The Elite and the Electorate

Last week, we published a series of man-on-the-street interviews that dramatically illustrated how voters often are abysmally ignorant of political reality, and that led to the question: Would it be better if some did not vote?

That issue jogged my memory back to the outrage I felt in 1960 when I read an essay by Senator William Fulbright (Founder of the Fulbright Scholarships) entitled The Elite and the Electorate.

Fulbright was a pillar of the American liberal establishment and an honored lecturer at the Council on Foreign Relations. His thesis was that common people are incapable of self rule because they do not have the aptitude, the knowledge, nor even the interest in acquiring the knowledge required for decisions on matters of state. Therefore, he argued, there always must be a ruling class, an elite segment of society to execute the task of leadership. The masses may be encouraged to believe they are in charge via the electoral process, but the reality is that a small group will run everything of importance.

I was outraged at this concept. It ran counter to what I had been taught about the virtue of democracy and the inherent wisdom of the electorate. However, I had to admit there was some truth to Fulbright’s argument, and it upset me that he might be right.

Fulbright made the analogy of a passenger ship on which there are two classes of people: The passengers and the crew. The passengers decide where they want the ship to go, but the crew is in charge of getting it there. Once the passengers decide on the destination, they are well advised to leave the machinery and navigation to the crew which has specialized knowledge of such matters.

It was (and still is) a strong argument in favor of a ruling class that is left alone to perform its specialized tasks but which is subservient to the citizens-at-large regarding political destinations and principles. The analogy bothered me because I could not find a flaw in it. It wasn’t until a decade of observation had passed until I found the flaw.

The flaw was so huge and so simple that you cannot see it unless you back away from the theory and look at the practice. The flaw is that Fulbright was lying. He advocated that the passengers determine the destination of the ship but, in actual practice, he and his Establishment minions wanted the crew to determine everything, including the destination. They talked the line of limited government because it got them elected but, once in office, they immediately took charge of all aspects of the voyage, including its destination.

Next week, I will address the question of how to convert Fulbright’s analogy from deceptive rhetoric into honest practice; how to design constitutions to insure that the crew remains the servant of the passengers rather than their master.

G. Edward Griffin
2016 March 4

THIS WEEK IN REVIEW

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un ordered his military to be on standby to use its nuclear missiles in a “pre-emptive attack” against its enemies. North Korea considers South Korea, the US, and Japan to be its enemies. France24 2016 Mar 4 (Story)

Former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, told Fox News that Donald Trump is driving the Republican wing of the Establishment crazy because he’s “not a member of the club”, “doesn’t belong to the secret society” and “hasn’t lived through the initiation rites”. [Some news sources are reporting this statement as proof that a secret society controls the Establishment. However, listen carefully to Gingrich’s words and you will realize he is merely trying to be colorful in describing what often is called “the good-old-boys club”. Be aware that Gingrich is a dues-paying member of the Establishment. No, that does not mean that he actually pays dues.] InfoWars 2016 Mar 4 (Story)

The FBI was dealt a blow this week when a judge ruled in a case involving a Brooklyn drug dealer that the government does not have the power to compel a company to build a “backdoor” into existing security software. This ruling sets a precedent that will work in favor of Apple in its efforts to resist pressure from the FBI to build a backdoor for all existing iPhones. Truth In Media 2016 Mar 3 (Story)

Aubrey McClendon, fracking pioneer and former CEO of Chesapeake Energy, was indicted on conspiracy charges linked to the rigging of oil and gas leases. The reason this is news is, not because an executive rigged the prices of oil and gas leases, but because that executive, himself, was indicted for the crime instead of the usual arrangement in which the stockholders of the company pay a fine, and the executives receive a bonus. Let’s hope this becomes a trend. WSJ 2016 Mar 2 (Story)

America’s military increasingly is composed of contractors rather than regular troops. This has the advantage of making the number of US troops in other countries appear smaller and also distances the military from problems that arise from misconduct. As of January, 2,028 military contractors were in Iraq, up from just 250 one year earlier, and there are another 5,800 State Department contractors plus an unknown number employed by weapons manufacturers. WeMeantWell 2016 Mar 2 (Story) (Cached)

