Know Stealing Chapter 7.2 A Resolution

Declaration of Knowledge of and Commitment to

The Foundations and Principles of Liberty

LET IT BE KNOWN that the undersigned believe governments are to be instituted among men to SECURE the NATURAL RIGHTS of LIFE, LIBERTY and PROPERTY.

Citizens of the United States of America have been deprived of the knowledge of the Foundations and Principles of Liberty over at least the past Century. Today even our older generation lacks wisdom, knowledge and understanding that our younger generation and our nation need. With extremely rare exceptions, none of us, including our business leaders, elected officials, ministers, doctors, lawyers or farmers have the understanding needed to secure our Liberty and our Future as a state or nation.

Essential knowledge and understanding has been trained out of our public speech and thought.

We must learn to think in terms of centuries, production and human nature.

No nation which institutes a system based on Differing Weights, Differing Measures or Unjust Judgments has ever remained intact; these nations always collapse.

We have been trained by government schools and media to focus on effects, rather than causes.

We must learn that whoever understands root causes will rule.

We must learn that those who do not understand root causes will be ruled.

We must learn that power comes from possessing or controlling the means and resources to act.

The means and resources to act come from Producers.

Differing Weights, Differing Measures and Unjust Judgments grant free and unrestricted access to Production, which is Unlawfully Confiscated and used to Rule the People.

No other issue matters as long as the Government and favored business has unrestricted access to the Labor and Property of a nation’s Producers. Those who believe the answer is found in worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob can be certain that mature worship is not present in a nation which permits legal plunder, without so much as a whimper in protest.

A renowned banker once said “Give me control of a nation’s money, and I care not who makes its laws.” He was right.

A Legislature that can silently and deceptively take your Property without your Consent, will take your property without your consent, and often without your knowledge.

Essential Knowledge

WHEREAS Scripture says “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” (Hosea 4:6, NASB95)

WHEREAS Thomas Jefferson stated “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”; and

WHEREAS George Washington stated “Government is not reason. It is not eloquence. It is force. Like fire, government is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”; and

WHEREAS Ronald Reagan communicated in his first inaugural address that Government is the Problem and Productivity is the Solution; and

WHEREAS excessive Government size, scope and power destroy Life, Liberty and Property; and

WHEREAS excessive Government size, scope and power are the result of Theft and Deception which grant unhindered access to Production through Costless Money, which leads to Corruption of the Legislature; and

WHEREAS the stated goal of George Washington’s Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton, was to Confuse the People and Corrupt the Legislature; and

WHEREAS Alexander Hamilton was successful in Confusing the People and Corrupting the Legislature because he was allowed to use Differing Weights, Differing Measures and Unjust Judgment to gain unhindered access to other people’s Production; then

BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that BECAUSE the SECURITY of the LIFE, LIBERTY and PROPERTY of Citizens of GEORGIA and the UNITED STATES depends on a widespread and popular understanding of MONEY SYSTEMS and PRODUCTION; and

The importance of the CONTROL of PRODUCTION to LIFE, LIBERTY and PROPERTY demands an explanation;

Life, Liberty, Property, Production, Abundance and Prosperity have relationships that we must know, understand and remember to live well and govern well;

Therefore these important ideas which are required to establish the foundation for a strong and prosperous Georgia are herein stated:

Life, Liberty, Property

WHEREAS Life, Liberty and Property are gifts from God which precede all human legislation and are superior to it; and

WHEREAS Individual Liberty necessarily includes secure ownership of private Property; and

Authority

WHEREAS Authority is the Permitted Power to Act; and

WHEREAS Power comes from Production; and

WHEREAS Oppressive Power comes from Control of Production; and

WHEREAS Transfer of Production is transfer of Authority; and

Production

WHEREAS People depend on Production for Life, Health, Happiness and Security; and

WHEREAS Liberty and Property are combined with Labor which results in Production; and

WHEREAS Production is the only source of our Food, Shelter and Clothing; and

WHEREAS Production is the source of the Means and Resources to Act; and

WHEREAS We must eat to live and live to think, therefore Thought relies on Production; and

WHEREAS People depend on things which are Produced to meet all physical needs; and

WHEREAS People desire Prosperity; and

WHEREAS Production results in Abundance, and Abundance leads to Prosperity; and

WHEREAS Prosperity comes before popular access to Leisure, Luxury and Learning; and

