Full Transcript for The Elites vs. Everyone Else: The Hidden Power System Explained | James Keena

--> 00:05:16.399 I think a lot of people in America, particularly the younger generations now, have grown up in affluence and have grown up in a world where uh life seems simple to them. 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:21.920 And I I think they get envious about, well, how come all these other people have so much? 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:22.879 Why do they have a house? 00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:23.920 Why do they have a big house? 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:25.439 Why don't they have student loan debt? 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:27.120 Why do they why do they have a big car? 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:28.000 Why don't I have that? 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:36.800 And they get envious and they start to think about, well, there's a system that can bring all that to me simply by taking it from someone else, and it's called socialism. 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:50.959 Um we can get deeper and deeper into why that's a very terrible system, but I think on the surface, people from that sense of envy and from that sense of feeling like the world has gone wrong want to look to that kind of system to bail them out. 00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:51.759 Yeah. 00:05:52.079 --> 00:06:06.319 It probably looks and works good in the beginning, but then when it starts not working, government should be more more strict and uh eventually turns to tragedy, right? 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:13.040 Yeah, one of the major flaws of socialism is that um it it it's not voluntary. 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:19.120 You know, like if if if socialism was r really voluntary and people really wanted to do it, it would just happen naturally. 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:23.279 Like in America, people could just create socialistic communities and live that way. 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:25.279 Well, they never choose to do that. 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:32.560 So the only way you can actually uh enforce com or socialism or communism in a country is through force. 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:47.839 That you simply have to tell people, I'm going to take your wealth, I'm gonna take the company that you own, and I'm gonna give it to the state, we're gonna make the state your parent, we're gonna um institute secret police to keep track of you if you don't follow our laws and be and uh obey our commands. 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:58.560 It they don't understand that socialism, since it's not a voluntary system, automatically invites force, coercion, and uh spying into your society. 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:00.079 And it's unavoidable. 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:04.959 Every society that's ever tried it has gone down that path because there is no other way to implement it. 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:06.000 Yeah, yeah. 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:21.920 So it doesn't give that uh like uh incentive for doing something, let's say, better than others, especially those people who move who move this world in uh uh uh by doing some inventions and like all these big cor little corporates, um corporations. 00:07:22.399 --> 00:07:28.639 Yeah, if you really want to break into

socialism, they would be pretty much as poor as the rest of the people. 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:32.639 Yeah, and there's a a very deep-rooted psychological reason for that. 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:38.319 If you look at the nature of the human being, um people prefer better rather than worse. 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:47.199 So in everything they do, they're gonna look for a better relationship, a better life, a better uh job, a better uh way of uh doing things. 00:07:47.519 --> 00:08:01.920 But the problem with socialism, if you look at Marx's fundamental tenet, which is from each according to his ability to each according to his need, that disables if you're a person and you say, well, what's the best thing for me? 00:08:02.079 --> 00:08:06.480 The best thing for me is to get what I need, but not have to do anything. 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:16.160 And that's actually what socialism offers, is you don't have to actually offer a value to society because society has told you they're going to provide what you need no matter what. 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:20.720 In a capitalist system or a free market system, the incentives are just the opposite. 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:27.360 You own the what you get out of the market, the value you get out of the market is equal to the value you bring to the market. 00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:33.840 You must do something productive, useful, something meaningful for society in order to get something back from that market. 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:40.480 That creates a tremendous incentive for everybody involved, whereas socialism is essentially an enormous disincentive. 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:43.519 The easiest path forward is to simply do nothing. 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:44.480 And that's what happens. 