I confide most of you are familiar with Rothbard's masterly writings chronicling the rise of what he called the "Post Millenial Pietism" (PMP) movement in the USA and the coming into power of the Prohibitionist party during the first part of the XX century. According to the great economist and thinker these movement needed to "maximise salvation" in order to bring forth the Kingdom of God on Earth as quickly as possible.
This is basically a very old way of thinking, stemming back to St Augustine and the Donatist "heresy". Heretics needed to be brought back to rightful Church, even "at the point of a sword", to say so, (Aug., Epistula 93). Forcing the heretic to get back was considered by the Father of the Church "an act of mercy". Augustine's arguments were later used to justify pretty much every act of violence "in the name of righteousness", from the persecution of the Arian heretics to the forced conversions of Saxon heathens and Moorish Muslims.
Anyway back to my original topic. In the last thirty years or so (I am not that old) I have seen a resurgence of the same PMP mentality. This time the Kingdom of God has little or nothing to do with it: most of practicioners are self-proclaimed atheists or non-Christians. Smoking bans, war on drugs, the progressive return of "Demon Rum" as a public enemy... not to mention the enormous body of legislation turning Political Correctness into a de facto religion and bringing thought and speech crimes back at the center of the spotlight. This movement I like to call Social Engineering, though the final goals of its creators still elude me. The final goals are pretty much cloudy and they tend to include "social and health costs", "our children", "benefits for everyone" and so on. There is nothing as easily recognizable as turning Earth into a Kingdom of Heaven.
So this brings forth my question: why? Has anyone made any research into what are the beliefs of the Social Engineers are? Is there an easily recognizable design behind this? Thanks to anyone who will take the time to respond.
I think their aims are quite clear, to shape the world to their desired ends through whatever means they can muster. Remember, to a lot of people little evil to achieve greater good is always an option.
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Telpeurion's Disliked Person of the Week: David Kramer
Yes, there is a design. Check out G. Edward Griffin's The Creature From Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve.
The Federal Reserve is only the beginning. The scope of the book goes back centuries and into Europe, exposing (with countless citations, including photographs) a grand international, cross-generational conspiracy for global financial domination.
Yes, it sounds hyperbolic, but I urge you to check it out. The author, I'm told, is a former researcher at the Library of Congress, and did most of the research for this book while working there.
"Melody is a form of remembrance. It must have a quality of inevitability in our ears." - Gian Carlo Menotti
Personally I do not believe in centuries-long conspirations. At times I am almost tempted to believe that Our Enlightened Masters in Bruxelles are simply so bored about ruling such a docile population that they have to push their own petty side projects just to keep themselves from dozing. And sometimes I hope that this will be their undoing. The Soviet Union started to collapse spectaculary in 1985 when that well-meaning but rather clumsy character named Mikhail Gorbachev decided that "something must be done" about spirits consumption among his comrades. Demon Rum had crossed all bonduaries and landed in the Red Square. And the rest is history, as they say.
Every time you walk into a tobacconist's shop you see signs everywhere saying "No cigarettes to minors" and there are draconian sanctions for anyone caught selling this products to an underage customer. They even went into all the trouble to hardwire vending machines as to having to accept ID cards to be able to buy a pack of cigarettes. Yet every time I pass in front of a school at closing time I see clusters of youths, mainly girls, smoking like back in my days. Mmmh, now that I think about it there may be actually more youths smoking nowadays.
the wonders of government prohibition, you cannot beat them.