Turkey is preparing to try almost 2,000 people for ‘insulting’ President Erdogan. The accused include journalists, cartoonists, academics, and schoolchildren. Reuters 2016 Mar 2 (Story) (Cached)

Aubrey McClendon died after driving his car into a concrete barrier the day after he was indicted. This has led to speculation about the possibility of suicide. KOCO News 2016 Mar 2 (Story)

France’s National Assembly (upper chamber of Parliament) passed a law that requires 40% of all food served to be organically grown, ecologically sustainable, and locally grown. This will apply to school cafeterias, senior living communities, prisons, local pubs and restaurants. [What an excellent idea this is – except for one thing: it is done by coercion-of-law instead of freedom-of-choice.] Natural Society 2016 Mar 1 (Story) (Cached)

Former Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan, warned against banks instituting negative interest rates. He said that would distort savings and limit investments, resulting in reduced productivity. Bloomberg 2016 Mar 1 (Story)

Hidden devices on buses and trains in Maryland are recording private conversations. The devices were installed without legislative authorization. Washington Post 2016 Mar 1 (Story) (Cached)

US: According to a grand jury, two Catholic bishops helped to cover up the sexual abuse of hundreds of children by more than 50 priests for more than forty years. Offending priests were transferred rather than dismissed or prosecuted. The bishops chose to expose more children to abuse than have the scandal become public. AP 2016 Mar 1 (Story) (Cached)

A Ku Klux Klan rally in Anaheim, California, erupted in violence, ending with three people stabbed and 13 others arrested. A video of the incident shows anti-KKK protesters attacking KKK members. Mic 2016 Feb 29 (Story) (Cached)

Uganda: A children’s charity recently reported the mutilation and murder of six children. Blood sacrifices are believed to manifest power and wealth, especially during the election season. Yahoo 2016 Feb 29 (Story) (Cached)

Japan: Three former executives of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in were indicted Monday over the 2011 accident. This will be the first criminal trial linked to the disaster. AFP 2016 Feb 29 (Story)

Billboards are looking back at you. Clear Channel Outdoor Americas, an advertising company with thousands of billboards across the US, has a program called Radar that can track information from passing mobile phones. It tracks age, gender, and location, which can be used to customize local advertising to the interests of travelers. Inverse 2016 Feb 29 (Story) (Cached)

Staffordshire, England: Teenage gang fights have prompted the local McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants to require children under 18 years old to be accompanied by an adult to eat inside. This move is hoped to protect the staff who work there. Yahoo 2016 Feb 29 (Story) (Cached)

Former CIA chief, Michael Hayden, while appearing on Bill Maher’s talk show, said that, if Trump becomes President, the US military could refuse orders that Trump has suggested, such as waterboarding and killing terrorists’ families. CBS News 2016 Feb 28 (Story)

American military contractors, Ellwood National Forge Company and General Dynamics, recently sold ‘bunker-buster’ bombs to Turkey for $683 million. Turkey is using them against the Kurds, who are fighting against ISIS. Turkish court transcripts show that its military has been supplying ISIS with weapons. ZeroHedge 2016 Feb 27 (Story) (Cached)

Los Angeles officials are cracking down on tiny, portable charity houses for the homeless, and removing them without offering their residents an alternative. The city says they are a hazard. RT posted 2016 Feb 27 (Story)

The German government says it doesn’t know the whereabouts of 130-thousand refugees because they didn’t show up at reception centers to which they had been directed. According to officials, the refugees may have returned home, moved to another country, or gone underground. Press TV 2016 Feb 27 (Story)

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ANALYSIS

News and commentaries that reveal historical facts and trends that place current events into perspective and make it possible to anticipate future events.

 

Eric Schmidt, former chief executive officer of Google, will head a new Pentagon advisory board aimed at sharing technology between the US military and the technology industry. The focus will be information sharing. Reuters 2016 Mar 2 (Story) (Cached)

James Corbett shows how technology can be used to frame people for crimes they did not commit. Corbett Report 2016 Mar 1 (Story)

Dr. Paul Ekman from the University of California and author of Emotions Revealed developed a system of reading micro-expressions on people’s faces to determine their emotional state. The technology will be used for law enforcements, child support payments, tax collection, parking tickets, and insurance claims. 21st Century Wire posted Mar 1 (Story)

Ron Paul said that, in terms of limiting government, there is no meaningful difference between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. They both support the military-industrial complex, the Federal Reserve, deficits, entitlements, and invasion of privacy. He says that Trump’s populism and Clinton’s socialism are closer to tyranny than liberty. CNN 2016 Mar 1 (Story)

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HUMOR

Need to Know is as serious as it gets, but laughter is good for the soul and helps to keep our equilibrium amid the chaos. So, here are quips, gags, and images to put a smile on your face. If you have some you would like to share, please send them here.

