Robert L.
Minteer
Political Philosophy
3mpub.com
Third
Millennium Publishing
A cooperative of
online writers and resources
Just what is the Freedom Bell Curve? Many distributions of
events and probabilities in life can be easily understood by means of a bell
curve. A bell curve is, as its name suggests, shaped like a bell. For example,
the distribution of the birth of fully developed seven-pound babies when plotted
against length of pregnancy results in a bell curve approximately as follows:
With this simple graph, it can be easily seen that the vast
majority of births of fully developed, seven-pound babies occur after pregnancy
lengths of between eight and ten months, with a fair number at seven months or
eleven months, but very few before or after those lengths.
This simple bell curve describes the distributions of a
great number of events in the Universe, and in a great many areas of study.
Recently it came to my attention that the same bell curve could be used to
understand to a great degree why people are the way they are. It all has to do
with our attitudes and beliefs about freedom. There are probably as many
definitions of freedom as there are people in the world, but for the purposes of
this book the focus will be freedom from economic enslavement. A person who
believes in such freedom to an absolute degree thus believes that NO PERSON HAS
THE RIGHT TO ANY PART OF THE FRUITS OF ANOTHER PERSON’S LABOR WITHOUT THE
EXPLICIT AGREEMENT OF THAT OTHER PERSON. At the other extreme have been the
slave owners throughout history, from small landowners or homeowners with
servants to plantation owners to kings and dictators. All those types of people
believed that they had the right to not only own the fruits of other people’s
labor, but to actually own the other person’s person. Slavery has been against
the law in most of the world for over a century. But as this book unfolds, we
will see that, as with so many laws that are on the books, it is enforced only
in its narrowest sense, and only to the extent that those in power wish it to be
enforced.
So The Bell Curve of Freedom would look something like this:
To the left under the Bell Curve of Freedom are those who
truly believe in freedom. Those who believe in absolute freedom are very few,
because absolute freedom is believed to be impossible. And those who believe in
the greatest freedom for the greatest number, and who live that belief and prove
it by their actions, are also rather few in number. In the middle, under the
largest part of the bell, are the majority of mankind. Many of us give lip
service to freedom, because that’s what we’ve been trained to do, and many
of us believe that most of the world is free, again because that’s what
we’ve been trained to believe. Possibly most of us never give it much thought,
because we think that slavery is ancient history. And why do we think that? Yes,
because that’s what we’ve been trained to think.
But I really do believe that the vast majority of mankind
truly wants freedom and justice for all. The vast majority of us do not believe
that we have the right to keep others as slaves or help ourselves to the fruits
of their labors. But there is a growing number of people in this country who
apparently believe that it is OK to get what they can as quickly as they can.
And they have been trained to believe that they deserve it, that they’ve
earned it, and if the rest of the world isn’t keeping up, that’s just
further proof of their inferiority.
Further to the right under the curve lie the robber barons
of the 1800s, the kings and petty tyrants of the Middle Ages, and most of the
rulers of all kinds previous to that time. The United States was founded on the
principles of freedom and equality of rights and opportunities. By this stage in
our history, with the power and wealth we have amassed, we should be teaching
and showing the rest of the world how to go about accomplishing the same things.
Sadly, we are not. Why not? I believe that it is because most of us have been
lulled into complacency, and have forgotten how to think for ourselves. We’ve
gotten lazy, and have let others do our thinking for us. And we have fallen into
the trap of squandering our hard-earned wages on useless products and
amusements. And it’s all been done in the name of freedom. We feel that the
wide variety of choices we have is a great freedom. But is it?
And who benefits from the lifestyles that most of us lead?
We do, of course, to a certain degree. But those in power benefit to an even
greater degree. And that would be OK, if they truly were providing us with the
services and opportunities which they claim they are providing. But, since
we’ve had the ability to reason for ourselves trained out of us, it’s hard
to see through even the most blatant deceptions.
This book will look at the institutions and people who have
the most power in the United States of America in the year 2000. It will be seen
that quite a large percentage of those in power have gotten there and stay there
because we have allowed them to have control over more and more areas of our
lives. To understand how they have managed to do that we will next need to look
at the Pyramid Scheme of Power, and see how it is constructed. That will be the
subject of the next chapter.
Of interest concerning the Bell Curve of Freedom is the fact
that those to the Left are more interested in freedom, which today means those
interested in change. And Leftists and The Left in politics have long been
associated with radical ideas. To the Right are those who believe in slavery to
varying degrees. And The Right and Rightists have long been associated with
conservatives and those who want to maintain the status quo. Coincidence? I
think not.
Most of us are familiar with pyramid schemes—several
well-known companies use it as a direct-selling method. The idea is that people
recruit others to be “under” them, and thereby earn some of their
recruits’ earnings. It seems to work quite well, and can be very lucrative for
those who sign on early. But eventually the market gets saturated, and it
becomes harder and harder to get more recruits, so that for those further down
in the pyramid it gets more and more difficult to earn anywhere near as much as
those closer to the top of the pyramid.
In connection with the Bell Curve of Freedom, it struck me
recently that the acquiring of power has lately evolved so that it works just
like any other pyramid scheme. As with the term freedom, there are probably as
many different definitions of power as there are people giving those
definitions. But in the United States of America in the year 2000, money is
power. Sad but true. It used to be that the older, more experienced (and thus
wiser) members of a society wielded considerable influence and power. And in a
few parts of the world that is still the case to some extent. But now money is
power. How that came about is beyond the scope of this book, and is no doubt the
subject of many historical volumes and much research. But it really baffles me
that any person can believe that because he has a piece of paper with a
seven-figure number on it that he is therefore more valuable and should be
entitled to more power than someone who has a piece of paper with just a
four-figure number on it.