Government

WHEREAS A Prosperous society must understand the difference between Government and Law, let us therefore know and understand that;

WHEREAS People depend on Production, but Government Produces nothing and Wastes much; and

WHEREAS Excessive Government power is founded on Differing Weights, Differing Measures and Unjust Judgments which are an abomination to God and which violate the 8th Commandment and secular law against theft; and

WHEREAS The Natural Order dictates that things which are useful for the General Welfare can ONLY come from Producers who ACTUALLY make useful things; and

WHEREAS Service jobs and leisure activities are dependent on Production; and

WHEREAS Government imposed Taxation, Regulation, Litigation and Inflation reduce Production which destroys Prosperity and makes society poorer; and

WHEREAS Excessive Taxation, Regulation, Litigation and Inflation are DESTRUCTIVE to LIFE, LIBERTY and PROPERTY; and

WHEREAS Inflation rewards theft and deception while punishing thrift and savings; and

WHEREAS Inflation harms the most vulnerable in our society; and

WHEREAS It is not the Right, Role or Purpose of government to reduce Production or Confiscate Property from Producers to give to others; and

WHEREAS Authority is a FORCE and Law is a STANDARD; and

WHEREAS Authority is subject to Law and Law is subject to Justice; and

WHEREAS Centralization of Power and Authority by force and deception are Unjust and therefore Unlawful; and

WHEREAS Government is authority which is subject to Just Law; and

Producers

WHEREAS Production retained in the hand of the Producer ensures a Balance of Power in society based on efficient use of scarce resources and voluntary market relationships; and

WHEREAS Most genuine Producers are Generous and Wise people; and

WHEREAS It is the Right of the Producer to willingly give gifts to those in need; and

WHEREAS Government Produces nothing and Wastes much; and

WHEREAS Confiscated Property is necessarily the Fruit of Another Person's Production; and

WHEREAS Production necessarily requires Time; and

WHEREAS The confiscation of Time is equal to the confiscation of Life; and

WHEREAS The confiscation of Life includes the confiscation of Liberty; and

WHEREAS Producers are being forced to fund both our society’s destruction and the unlawful  actions of unrestrained Government; and

WHEREAS Government is not Securing individual LIFE, LIBERTY and PROPERTY; and

THEREFORE Government is Stealing and Destroying LIFE, LIBERTY and PROPERTY; thus

LET IT BE KNOWN that unlawful interventionist GOVERNMENT is the PROBLEM and PRODUCTIVITY retained in the hands of the PRODUCER is the SOLUTION; and it is the NATURAL RIGHT and DUTY of each person to search out a BASIS upon which a JUST SOCIETY which defends Individual LIFE, LIBERTY and PROPERTY can be organized.

QAnon's Laser Focus in the Information Age

Below I have written a few comments for context followed by chapter 6.3 Information Age from Know Stealing.

A growing number of people are familiar with #QAnon, which purports to be a small group of high clearance people in powerful positions who have rejected certain evil actions of members of an elite class who presently hold great power, sufficient to be above the law.

It should no longer be doubtful that there is an elite class that transcends national governments, otherwise global markets could not be shuttered so uniformly in such a short period of time, especially when the issue appears to be much more so a manipulation of data than a contagion. In addition, other facets of a known agenda which are being advanced globally suggest there is a plan for which the plandemic is a pretext.

The context for this post is multifaceted.

First, Q seems to have inside information, and the potential ability to follow through on certain kinds of warfare and cleanup that would conceivably be necessary to prevent powerful people from engaging in the drug trade, human trafficking, sex slavery, pedophilia, and propagation of lies that lead to other harms via water supplies, vaccines, and other effective sources.

Second, we don't yet know whether this Q group is really a "white hat" or just masquerading as such. As I recall, in his book Diplomacy Henry Kissinger wrote about something he called "Foreign Availability"  (I will refer to this as HK-FA.) His example was about China and computers, but the logic can be mapped to information. The idea is that an infiltrator or adversary must agree with everything that a target already knows, even if the knowledge is harmful to the adversary's goals. Having gained credibility, and being established inside the target, the adversary is able to redirect, misdirect, reclassify, and otherwise hinder the target's understanding and actions. This notion is also sometimes referred to as "controlled opposition."