 

One dark night outside Mundare, a small town East of Edmonton, in Alberta, a fire started inside the local sausage plant and, in a blink, it erupted into massive flames. The alarm went out to all the fire departments from miles around.

When the volunteer fire fighters appeared on the scene, the sausage-company president rushed to the fire chief and said, “All of our secret formulas are in the vault in the center of the plant. They must be saved, and I will give $50,000 to the fire department that brings them out intact.” But the roaring flames held the firefighters off.

Soon, more fire departments from surrounding towns had to be called in as the situation became desperate. As the firemen arrived, the president shouted out that the offer was now $100,000 to the fire department that could bring out the company’s secret files.

From a distance, a lone siren was heard as another fire truck came into sight. It was the nearby Smoky Lake Rural Township’s volunteer fire department composed mainly of retirees over the age of 65. To everyone’s amazement, the little run-down fire engine, operated by these retirees, passed all the newer sleek engines parked outside the plant and drove straight into the middle of the inferno.

The other firemen watched in amazement as the old timers jumped off and began to fight the fire with a performance and effort never seen before. Within a short time, the Smoky Lake old-timers had extinguished the fire and saved the secret formulas.

The grateful sausage-company president joyfully announced that, for such a superhuman feat, he was upping the reward to $200,000, and walked over to personally thank each of the brave, retired firefighters.

The Edmonton TV-news reporters rushed in after capturing the event on film asking, “What are you going to do with all that money?” “Well,” said Nick Jones, the 70-year-old fire chief, “….. the first thing we are going to do is fix the brakes on that old fire truck!”

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READERS’ FORUM

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GENIUSES VS. IDIOTS
2015 Mar 3 by Jeff Foxworthy
If plastic water bottles are okay, but plastic bags are banned, — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots

If you can get arrested for hunting or fishing without a license, but not for entering and remaining in the country illegally — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If you have to get your parents’ permission to go on a field trip or to take an aspirin in school, but not to get an abortion — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If you must show your identification to board an airplane, cash a check, buy liquor, or check out a library book and rent a video, but not to vote for who runs the government — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If the government wants to prevent stable, law-abiding citizens from owning a gun that hold more than ten rounds, but gives twenty F-16 fighter jets to the new leaders in Egypt — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If, in the nation’s largest city, you can buy two 16-ounce sodas, but not one 24-ounce soda, because 24-ounces of a sugary drink might make you fat — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If an 80-year-old woman who is confined to a wheelchair or a three-year-old girl can be strip-searched by the TSA at the airport, but a woman in a burka or a hijab is only subject to having her neck and head searched — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend trillions more — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If a seven-year-old boy can be thrown out of school for saying his teacher is “cute” but hosting a sexual exploration or diversity class in grade school is perfectly acceptable — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If hard work and success are met with higher taxes and more government regulation and intrusion while not working is rewarded with Food Stamps, welfare checks, Medicaid benefits, subsidized housing, and free cell phones — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

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WATCH THE SHELL. WATCH THE PEA
2016 Mar 1 from Mathew Harmon
There is no money in circulation, only Reserve Notes, which are promissory notes. Checks money orders and credit cards etc. are only forms of negotiable instruments, not currency, but legal tender.

How can a bank, credit union, or lender make a loan when there is no money in circulation to loan? How can there be debts and taxes when there is no money? The banks, lenders, and credit unions as well as department stores generate negotiable instruments through application information and signatures to exchange for so called money these instruments are bonded and given cusip numbers. Standard and Poor of the S&P-500 created the identifier system

Banks, lenders use the personal information to make negotiable instruments. Checks, once “cashed”, are scanned, put on the statement instead of returning to the sender and resold on the global money market If people realized this, they would maybe understand that they are paying twice for their home, car, or loan since they loaned themselves the money not the bank or lender.

