They are at it again. They have been with us the whole time, lurking in the shadows, pulling strings without being seen, and pushing their pawns across the board almost unnoticed. They are devious, cunning, sometimes extremely charming, and deceptive. They have more resources at their disposal than some small countries do. They congregate in groups and lobbies with nice sounding names- names that, if given little thought, sound like their goals would be to the benefit of all. This is just part of their deception. Their ability with the English language is second to none, at least in their marketing efforts. They control almost all the media outlets in the country. Most of the things you see on network and cable television news is controlled by them. They are the reason why the “country” is obsessed with news items like Terry Schiavo and Aruba. Their Mantra? “Free Markets”! However, in looking closely at their political persuasion, they want anything but what they espouse.
Most people are familiar with the term “Neo-Conservative”. What most people do not know, though, is that the term was coined by the Neo-Cons themselves. The term, meaning “New Conservative”, has rapidly been pushed to the brink of nothing more but a euphemism for “Fascist”. With fascism comes the marriage of corporate power to government power. In the end, the people who run your lives are the same people who are on the corporate boards and in the halls of power. With this power comes the destruction of regulatory practices that actually keep the market free. You see, there exists a paradox in actually having a free market economy. Most economists could tell you this in their freshman level college classes, and many do. The paradox is this: In order for a particular market to be truly free, it must be regulated to keep the playing field level.
What does this have to do with Open Source, though? Well, the same analogy applies. With open source code, the code is freely distributed and added to. What makes it work, though, is a system of procedures to edit the code, authenticate it, and make sure it works with the rest of the tree. To do this, various mailing lists, IRC rooms, CVS repositories, and procedure guides are created to keep the flow of information freely flowing without it devolving into utter chaos. (Coding is, after all, all about structure and algorithm.) In other words, in a comparatively open environment, a lot of protocols and procedures are put into place to ensure the value of the Opened Source Code. The same is true of markets. In order to have an Open Market, there must exist regulations and laws in order to keep said market from floundering in corruption, cronyism, and anarchism.
But wait! The Free Markets People claim that the “Invisible Hand” of the marketplace will correct all such abnormalities. Sometimes this is true, but only in a commodities market. However, this mantra is nothing more but a form of ideology that ignores real world settings and mechanisms. To see the blatant truth of this, just look at the energy sectors of countries that “opened” up their markets, stripping out most of the regulation inherent within. Those markets collapsed, prices rose to the point where only the affluent and rich could afford them, unemployment went on the rise, the value of their currencies sunk, and general fiscal and social chaos was set loose upon their lands. How can a free market exist if the same Chairman of the Board for the corporation is also the main funder behind the government? How can people survive in such a fascist state?
They can’t. We are seeing it all the time in the countries of South America. Take Argentina as the latest example of this thinking. They were forced by the World Bank and the IMF to “open” certain sectors of their economy, to tie the value of their currency to the value of the dollar, and to ban unions. The result is the economic meltdown that they are even now in the midst of.
But it gets better! The people behind such disasters such as Argentina, Chile, and Peru, now want to import this type of economic policy into the United States! Look at the energy crises in Southern California. After the de-regulation act in the 1980’s that Reagan sought, energy prices throughout the States jumped! The utility companies were no longer bound by regulations to keep their equipment upgraded, to have supplies on hand in case if anything broke, and were allowed to seek the maximum profit possible. Anyone knows that to get to a grand goal, it is easier to work with others of the same interest to the benefit of all in the group, and this is exactly what happened in the energy sector. Utilities started forming partnerships and coalitions in the effort to raise the price of energy through the roof. Most of the Enron scandal is nothing more but this story writ large across the papers. However, where Enron became hubristic, the others were more cautious, and their gouging is going on even to this day.
The only way to escape this is to apply “Regulation of the Mind” to current issues. Just as Open Source software must have procedures and protocols, and Open Markets must have regulation to ensure a level playing field, so to the mind only works when properly disciplined with critical thinking. Man cannot survive by wishful thinking. We tried that once in the West. It’s an era referred to as the Dark Ages. The proper operation of the mind must exist within these Principles:
- Checking of Empirical Evidence. As the citizens of the State of Missouri say in their motto- “Show Me”! Don’t take someone else’s word for it. This extends to newspapers and broadcasts. Check it out for yourself. If you live in the States or in Canada, then you probably live in an area where you have easy access to the Internet. Check out the papers on-line from first hand sources. Do fact checking. It’s not like it takes a genius to use Google, after all.
- Logic! Logic only works if the premise is found to be true, which is reason for you to check out the validity of the evidence yourself. Then, ask yourself, “Are there logical errors at play here?” Most logical errors come from the Straw Man Argument (a caricature of the opposing viewpoint which is set up and then knocked down, often having nothing to do with the opposing view at all), Argument From Authority (so-and-so said this, and he’s an expert), Bifurcation Error (only giving two possible outcomes or possibilities, when in fact many more exist), and Ad Hominem (calling someone or a stance a pejorative, without dealing with the issue at hand).
- Always search for more evidence, and always keep an open mind to the opposing viewpoint. After all, living is not a sport where we should just accept one viewpoint and cheer it on much like a fan of a Football team. It’s the paramount virtue, and we should strive to make it better, even at the expense of our own egos.
Hence, we see that that Paradox only exists within semantics. The rest is rational thought.
The Cathedral Arctic 