00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:48.000 Got it, yeah. 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:49.039 Thank you. 00:08:49.360 --> 00:08:58.480 So in in a little bit about uh cap uh capitalism, uh uh how does true capitalism uh create real human freedom? 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:00.000 And uh yeah. 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:05.600 Why do so many people confuse capitalism with uh like corporate greed? 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:13.600 Well it's an interesting question, and I've learned to defy capitalism into two different things. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:24.080 One is market capitalism, uh, which is the capitalism where you experience freedom the most, where you have the freedom to choose how you live, where you live, what you want to buy, where you want to work. 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:30.639 Um you have you know all those freedoms of association because you've got a free market and you're free to do as you please in that market. 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:32.960 That's market capitalism to me. 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:43.600 There's another kind of capitalism, and I hate to even call it capitalism because in a way it's not, because it's um an amalgamation of financial power and political power. 00:09:43.919 --> 00:10:00.240 But there is an element of capitalism that's controlled by how we create our money in our society, who controls that money, uh, and when it's accumulated, how that money is used as leverage in our political system to control uh the basic institutions of society. 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:02.240 That has nothing to do with markets. 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:12.879 That really is an exercise in who has taken control of the process of creating money and controlling it, and how has that become allied with the political forces in our society? 00:10:13.039 --> 00:10:18.240 And I think people confuse those two things and they call that capitalism, but it's not really. 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:38.879 That's a a um an abuse of our political system by very rich people who have um probably, you know, if you at some point I like to talk about our banking system and the way it's structured, but there's a huge element of our society that acquires wealth simply by doing nothing and leveraging the institutions of banking in our society. 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:50.159 And they use that wealth that they accumulate by doing nothing to influence politicians, the media, and the other institutions of our society to uh basically protect their privileged position in society. 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:52.799 It's basically the elites versus everyone else. 00:10:53.039 --> 00:11:04.159 And I I think a lot of young people look at that elitist group, that could all of uh industrialists, financiers, politicians, um, you know, media uh figures, and they say, well, that's capitalism. 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:06.879 It actually has very little to do with capitalism. 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:12.480 That's that's how uh elitists and totalitarians always gain control in a society. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:15.039 Yeah, yeah. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:23.360 Media plays a big role nowadays in propaganda and and uh yeah, all this in information. 00:11:23.519 --> 00:11:29.759 And how can regular people seek truth um like when when media is so polarized? 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:31.600 Well, that's a wonderful question. 00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:37.440 Now before this uh midterm election in in the United States, it's uh it's like a war going on. 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:46.000 Yeah, one of the things I've learned uh the hard way over my life is that uh I've come to the point where I believe almost nothing that comes out of Washington. 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:48.720 And that's not a partisan observation. 00:11:48.879 --> 00:12:09.200 I don't believe what the Democrats say, I don't believe what the Republicans say, because I believe they're protecting their own interest and they're trying to uh keep us from seeing basically the charade that's being played, that uh they're the decisions they make in Washington are entirely for the the interests of this select elitist group in Washington. 00:12:09.279 --> 00:12:12.480 They're not interested in us, those decisions don't help us. 00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:20.320 And so what you get is a lot of confusion and

