"One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them."
We should be so lucky as to have an authoritarian government. What we're really sliding into is totalitarianism.
Authoritarians say, "Thou shall not." But Totalitarians say, "Thou shall." Totalitarians want to control every little aspect of your life. And they're building systems to make their dreams come to life.
We have early warning signs across the West. Covid passports, lockdowns, mandatory vaccines, constant blaring propaganda, centralized IDs and social media censorship. But these things are just for practice. The most serious assault, the One Ring of totalitarian policies is the CBDC.
Central bank digital currencies will be created in many countries, and the President has said the U.S. CBDC is of the highest priority. You'll get a single bank account with the Federal reserve or some Fed proxy. That's the only place it is possible to have your money since there will be no cash.
Government will know exactly how much money you have and what you spend it on. They will be able to block expenditures on things they dislike or make them more expensive or less expensive on a whim. They can program money to expire or impose negative interest rates. Best of all, they can freeze your money, fine you, or take all your money any time they want at the press of a button.
Say the wrong thing on Twitter or irritate some government commissar and you'll be eating dog food under a bridge somewhere in two weeks flat. And you know what? Nobody can even help you out and toss you a dime because you aren't able to receive it. There is no cash.
The "benefits" include instant and unavoidable taxation, social engineering through financial nudging, and the suppression of money laundering and the black market.
If all that sounds great to you, then you are a totalitarian. It's OK--some people are just like that. You might as well just get in front of the term and own it. But if these things make you uneasy, then you should do everything you can to resist these policies, even if they come from "your side" of the political divide.
Because there really are only two sides. Us, the peasantry, and Them, your totalitarian overlords. If you see some politician supporting these kinds of policies then they either haven't thought it through or they are totalitarians themselves and they're in on the game. If they win, if Sauron finishes the ring, then it's over. We'll never get out from under their rule again.
It will be just like what Orwell said, "A boot stamping on a human face--forever."