The system is flush with cash because it is truly a smoke-and-mirrors system. Watch the shell. Watch the pea.

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FROM A STUDENT IN BELGIUM
2016 Feb 23 from Robert Camps
Hi Mr Griffin,
I’m Robbert, a Belgian engineering student, and a few days ago, I heard from you for the first time. I’ve just watched this video. (I need to watch your other works on cancer and pharma fraud, but I find this kind of thing very interesting to see the bigger picture.) The idea of the whole monetary system being a scam wasn’t new to me, but yesterday I heard about the Rothenschild family. I never thought before of the fact that all this wealth and power must be flowing to some people, but now I can put a face on it. Right now, I feel as if I can’t escape from this scam, as they have so much power (just like you say here. Now, if I may, I have two questions for you:

– Have you ever been afraid of being silenced/killed? You try so hard to make the people aware of what is happening, and if we manage to change the system, some people are losing a lot of power. Power they could use right now to end it all before it goes out of control.

– Do you think the Bitcoin can be a solution to avoid the whole banking system? When I propose this to my friends, they say that banks are necessary; that sometimes we need loans that the bank can give us. They also think we need the government to be able to inject money in the economy when times are bad. I didn’t find a good answer yet to these arguments. (Or will there be no “bad times” if we can fix the system?)

REPLY FROM GEG:
Hello Robert. Good to hear from you, and I am glad to know that you find my work interesting. You have asked several excellent questions, and I will attempt to answer them as best I can under the load of work, correspondence, and deadlines, but I urge you to take a first step and sign up for my free news service, called Need to Know News. Most of what you ask is a recurring theme in Need to Know, so you will get an in-depth response from that source.

The next step is to connect to Freedom Force International. That’s really where the action is. I would be delighted to see you come into that circle as a member.

Now to the questions. Yes, I am afraid of what they might do to me and my family, but I am even more afraid of what will happen to me and my family if we do not stop the global tyranny that now is descending on us. Men have gone into battle from the beginning of time afraid of what might happen to them but, if they are on the defensive side of the conflict, they have no honorable choice.

Bitcoin is an amazing technology and, in a free system, it could be an excellent alternative to settling financial transactions without banks. In a totalitarian system, however, it is almost useless, because the totalitarians can simply outlaw its use and severely punish those who break the law. The Internet can be used, not only to make transactions, but also to trace those transactions. There is no escape from tyranny except to dismantle it.

Your friends are right when they say that banks can and do perform a useful service to the economy. But we are not talking about those services. We are talking about a corrupt system in which banks and governments have formed a partnership by which the public can be legally plundered by inflation and bank bailouts. Your friends are suffering from a sadly incomplete understanding of what banks really do today. Banks do not need to be eliminated, only made to operate honestly.

Finally, the idea that governments need to inject money into the economy when times are bad is contrary to logic and certainly contrary to history. You cannot help people by giving them money you have stolen from them. In every case where there appears to be a boom in the economy from government injection of money, if you back off a bit and look at the long-term consequences, the effect is devastating. It’s like saying we can help a suffering drug addict by giving him more drugs. True, the immediate effect may be that he feels better at the moment, but he is made even more ill by the treatment and, eventually, he will die from it. The economy works the same way.

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NEED TO KNOW

Being informed is not enough. Knowledge, by itself, is not power, but it holds the potential for power if we use it as a guide for action. Truth always will be defeated by tyranny unless we are willing to step forward and enter the battle. The future belongs, not to ideas, but to people who act on those ideas. If you truly want to make a difference in the world, Freedom Force International awaits you.

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WHY I AM RUNNING FOR CONGRESS
from Patrea Patrick
I have accepted the Freedom Force call to action. We all need to step up to the plate and and run for office if we want to really make a difference in our government. It is our right and our duty. So I am running for Congress in the 30th District, San Fernando Valley, California. To make this happen, I need a campaign manager and anyone else who wants to help me in this campaign. My priority issues are to secure our freedom, harden the power grid against cyber hackers, terrorists, and EMP strikes, and get politics out of money and banking. Please join with me at http://www.patreapatrick.com.