misinformation uh from both sides of the aisle to keep us from realizing that that's the problem. 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:41.440 And so I think the step one in trying to understand how to know what's true or not true is to not believe what anybody in Washington says unless you can triangulate it with other data points, other resources, other pieces of information where you're or even just observing the world directly, where you can say, okay, yeah, I think I believe that now. 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:49.279 Most of the time when I go through that exercise, I end up thinking, uh, I'm glad I didn't believe what someone in Washington said because it's simply not true. 00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:51.440 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:52.799 Yeah, right. 00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:58.159 Uh tell me please about uh uh Electoral College. 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:02.159 What is that and why is it so important today? 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:06.960 Yeah, that was a very interesting structure created by the founding fathers. 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:18.480 What they were trying to do is uh establish a lot of checks and balances in our society so that it couldn't uh stray from the basic uh premise or the basic vision of the founders. 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:28.879 Some of those uh checks and balances you see in Congress itself, where you have two houses, you have the House of Representatives and the Senate, and they both have to agree on something in order to pass a law. 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:32.960 The the president can veto legislation, so that's another check and balance. 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:41.279 The Supreme Court can say even if the politicians agreed on something, it may actually violate the Constitution, and that's another check and balance. 00:13:41.440 --> 00:14:06.159 But the Electoral College was similarly supposed to be another check and balance because um in order to get the states interested in the concept of becoming a federation, uh there had to be some protection for the states to say you're not going to be overwhelmed by the most populous state in the in the Union or the most populous city that every state has their own special interest, their own special geography, their own special culture. 00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:14.159 And there was a strong interest at the beginning, and and I think there should be a strong interest today, to protect the integrity of state uh interests. 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:30.000 And so the the concept of giving, you know, the uh having the Electoral College be allocated uh by senators, the count of senators and representatives in the state, actually gives the states more influence over who becomes president of the country. 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:43.759 Um and it's not just a popular thing, because if you look at the way the population in America is right now, if 50% of the population lives in very in in urban areas, and they're actually very small blue dots on the whole map. 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:49.600 And uh the rest of the rest of the 50% lives in the rest of the country, and it's a gr a great big swath of red. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:15:04.000 And but so if you didn't have the Electoral College, you'd basically have New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia running the rest of the country, at least from a presidential perspective, because that that's who would uh determine who the president's gonna be in every election. 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:06.240 And you'd lose the concept of statehood. 00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:07.200 It wouldn't matter. 00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:12.399 It would all just be a a question of the most populous cities are gonna decide where we had as a country. 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:13.840 Yeah. 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:21.440 So and that's uh what's uh what most people get wrong about it when discussing it. 00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:36.320 Yeah, they uh I think they look at it and uh here here's where I think a lot of people struggle with the concept of democracy in general, uh because it it it in their minds it comes down to well, it's a popular vote kind of thing. 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:38.879 If the people will it, then it must be so. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:45.120 Um but actually the con the con the construction of our republic uh doesn't accept that premise. 00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:57.600 You know, the whole concept of a constitution where we have inalienable rights as individuals, as sovereign individuals, regardless of how people vote, they can't vote to make us slaves, they can't vote to take all our wealth if they want to. 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:01.600 The Constitution is supposed to protect our sovereign individuality. 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:16.960 And so the notion that all we have to do is uh you know count the votes and say whoever got the most votes is automatically the winner, without understanding the other guardrails uh that were put into the Constitution to protect individual interests, state interests. 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:20.879 It's not just about adding up all the votes and saying who won. 00:16:21.519 --> 00:16:30.240 So in uh James, in your book uh The Elites versus Everyone Else, you you explore hidden power structures. 00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:37.840 Are these uh are these dystopian uh themes already already happening in real life or or not yet? 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:38.960 Yeah, they are. 00:16:39.200 --> 00:16:54.480 Um I did when I wrote my Pathless Land series, which includes the book The Elites versus Everyone Else, is I took a look at uh the current trends in our society, the things that are happening now, and also some of the historical things that got us to this point. 00:16:54.720 --> 00:17:03.039 And I asked myself, well, what would that look like 50 years from now if those trends continued and uh we didn't solve some of the issues we have now? 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:16.000 And that's where I end up ended up with my dystopian series of novels, that those trends, which which are occurring today, if you

