How the Modern Nation-State Fears the Free Individual
By Max Borders

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 ([link removed]) , 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.

Continue Reading ([link removed])
Support our work by making a one-time donation. All contributions are tax deductible. Click here. ([link removed])

============================================================
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Instagram ([link removed])

Our mission is to equip people to understand, embrace, and advocate the values of self-government.

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** unsubscribe ([link removed])
from this list.

** Terms & Conditions ([link removed])
| ** Privacy Policy ([link removed])
| ©2024 Advocates for Self-Government, Inc.