Slave Card Blues

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Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin, 1961

 [The following post is by Redmond Weissenberger, Managing Editor of the Dollar Vigilante and Director of the Mises institute of Canada]

“...the basic axiom of libertarian political theory holds that every man is a self-owner, having absolute jurisdiction over his own body. In effect, this means that no one else may justly invade, or aggress against, another’s person.”

Murray Rothbard, 1982.

Who owns you? Do you consider yourself to be a sovereign individual? Free to do as you please? Earn your way in this world and dispose of your property as you see fit? If you live in the west, I would imagine you see yourself as free, you probably go about your day, interact with others in a cooperative manner, and feel that all is right with the world.

But there is an unseen web of text that binds each and every one of us. At any moment we can be snared within it and our liberty evaporates in an instant. This is the web of laws and regulations that an organization known as the state has brought into being and adds to every day further increasing the chances that you will be held within its grip.

It isn’t until you come into contact with the state and its minions, that you realize that there is this power that looks upon you with suspicion, that seeks to control you, mold you, modify your behavior, and in all too common fashion, forcibly subject you to its will.

Force is the currency of the state, its bread and butter. Without the monopoly on the use of force that it grants itself, the state would wither and die, unable to collect the tribute that it demands of its indentured servants. During the times of the divine kings, the indentured were referred to as “subjects”. In the time of the total state, the indentured are referred to as “citizens”. The modern neo-national socialist state requires total control of the economy within its domain – it will settle for nothing less.

The true colors of the state show clearly in the area of travel. In simple terms, the freedom to take yourself from one geographical location to another upon this rock we all inhabit. Less than 100 ago, Per Bylund tells us:

The pre-1914 world saw no immigration issues or policies, and no real border controls. Instead, there was free movement in the real sense; there were no questions asked, people were treated respectfully and one did not even need official documents to enter or leave a country.

This all changed with the installation of the Federal Reserve and the income tax in the US in 1913 and the First World War. Individuals who happened to find themselves within the territorial monopoly of ultimate decision making of the total state were no longer seen as being the ones who should be served by the state. The tables were turned – the individuals were to serve at the behest of the state – to operate as pawns within a game of make believe directed by political elites and the bureaucratic class that they spawned.

Being seen as wholly owned property of the state, it quickly became clear that freedom of movement had to go. Barriers were thrown up around the world to exit and entry. Population management for the good of “society” was a necessity, we were told. In order to travel one must procure the necessary permissions from the managers of society. What is an absolute necessity if one wishes to travel in today’s world of global statism?

A Passport.  Or, as we call it, your slave card.

Before one can cross over the invisible line that can mean life or death, as in the case of Jews fleeing NAZI Germany, or just about anyone in the USSR, one must obtain the proper papers. The papers are as good as a brand, marking you as the property of a particular state. In the USSR, exit papers were required before one could leave the country, even internal travel required permission.

In the USSA exit papers are not yet required, but when the model of the total state has been adopted worldwide, denial of a passport is a de facto ban on the freedom of movement. The relationship between master and servant is crystal clear:

Ray Priest, owner of International Passport Visas in Denver, said your passport isn’t actually yours at all; it belongs to the US government. “To have a passport is privilege, it’s not entitled to you by citizenship,”

Quoting Wendy McElroy:

Denying a passport violates self-ownership in yet another manner: either every human being is a self-owner or none are...This sleight of hand converts a right into a state-granted privilege to be doled out to the obedient.

The Federal Statutes currently list 20 reasons why one could be denied a Passport by the authorities. The iron web of “law” created by the 75,606+ pages in the Federal Register works to subordinate you to the State, and once the arbitrarily drawn line is crossed, you are a prisoner for life.

Wendy McElroy echoes this view when she concludes that the passport is the hallmark of the totalitarian state; “Your Papers Please”, is the signal to submit:

The passport has grown into what is arguably the single most powerful tool of totalitarian America, second only to law enforcement itself. It no longer pretends to protect individuals; not a single terrorist has been apprehended as a result of passport checks. But it does cement the totalitarian state. The mandatory passport should be reviled and rejected as an abuse of human rights and common decency. A nation that requires one cannot be free.

The freedom to travel is freedom itself - to a sovereign individual who realizes that their best interests are not served by remaining as tax cows to the particular group of thieves who happens to have a territorial monopoly on the use of force, obtaining the means to travel in today’s world can mean the difference between freedom and prosperity and a life of indentured servitude.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

We’ve just discussed how a passport is a slave card and is meant to keep you tied to the state.  But, what can you do to protect yourself and make yourself less indentured at this point in time?  As unintuitive as it sounds, the way to give yourself more freedom is to have more slave cards.  Preferably one from a country where they haven’t perfected complete and total control over every aspect of their citizens livelihoods.

There are 195 countries on Earth and the great majority of them do not have the resources nor interest in tracking and taxing your every move.  These should be where you look to get a second passport.

But, whatever you do, if you have the means and ability to get a second slave card and use it to help internationalize your life and assets we suggest you do so quickly.  Attaining a second passport is the last escape hatch and we doubt that western governments will allow it for much longer.  Once that door closes, you will have no way out.

If you cannot attain a second passport in a less oppressive country via ancestry (in countries such as Ireland, Greece or numerous others) then the cheapest one we know if is in the Dominican Republic (see how to get a passport in the DR here).  As well, we know of a way to get a legitimate passport in an eastern EU country quickly and easily.  If you are interested in more info on that, contact us at DRPassports@dollarvigilante.com.

Redmond WeissenbergerRedmond Weissenberger is the Managing Editor of the Dollar Vigilante and TDV Golden Trader. He is also the Founder and director of the Ludwig von Mises Institute of Canada. www.mises.ca