INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM PROMOTION VERSUS DELUSORY GOVERNMENT POWER - Attention Paid to the US Government and TV Dis-empowers You - SELF HELP

THE AUTHOR:
I am a male MD psychiatrist

THE GOAL
Self help via knowledge. Sir Francis Bacon said, "For knowledge itself is power."

EXCERPTS FROM THE BOOK
Government rule is the consequence of a lack of individual rule. Real freedom is individual freedom, which is opposed by government power. Problems with government power are described and individual solutions are offered.

All liberty is individual liberty. Calvin Coolidge 1924

Star Trek Deep Space Nine quote:
Commander Sisko: Being persecuted by your own government doesn’t sound like politics.
Cardassian citizen: We take our politics very seriously.

Excerpts from Chapter One - With Liberty and Justice for All?
The above six words, minus the question mark, are at the end of The Pledge of Allegiance, which school students are forced to say. Forced ideological indoctrination isn’t to be confused with education. Or as said by John Dewey, “There is all the difference in the world between having something to say and having to say something.”

Pledges don’t increase liberty, but decrease liberty. Thomas Fuller said, “Let thy child’s first lesson be obedience, and the second may be what thou wilt.”
The Pledge of Allegiance: “…under God…” harnesses God to the US yoke. The Pledge begins with “I…” and ends with “…all.” It is a forced-government oath disguised as a voluntary self-statement.

THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: “...with liberty and justice for all.” The measure of the Pledge’s success is the measure of individualism destroyed by immersion in the compelling group: “…for all.” The successful society is one that convinces its members that the societies’ thoughts and deeds (its established doctrine) are of greater worth than the person’s own thoughts.

Note: This book is supported by numerous quotations of famous people.

If you see in any given situation only what everybody else can see, you can be said to be so much a representative of your culture as to be a victim of it. S.I. Hayakawa

A question: Is your ability to repeat back government and advertising slogans an asset or a liability? An answer: One should not confuse information with knowledge. T. S. Eliot

Values and goals need to be explicit, not insidiously assimilated from TV.

Most of us aren’t an individual, because we never developed an independent identity. That is, we went from home (mom and dad) to government school, and then into debt. The homeless: Many of us have never had (owned) a home, let alone been relatively independent. Many live in debt slavery: one house mortgage payment away from the loss of a place to live.

If you live in a sick society, the measure of your disassociation from that society is a measure of your health.

Niccolo Machiavelli said, “A man who wishes to make a profession of goodness in everything must necessarily come to grief among so many who are not good.”

If you tell the truth but deal with liars, you are at a distinct disadvantage. Where there is voluntary cooperation, truth is expected. However, in competitive or involuntary US situations, it is not.
A question: how much of what you do is noncompetitive or voluntary, and thus meets the criteria for truth telling?
If you need, rather than only want something, you feel you have an excuse (a need) to use force. When you pretend that a TV, a car, a computer and gasoline are needed (necessities) rather than only wanted (luxuries), you can’t trust yourself or others to be honest during your pursuit of them.
Dishonesty is the tool of the person who confuses his wants with his needs. For example, we pretend that gasoline is a need so that we can destroy Iraq to keep gas prices low, while feeling righteous doing it. Force is generated by our inability to differentiate our wants from our needs. You need to be explicit as to what your wants and needs are so that you don't mistake the one for the other.