“Poor, wretched, and stupid peoples, nations determined on your own misfortune and blind to your own good! You let yourselves be deprived before your own eyes of the best part of your revenues; your fields are plundered, your homes robbed, your family heirlooms taken away. You live in such a way that you cannot claim a single thing as your own; and it would seem that you consider yourselves lucky to be loaned your property, your families, and your very lives. All this havoc, this misfortune, this ruin, descends upon you not from alien foes, but from the one enemy whom you yourselves render as powerful as he is, for whom you go bravely to war, for whose greatness you do not refuse to offer your own bodies unto death. He who thus domineers over you has only two eyes, only two hands, only one body, no more than is possessed by the least man among the infinite numbers dwelling in your cities; he has indeed nothing more than the power that you confer upon him to destroy you.
Where has he acquired enough eyes to spy upon you, if you do not provide them yourselves? How can he have so many arms to beat you with, if he does not borrow them from you? The feet that trample down your cities, where does he get them if they are not your own? How does he have any power over you except through you? How would he dare assail you if he had no co-operation from you? What could he do to you if you yourselves did not connive with the thief who plunders you, if you were not accomplices of the murderer who kills you, if you were not traitors to yourselves? You sow your crops in order that he may ravage them, you install and furnish your homes to give him goods to pillage; you rear your daughters that he may gratify his lust; you bring up your children in order that he may confer upon them the greatest privilege he knows — to be led into his battles, to be delivered to butchery, to be made the servants of his greed and the instruments of his vengeance; you yield your bodies unto hard labour in order that he may indulge in his delights and wallow in his filthy pleasures; you weaken yourselves in order to make him the stronger and the mightier to hold you in check.
From all these indignities, such as the very beasts of the field would not endure, you can deliver yourselves if you try, not by taking action, but merely by willing to be free. Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break in pieces.
Etienne De La Boetie. 1548.
Dear Annrehfn, I’m Tom Kirkbride, a Twitter follower of yours, (Love your blogs) and author of the young adult sci-fi series, Gamadin. I’m in the process of completing Book VI, Gamadin: The Wild Strain, where my heroes return to Earth to find it a corrupt mess. (Imagine that) In their effort to put the planet back on track they come up with a Code of Law they call the Gamacode and will do their best to apply it planet-wide. Below is this code. If you have a moment, I would love your feed back, positive or credical, on the code. My audience is YA so my goal is to keep it as basic as I can but still be effective. I’ve just completed the 1st draft so nothing is engraved in stone. Thank you in advance. Cheers! Tom
Gamacode
PREAMBLE: All Ruling Bodies (RB) of the planet Earth will obey the Gamacode. A Ruling Body is any individual (ie. dictator, president, or monarch et al) or group of representatives that have authority over sentient beings. The Gamacode does not require trust or acceptance to be valid. The Gamacode is law.
1. No RB can interfere with a being’s inherent and inalienable right to enjoy a life free of oppression.
2. A RB cannot interfere with a being’s absolute right to arm, protect, and defend one’s person, family, community, or property.
3. The RB will be local, accountable, and fully open and transparent where the right of public scrutiny shall not be denied.
4. No RB can interfere with a being’s right to acquire, sell, possess, and enjoy private property.
5. It is RB’s duty to insure a being’s right to due process.
6. The RB cannot pass any law forbidding freedom of speech or to congregate “peacefully.”
7. The RB cannot suppress a being’s right to freedom of worship.
8. No RB has the power to create money.
9. All money must be of natural earth elements or digital code equivalent.
10. No RB can establish a central bank.
11. No RB has the power to tax or levy a person or their property.
12. No RB and its workforce can be greater than .01 percent of the population.
13. No RB official or representative may serve more than a single, 3-year term.
14. RBs do not have rights they have duty to abide by the Gamacode.
15. RBs are subject to the laws they pass.
16. No RB has the power to create a welfare state.
17. No RB can issue debt or operate in a deficit.
18. No RB has the right to own land.
19. No RB can create a secret or clandestine organization or military force.
20. No RB can plot against the beings of the planet Earth.
21. No RB can revoke the Gamacode.
CONCLUSION: The Gamacode is absolute and unequivocal. No entity, being, or Ruling Body is exempt. The Gamacode is not amendable. The Gamacode is not living, transitional, or temporary. The Gamacode is enduring and forever. Ruling Bodies violating the Gamacode would be immediately excommunicated to a world other than their own with no possibility of return.
Harlowe Pylott, Captain
Gamadin Starship, Millawanda
Effective Immediately
You have a backup account on twitter? Your main one got suspended. Any idea why?
One death threat too many maybe! 😉
I have made a back up account, but I’m going to lie low for a while. Gives me a chance to concentrate on writing and other things for now.
I am also on Gab, although don’t post much on there.
Time for a re-spawn on Twatter Annrhefn!
Regards, V4Larry