extrapolate them into the future and magnify the impact of them, you get a very dystopian society at some point. 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:21.039 So one of the biggest things, well, there there's there's many things that uh we ought to be concerned about. 00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:26.559 One is we've lost control of our government and uh some of our major institutions. 00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:39.119 I mean, we like to think that you know every four years we vote and our vote means something, but the truth is the power structure in Washington is a very um incestuous structure. 00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:58.960 So all of the uh very wealthy people who contribute to the campaigns of these politicians and who uh hire these politicians after they leave office, there's sort of a revolving door, uh, and who who bribe these politicians, sometimes with insider knowledge about trades, sometimes with just simple graft and corruption. 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:03.119 Um, our politicians are beholden to that very wealthy group. 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:19.200 And it's such a powerful thing that I've had um a couple of friends who went to Washington and they were very idealistic, very passionate about uh you know limited government, freedom, uh individual sovereignty, and they were going to go to Washington and try to help clean up the swamp. 00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:30.960 And uh what they reported back though is it's an impossible task because if you don't play ball, if you don't follow what that uh cabal in Washington is doing, you'll simply be kicked out of the club. 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:40.559 You won't get a committee assignment, which means you have no influence over legislation, you won't get any funds for your re-election campaign, uh, the media will turn against you. 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:47.039 So that's a very closed-loop club in Washington that includes a lot of very wealthy people. 00:18:47.279 --> 00:18:51.920 And so the biggest myth right now is that we actually control that club and we don't. 00:18:52.319 --> 00:19:00.000 So if you extrapolate that into the future, it's a a control over society that's only going to become more and more totalitarian. 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:07.839 And we see that even today with things like flock cameras and uh the data collection mechanisms of our uh social media. 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:12.400 Um, artificial intelligence is gonna feed a lot of information to the government. 00:19:12.640 --> 00:19:20.640 Uh the Department of Homeland Security has basically turned inward, uh, calling a lot of its citizens enemies instead of uh foreigners. 00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:22.400 You're only gonna see more and more of that. 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:31.119 We're gonna become more of a uh surveillance police state as that cabal in Washington wants to uh enforce more and more control over society. 00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:35.680 So that's one of the major trends that's gonna drive us to a dystopian future. 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:44.240 So I I I think it's uh it will be that it doesn't matter who will be in power, Democrats or Republicans, it's like inevitable. 00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:54.559 Yeah, one of the other things that's gonna drive us towards that dystopian future, and a lot of people don't understand this either, is how our money is created and who really controls it. 00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:58.799 You know, we we tend to look at people like Elon Musk and say, wow, he's got a lot of money. 00:19:59.039 --> 00:20:00.880 Well, he does, but he earned it. 00:20:01.039 --> 00:20:09.519 I mean, he created rockets and Starlink satellites up in the sky and electric cars and neural implants for the brain. 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:13.839 I mean, he's he's made enormous contributions to society, and that's a wonderful thing. 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:15.759 I don't begrudge him his money. 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:20.559 But there's a segment of society that gets very wealthy, literally doing nothing. 00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:23.599 And it's the banking segment of our society. 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:28.720 And I I say they make their money by doing nothing because they actually create our money out of nothing. 00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:33.519 And I don't think a lot of people understand that that's how our banking system works. 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:44.559 And so from that capability to literally do nothing and create money out of nothing and become very wealthy, that wealth is used as leverage against the institutions of our society. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:51.839 And if we don't figure out how to uh resolve that issue, that's another thing that's going to push us into a totalitarian world. 