Will There Be A Peasant Revolt?

Will Governments Survive the Coming Peasant Revolt?

J.B. Shurk

Let’s talk big picture here.  Why has the world been turned on its head these last few years?  Why does it seem as if everything true is labeled false and everything false is labeled true?  Why is it that, even in the absence of all-out global war, everything feels chaotic and uncertain these days?  Why is it that at the height of global prosperity and peace, the world is going mad?

Let’s start with three premises:

(1) All governing systems (political, financial, technocratic) operate to preserve and expand their power.

(2) Catastrophic governing failure leads to complete loss of power for those in charge.

(3) Governing systems in the process of failing to compensate by eliminating competition and increasing overall control.

In other words, even the most free and dynamic social systems degrade over time as the people who govern those systems distort them in pursuit of greater personal wealth and power.  Corrupted systems eventually lead to breakdown and collapse.  As collapse nears, social systems become so vulnerable to unsanctioned actions and ideas that they close themselves off.  Freedom is replaced with tyranny.  This is by design.

If post-WWII Western governance had a creed, it is this: increased taxation and increased regulation increase both asset wealth and inequality.  By taxing labor, the value of hard work has plummeted.  By regulating anything and everything, the entry costs for any new entrepreneur have skyrocketed.  And because the Industrial Revolution’s trends toward producing more and varied innovations at cheaper costs have hit the roadblock of government interference, fewer innovations, less competition, and increased monopoly ownership have logically resulted.  Instead of assets going down in value over time as more are produced, they actually increase in value as it becomes harder to produce them.  While people with assets see gains in wealth, people depending on income to survive have experienced more difficulty affording what is produced.  This is why inequality has surged in the United States when America was not long ago the nation with the greatest intragenerational social mobility in the world.

So how does a governing system survive catastrophic failure of its own making?  It consciously causes division in society, distracts people with propaganda, and diligently replaces freedom with control.

Do you know what the global COVID-19 pandemic has exposed?  The absolute need for governments to work hand in glove with Big Tech to eliminate harmful “misinformation,” regulate communication, and create a new digital passport system that can be used to catalog each individual’s movements, purchases, and interactions.  Thank goodness we had this health scare, or people would never have learned how much they need to be controlled.  Responsible people deserve to be rewarded!  Those who do as the government commands may work and eat.  Those who promote good “science” should be allowed extra servings of freedom.  That’s why it is imperative that a social credit system be instituted to benefit the virtuous and punish the wicked!  Don’t call it “government-enforced political correctness” or the “end of free speech” or “digital authoritarianism on steroids.”  This is nothing like the totalitarianism of the last century.  This time it’s for the people’s own good because their leaders have only their best interests at heart.  Individualism is selfish!  Obedience will set you free!

In other words, the best way to survive the coming peasant revolt is to turn the peasants against each other, scare them into submission, and convince them to imprison themselves.  It’s still a hell of a gamble.  Truth and freedom, even when smothered, have a tendency to burn back brighter when under assault.  Is it possible the Davos crowd is so confident in its powers to shape history that it’s ignored everything history has taught?  Catastrophic system failure lies just beyond the horizon.  Something big must happen next.