Third, as noted above, Q seems to potentially have the advantage of inside information, authority, and power. This is significant and any competing effort that has not these things would require substitutes, which do exist.

Fourth, if Q is found to be advancing deception to suppress liberty minded people during this massive global transition, then I want to call on those who are hoping for the best from this entity to actually do what Q has been claiming to do.  This is achievable and the foundation for success is found in part in the pages of the book Know Stealing.

I refer now to the key concept in this post, which is the point of a chapter from Know Stealing.  Q has, in essence, used aggregated power and potentially inside knowledge to achieve what this chapter states is necessary to effect change in this age.

6.3 Information Age

The PEN and the PRESS

Young Genius walked out by the mountain and streams,
Entranced by the power of his own pleasant
dreams, Till the silent – the wayward – the wandering thing
Found a plume that had fallen from a passing bird's wing,
Exulting and proud, like a boy at his play,
He bore the new prize to his dwelling away,
He gazed for a while on its beauties, and then
He cut it, and shaped it, and called it – a PEN.

But its magical use he discovered not yet,
Till he dipp'd its bright lips in a fountain of jet;
And O! What a glorious thing it became,
For it spoke to the world in a language of flame;
While its master wrote on, like a being inspired,
Till the hearts of the millions were melted or fired; -
It came as a boon and a blessing to men,
The peaceful – the pure – the victorious PEN!

Young Genius went forth on his rambles once more,
The vast sunless caverns of earth to explore!
He searched the rude rock, and with rapture he found
A substance unknown, which he brought from the ground;
He fused it with fire, and rejoiced in the change,
As he molded the ore into characters strange,
Till his thoughts and his efforts were crown'd with success;
For an engine uprose, and he call'd it – the PRESS.

The Pen and the Press, blest alliance!  combin'd
To soften the heart and enlighten the mind;
For that to the treasures of knowledge gave birth,
And this sent them forth to the ends of the earth;
Their battles for truth were triumphant indeed,
And the rod of the tyrant was snapp'd like a reed;
They were made to exalt us – to teach us to bless
Those invincible brothers – the PEN and the PRESS

Edmund  Burke  (1729-1797)  was  an  Irish  elected  official  serving  in  the  British  House  of Commons. Burke became an influential thought leader by writing broadly into an information vacuum. At a time when people were usually left in the dark, Burke published speeches and other writings which informed the people about certain actions of government. For example, Burke was a vocal supporter of the cause of the American Revolutionaries.

Edmund Burke published papers where there were none, and the people received vital information that was otherwise unavailable.

Today we have just the opposite problem. We live in the information age where people are flooded with information. The result is that people are unable to receive vital information because it is lost in a flood of trivial information.

In the days of Edmund Burke the ruling class simply agreed together to be silent. Today the ruling class controls information in part by flooding us with entertainment, propaganda, trivia, misguided teaching and worthless news.

Today the task of conveying true and useful information involves much more than simply publishing it.

The first great challenge in the information age is to find the ancient paths and foundational truth which are buried under the rubble of institutions, education, propaganda and entertainment. The second great task is to  focus  foundational  knowledge  like  a  laser  which  will  penetrate the  barrier  of  trivia,  entertainment  and diversion, so that people may again receive vital information that is otherwise lost.

Fortunately,  wisdom,  knowledge  and  understanding  are  capable  of  filtering  out  most  of  the  noise, propaganda and lies which flood our information, entertainment and education systems. Liberty will never have a louder voice, brighter colors or a bigger foot print than the institutional media, but liberty can take away their audience by education. The more one learns about the history and nature of systems of plunder, the dumber the media and pundits look.

“Buy  truth,  and  do  not  sell  it,  Get  wisdom  and  instruction  and  understanding.”  (Proverbs  23:23, NASB95)

What's In It For Me?

I spent fifteen years working to understand what was happening to us as a state and nation. As a part of that process, I asked those who should have known, but they had few answers and little understanding. It turns out we live in a system that certifies, recognizes and awards people who are unwitting parrots. These are often very nice people with good intentions...

I also spent time learning how to teach others. Teaching others is an extremely challenging task because the truth is so contrary to what people are conditioned to believe. Not only are the ideas contrary, but there is a chain of events that must be followed in order to understand what is happening to our once free society.

