215 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
215 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
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Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 12 Num. 44
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("Quid coniuratio est?")
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HOW THE GAME IS PLAYED
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======================
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"The sovereign right to regulate commerce among our
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magnificent union of States, and to control the instruments
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of commerce, the right to issue the currency and to
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determine the money supply for sixty-three million people
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and their posterity, have been leased to associated
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speculators. The brightest lights of the legal profession
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have been lured from their honorable relation to the people
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in the administration of justice, and through evolution in
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crime the corporation has taken the place of the pirate;
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and finally a bold and aggressive plutocracy has usurped
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the Government and is using it as a policeman to enforce
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its insolent decrees." -- General James B. Weaver, 1892.
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"From the remotest period in the history of the Saxons it had
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been the settled policy never to submit to the imposition of
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taxes unless the subject had consented thereto... So scant were
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the royal revenues at this remote period, as compared with the
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extravagant expenditures, that it was with extreme difficulty
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that the wants of the crown and the nobility could be supplied at
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all; and history shows that in nearly every instance the taxes
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were voted only in return for some new concession of liberty to
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the people."
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The Saxon people wished to be represented "in the great council.
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The prince and his barons consented -- for a price. The purchase
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was made and in this way the great body of the English people...
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gradually acquired a foothold among the law makers of the
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realm... When the crown was powerful and the unrepresented
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people weak, the right of representation was sold for so much
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money paid directly into the royal treasury. When the electors
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became numerous and had the power of electing members of
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Parliament within their own hands, they in turn sold their votes
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to the highest bidder. Mr. May, in his excellent work on the
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British constitution, informs us that up to within a very recent
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period, it was a common thing for candidates for Parliament to
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visit the locality of their candidacy and with ready cash
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purchase the votes necessary to elect them, and then close the
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negotiations with an agreement properly signed and witnessed."
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-+- The Rise of the Corporation -+-
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The U.S. Senate of 1861-1865 had not only to legislate during the
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Civil War, but also had the task of "reconstructing and
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readjusting civil government after the conflict was over."
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"It seems strange that the legislators of the war and
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reconstruction periods failed to comprehend that those who drove
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hard bargains and exacted cruel concessions when the Republic was
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in peril, were as hostile to the spirit of liberty, though not so
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brave, as the armed Confederate."
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"Those who drove hard bargains and exacted cruel concessions,"
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for example:
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** J.P. Morgan, who offered to sell "5,000 new carbines in
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perfect condition" for $22 each to the Union army. But
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Morgan's rifles had a problem: they kept misfiring and
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blowing off soldiers' thumbs. No matter. J.P. Morgan
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insisted on and received full payment.
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** Northern bankers and cotton speculators, who avoided
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fighting and preferred instead to rake in the loot by
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dealing in Civil War contraband.
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** Northern bankers who tried to force the Union into
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accepting loans from them at usurious rates of interest, as
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high as 30 percent.
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This last usurious extortion attempt by northern bankers led to
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an indignant President Lincoln issuing lawful government money:
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the "greenbacks." But those who "drove hard bargains and exacted
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cruel concessions," those "hostile to the spirit of liberty," the
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ascendant *nouveau riche* class of corporate capitalists, did not
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sit still for Lincoln's affront to their money monopoly; they...
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(1) ...inserted an "exception clause" into the Legal Tender act,
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"which placed a premium on gold for the benefit of gold
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gamblers... The exception clause was not in the bill when it
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passed the House. It was inserted in the Senate."
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(2) ... pushed through a law authorizing the issuing of bonds.
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"The exigencies of war never called for the issue of a single
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bond. Those who framed the law simply intended to provide an
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opportunity for speculators whereby they could dispose of, at its
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face value in United States bonds, the paper [Greenbacks] which
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they had purposely depreciated and afterward purchased. They
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procured one law which enabled them to purchase Greenbacks at
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less than their face value, and another which empowered them to
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realize in gold the face value of the Greenbacks."
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(3) ...forced through the National Bank Act. That Act authorized
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"the bond holder to deposit his gold bearing bonds and secure
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from the treasury ninety percent of his investment, and still
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draw quarterly from the people interest on the whole amount of
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the bond. It further invested the associated banks with the
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power which belongs to the Government -- the power to issue the
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money of the people and regulate its volume."