But that’s the way it is. And it continues to get worse
and worse with each passing year. More and more power continues to be
concentrated in the hands of a smaller and smaller percentage of the population.
Never mind that the Constitutions of many states have statements in them that
say that all power comes from the people. Lincoln’s talk of government of the
people, by the people, and for the people has been perverted so that today it is
really government of the rich and powerful, by the rich and powerful, and for
the rich and powerful.
And which are the most powerful institutions in the United
States in the year 2000? Where is the most money and control of money
concentrated? No doubt you, the reader, will have your own opinions as to which
institutions are situated on the uppermost layers of the Pyramid Scheme of
Power. But the order probably won’t differ to any significant degree from this
pyramid:
Of course, the pyramid is really much larger than that, and in fact could go to
many millions, to include each of us as individuals. But again, for the scope of
this book, we’ll stick to well-known institutions and industries. First
we’ll list them in order from the most powerful on down, then we’ll take a
look at each of them in a separate chapter.
1.
The Government. In this category will be included not just the Federal
Government, but all State and local governments as well. It includes all
government agencies. Anyone whose salary or wages are paid from tax dollars is
in this position on the Pyramid Scheme of Power.
2.
The Media. This of course includes newspapers, radio, TV, magazines,
and now the Internet. Any business which is supported by advertising and which
therefore promotes those advertisers’ products is right up there near the
pinnacle of power.
3.
The Advertising Profession. This must be considered apart from #2,
since they sell their “product” to the Media, and have sales tactics
uniquely their own.
4.
The Legal Profession. Some overlap between this group and #1 will be
evident, as many of the top people in government have legal training.
5.
The Medical Profession. The Health Industry—or the Sickness Industry,
as it would be more appropriately referred to.
6.
The Insurance Profession. Many of these Professions are commonly
referred to as “Industries”, but since they don’t produce anything,
we’ll stick to the designation Profession.
7.
The Banking Profession.
8.
The Education System.
9.
The Stocks, Bonds, and Commodities Traders.
10.
The Utilities Companies.
11.
The Telephone and other Communications Companies.
12.
The Big Three Automakers.
13.
The Oil Companies.
14.
The Teamsters and other Labor Unions.
15.
Organized Crime (The Mob).
16.
The Military.
17.
Organized Religion.
18.
Special Interest Groups.
19.
The Clothing Industry and Fashion Companies.
20.
The Entertainment Industry
21.
The Retail Giants.
That will be enough for now. No doubt several other groups
will come to mind and need to be added as we proceed through those already on
the list.
The basic premise is that those groups near the top of the
Pyramid Scheme of Power are those that have the most power and that they, as in
any pyramid scheme, derive much of their power and obtain much of their funding
from those directly below them in the pyramid. The relationship of the Pyramid
Scheme of Power to the Bell Curve of Freedom will also become apparent. Those
groups nearest the top of the pyramid will be observed to have the highest
percentage of their members lying under the right side of the bell curve. They
will be most supportive of the status quo, and believe most strongly that they
have the right (and further, that they deserve to have that right) to be
supported by those underneath them. Of course, within any organization we will
find hard-working, dedicated people who truly believe that they are serving
those under them rather than mooching off of them. It is hoped that this book
will open the eyes of some of them, so that they can see that by the very nature
of the Pyramid Scheme of Power it is essentially impossible for those
institutions to really serve or help the public. We the people are a strong,
independent people, and rarely need help or service of that sort, and we greatly
resent having it shoved down our throats. And even more strongly do we resent
being forced to pay for this “help” that we do not need and did not ask
for—and often we are forced to pay for it two and three times over.
It will also be readily apparent that there is quite a bit
of collusion among the Top Nine groups especially, and to a lesser degree among
those further down the list. Most of these organizations started out small many
decades or centuries ago, and were no doubt begun for innocent and perhaps even
for noble reasons. And they may genuinely have helped the people they were
intended to help, and those who by choice availed themselves of such help were
no doubt glad to have such help available when it was needed. It was a thing
called community, and it was genuine, not the political sound bite that it is
used as today.
As we go further down the list, there will be a greater
number of people involved in those institutions who truly believe in freedom.
And eventually if we continued on down to number 50 or so, we might find a
majority of members who truly believe in freedom. Unfortunately that far down
the list such organizations have very little power. And they are bound by the
laws, rules, and regulations promulgated by and for the benefit of the groups
near the top.
Ultimately, however, all the groups above the base of the
pyramid rely on the base to support them. And just who makes up that base? Is it
all of us? Or is it just those of us who have been taught from birth and who
believe, to whatever degree, that this is the land of opportunity, and that we
can climb right up to the top of that pyramid if we work hard enough? Or that
used to be the formula—now it’s if we can figure how to work the system in
our favor. There’s just one flaw in that theory. As in any pyramid scheme,
eventually the market is saturated, and there are few new people to be added to
the base. What then? Globalization, of course.
So, let’s begin our look at those institutions near the
top of the Pyramid Scheme of Power.
Interested in reading more? Just click on the ORDER
BOOK link below.
© 2000, Third Millennium Publishing, All Rights Reserved
Information:
information@3mpub.com
Contact:
Michael McCollum, CEO
Address:
PO Box 14026
Tempe, AZ 85284-0068
Third Millennium Publishing is a division of SFAZ Technologies and Sci Fi -
Arizona, Inc.
Page was last edited on 12/03/07 12:36:57 PM