45 Comments

Love this piece! Thanks for highlighting that there are other options besides us asking to be governed by other non-fully formed humans who are corruptible by power they haven’t earned and yet learned to wield with conscience.

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Thank you. Change is coming!

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I believe it’s already here 🙌🙌

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😍✊💪🔥⭐️🧡🧡🧡

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Dec 4, 2023·edited Dec 4, 2023Liked by Christopher Cook

Side message to all brave, good-faith whistleblowers:

First, Godspeed, and thank you for your bravery. Second, please consider documenting all your key information privately for storage on a "dead-man's switch". Once per month (or so) the information will be released via email to multiple addresses you choose *unless* you manually disable the release.

Do a search on "dead-man's switch", and you'll find multiple services that will manage the switch for you, including provisions to avoid accidental release. You may need more than one of these services for safety.

And consider making it known publicly that you have info stored on a dead-man's switch. If Big Govt grandees and their enforcement goons *know* you have Kompromat stored on a dead-man's switch, they'll be less likely to abscond with you, jail you, (or worse).

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YES! Love it!

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Dec 5, 2023Liked by Christopher Cook

I had to read this twice. Entertaining, and smashes the message out of the park imo. Sadly, being from NZ, its close to home.

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Thank you, Luke.

So how bad are things in NZ?

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Dec 5, 2023Liked by Christopher Cook

Well, I left NZ 2 weeks ago, but its not good, as you can see. This stuff is all largely ignored by the masses. And as you note, even the so called freedom groups, can't fathom a stateless society, which is the solution in the long run.

Sadly I predict a civil war of sorts in the next few years, the result of state funded racial separatism, the last government created two classes of people in more ways than just by vaccine status.

NZ is already very decentralized and self sufficient, but the cult of statism has been hard coded into our "soul" if you will. I do also see huge potential for economic freedom in long term as well, as the fiat ponzi is close to collapse imo, and a Bitcoin standard would be easy to adopt for most people, adding to NZ's already largely decentralized population. But again, that's an orange pill they are yet to digest, once inflation hurts a bit more, maybe more will be willing to change their ways.

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—Well, I left NZ 2 weeks ago

For good?

—even the so called freedom groups, can't fathom a stateless society, which is the solution in the long run.

Yeah, the programming runs deep. Humanity has, for the most part, never known anything else.

—Sadly I predict a civil war of sorts in the next few years, the result of state funded racial separatism, the last government created two classes of people in more ways than just by vaccine status.

Oh dear. Would the combatants actually be racially defined? (Maoris vs. whites?)

—as the fiat ponzi is close to collapse imo, and a Bitcoin standard would be easy to adopt for most people, adding to NZ's already largely decentralized population. But again, that's an orange pill they are yet to digest, once inflation hurts a bit more, maybe more will be willing to change their ways.

I too see economic collapse as a possible silver-lining phenomenon. But we have to be ready.

I also remain a little skeptical of crypto. I want it to work, but I think goldbacks might be safer…

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Dec 6, 2023Liked by Christopher Cook

Not for good, I hope.

I'm not sure each side is specific to each race, its ideological, but ideology based on race. Ultimately driven by pushback from affirmative action and over the top demands for reparation's and special privilege's etc.

Gold requires a lot of trust and cost etc. It already failed as a reserve because the state so easily confiscated it. I see that being much more difficult in the bitcoin space, especially given its crypto anarchist origins, an attitude that still largely informs many of its core developers and early adopters. In any case, Bitcoin is the strongest protest against central banking, which is a large driver of the modern day slavery we see under statism, that in itself is worth getting behind imo.

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I see what you are saying about gold. I am not an expert in crypto, so please feel free to tell me if I am off base, but…

Central governments HAVE exercised control over, and an influence upon, cryptocurrencies. Regulations. Banning their use. Etc. What's to say they won't keep doing that, only more and worse?

Isn't a failure point of crypto the internet itself? Like, if central governments want to shut off decentralized commerce, they could just shut off the internet, or the right parts of it, right?