I wrote and organized Know Stealing as a package of all the best examples and ideas I discovered in communicating the truth about what our generation is facing. If one aspect of the story doesn't resonate with you, perhaps another will. Nearly anyone who will take time to read the book will learn profitable things that are not commonly known.

3.2 Money Is A System

Chapter 3, Section 2, Know Stealing

3.2 Money Is A System

Money is not what people tend to think it is. General confusion about money opens the door for the earnings of producers to be silently stolen - in broad daylight.

Are Coins and Dollar Bills Money?

  Coins and dollar bills are part of a money system, but they are not money. They are money tokens. Being a money token is like being a car tire.

  A tire is not a car, but it is part of a car.

  The definition of money based on practical reality prevents us from calling coins and dollar bills money. A token is not money. A token has no meaning outside of a money system. At the same time, the money system depends on money tokens to interact with people.

  It is the token along with all other parts of the system that when combined together are money.

Tokens

  Think about some of the tokens we regularly use...

  If a quarter is twenty-five percent of a dollar, what does that mean? How can a metal token be twenty-five percent of a paper token? Is a sledgehammer twenty-five percent of a book? The question doesn't even make sense.

  Is a quarter twenty-five percent of a silver dollar? A one ounce silver dollar is lately worth between $30 and $50. Does that mean that a current US quarter is worth between $7.50 and $12? No.

  Why is the ounce of silver in a silver dollar worth a different amount than the value stamped on the coin? How can a 2011 silver American Eagle have $1 stamped on the outside, while the coins sell every day for $30 or more?

  If you deposit a silver dollar in a bank your account will be credited $1. If you take the same dollar to a buyer of silver he will pay the silver price, which currently ranges from $30 to $50 an ounce.

  Why is a one dollar bill valued differently than a five dollar bill, when they are just alike except for the number printed on the bill?

  Tokens are ever-changing tools of plunder which are a small part of a money system.

Money Is Not...

  To understand what money is, we need to first understand what money is not.

  Money is not a substance. If it were, then it could be weighed. If you were going to weigh money, what would you weigh? Would you weigh the paper or the coin? What would the weights mean?

  Money is not an element. If it were an element, it would be defined by protons, neutrons and electrons.

  Money is not an object. Most units of money are ledger entries or data on a computer hard drive.

  A ledger entry can point to a cow or an acre of land. In that case, the entry is an item on an inventory list. But with money, the inventory is out of balance from the beginning.

  If too many people come for their silver at the same time, the lie is exposed. That is known as a bank run. Eventually there is no inventory. That is known as Central Banking.

  Magnetic bits on a computer hard drive store all data for a computer. So which magnetic bit is money? And when the bit is set for some other file, is that bit still money?

  Of course the hard drive bit never was money. It is a part of the record of an obligation known as a debt. On one side of the obligation is your home or car or business. On the other side of the obligation is a bit on storage media that last week was an email or a picture of some banker's fishing trip. Today it is a record of your commitment of real property in exchange for a banker's commitment of nothing but a record keeping system that churns out money units from nothing.

  Money has no clear definition. Money is loosely and deceptively defined as anything the bankers and government can convince people to use as tokens in a record keeping system. Remember the list of synonyms for money?

Money Is A System

  Money is not an object.

  Money is a system.

  Money is a system of record keeping that is designed to capture wealth, centralize power, centralize authority and rule people. The objects we sometimes refer to as money are actually tokens in a record-keeping system. Without the system, the token would be worthless in exchange, except in terms of the tiny usefulness of the cheap material from which the token is made.

  National currencies are tokens in a monetary system. A token from one country is rarely accepted in daily exchange for goods in other countries. Canadian dollars would not be accepted at McDonald's in South Carolina. The Canadian tokens only have meaning within the Canadian money system.

  Only a small percentage of the trillions of US dollars are ever in the form of coins or paper bills. The tokens are only a small part of the overall money system.

  Banks issue loans which create new units of money from nothing. These loans are entries on a ledger that indicate a borrower has agreed to either pay back the money units plus interest, or else forfeit his property which is pledged as collateral.

  When checks are written or debit cards are used, the ledger entries change from bank to bank and customer to customer, but no tokens are ever involved. This is sometimes referred to as checkbook money.

