“When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion –
when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing –
when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors –
when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you –
when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice –
you may know that your society is doomed.”

–Ayn Rand

This, my friends, is precisely where we all stand today. Nothing that any government anywhere is doing is helping the situation since they’re the ones getting rich off favors and not producing anything–and they can back it all up at gunpoint.

Are the corporations, bankers, entrepreneurs and free-market capitalists ruining the world? They have their flaws, yes, but mostly because they’re busy playing the perverse game governments have created–and are consequently getting richer by graft and pull. Without their willing accomplices in the halls of power stacking the deck, they’d have to do what true free-market forces require: live and die by whether their products and services are of value to people or not.

What can we do? I’m not sure, but I have my own ideas. Getting out of this cruel and crumbling system is what needs to happen–before it all collapses, anarchy sets in and the shooting starts. The older I get, the more Libertarian I become since that seems like the only way we can overcome the perpetual rape and pillage being brought about by the cronies on BOTH sides of the political spectrum. LESS government is the only answer.

Who knew that Ayn Rand was a prophetess? Just take a look at any of today’s headlines which seem to have been ripped straight from the pages of Atlas Shrugged…