Bitcoin mining is energy intensive. If they're targeting ceiling fans and gas stoves to fight "climate change" (their excuse for gaining more power and using force on us), I think we can be sure that when the time is right, they will use that as their excuse to shut down Bitcoin "for the sake of the planet."

CBDC is, in some ways, an emulation of crypto. So crypto got people excited for fighting the power, and got people used to digital currency, and now the central authority will impose its own and say that it (and possibly only it) is legal tender.

Gold bullion is a pain, but goldbacks are easily spent, carried, distributed, and hidden.

Yes, people bent the knee in the 1930s, and yes, many people are still likely to cower and turn over their gold. But a lot of people will not, especially if they have more easily hidden goldbacks. Goldbacks disseminating into an economy will force them to go door-to-door, to every home and business, using huge resources. It's not a panacea, but I am thinking it might be harder for them.

And I want tyranny to be harder for them.

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Dec 6, 2023Liked by Christopher Cook

Yes, the state has had limited influence over Mining and the offramps of Fiat. Really its just shuffling miners around jurisdictions, its becoming a geopolitical weapon of sorts.

The internet is a point of failure of many of our systems, least of all money at this point. At least with Bitcoin, it will always have a redundancy somewhere on the planet(or off world now with btc satellites).

Its not as energy intensive as the war and oil that backs the dollar. And it actually now uses more than 50% renewables from my understanding, making the Bitcoin industry the most ESG friendly of them all. But yes, will be an excuse for some, but with all the big money managers now seeing Bitcoin as a mainstay in finance, I doubt that objection will stick.

Yep, a CBDC is digital same as Bitcoin, but its so is most of all our money already.

The issue I see with CBDC(one of many) is it isn't permission less, which means its not inclusive and has stings attached. Bitcoin this isn't the case.

Gold backed savings still rely on a trusted third party(for the most part) making an easy target for enforcement. So while yes it is better than fiat money, its not better than Bitcoin.

Even now, bitcoins stock to flow ratio is better than Golds, making it mathematically better money(as well as theoretically). Bitcoin is more scarce, more transportable, more easily divisible, and more predictable(its supply) than Gold. Miners can't make more Bitcoin if they want to, the supply is capped, unlike Gold, which can even be excreted by bacteria or extracted from seawater.

We are only just touching the surface of what the internet of money will mean for humanity. We will likely be notarizing private property on Bitcoins blockchain in the future. Gold simply can't do that, as their is no computation or storage component(that we know of haha) in the rock itself.

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Reparations—rarely has so evil a concept been spouted by so many with such sanctimony!

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Christopher, you are coming across as a fellow Voluntaryist where no one rules if no one obeys. Good for you.

It is very difficult for the Liz Gunns of the world to kick the government habit, and few of them have…we can reason with them, model and hope.

And yes, they are doing some good within the precinct of the Plantation, but are still remaining there supporting the one who whips them less. You nicely made this point and are, it seems, resonating with some, so well done.

I read you are new to Voluntaryism, so perhaps do not know the below?

I recommend this Video for all to confront and contemplate so as to become your own sole Authority: The Philosophy Of Liberty 8:05

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GazZBvHhgQ

Here is the Voluntaryist creed best articulated

https://voluntaryist.com

And these two books if understood must awaken the Voluntaryist within:

The Most Dangerous Superstition by Larken Rose, 2011, free digital download

http://www.freeyourmindaz.com/uploads/1/2/8/3/12830241/the-most-dangerous-superstition-larken-rose-2011.pdf

The Market For Liberty by Linda and Morris Tannehill, 1970, free digital and audiobook download

https://mises.org/wire/free-audiobook-market-liberty

Finally, for me, one of the best expressed insights on how “Government” may historically become morally insupportable by the majority just as its more directly vicious form known as “Slavery” did earlier in our Enlightenment toward Responsible Freedom:

“When the world becomes free it will not be by the creation of new laws, or the removal of old, or new political leaders, or any election result. It will not be because of a change in government, but because of a change in attitude toward government. Genuine change will come when the state is ignored, not reformed. It will not come when politicians are better, but when they are irrelevant. When state-made law is no longer deemed necessary or important it will not be respected. When it is not respected it will not be enforced because it will not be enforceable. The world can become free of the barbarous relic called the state. The state is a dangerous fiction whose power rests entirely on people’s belief in its necessity, or inevitability. It is not a given that a state must or will always exist. The state, like so many other superstitions now thought to be outrageous, inhumane, and inefficient, can be left in the ash heap of history.” Isaac Morehouse

Get free, stay free.

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Hiya Jack. Thank you for the kind words.

In one way, yes, I am new to anarchism: https://christophercook.substack.com/p/exact-moment-i-became-anarchist

In another way, I have been working my way towards it for a long time, and was asymptotically there long before I admitted it to myself: https://christophercook.substack.com/p/my-ideological-journey-from-left-to-right-part-3 | https://christophercook.substack.com/p/my-ideological-journey-from-left-to-right-part-4

The result of this long process of reasoning (https://christophercook.substack.com/t/reasoning) and free-pilling myself (https://christophercook.substack.com/t/step1) is that I have been able to do some fairly exacting work on the subject. For example, please check out my entry for the constitution-of-consent contest: https://christophercook.substack.com/p/human-constitution

There is still a ton more to learn. (Isn’t there always!?)

Regarding the The Philosophy Of Liberty video…

I like the past-present-future thing; I had not thought of it in quite those terms.

Did I ever show you this? https://christophercook.substack.com/p/is-any-government-morally-permissible/comments In it, I attempt to reason my way to a proof of self-ownership and its moral inviolability (rather than just relying on an intuitive argument or question-begging for it). Similarly, I develop syllogisms in an attempt to prove many of the same claims that are in that video. I would be happy to hear your opinion.

Regarding voluntaryist.com

I went to sign up for their email list but they said that their email list “disappeared” and that they won’t be doing mailings.

Regarding "The Most Dangerous Superstition”

Is there an audio version?

Regarding "The Market For Liberty”…

I started it in late summer, got halfway through and then the audio of my copy got all weird. I need to find a new audio version.

Regarding the Morehouse quote…

I am there.

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NOT SURE IF THIS GOT POSTED, DOING IT AGAIN.

Hi Chris, sorry for delay in replying.

I am currently creating a “Free Friends Forum”, that is tentatively titled:

Abandoned To Ourselves—Intending a Humanist, Naturalist, Individualist, Free Trader Voluntaryism

(whew!) that I will be inviting all Minds (free or yet to be freed) to attend, free and hopefully freeing.

As a fellow Voluntaryist, I am particularly hopeful you will join us.

Email me if interested and I will put you on the email list.

Stay free and safe. Jack—responsiblyfree@protonmail.com

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email sent!

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Mar 19Liked by Christopher Cook

Wonderful article Christopher! I just read it from a link.

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Thank you. I was feeling the fire that day :-)

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Mar 19Liked by Christopher Cook

You sure were!

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Right!!!! And they're begging the gov't to punish themselves for COVID crimes!

That'll happen when pigs fly.

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For real. Now that I see it all so clearly, it's hard to believe that I ever believed that government could be reformed or reined in.

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Thank you, Christopher! Especially for the reference to Brehon Law in Ireland. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMq3HtOK8dg

I got here via a post on LinkedIn featuring your Substack. I've been where you are for a long time now. It's hard to live in a world where the vast, vast majority refuses to consider that their government is not only illegitimate, but a crime syndicate. In the case of the U.S., the world's largest and deadliest.

Robert Higgs, "The State is Too Dangerous to Tolerate": https://mises.org/library/robert-higgs-state-too-dangerous-tolerate One hour.

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"The sheep crop for the land crop—for both will grow again." Love it.

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Dec 8, 2023·edited Dec 8, 2023Author

First of all, I am SO glad you are here. We are building a great community of people—of friends, in a way. It feels good, and sometimes even like a refuge from the madness.