00:20:52.079 --> 00:21:08.240 Because what we see is despite all of our efforts with tax policy, with transfer payments to uh you know un other people, you know, un under underprivileged people of our society, we're doing lots of things to try to help them and to s to spread the wealth around. 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:13.839 But it's even that's not even working because the wealth gap just keeps bigger and getting bigger, bigger and bigger. 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:23.920 And it always will if the people who control the money in our society also control the political system, because that whole structure is going to be designed to protect them and serve them. 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:30.640 And so as that propagates through the years to come, again, that's what's going to lead us towards a dystopian society. 00:21:31.680 --> 00:21:32.000 Yeah. 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:33.119 Yeah, true. 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:38.880 Do you think it's will be spread across the whole Western world or like the whole planet? 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:46.000 Because China, China is is already like that almost or yeah. 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:56.480 Well, it's it's an interesting question because the reason I I titled my book, the last one, The Elites versus Everyone Else, is because that's actually a summation of my theory of history. 00:21:56.960 -->

00:22:19.440 That when you look at the history of you know the last seven Or thousand years, it's been a steady stream of certain groups of elites assuming power over the rest, whether it's masters versus slaves, uh barons versus serfs, uh kings versus subjects, theocrats versus their uh worshippers, uh the bureaucrats versus uh citizens. 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:30.000 There's always in every society been some group of elites that for whatever reason, whether it's mythology or uh force that they've used, it takes control of the reins of that society. 00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:32.079 It's happened forever, everywhere. 00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:35.200 So to your question, yes, it's going to happen all over the world. 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:38.640 It is happening all over the world, and uh history shows that. 00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:45.039 Even in the last hundred years, you had Nazi Germany, you had Stalinist Russia, you had Maoist China. 00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:48.640 Uh Europe, in my opinion, is sliding in that direction right now. 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:53.359 In Africa, you've had all kinds of strong men who've uh taken control of those societies. 00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:57.599 Uh the Middle East has become a theocratic despotism in many cases. 00:22:57.839 --> 00:23:09.759 Um so yeah, that that uh elitist control of the world has gone on forever and is going on around the world and will consume the United States if we don't do something different. 00:23:10.319 --> 00:23:10.720 Yeah. 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:19.200 Can free society survive without uh shared moral foundation nowadays? 00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:20.799 What do you think? 00:23:22.079 --> 00:23:23.839 Well, that's a wonderful question. 00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:31.759 There's a lot of people who believe that, well, we must be a Christian civilization in order to have a moral civilization. 00:23:32.160 --> 00:23:35.759 Um I would take some exception to that, not that Christians aren't moral people. 00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:36.400 I think they are. 00:23:36.640 --> 00:23:40.000 I think um that's certainly a foundation of their belief. 00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:44.160 But it it's not like they have a monopoly on morality. 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:50.400 Um people who aren't Christians can develop a moral view of the world and behave in a moral way. 00:23:50.640 --> 00:23:58.079 So the important thing is that we do find and that we create a system where moral behavior is rewarded and not punished. 00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:13.440 And so, you know, in in um in my view, the very basic foundation of morality is to do no harm to others, um, and and and and don't don't take anything from others, don't lie to others, don't hurt others. 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:22.000 Um and I think everybody can embrace that concept of morality, uh, you know, not just a Christian or a particular religious sect. 00:24:22.160 --> 00:24:28.480 That's a very common sense among people, is that, geez, we shouldn't hurt each other and we shouldn't take each other's stuff. 00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:45.039 And if you can uh create a culture that believes that, uh, I think you'll have a more effective, peaceful, productive society because people will interact with each other in a in a way that's very respectful, peaceful, and allows you know free freedom of choice. 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:46.079 Yeah. 00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:56.000 And how how do you think, how do we define morality without forcing uh dogma on others? 