  What we tend to think of as money are only worthless tokens. The real power and nature of money is in the system.

  Money is a system that uses an ever-changing combination of tokens and ledger entries to plunder productive people who are forced to use the system through illegitimate law.

Robbed and Ruled

Care to learn how you are robbed and ruled? In January 2013 an evening class will begin in Statham Ga where we will explain precisely what has happened and precisely what must be done to preserve life, liberty and property in America. 

What people believe guides what they think, which determines their actions, which have immediate consequences and lead to certain outcomes. 

Our beliefs have been in error, and our leaders in the church, business and state have either been deceived or complicit in propagating misunderstanding which has led to our current "fiscal cliff", moral decline, etc., etc.

In this class we will review many proofs that show specific error in translation of a few specific passages from the Bible. This error has twisted and corrupted key aspects of our belief and causes Christians to behave in most un-Christ-like ways. Christians undermine themselves daily because they are deceived and work on behalf of that which they despise.

If these comments seem extreme or offensive, perhaps you are satisfied with where we are. If you are not satisfied, unless you know and can prove (but not in generalities and platitudes) what has put us where we are, then maybe it would be worth your time to come and see what will be covered in this class.

Know Stealing Class - Statham, Ga - January 2013

Know Stealing Class - Statham, Ga - January 2013

After several years of work and patience in developing credible standing, and as I am rotating out of church leadership, I presented the deacon leadership of First Baptist Statham with a proposal to teach a class based on the contents of Know Stealing. They took one month for consideration and then, with encouragement, approved the proposal. I am thankful and appreciate their position and courage.

This class will be open to all. The expense will be a few dollars to cover materials. We welcome anyone who would like to come and participate.

The length of the class is to be determined as the discussion unfolds, based on the interest and merits of the material being covered. A workbook will be developed in the process which will eventually be made available for others to teach the same material.

The tentative times are either Tuesday or Thursday at 6PM and the class duration will be 1 hour. For those interested in participating, if other times are better for you, please convey those to me either here or by email.

Since this is a discovery process with regard to how best to organize the material and time, we will consider extending the class duration according the wishes of the class members and effectiveness of additional time. The overall length of the class will also be discovered in the process, based on interaction with the class.

Your feedback is welcomed and will be appreciated.

Introduction to Know Stealing

1.1 Introduction

A people or nation that does not understand liberty cannot defend it.

I work late and rise early thinking about liberty, production and the nature of things. The stakes are high. Your time is valuable. Please permit me to be direct. We have been deceived, and I know how it was done.

The reader with an open mind, who actively questions everything including the ideas recorded here, will get the most out of Know Stealing. When you reach the last page, it is my hope that you will have demanded, and that I will have delivered, solid arguments capable of standing under scrutiny and pressure.

Consider the following brief statements:

We have problems that do not have to exist. They can be resolved.

Western civilization is crumbling financially at the level of the individual, the family, the business and the government. This is no small issue. Why is there a uniform worldwide collapse of economies?

We all know of some bad ideas that the other guy accepts. But it turns out that there are a few simple, important, highly destructive ideas which have been commonly accepted by most people for several hundred years. This confusion and error is causing us serious problems.

Certain commonly accepted ideas are measurably and objectively wrong. These ideas encourage destructive actions, which lead to bad outcomes.

Just like in a garden, we are reaping what we sow. It is time for us to clear away centuries of brush and debris, and it is definitely time to stop planting more bad seeds.

Consider these outcomes:

Job loss

Home foreclosure

Business bankruptcy

People have debt not savings

Retirements grow and disappear on paper

Big government

Government bankruptcy

Worldwide economic meltdown

The list goes on.

Ideas guide actions which have outcomes. Therefore, if society as a whole has common problems, then whatever ideas are commonly accepted about the world are suspect. There are several institutions that people claim are essential to modern civilization because of the good they do. It is true that there are institutions that do good work and have significant influence. However, if an institution is considered to be genuinely influential in society, then it must also be open to scrutiny and critical review.

In other words, how can a person say that institution A is all that is holding things together, and then suggest that the problems that exist are not the fault of the institution? Either the institution is weak and really not very influential, or the institution is influential and has a share in the blame for the global economic, moral and social wreck we are in.

