UNCOMMON SENSE The State is Out of Date Gregory Sams LONDON Published in Great Britain by CHAOS WORKS 2 Trevelyan Gardens London NW10 3JY website: www.chaos-works.com © Gregory Sams 1997 ISBN 0 9531301 0 First edition- Aug 1997 Second printing- Dec 1997 Third printing - May 1998 revised and expanded launch edition A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. Printed and bound by Biddles Ltd Guildford, England Contents PREFACE 7 1. WHAT WOULD AN ALIEN THINK? 13 2. THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES 17 3. THE STATE IS OUT OF DATE 21 4. CHAOS THEORY 29 5. PLAYING GOD? 39 6. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? 41 7. NATURAL GOVERNMENT vs state control 43 8. LEGITIMISING COERCION 49 9. THE CONSTANT CONFRONTATION 55 10. A TERMINAL TOOLBAG 59 11. OUR PROBLEMS - OUR SOLUTIONS 67 12. VOTING 71 13. DIVIDE AND RULE 75 14. BIRTHRIGHT DENIED 79 15. THE THIN RED LINE 85 16. WHO OWNS YOU? 89 17. VICTIMLESS CRIMES 93 18. POVERTY AND CRIME - a popular myth 101 19. SO WHAT’S NEWS? 105 20. THE STATE OF BUSINESS 107 21. GLOBAL CORPORATION INC. 115 22. THE ARMS INDUSTRY TOILET 121 23. MONEY’S REAL DIMENSION 125 24. STRANGE FRUIT 127 25. MEAT OF THE ISSUE 131 26. THE DRUGS PROBLEM 135 27. A NEW CHURCH 147 28. POSITIVE PROTEST - get fluffy! 153 29. A WORKING EXAMPLE 163 30. SOME OTHER DIRECTIONS 167 31. EMPTYING THE CORRIDORS OF POWER 175 32. AND WHERE FROM HERE? 179 CREDITS 183 Big Butterflies 185 Books 187 Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason. From Thomas Paine's Introduction to "Common Sense" - 1776 Preface I have chosen Paine's quote to lead this preface, since he has put the sentiments so well that I wish to express to the reader. The notion that tradition of itself gives validity should continually be questioned. The Egyptians kept slaves for thousands of years; for centuries it was tradi- tion to bind women's feet in China; for nearly two thousand years it was believed that the whole universe rotated around the earth at its centre. Perhaps our reaction to traditional practice is like the naive belief of young children that all adults must know what they're talking about, since they've been around for so long. As a child I remember thinking it perfectly plausible that if it was possible for one person to bring about a great World War, as it seemed Hitler had recently done, then it must be possible for one man to bring about a great World Peace. I know better now. Jesus, Mohammed and other prophets and interpreters of divine truth sought to give us some pointers to peace but the religions that developed after they died have not yet brought peace and brotherhood to mankind. Most religions are still based on the premise that, if only we would all follow the exact same version of the divine interpretations of one par- ticular prophet, then we would have world peace and global harmony. But people are different and times change. Like many, I used to hope that one day some inspired leader might come along, political or spiritual, and that somehow this person would get the ball rolling in the right direction and unite us all behind them and their pure inspired actions. Perhaps some combination of Christ, Gan- dhi, the Buddha and Richard Branson would do the trick. In despair of this miracle ever arising on earth, some even hope for an imminent Al- ien Contact with a Ten Commandments type of scenario broadcast si- multaneously in all languages to all televisions and radios around the globe. But would even this, an ultimatum from space, do the job? After many years' consideration it now seems clear to me that whilst one person’s actions can demonstrably plunge chunks of the world into war and disorder, a state of peace can never be constructed or created by the action of a single person. It may come as a surprise to discover that a state of peace is as much the natural condition of our world as is the stability that develops in the natural rainforest. A state of balance and harmony arises as the eventual result of billions of people’s activities and interests interacting with each other, and the rest of the world, in a free condition. One person or group of people, however chosen and however enlightened or inspired, cannot determine the specific route to this state of peace. And somewhere in our soul we know that peace is a possible condition - something that our species is capable of achieving, notwithstanding our lengthy catalogue of failures. I suggest that is not a natural condition of being human that we must kill and maim each other for really unnecessary reasons. After meeting thousands of people in travels across different continents, cultures, and sub-cultures, I have formed the opinion that the vast majority of human- ity are not natural-born killers. Our incessant attempts to forcibly put order into the chaotic and con- stantly changing mix of our civilization is the reason, I suggest, that we experience so much disorder, suffering and what is often referred to as “chaos”. For too long society has been “run” on the basis that we are actually able to govern and control something so complex by setting ever more complex rules and regulations - linear controls which often serve to obstruct the natural evolutionary changes that a successful de- velopment of our species demands. This book is not all about some dramatic new way to run the world. It is unlikely that there is a way this can be achieved according to a plan, dictated from “above”. The world can look after itself and support us if we work within its basic operating framework, which is a fundamentally free system. The reason we threaten the future of the planet that sustains us is because we have become a significantly dominant species and yet still work in ignorance of one of the most basic operating principles of the universe - one that has recently been recognized in the new science known as “chaos theory” (Ch.4). There is a way not to run the planet and it might seem self-evident that the way it is being done today is a good example. Nevertheless, the usual approach to this situation is to assume that a change of figurehead or even a severe re-arrangement of the knobs and levers, will sort things out eventually. These pages will seek to convince you that no new com- bination or rearrangement of the complex controls of coercive power will work. Consider the number of states there are in the world, each run by people who believe they know what they are doing and each tweaked to its local circumstances. Now consider the minor and major tweaking that has gone on throughout the history of the state (pharaoh, church, senate, king, emperor, president, military junta, parliament, etc.). It is apparent that there have already been many many thousands of different combinations attempted. None of them have worked in the long term, though some lasted more years than others.* Now do we really believe that, for instance, Version 273,583 is going to be the one that finally works? *Though the empires of the pharaohs or the Romans were long-lived by today’s standards, they existed on conquest or subjugation, and when they finally changed they did so in a collapse from grandeur to obscurity, losing most of the culture and civilization that had been developed. At the time each new government or state takes control, it was gener- ally believed by the instigators/originators of this new state that they had the right policies and programmes to get everything working just per- fectly or at least a lot better. Should these programmes collapse or fail, as they have usually done throughout history, the blame is most often placed on “outside influences” - starkly showing the inability of these statesmen to recognise that we all inhabit the same small planet. I will seek to convince you that there are far too many complex elements in- volved in the system we call society and civilization, for any group of people to determine its course and evolution with coercively-backed regulations and rules, made either locally or globally, made with good intent or bad. The state does perform functions that are necessary to society. It claims the monopoly on these vital functions and does an increasingly bad job of them. We can see crime proliferating as more and more money is spent combating it. We see our true health decline as more and more is spent on sickness care by the state. The notion that more hospi- tal beds and doctors are the sign of a successful “health policy” is the sign of a sick nation. In education, agriculture, the roads, social security, nuclear power - wherever we look, the determined hand of the state can be seen to twist and distort that which it seeks to improve. My proposition is that the means to deal with vital functions can and eventually will arise in a freely operating society so that, for example, thieves and murderers do not run amok, nor polluters have a free license to destroy our environment.