The map to the right shows how modern Europe was divided into small states after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. Whether the modern European Union movement can bring some degree of unity in this part of the world is still an open question.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, we find that freedom for the common person is still very limited and endangered by the machinations of the Bush II junta. While the United States continues to enjoy some amount of freedom, democracy is an ideal toward which we must still strive--particularly since the Republican party has stolen the last three national elections.

In our definition of freedom as the condition of being able to choose and carry out purposes, we can delineate specific factors and outline encroachments on our liberty:

Political Freedom	Encroachments
Some means of control of rulers by the ruled	Political leaders are being put into power by economic rulers (plutocrats)
Some protection of the individual against government by legal rights and civil liberties	Legal rulings are influenced by money and power; criminal justice officers are allowed to search and seize without a warrant
Economic Freedom	Encroachments
Access to a livelihood	American jobs are being taken by so-called American corporations to countries with the lowest labor costs
Equality of economic opportunity	The stock market is rigged by insiders (bankers and specialists)
Freedom from unjust taxation	The common citizen pays exhorbitant taxes while the wealthy escape taxation through loopholes
Freedom from financial theft or fraud	Our tax monies are being used to bail out bankers' bad investments
Ability to own personal property	Criminal justice officers can seize personal property without a warrant or court ruling
Mental Freedom	Encroachments
Self-awareness	The educational system creates egomaniacal people with no interest in self-awareness
Absence of conditioning or obsession	The entertainment industry conditions people to follow infantile, mindless patterns of behavior
Ability to think critically - think for oneself	The educational system creates people who have no interest in thinking for themselves
Access to authentic information	The media are owned by the plutocrats; only disinformation or irrelevance is provided
Physical Freedom	Encroachments
Ability to protect oneself from illegal coercion or domination	The plutocrats control jobs and set military and economic policy by putting their puppets into political power
Ability to select one's place of residence	With the job market decimated by globalism, a worker must go wherever the job is
Spiritual Freedom	Encroachments
Ability to select and practice one's beliefs	Organized religions control their adherents' beliefs and behaviors
Ability to distinguish between the religious and the spiritual	Religious organizations and schools do not teach this distinction

One of the ways in which we can work toward a retention of and increase in our personal freedoms is to become aware of the methods current rulers use to control and manipulate common people.

The Esoteric Technology of Power

Subterfuge and Fraud

American plutocracy (rule by the wealthy) is called a democracy

Corporations which take American jobs to foreign countries claim to be American and receive bail-outs from American taxpayers' money when they fail

Political puppets are called leaders and statesmen

Wall Street, rigged by banks and specialists, is said to be an honest casino

The Federal Reserve System, a privately owned bank, is said to be federally controlled

Americans workers are told that American jobs must go to foreign, low-labor-cost countries to keep American corporations competitive

Terrorist acts are used as the excuse for the erosion of American civil liberties

Political puppets increase immigration into the U.S. to its highest level in history on the pretext that certain "key industries" need foreign workers when the real reason is to provide lower-wage workers for the plutocrats

Schools and colleges are wrecked by "multiculturalism" and anarchy so that young people have no understanding of what is required to maintain human freedom and civilized life

The "National Defense State"

From 50% to 90% of our gross national product goes to perpetuate a war machine

Since the U.S. is the only super-power, the war machine is maintained exclusively to transfer American tax monies to wealthy owners of defense industry corporations

Conflicts such as the Gulf War are contrived to use up remaindered military hardware so that the "defense" industry can manufacture new hardware

Conflicts such as the Gulf War are contrived to create a military state of emergency in which the President assumes "extraordinary" powers

Conflicts such as the Gulf War are contrived to create a military state of emergency in which the President coerces the American public into compliance