American Devolution

A brief history of the United States' transformation from a free republic into a managerial regime where the people are treated like herd animals.

After having thus successively taken each member of the community in its powerful grasp and fashioned him at will, the supreme power then extends its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of society with a network of small complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided; men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd. —Alexis de Tocqueville

Thanks to international readers for putting up with my frequent Yankee navel-gazing. Believe me, I’m only jingoistic regarding our original ideals, certainly not the status quo. I suspect many of you, American or not, feel similarly. Please accept that I write as a cosmopolitan when it comes to those ideals and as a nationalist only in the sense that I was born here, live here, and have to pay taxes.

Inspired by this assessment from the Bitcoin Policy Institute, I wanted to offer the following summary (in italics) to contextualize my thoughts (in Roman).

1. The modern nation-state views sovereign individuals as a threat—a stark departure from the vision of the American founders. The founders sought to protect people from an entrenched aristocracy that claimed to be society's rightful custodians.

There’s a subtle distinction here. Thomas Jefferson discussed the difference between a natural aristocracy based on virtue and talent and an entrenched aristocracy based on political privilege. Otherwise, the founders wanted to see those with virtue and talent lead and thrive but not dominate or oppress.

2. The American founders established a revolutionary principle: individual rights are fundamental, and governments wield delegated powers that the people can revoke. This reversed traditional assumptions by burdening the state to justify its authority.

This is America’s mythos—and that is a compliment. If the belief in individual rights preceding political organization creates a mindset (part of our narrative framework) that helps instantiate counterpower, it serves a vital purpose. But it is neither magic nor metaphysics. It is what we collectively assent to as Americans.

3. The original Constitution intended for the state to have no independent power, money, or army—these were meant to be "on loan" from the sovereign people. However, this vision has been dramatically altered over time.

Indeed. The original Constitution intended for the states to be firmly in control. Federal authority was supposed to be granted in emergencies or times of war when the legislature deemed unitary national action necessary. Today, grotesque power resides in the executive branch and its legions of supplicants (contractors, NGOs). Quite bizarrely, our legislators have been complicit.

4. Despite the Constitutional requirement that only Congress can declare war, the US has engaged in over a hundred conflicts since its founding. Most of these were launched via executive action rather than congressional approval.

First came the progressives, then came the legal post-modernists to destroy enough of the Constitution to make it inert. Today, the political class uses the Constitution as a figleaf instead of a legal foundation. So it’s not just that Congress looks the other way when the executive makes war. They look the other way when authorities violate the Bill of Rights, including Amendments 9 and 10.

5. In 1913, the introduction of permanent income taxes through the 16th Amendment, followed by other forms of taxation, created the concept of government revenue, which shifted away from the idea of the people's money.

A dark year, indeed. But at least the income tax arrived through a constitutional amendment instead of an administrative sleight of hand or unconstitutional legislation. Remember, 1913 is also the year in which the Federal Reserve was created—only one year, eight months, and eight days after the three most potent detractors of creating a US central bank died on the Titanic.

In any case, the Federal Reserve Act, which obviously and directly violates Article I, Section 8:

The Congress shall have Power... To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof.

Congress does not have the authority to delegate this power to an entity that is not accountable to the plebiscite.

6. The federal bureaucracy has grown into a complex web of agencies whose exact number remains unclear despite various official sources. These agencies combine legislative, executive, and judicial functions that bypass the Constitution's intended separation of powers.

There are more than 400 such agencies. They have grown like a cancer on the backs of the people. They represent a vast circumlocution office, cluster of slush funds, and means of hiding deep corruption in plain sight.

7. The modern financial system, built around central banks and fiat currency, creates a surveillance network where financial intermediaries share transaction information with state agents worldwide. This eliminates financial privacy and constitutional protections against search and seizure.

As if this weren’t bad enough, it establishes the basis for an unconstitutional central bank digital currency (CBDC), toward which the world’s regimes are moving. The powerful already use our financial and monetary system as a Skinner Box of rewards and punishments, so we, the rats, are tamed.

8. The marriage of banking and policing power represents a fundamental but largely unrecognized transformation in the relationship between state and citizen.

If this claim sounds over the top, consider what happened to nations that do not cave to US demands. Whether in sanctions, frozen accounts, or wealth expropriation, the US government treats the banks as its proxies. If banks fail to comply, they can and will be eliminated. Now, think about how much power a bank’s customer has in the face of such weapons.

9. Today, we have come full circle. The unholy union of corporation and state created our modern aristocracy, supplicants in the managerial state, who consider themselves society’s rightful custodians.

America’s national mythos includes the idea that rights make right. But at the end of the day, those with guns and jails know that might makes right. This is not a normative claim; it’s a practical one. Such might appears in many forms, including an iron triangle of state proxies, corporate cronies, and activist NGOs that compose the vast American managerial regime. 90 percent of that regime is unconstitutional. 99 percent of it is wrong.

10. You are among the herds this aristocracy manages with feed, prods, and barking dogs.

Or, as I wrote above, you are among the rats in the Skinner Box. Both metaphors work in different ways, so we might as well mix them. The question is, are you comfortable with ever-diminishing sovereignty for you and your children—to be poked, prodded, taxed, threatened, and socially engineered through your money, your bank, and your government? Or are you ready to take full responsibility for yourself and be a good steward in your community of choice?