You are pleasantly asleep when the alarm watch gets off. You stretch your hand and turn the alarm off. However, unbeknownst to you…
The box of the watch is made of plastic which can only contain certain chemicals and can only be produced using certain catalysts and coloured with certain colouring agents. You take a look at the time through the watch's glass window, which is again manufactured under a series of regulations which determine what may or may not go into the glass. Behind the glass you will typically find a low-power LCD or Liquid Crystal Display. This display works by polarizing molecules in liquid state to crystalize them hence giving them polarization properties. These crystals are again, regulated. You can't just use any molecule in them. The electrical current that reaches these crystals runs through wires which are soldered to the electronic board using only approved soldering mixtures. The wires themselves are made of approved metals only (typically copper or alloys). The other end of the cables are attached to the electronic board, which again can contain only certain metals with a given maximum level of impurities and must be developed under ecologically benign conditions. The substrate (i.e. non-conductive part of the board) can only be made using certain chemicals, polymers and fiber-glass which was itself manufactured under regulated controls. The integrated circuits (ICs) on the electronic board were made out of silicon which was manufactured using only approved chemical and engineering conditions and made into ICs using strictly regulated techniques which use potentially lethal substances. The casings in which these IC's are stored are also made of specialty plastics on which there are regulatory limits as to what can be used. All the energy necessary to power this watch comes from batteries, which are also regulated. Their contents must not contain certain elements and in many countries must meet minimum energy storage capacities. They must also be manufactured under regulated conditions. The piezoelectric speaker in the watch must also meet regulated manufacturing standards. The metal deposited on the plastic button that allows you to stop the alarm, can only be selected from a handful of chemical elements and must also be manufactured under controlled toxicological conditions. The screws that hold the alarm watch together can equally only be made from selected materials manufactured under controlled conditions. The machines that assemble the electronic board must be themselves manufactured and designed under strict engineering, electric and electronic regulated standards and when operating they must do so within certain environmental limits. The cardboard of which the box in which the watch was shipped must have been manufactured using only certain selected chemicals and within environmental limits (in many countries, they must contain a certain percentage of reused materials). Same applies to the paper booklet containing instructions and the plastic box in which the watch was placed inside to prevent damage arising from shipping and handling. The people who assembled the watch laboured under health and safety regulations, while following union guidelines, in line with collective agreements while paying taxes from their wages. The owners of the factory where this watch was manufactured where themselves taxed for the privilege of bringing this watch to you. You paid for this watch using fiat money (i.e. money created out of nothing by the government) while paying taxes for the privilege of buying this watch.
In little more than 5 seconds during which it took you to turn the alarm off, we identified no less than 35 gross government intrusions in your life and the lives of others. And you only turned the alarm off. This is precisely why we write. Not because it is easy but because it is hard. People have no idea of the level at which governments (through the bureaucratic machine) control their lives. Everything that surrounds us, even the so-called natural substances have been somehow intruded into by the government. You cannot step anywhere in your house or apartment without a regulation of some sort having been applied to that very corner of your life, almost assuredly several times over. Your food, your clothes, your house, your computer, your toys, your medications, your furniture, your electricity, your phone, even the lonely tree growing outside your house is under heavy regulations (as to location, trimming, class, category, age, watering, fertilizer and so on). Everything you are or even you think you are is constantly being intruded into by the government. Your mental health is subject to review, control and manipulation by apparatchiks. If you are deemed mentally ill, they can take your so-called rights away and lock you up. The substances that you may want to consume to alter your mind are heavily regulated and people persecuted for it. Your opinions are subject to "Intelligence Community", Police and Judiciary review. You are not safe even in the privacy of your own mind.
This is not a hypothetical situation or "what if" scenario or a sci-fi script. This is real. Today. It happens to you and to us. Every day.
When we talk about control, we do not do so in the sense in which science fiction writers describe it (i.e. mind control - although it has been tried) but in the more mundane and pervasive type of control. You cannot do anything without the government having its saying overruling you. We don't even have the appearance of freedom any longer. The number of laws, regulations, guidelines and interpretations is so vast nowadays that not even subject specialists suffice. People now sub-specialize in topics, such as inheritance tax laws or toxicological health and safety workplace laws. It has reached a point at which not only there isn't any person on earth that can remotely say they understand a legal topic but all those topics can and are used on a daily basis to threaten your life and freedoms. Laws have become tools of oppression, just as they were in the USSR. The message is clear: behave as we say or we will punish you for the laws you are breaking. And breaking you are. It is impossible not to be in breach of many laws every single day. In short, the trap has sprung.
You are a slave and you don't know it. You feel freedom slipping through your fingers but you believe you are only oppressed. You do not fathom the notion that you are a slave; slave to laws and regulations, guidelines and interpretations that people who are far beyond your control have imposed upon you.
Sadly, we can't free you. It will happen, but not now. Right now, our job is to make you aware of who you are and who they are. There is a clear difference and the time to choose is coming. Slowly but assuredly. If you understand this, our job is done and now the choice is yours. Make it a good one.
Note: please see the Glossary if you are unfamiliar with certain words.
