STAFF NEWS & ANALYSIS
Don't Become Entangled
By Staff News & Analysis - June 27, 2013

Can the state be trusted to do anything right? … Revelations of unacceptable snooping and the draconian treatment of whistleblowers are making a mockery of the government's quest for 'openness and transparency.' This week, Peter Francis, a former Special Branch covert agent, told Channel 4's 'Dispatches' that his job had been to infiltrate the grieving family and 'dig dirt' on Stephen's best friend, Duwayne Brooks. – UK Telegraph

Dominant Social Theme: What we need to counteract Leviathan is transparency.

Free-Market Analysis: This article in the Telegraph focuses on an antidote to state invasiveness … transparency. As we have long pointed out, the transparency meme is a major dominant social theme these days.

For instance, there is a global transparency organization headed by a former World Bank executive; state-banking proponent Ellen Brown and other backers of state power are part of the membership.

Transparency and "battling state corruption" are the twin engines of this dominant social theme. It is a most necessary one because most people are fed up with the reality of government if not the concept.

As the invasiveness of regulatory democracy continues to expand, transparency and corruption cures will be advanced as the natural prophylactics. In the mainstream media, they already are.

Vote the rascals out, the electorate is exhorted. And if the rascals are not removed, well … that is the fault of a supine and corrupt body politic.

Along with the vote, one is supposed to back good-government types who want to purge government of corruption and make it more transparent. But these phenomena are the RESULT of government itself and are an inherent part of its structure.

Government is a monopoly and monopolies mandated by force will never be either transparent or "uncorrupt." Those in power or part of the power structure will always defend their bailiwick and will go to extreme lengths to do so.

Just look:

Have you ever been to bed with a sleeping policeman? Think hard before you answer. Could the lovely new Bill you snogged at that Cyclists Against the Bomb rally in 1980 turn out to have been, well, the Old Bill? Women of Britain, it seems Big Brother isn't just watching you; the sly devil may be bonking you as well.

On Tuesday, Big Brother's creator would have celebrated his 110th birthday. The name George Orwell not only lives on, it feels like he becomes more prophetic by the day. No wonder sales of Nineteen Eighty-Four are rocketing 60 years after it was first published. "In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act," said Orwell.

With his perfect pitch for official cant, he would have picked apart the new mantra of our public services: Openness 'n' Transparency! We must be more "open and transparent", say the Metropolitan Police. The same Met whose undercover officer acted as a spy among Stephen Lawrence's grieving family, a story that has been hidden for 20 years.

The mole's mission: to gather information to discredit the stricken Lawrences and thereby cover up an inept police inquiry. Peter Francis, a former Special Branch covert agent – they were known as "hairies" for their hippy appearance – bravely spoke out this week.

He told Channel 4's Dispatches that his job had been to "dig dirt" on Stephen's best friend, Duwayne Brooks. Francis also seduced female members of the anti-racist groups he joined. While sex with activists was considered perfectly legitimate, there was an unwritten rule that you "must never fall in love". How frightfully considerate!

In the past week, it has become clear that such monstrous abuses of power are not rogue blemishes on an otherwise healthy system. Our public services are riddled with this cancer. Speaking out about the crisis in the East of England Ambulance Service, health minister Anna Soubry castigated the "mates culture" in which the priority is to "protect your mates, systems and structures", instead of protecting the patient. She is so right.

Yes, the article is correct, too, as far as it goes. Even the author's conclusion that an "untrammeled press" is necessary to pursue goals of transparency and a lack of corruption is a notable one.

But in a larger sense, even this hard-headed analysis fails to convince as a monopole (monopoly) government will always summon the resources to defend itself. Eventually, even the untrammeled press comes under attack, as it has these days.

An uncomfortable but necessary solution is to fight the regulatory state by advocating its diminution. Only a smaller state can reduce corruption and expand transparency. Strangle the state, and you will have a more just and peaceful society.

Even more difficult, one must realize that the reduction of the state is not accomplished by reform but individual human action. Pay attention to your own life and seek to become as self-sufficient as possible. Orient your activities around family and community and seek entrepreneurial activities.

After Thoughts

Don't become entangled in the tentacles of Leviathan.

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