The people here know it, or are starting to get it.

I clung on for a long time to that last little scrap of belief that a legitimate government is possible. A little over a year ago, the last tumbler clicked into place and the door opened to a new world with clear skies and crisp air. And I stormed through that door with the zeal of a new convert. I was **almost** there for so long, so now it all just makes sense.

I am glad to have your perspective here, especially given that you walked through that door a long time ago.

Feel free to reach out anytime—to me and the other great people here.

I will watch both those videos soon.

Thanks!

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I think it is interesting she is talking to Winston. I do not follow New Zealand politics. I kept thinking: is this the 1984 George Orwell Winston? I imagine it would be very hard to be either one.

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Yeah, for real. Is this "1984," "Animal Farm," or "Brave New World"? Or perhaps a combination of those, and more.

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Dec 5, 2023·edited Dec 5, 2023Author

Fortunately, it can also be none of those, as we make our own reality. Eh, @postpostmodern? :-)

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It was so weird to land in the LA airport yesterday, after 5 months away. Facing me was a glittery, futuristic panel, multi-stories high with a giant....hundreds of square yards of billboard...picture of something I think was a Swiss watch. For sale. It greeted me as I rode down the escalator. I really felt how I was living in one of those futuristic movies I used to watch. That was after I used the Global Entry line. I stood in front of a machine. It scanned my face. A customs agent called out, "welcome Terra," and continued her conversation with some other agents gathered around her...chatting. I looked over. "Is that it?" "Yes." That was in. I was the only one there in the Global entry area. I didn't take my passport out. No one asked me in words if I had anything I was not supposed to bring in. There was a sign to read for that. By the scanning machines. On the bus to get my rental car, most people were mostly quiet. Mostly gazing down. I knew it was coming and still, it is a shock.

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Ugh, LAX. Not my favorite.

And I think that while what you found is evidence of a sickness in America, it would not have been quite as bad if you'd landed in Wisconsin or wherever. LA is a freakshow.

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I will ask my son. He flies into Madison a lot :-). I will also contemplate the word, sickness. It is troubling for sure. And I hope it changes for the better. I like what you write about. I feel there is a collective need and invitation for people to mature into more sovereign individuals and away from a child-like state of desiring some external authority to tell them what to do. There is also a deep need for connection and people are afraid to look one another in the eye here --for good reason based on one of the last things you wrote about.

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—I will ask my son. He flies into Madison a lot :-).

I will be interested to hear. Madison itself is lefty-central, but Wisconsinites tend to be pretty nice overall.

—I feel there is a collective need and invitation for people to mature into more sovereign individuals and away from a child-like state of desiring some external authority to tell them what to do.

Yes! 100%

—There is also a deep need for connection and people are afraid to look one another in the eye here

It happened to me during covid, and I have not fully gotten over it. I don't know—I just stopped trusting people. I had this faith that people would have each other's backs when tyranny came, and when I discovered I was wrong, it turned me somewhat misanthropic. And I did realize that I was not looking people in the eye as much. Not sure if that is why, or if there is some other reason. But I don't like it at all.

—for good reason based on one of the last things you wrote about.

Do you recall which?

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Are you home for Christmas?

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I am not sure yet. My Christmas plans are evolving. I am here until Christmas Eve at least and I did come back to visit my family for the holidays.

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I hope you have a wonderful time!

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Dec 4, 2023·edited Dec 4, 2023Liked by Christopher Cook

I believe in the Bible. The Bible is a compilation of prophecies over the centuries, each becoming true, validating the book, in my opinion. One of the prophecies is they are going to start freaking out when their lies and hidden world are exposed. Here is a perfect example. They intimidate truthers with the police presence, trying to shut them silent. But this won’t work; eventually, they run and hide and won't be able to seek hidden refuge. The Divine light right is here. That's what I believe ✨💫

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Yes!! I want their lies and hidden world exposed. I want them freaking out because of it, and running scared. The sooner the better.

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