If you’re wondering who rules over you, here’s a test recommended by Voltaire in the 18th Century:
I presume that those I can’t criticize would include those empowered to act in secrecy (so I can’t find evidence to support my criticism) and those who are empowered to keep me from photographing them (so I can’t create evidence to support my criticism).
Do you suppose that today’s would-be rulers include those protected from criticism by laws that prohibit “hate speech“?
Do you suppose that our would-be rulers include those who classify dissidents (those who criticize government as an exercise of “Freedom of Speech) as as “terrorists”?
Do suppose that our would-be rulers have granted themselves official immunity for acts that would get you or me thrown in jail? Are these “officially immune” individuals thereby shielded from the “criticism” that’s inherent in any criminal or civil court case?
What about those who collect payments on mortgages after they’ve sold the mortgages to third parties? Does their immunity from prosecution for fraud suggest that they should be regarded as among my “rulers”?
How ’bout the financial institutions that are deemed “too big to fail”–does their immunity from financial failure equate to a shield against the criticism that’s inherent in bankruptcy?
And whatever happened to the presumption that We the People rule this country and our government was our public servant rather than our ruler?