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(4) ...overthrew the Homestead law with the Land Grants Acts.
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"By these acts the Homestead law was made a nullity and the
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Public domain given away to corporations, syndicates, and foreign
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nabobs."
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(5) ...snuck through "the contraction act of 1866... Under this
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act more than one billion of the currency [Greenbacks] was taken
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from circulation and destroyed."
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(6) ...passed the Credit Strengthening Act of 1869, which pledged
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the payment of the entire public debt in gold.
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(7) ...passed the infamous act which demonetized silver, in 1873.
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This act, known as "The Crime of '73," stealthily "struck down
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one-half of our coin money, doubled the value of gold and
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converted the coin bonds into gold obligations."
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"Honest men had their eyes on the salvation of the Union. Bad
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men took advantage of the situation... The slaveholder lost his
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human chattels and the Confederacy perished. But the tyranny of
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capital was not broken by the war. On the contrary it was
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augmented beyond measure. The money power gained all that the
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slaveholder lost. It conquered the whole country and chained the
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children of toil, both black and white, to its chariot wheels...
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THE BATTLE FOR SUBSTANTIAL AND REAL EMANCIPATION HAS YET TO BE
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FOUGHT..."
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"The slave holding aristocracy, restricted both as to locality
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and influence, was destroyed by the [Civil] war only to be
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succeeded by an infinitely more dangerous and powerful
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aristocracy of wealth, which now pervades every State and aspires
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to UNIVERSAL DOMINION ['New World Order']."
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This aristocracy of wealth first gained control of politics and
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politicians, "and finally found expression in a vast net work of
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corporations... Neither the military achievements of Caesar, the
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exploits of Cyrus, Hannibal, Alexander, nor the dazzling
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conquests of Napoleon in the fields of war, can compare with the
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stupendous victories of organized capital in this country..."
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The aristocracy of wealth, the corporations, "have filled the
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Senate of the United States with men who represent the
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corporations and the various phases of organized greed... The
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corporations never make public their purpose... Their plans are
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laid in the counting room, around the lunch table, and in the
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secret meetings of their directors away from the public. When
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the plan is matured, a skillful agent is employed to carry it
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out, and a check is drawn to cover expenses. The people at large
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are about their daily toil in the field and the workshop. They
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are honest, unsuspecting, and devoted to their respective
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[political] parties. The work that is to rob and ruin them is
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being done under cover. The corporations -- apparently wholly
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indifferent -- having determined whom they wish to elect... the
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people are betrayed."
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-+- How The Game Is Played -+-
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The above quotations come from Union General James B. Weaver's
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book, "A Call To Action," first published in 1892. Note the time
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frame in the above summary: starting from his perspective in
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1892, General (and Congressman) Weaver looks back to the
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beginnings of popular representation in early England. He then
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covers his immediate past, the Civil- and post-Civil War era.
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Implicit in your own time frame in this issue of Conspiracy
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Nation is that your past (the 20th century) is General Weaver's
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future.
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Joining the two perspectives, Weaver's and our own, we get a
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panorama of "How The Game Is Played":
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-- In Saxon England, money is given in exchange for power.
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-- During the Civil War, money controls power, which is used to
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gobble up even more money.
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-- After the Civil War, individual power is hidden behind the
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facade of the corporation. Enormous, concentrated wealth is the
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puppet-master, controlling the "laws."
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-- And now, it's all still the same. After almost 1000 years,
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the game (even though with added trappings) has not changed.
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+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
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For related stories, visit:
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http://www.shout.net/~bigred/cn.html
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Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those
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of Conspiracy Nation, nor of its Editor in Chief.
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I encourage distribution of "Conspiracy Nation."
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New mailing list: leave message in the old hollow tree stump.
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Want to know more about Whitewater, Oklahoma City bombing, etc?
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(1) telnet prairienet.org (2) logon as "visitor" (3) go citcom
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Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
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Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et
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pauperem. -- Liber Proverbiorum XXXI: 8-9
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