00:24:56.799 --> 00:25:31.359 Well, part of morality is if you accept the premise that every sovereign person is sacred in the sense that they own their own life and they own the things that their hands and mind produce, um, and then you you give them freedom, and freedom implies two things, that they have uh the latitude and the freedom to do uh with their life as they choose, but they also have to take the responsibility for whatever actions they take along the way, they have to own the consequences of those. 00:25:31.599 --> 00:25:52.640 And my belief is if you build that into the culture that you're free to choose, but you also own the consequences of your actions, that you you automatically force some moral decisions into everybody in society because every person has to think, well, if I'm gonna make decisions, if I'm gonna choose, I have to choose wisely now because I'm gonna own those consequences. 00:25:52.799 --> 00:26:11.519 I have to understand how my choices are gonna affect not only me as I as present self creates future self for me, uh, but I also have to understand the consequences of how my behavior is gonna affect everybody around me, because I I'm gonna get some some feedback, sometimes brutal, if I behave badly amongst my friends. 00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:17.519 Yeah, true, I agree. 00:26:18.079 --> 00:26:24.880 So how should we um how should we view the separation of church and state? 00:26:25.119 --> 00:26:26.400 I would like to talk about it. 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:32.000 Like um yeah, to protect uh religious liberty for everyone. 00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:32.720 Yeah. 00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:35.759 Yeah, it's another fabulous question. 00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:48.079 Um certainly as a libertarian and a believer in the sovereignty of each individual, I believe everybody should have the right to pursue uh whatever religious perspective that they believe in and want to pursue. 00:26:48.240 --> 00:26:51.119 I I think that's a fundamental right of humanity. 00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:57.279 Um I also think that government should not interfere with that. 00:26:57.599 --> 00:27:09.599 And I would even broaden the whole concept, uh not just separation of church and state, but separation of mind and state, that the government should not be uh telling us how to think dogmatically even outside of religion. 00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:16.319 It shouldn't be forcing its own opinions on us in all regards, not just religious perspectives, but all of them. 00:27:16.559 -->

00:27:22.799 And so I don't think it's the role of government to tell us who to believe, you know, what God to believe in, what to think, what dogma to hold. 00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:24.160 That's not the role of government. 00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:32.480 The role of government is to protect our rights, to freely choose those things ourselves and to live peacefully amongst each other as we do that. 00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:47.920 And so separation of church and state doesn't mean, well, we're gonna abandon religions or abolish Christianity, but it means that the government's not gonna pick a particular religion, it's not gonna pick a particular dogma and force the rest of us to believe that. 00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:49.200 Yeah. 00:27:49.920 --> 00:28:02.720 But if government uh will not be involved, uh one religion can take over like another one, or like vice versa, uh do you think it's not dangerous in any way? 00:28:02.799 --> 00:28:06.640 Or no, uh I mean danger comes through force. 00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:18.000 And so you know, governments fundamentally should be protecting people from force, you know, whether it's from criminals or from gangs or even from governments themselves. 00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:22.000 The role of government is to protect our our life, liberty, and property. 00:28:22.160 --> 00:28:31.519 So uh it shouldn't the the government should protect one religion from attacking another religion and and uh making its uh you know the adherents of that other religion slaves or whatever. 00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:37.119 Uh a role of government is to stop that because that's a form of violence against people that simply can't be tolerated. 00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:40.079 Aaron Powell Yeah, to stop any like radical movements, right? 00:28:40.400 --> 00:28:40.880 Yeah. 00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:49.920 But you know, also within society, though, um there's society as a forum for sharing ideas, testing ideas, challenging each other. 00:28:50.160 --> 00:29:05.599 And over time, you know, one religion may become more successful at that, not because of force, but because they are they have a clearer message, a better message, and a more compelling message, and they might um convince people to convert from one religion to another. 00:29:05.839 --> 00:29:06.960 That's not a problem. 00:29:07.119 --> 00:29:08.559 I mean, people are free to choose. 00:29:08.720 --> 00:29:13.200 If if I was born a Hindu and I want to become a Christian, oh, by golly, become a Christian. 00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:17.279 The government should have nothing to say about that, stopping it or encouraging it. 00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:18.799 It should have nothing to say about it. 00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:19.839 Yeah. 00:29:20.559 --> 00:29:24.640 So a little bit about um limited government. 00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:29.440 Uh James, what does limited government mean in daily life for you? 00:29:29.599 --> 00:29:31.599 Aaron Powell That's another wonderful question. 00:29:31.759 --> 00:29:48.559

