putting the finishing touches on the next edition of my book, the Sacred Nonaggression Principle. It's clear that the first edition did not offer an easily digestible description of what the SNaP is, why the nonaggression principle has been subverted, and how we can implement the nonaggression principle on a wide scale from the ground up. I aim to remedy these shortcomings soon, so you can usefully hand the book to any literate or even conventionally literate member of society.

In the several months since the original edition, I've also come to appreciate two additional books as having culture-bearing potential insofar as spreading the ideals of nonaggression and individual liberty far and wide: G. Edward Griffin's The Creature from Jekyll Island and Peter Hendrickson's Cracking the Code: The fascinating truth about taxation in America. Please check out the noted links to my reviews of these incredibly liberating documents. They are absolute requirements, in my humble opinion, for rapid human liberation and elimination of the Oligarchical gorilla.

Embrace/develop political movements

I've discussed on these pages the majority of political movements that seem to have real legs. Notably, the Restore the Republic group consists of fairly large numbers of individuals who see the light in terms of Constitutional liberty, yet do not hang back like Ron Paul when it comes to 9/11 Truth, the Liberty Dollar, identifying police-state measures like the FEMA camps, and so on. I also like Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty, though I feel the John Birch theologists who predominate therein are a serious handicap for spreading the message to a secular, rational world.

Of course, the Free State Project is vital, continuing to win decisive victories on an increasing basis. As soon as I can take care of my personal business and can afford to leave Michigan, I'm off for the Free State like a prom dress. Even the Libertarian Party has its role in the fight; my main gripe with the LP is that we seem to stay trapped in the "politically permissible." What I wouldn't give for a group of farmers who tell the federales and the staties, "Stuff it, I'm planting hemp, come and stop me."

There are many other organizations out there, and my only major recommendation is that you advocate them 'nonexclusively.' I am weary of so many freedom people effectively saying, "Our way is the only way, and your way ain't shit." Cooperation and mutual promotion are essential, not to mention urgent.

Jesse Ventura for President

If you look around the Web, I'm sure you'll find a number of sites seeking to further the Revolution by getting Jesse to run for president in 2012. Nonpartisan.[3] The way it should be. When he won the governor's office in Minnesota, he operated on a shoestring budget and basically ended the careers of large numbers of Demopublican looters. The people of this country will rally around Jesse like no other candidate (including the noncharismatic Ron Paul). Why? Because they know Jesse will tell the truth—including about 9/11 and widespread pillaging by the banksters—and he will clean up le' Sewer de Power that Washington has been for decades. [Plus, he'll appeal to rational people, as he's not a flaming Supernatural Christianbot.][4]

When Jesse walked onto Larry King (and some other popular public affairs TV shows) and said effectively, "Give me an hour and a waterboard, and I will get the whole truth out of Dick Cheney and his system of horrors," I cheered. I fully believe that in this era of celebrity as destiny, Jesse Ventura is The One. Combined with the other four steps, a successful Jesse for President campaign will basically end the Oligarchy for good. And the human race will be on its way to sustained intelligence and prosperity without a hiccup.

Job One: Spiritual Enlightenment

Do all you older Baby Boomers out there remember the image of the id in Forbidden Planet—a 1956 sci-fi flick touted as serious, yet still featuring a hottie du jour (Ann Francis) and a cast of Hollywood lunkheads? What happens is this id—the Freudian cauldron of emotions, anxieties, anger, fear, hatreds, perverse images of Liberace, etc.—of the mad scientist (Walter Pidgeon) on this remote planet actually forms a monster. Then the monster kills several of the men who lust after the mad scientist's scantily clad daughter (Ann Francis).

The intended symbolism there is that man's subconscious or unconscious urges are dangerous to polite society.

This is basically the message, at least the political message, I derive from my favorite spiritual teacher-author, Eckhart Tolle: humankind stands at the threshold of spiritual enlightenment... yet we are suspended on a rope over an abyss.[5] The reactive mind(s) of human society—Tolle's kinda sorta version of the id—seems to be hanging on for dear life. This mental-noise echo chamber, this monkey brain on steroids (which is the source of all the "isms" and the "wasms," including authoritarianism and "we-will-force-you-to-do-this-and-such-ism," that have destroyed billions of lives over the millennia) threatens to end us for good... unless we let go of it.

On the most fundamental level, I'm convinced Tolle has nailed the essence of the gorilla in the living room: the human race must abandon its addiction to compulsive thinking or go down the tubes... "the tubes" in my mind being the collectivist-statist-aggressor class, i.e. the gorilla represented by the Oligarchy and its defective psychology of power-mindedness. (Most of this Oligarchy defect I describe in the first two chapters of the first edition of the Sacred Nonaggression Principle.)

Recognize that to Tolle (and, now, to me) ego and thinking are used in different ways from how a person steeped in the Randian literature might view them. When Tolle talks about addiction to thinking he means one is addicted...

...because you are identified with it (the thinking), which means you derive your sense of self from the content and activity of your mind. Because you believe that you would cease to be if you stopped thinking. As you grow up, you form a mental image of who you are, based on your personal and cultural conditioning. We may call this phantom self the ego. It consists of mind activity and can only be kept going through constant thinking. The term ego means different things to different people, but when I use it here it means a false self, created by unconscious identification with the mind. — from The Power of Now, page 18

In our context—the modern American-dominated political-economic empire run by the Oligarchy—we have an urgent need to "deaggress" and remove the engines of legal aggression from the lives of normal humans who wish to practice the nonaggression principle. At the same time, the pool of so-defined normal humans is dwindling as the twin diseases of militarism and statism continue to turn us into pod people. At the practical tactical level, I feel what I'm recommending in the Five Steps above will be highly productive on its own terms. But the cure, the removal of the aggression threat, needs to be accelerated now because of the severity of the illness.

The accelerator and enabler of the Five Steps is "enlightenment," one person at a time:

The word enlightenment conjures up the idea of some superhuman accomplishment, and the ego likes to keep it that way, but it is simply your natural state of felt oneness with Being. It is a state of connectedness with something immeasurable and indestructible, something that, almost paradoxically, is essentially you and yet is much greater than you. It is finding your true nature beyond name and form.... — from The Power of Now, page 10

I have suggested to Mr. Tolle in an email that the Sacred Nonaggression Principle is a complement to the enlightenment process. Indeed, I believe Jesus spoke of freedom as a vital encouragement of spiritual growth. But as I mention in my book, it works both ways. And as I've indicated from a previous column: "if we can help remove the internal barriers to consciousness of individuals, one by one, then the smaller pieces of unlearning the many external aggressions in this field or that one will fall into place. Thus the next stage in human evolution—and evolution of the cosmos—is accomplished sans aggression as individuals fire their own Godsparks."

Then, finally, all the Jeffs and Debbies of the world can keep their living rooms out of harms' way of large, menacing furry creatures.

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[1] I recognize this suggestion may seem out of the blue to many, but for the reasons given, I feel this particular political figure has a vital role to play in our liberation.

[2] Statement of the leader of the resistance, Morpheus. From the movie The Matrix.

[3] The site I've linked is The Daily Paul, which supports Jesse for the LP nomination. I think that would be a great hookup for mankind.

[4] The famous Playboy interview was also music to my ears: "Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business."

[5] "Man is a rope stretched between the animal and the Superman—a rope over an abyss. — Friedrich Nietzsche