There was a time when I would have argued against certain negative claims about my religion, my country, our marketplace and our government. But I knew something wasn't right, so I went on a journey of sorts to discover the truth about things.

Please accept the following short story as an allegory.

###

I once went on a journey seeking answers. After many years I found an old chest in a forgotten place that was overflowing with good things, including lost knowledge. I studied the contents carefully.

Once I understood the reality, cause and nature of the problems we face, I looked back to tell my friends what I had learned. But they were far away and there was a great wasteland between us. No matter how hard I tried, people could not understand, unless they were able to go back with me over rugged terrain to see what I had found.

What a strange predicament to be in. I loved my friends and people in general and I was sitting before a treasure that would benefit us all. In fact, the value to each individual is much greater if this treasure is shared.

But I couldn't tell people about it, I was too far away. I couldn't show them because the trip over the wasteland was too long and difficult. I had learned enough to understand what was happening in the world, but that is an altogether different thing from showing others. So I set my next goal.

I determined to learn how to effectively share a more complete understanding of the world with others. I set about building trails, roads and bridges. I started drawing maps for the journey. I labored until a dangerous, expensive, painful, fifteen year journey was turned into a few days of safe travel. That travel guide is in your hand.

Come with me. You will never see the world the same again.

###

So how does this trip begin? We need to look for common ground.

By training, our thinking is dangerously twisted so that we learn to perceive friends as enemies and enemies as friends. Our first step is to genuinely put all persons into one big category. Propaganda shouts about differences between people everyday. Is there anything that all people have in common?

Attributing Creation to God, the Bible states the obvious.

“for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:45b, NASB95)

We are all subject to a common enemy. For fifteen years I have studied to understand why American families and businesses are being pushed from savings and prosperity toward debt and loss. Besides the sun and rain, it turns out people have much more in common than many of us realize.

The course we are on as a nation is unsustainable. No great civilization expects to collapse, yet they all have. There are specific reasons for their collapse, which are discussed in these pages. The good news is that the powerful tools for restoring our individual wealth and prosperity are recorded here. The bad news is that the powerful tools for restoring our individual wealth and prosperity are not automatically clear and correct in the hearts and minds of people. In order to establish and maintain a free and prosperous society, each person must understand how the world actually works, and then teach others. Businessmen, pastors, politicians, professors, blue-collar, white-collar, young, old, wealthy, poor… We are all together deceived. I will prove this.

Understanding the simple idea that people depend on production is required to restore our liberty and personal wealth. When that idea settles in alongside a few others, a new and valuable framework of understanding comes into view.

The Bible verse above observes a simple fact about the world. The sun rises and the rain falls on every perspective, attitude and religion.

What if there is a small bit of common ground between all people, regardless of worldview?

For instance, I may not know you, but I still know the sun rises and the rain falls on you.

People have different religions, but religion should not be a test for public office, except from the voting booth where it should always be a test. Even though Romans 13 is often poorly translated and wrongly applied, it does state that a Christian must be subject to higher authorities, regardless of religion, political affiliation or worldview. At the same time, the power and actions of authority must be limited based on just law. Getting this basic relationship right in our thinking is essential.¹

Perhaps there are other similar basics that can help restore our freedom. In fact, I am pleased to report that there are. I found these treasures by rejecting the false teaching commonly dressed in peer review, conventional wisdom and “it's always been that way.” For example, we all eat food and use things. Since food and things must be produced, we all have at least that in common. Oppressive power comes primarily from control of production. Power structures cannot exist without the labor and property of producers. A clear understanding of these and a few other essential ideas may forever change the way you perceive the world.

I hope those who already understand these ideas will find this a useful teaching tool. I am thankful for the centuries of great thinkers, writers and teachers who have produced more detailed work on liberty, production and wealth than any one person will ever exhaust. Even so, there may be important ideas here that are genuinely new to most people, regardless of education or worldview.

I labored to make this very basic writing as short as possible, while still being careful to cover essential ideas, so that these ideas can travel quickly. Restoring our liberty and prosperity depends on the speed with which these misplaced old ideas become commonplace again in our society. Every chapter has a purpose and role supporting that end.