If you look at what the founders were thinking when they envisioned a concept for America, is they started from the premise of a sovereign individual, that uh you know, if you read the Declaration of Independence, it's very clear that we each have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 00:29:48.640 --> 00:29:53.200 So that implies that each of us have that right as individuals. 00:29:53.839 --> 00:30:00.240 And their view of how to protect that politically was a concept called subsidiarity. 00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:09.200 And by that what they meant was you should give each individual as much power as you possibly can because that's the um the sacred unit in society. 00:30:09.279 --> 00:30:12.880 It's also the lowest level of society and the least harmful level of society. 00:30:13.039 --> 00:30:15.920 Everybody should have as much power as they can have. 00:30:16.079 --> 00:30:23.759 And by power I mean the right to choose, like where do I live, where do I go, where what church do I go to, what job do I want to do, who are my friends? 00:30:23.920 --> 00:30:25.119 I mean, that kind of power. 00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:31.839 Those are most of the decisions people make in their lives, and people should be free and have the power to make those decisions. 00:30:32.079 --> 00:30:38.480 And then the founders said, well, you need a little bit of uh political structure above that because you've got to be able to protect those rights. 00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:46.079 I mean, you you need uh some laws that give us some guidance, you need a police function if there's some criminality or gangs. 00:30:46.240 --> 00:30:51.920 Um there are some civic functions that have to be managed, like construction of roads and things like that. 00:30:52.079 --> 00:30:56.319 So you give a little bit of power to local communities to take care of those things. 00:30:56.559 --> 00:31:10.400 Above that, you give even less power to a state or the federal system because the the more you remove the individual from the locus of power, like in Washington, you know, we as people have no control over what happens in Washington. 00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:12.640 We don't see we can't see what's going on there. 00:31:12.799 --> 00:31:15.920 They don't know us, we don't know them, they don't care about us. 00:31:16.079 --> 00:31:25.200 Uh so to give that group in Washington a lot of power in their view was terrible because all that's going to do is diminish the um the importance of the sovereign individual. 00:31:25.519 --> 00:31:41.279 So the the government in Washington should have as little power as possible, and yet there are some functions it has to do, like protecting our borders, having a a defense department, having a um a legal system uh with a court structure to arbitrate disputes. 00:31:41.519 --> 00:31:46.799 Yeah, those are legitimate functions, but those aren't the things that tell us what to do in our daily lives. 00:31:46.880 --> 00:31:50.480 They just create the structure for us to freely do what we want to do. 00:31:52.000 --> 00:31:52.400 Right. 00:31:52.640 --> 00:31:53.279 Yeah. 00:31:53.599 --> 00:32:04.160 And James, w why do you think um uh the modern society drifted drifted so far from our founding principles? 00:32:04.480 --> 00:32:07.839 Was the was the main reason in your in your opinion? 00:32:08.880 --> 00:32:16.799 Well, in in my opinion, and you know, I mentioned earlier that my theory of history had said it's always been the elites versus everyone else. 00:32:17.119 --> 00:32:25.119 And prior to the founding of America, you know, America was part of the uh British Empire, you know, the empire upon which the sun never set. 00:32:25.440 --> 00:32:28.799 And uh the British Empire controlled most of the world at that point. 00:32:29.519 --> 00:32:41.599 Um and so something really revolutionary happened in America from our revolution, not just a normal revolution where there's a riot and you you replace one king with another king or something. 00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:50.799 We decided to upend all of history, and we said we're not gonna allow some power structure that's based on some mythology or some force. 00:32:50.960 --> 00:33:00.400 We're gonna, we the people of this country are gonna choose our own leaders, we're gonna establish our own constitution, and this is gonna be a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. 00:33:00.640 --> 00:33:13.839 Now it's never been purely that, but that whole notion upset the whole elitist structure of all of history, where kings and monarchs and barons and warlords just simply assumed power. 00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:16.160 And we said, that's not gonna happen in America. 00:33:16.240 --> 00:33:19.119 We the people are gonna make our decisions for ourselves. 00:33:19.359 --> 00:33:27.599 I think the rest of the world, uh particularly in the financial end of the world, uh decided that was not acceptable. 00:33:27.759 --> 00:33:37.920 And the people who, in my opinion, who control the money of the world, the banks, the financial institutions, said, I don't like the fact that everybody in the world can make their own choices. 00:33:38.079 --> 00:33:49.599 I I prefer the elitist architecture of we're gonna control the politics, we're gonna control the institutions, and we're gonna make sure that it continues to enrich us and not the common people of the world. 00:33:49.839 --> 00:34:03.200 And so I think the last 150 years have been a steady example of those people, those elitist forces in the world who want to retake control of American society, and they're they're having some great success, in my opinion. 00:34:04.559 --> 00:34:05.839 Yeah, yeah. 00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:07.279 Okay. 00:34:08.239 --> 00:34:12.960 So I want to talk about um accountability. 00:34:13.199 --> 00:34:16.079 Yeah, and and and future hope, so to speak. 00:34:16.320 --> 00:34:24.239 Uh your books focus uh heavily on um personal accountability accountability and

