Perverting the English Language and the Slide into Tyranny

I might not know much about anything, but I do know a little about the English language. I was born in the Midwest of the United States where it is the spoken language of the vast majority. I also actually studied it in college and, yes, we did actually delve into its history and closely examine how to use it in a grammatically correct way back when I went to the University of Illinois.

One thing I've learned about language is that the same word can mean different things to different people. A simple example of this is to think about something like the word dog. We all know what a dog is, right? Well, the truth is that the word dog places a different image in the mind of someone who owns a German shepherd than it would in someone who owns a Chihuahua. But something physical and solid is easy to work out. One simply goes into more detail or uses more descriptive or specific words. Things can get a little more difficult when discussing ideas and concepts that don't exist in the physical world but are purely in the realm of the mind.

Such concepts would include things like freedom and duty, tyranny and justice, liberty and slavery, etc. Just about everybody has a different understanding of what these things mean, even though many will have very similar ideas. Those who control the educational system can greatly influence how the masses view such concepts. Those who own the media can also shape and even change over time how these concepts are viewed. Words are quite mutable. As they change over time, the concepts they convey also change. The word gay is likely one of the best recent examples of this phenomenon. A few decades ago, it simply meant to be happy. I think we all know what the word implies in today's vernacular.

Many of our most cherished concepts have been slowly changed and perverted in this way. For instance, when the United States was created, a war was fought due to taxes that amounted to little over one percent of a man's income. To them, this was theft. To at least some of them any taxation was theft, but many of them felt they were being taxed without proper representation. They felt they weren't getting the services they deserved from government. To them, this was tyranny. They used this feeling of injustice to foment a revolution against the British royalty and their governing system and then used the victory to set up a more just and fair system. It wasn't a perfect system, but it was a step in the right direction. What percentage of income do you pay in theft, I mean taxes, today? Where is the outrage? Would the founders have allowed such abuse?

In a valiant effort to try to corral federal government and to try to prevent it from becoming the tyranny the founders had just cast out, they wrote the bill of rights which spelled out the natural rights individuals enjoyed through the auspices of their humanity. Government was not to violate said rights. Such was the law of the land. It was written in plain English. Unfortunately, we began the slide backward fairly early in the history of our republic. An unscrupulous political elite class has managed to take the reigns of power and an apathetic populous has let them get away with breaking their own laws for far too long.

It began slowly, by twisting the meaning of public welfare and regulating trade. The supreme court became a final arbiter of the meaning of the English language, a huge mistake and a terrible weak link. They refused to overturn obviously unconstitutional laws on numerous occasions and helped transfer far too much power to the congressional and executive branches of the United States federal government. Not enough people were paying attention, or cared, or demanded reversals, or took action. They simply accepted the rulings and allowed the government to usurp power. They allowed the language to be redefined.

The justice system is by far the worst violator of English degradation. They have become so detached from the rest of society that they have more or less developed their own language. I call it legalese. It is a language based on English, so it sounds familiar, but it is really quite different. Because of this, when a lawyer speaks, one might think he knows what the lawyer is saying, but one would be well advised to be careful. This is a language cunningly subtle in its deceptions. So much so that it even has its own dictionary. Black's Law Dictionary has been the legalese standard since 1891.

The law was meant to be understandable to all. The old maxim "ignorance of the law is no excuse" has been made false. The law that is universally understood is natural, moral law. It is quite simple, do not initiate force against others, do no harm to another except if defensive, do not steal, do not destroy another's property, and do not commit fraud are the simplest forms of such law. There is no reason to be ignorant of these laws, for they are self evident and intuitive. Yet these are the kind of laws that government bureaucrats and the power elite are constantly breaking. They want to hold you accountable when you are not aware of manmade laws, which occupy tome upon tome making it nearly impossible to know or understand all of them, while they want to remain unaccountable when they violate the simplest forms of natural law.

So the "justice" system has hijacked the English language. It has made people afraid in many ways. People fear what they don't understand. Honest people should not be afraid of justice. Honest, hard working people should not have to worry about being thrown in a cold jail cell when they have not harmed anyone, stolen from anyone, or committed fraud against anyone. They should not have to worry about being thrown in jail for wanting to exercise their rights. They should not have to worry about being charged with a crime for wanting to spend the money they've earned in the way they want. They should not have to worry about being "busted" for engaging in commerce of any kind, or for deciding what chemicals they want to put in their own bodies, or what kind of foods they want to eat, or what ideas they want to express, etc.

Keeping the populous confused and afraid only proves that the power elite are control freaks. It only shows how much they fear competition. It only shows how much they worry that they will not be able to remain on top of the heap if they allow fair and equal opportunity for the common folk. It was John D. Rockefeller who said "Competition is a sin, therefore it must be destroyed." I take exception to that. I believe competition keeps men honest. A monopoly is a sin. Modern monopolies are only possible because of government. That is the opposite of how responsible, caring government should act. If anything, government should help encourage competition in the marketplace, they should not put up roadblocks to small businesses that can't afford their regulations and licensing fees. Unfortunately, government is corruptible and the power elite have taken control and are using it to increase their own worth.

These control freaks have attacked the ideas of liberty and freedom by changing and manipulating the language used to describe these ideas. They have blamed the free market for the current financial crises when there hasn't been a truly free market in the world since way back when, maybe never. They blame capitalism for many of society's ills when true capitalism hasn't existed for at least a century. What we've had in this nation that the power elite has called capitalism is more closely akin to fascism. What we've had is corporatism, where the corporations are in bed with the government in an effort to hold down the small businessman. A truly free market would be regulated by fierce competition where business owners would be held accountable for their mistakes by facing bankruptcy and ruin if they don't deliver. In a true capitalist system investors would be held accountable by risking their own money for business ventures and the government would not provide a taxpayer safety net for them.

It has been the corporate system that has failed us, not the free market. It has been the government/corporate model that has led us to where we are today, not capitalism. It has been the collectivist models that are holding us down, not the individualist philosophies of our forefathers. The very powerful are afraid of competition because they know how innovative humans can be, and so they want to squash the human spirit, deny opportunity, limit human potential and stagnate economies all so they can be certain to remain relevant, influential and on top of the heap. Obfuscating the language has helped them create an environment which makes it easier for them to accomplish their goals.

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