One of the great challenges is engaging the audience. I want to engage the economist, scientist and pastor. I also want to engage the cattleman, mechanic and truck driver. I want to draw in the grandfather and his grandchildren. I am hopeful that these ideas will become the buzz in middle school, high school and college. I want mothers and daughters to be informed and encouraged.

In order to genuinely engage such a diverse audience, there must be a common denominator. One would think that an interesting common denominator that speaks to the educated man and the working man, as well as the young and the old would not exist. But it does.

In some ways I am uniquely qualified to present these ideas. You will see from my biography that I am at home with young and old, formally educated or not, grease and dirt or suit and tie, chewing the fat or presenting formal testimony. At every opportunity, I gladly advance the ideas of liberty and openly debate those who hold a different view, whether around the campfire or in the classroom, boardroom or in some public venue.

One of my challenges is to explain where we are wrong in our thinking without unnecessarily offending people. At the same time, I would debate any citizen, businessman, pastor, professor, teacher, leader, political activist, elected official or journalist on these ideas at any time, in any place. The bottom line is that our thinking is extremely mixed up and, in many important areas, just flat out wrong. The errors in our thinking and understanding are costing us our liberty, our homes, our jobs, our retirements and our children's future.

Liberty and prosperity are always at stake in every nation for every generation. Eventually bad decisions in the past force a generation to come to terms with the truth about what is necessary to sustain a free society. We are one of those generations. In our case, we can no longer naively depend on past production, new land, old-style immigration, industrialization, available cheap energy and paper wealth to maintain our standard of living.

We must learn how the world actually works.

We must learn to identify root causes.

We must learn how to defend our individual rights and personal property.

We must understand how power is developed and aggregated.

We must understand how nations are built and how they fall.

We must understand liberty, production, and the nature of things.

These pages contain keys to understanding which will enable a person to see through the errors that surround us daily. We have the power to overcome destructive ideas that exist in business, politics and religion.

My single objective is to share the very best of what I've learned with those who are willing to open their minds and think, in order to understand how to restore and preserve our great nation as a land of liberty and production. I welcome all challenges with regard to these ideas.

Of course the reader will find in these pages opinion, preference, analogy, anecdote, hyperbole, allegory and other literary devices which aid in conveying ideas and communicating meaning. When I claim that something is objectively true, it will be clearly stated as such.

The Bible is referenced as a guiding document for those to whom the book is Holy and as literature for others. Since Christian beliefs significantly impact the culture for both the Christian and non-Christian, understanding how the Bible influences society is useful for all. While there are significant sections which deal with typically misinterpreted Bible passages, the main case can be made using math, reason, logic and history. The Bible passages and teaching are necessary to help resolve certain problematic conflict in Christian teaching and thought.

The material in this book is powerful. It will teach a bold middle school student all that is necessary to debate and defeat a formally educated economist or an experienced politician. Imagine a magnificent skyscraper that is built on a lie. If a person, even a child, can show that the foundation is a lie, then the whole building has to be an illusion. Many things we believe are true are no more than illusions. Children who study the ideas presented in this book will have a better understanding of the world we live in than most successful and formally educated adults.

Sadly, we will discover that for the past 1600 years the Christian community has maintained at least one specific error in Christian thought which makes Christians largely responsible for the disaster we currently face as a nation. Amazingly I've been unable to find any person or literature that makes the specific case that you will read here. Neither have I met anyone who would even make the effort to present a reasoned argument against these claims. I'll be most appreciative if a reader can connect me with literature on any of these uncommon topics.²

The goal of this book is to restore sound thinking about liberty, production, and the nature of things so that a growing number of people may experience the blessings of liberty. In order to do that we have to cover a lot of ground without getting bogged down on any one point. This is a slow-starting, then faster-moving book of ideas which will point the interested reader to a wealth of literature which goes deeper into related theory and detail.

Liberty and prosperity are the prizes. So let's get started.

1Romans 13:1-7 is quoted and discussed in significant detail in the section on Authority.

2My argument here is multifaceted. First, these concepts are critical and basic which means they should be common knowledge. No search should be necessary. Second, I have physically and electronically searched many resources where these ideas should be present, and they are either not present, or at least not obvious enough for me to find. Third, I have asked many well educated people from various disciplines and have met no one who has been previously aware of these facts and ideas. Fourth, the commentaries and writing I have found include error which the information presented here illuminates as error.