individual sovereignty. 00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:30.719 Um uh what uh gives you hope for future of freedom. 00:34:31.920 --> 00:34:39.119 Well, I think the fact that a country such as the United States could come into being uh gives me hope. 00:34:39.280 --> 00:35:01.119 And if you think back to, you know, 1750 or so, uh again, with the British Empire controlling the colonies here, uh it would have been almost unimaginable that uh that small group of people in the American colonies could thumb their nose at the British Empire and uh successfully separate from them and successfully establish their own society. 00:35:01.360 --> 00:35:04.719 The fact that we did was an astonishing thing. 00:35:04.960 --> 00:35:34.800 And I think it set an example for a lot of countries around the world, but I think it also ought to be a reminder to us is that if we start to understand what's really happening here, that it we're basically being encroached upon by the same forces that made up the British Empire, the same financial political forces that we revolted against then, uh, I think if we start to come to understand that, hey, we've lost control of our government again, that those forces are out of control, we have no influence over them. 00:35:35.039 --> 00:35:45.039 Um, I think if we start to understand that rather than saying I'm gonna vote for this Democrat or this Republican or this leader or that leader, we think we need to think a little bit more deeply right now. 00:35:45.119 --> 00:35:46.400 And it's gonna take some time. 00:35:46.480 --> 00:35:57.199 And it it took time in the American colonies because, like I said, in 1750, people were starting to get very suspicious of the British Empire and its intentions and its encroachments. 00:35:57.440 --> 00:36:12.320 But it took about 20 or 25 years of town hall meetings, uh, in fact, a lot of churches, there was a lot of political discussion in the churches then, discussing about what their grievances were and what was possible as a future uh kind of society. 00:36:12.559 --> 00:36:17.440 And it took about 25 years for the mass of people to say, you know what, um, they're right. 00:36:17.519 --> 00:36:24.880 There is something terribly wrong with the current structure, and the vision that we're evolving here in America is a really fabulous vision. 00:36:25.199 --> 00:36:38.800 And so I think we've got that work to do ahead of us yet, that we've got to understand what we're up against here, and we've got to start to discuss honestly what's wrong here, and we've got to start to discuss honestly what's the right vision for moving forward. 00:36:38.960 --> 00:36:43.119 After you get enough um momentum behind that, things happen. 00:36:43.199 --> 00:36:48.800 And it happened for America in 1776, and I have hoped that it can happen again in the world. 00:36:49.440 --> 00:36:49.840 Yep. 00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:50.639 Yep. 00:36:50.960 --> 00:36:51.840 Got it. 00:36:53.039 --> 00:36:54.079 So thank you. 00:36:54.239 --> 00:36:58.000 Thank you very much, James, for uh your time. 00:36:58.320 --> 00:37:04.239 Tell us, please, uh, how our audience can uh find you, contact you, or uh buy your books. 00:37:04.559 --> 00:37:04.639 Okay. 00:37:05.519 --> 00:37:07.039 Um I have a wonderful website. 00:37:07.119 --> 00:37:09.519 It's called jameskina.com. 00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:16.719 And on that website you can see uh everything I've ever written, books, articles, um, some of the speeches I've written. 00:37:16.800 --> 00:37:21.519 Um you can um see some of the uh videos and presentations I've made on there. 00:37:21.760 --> 00:37:26.000 So it's a great resource if you want to study more of what uh I've been talking about here. 00:37:26.079 --> 00:37:29.599 Uh but also on Amazon.com you can find all of my books. 00:37:29.760 --> 00:37:43.280 And uh recently, over the past several years, I've been working on my Pathless Land series, uh, which includes the books 2084, American Apocalypse, uh, the book Outcast Island, and the book The Elites versus Everyone Else. 00:37:43.519 --> 00:37:47.760 And uh I think a lot of what I talked about today you can see in those books. 00:37:48.400 --> 00:37:49.840 Yeah, yeah, yeah, with pleasure. 00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:50.400 Yep. 00:37:50.639 --> 00:37:56.000 Thank you, Jim, for uh sharing your precious time and wisdom with us today. 00:37:56.880 --> 00:38:00.719 And uh it was a real honor talking with you. 00:38:00.880 --> 00:38:04.320 So, and to our viewers, guys, uh everything. 00:38:04.639 --> 00:38:10.559 Uh what Jim uh said about his uh website and books will be attached down below in description. 00:38:10.719 --> 00:38:16.159 You can find his book on Amazon, the links will be down there as well. 00:38:16.400 --> 00:38:20.159 Thank you, Jim, and thank you everybody for for watching. 00:38:20.400 --> 00:38:21.440 Bye bye.