What does the future hold for average people?
Feudalism.
And they’ll welcome it with open arms, convinced that they are embracing a smart, fair system that eliminates poverty. The greed, entitlement, and lack of ambition that seems inherent in many people today will have them slipping on the yoke of servitude willingly.
Here’s what I mean.
Have you ever been around people who say things like,
“I can’t afford it, but I deserve it…”
“Having [fill in the blank with a material object] is a basic right…”
“Losing that right is okay with me because it’s for the greater good.”
But the thing is, what we “deserve” is the right to pursue our dreams freely.
- We deserve what we earn.
- We deserve to be secure in our life, liberty, and property.
- We deserve the freedom to go about our lives and decisions as long as we aren’t harming the life, liberty, and property of others.
No one owes us anything other than that.
But quite a few people are ready to give up their freedom so that someone else can take care of them.
A lot of people disagree with that list of rights.
They feel like they deserve a living just for drawing breath. As Gawker’s headline reads, “A Universal Basic Income Is the Utopia We Deserve.”
The idea of a universal basic income for all citizens has been catching on all over the world. Is it too crazy to believe in? We spoke to the author of a new book on the ins, outs, and utopian dreams of making basic income a reality.
The basic income movement got a significant boost this week when the charity GiveDirectly announced that it will be pursuing a ten-year, $30 million pilot project giving a select group of Kenyan villagers a basic income and studying its effects. As an anti-poverty solution, universal basic income appeals to impoverished people in Africa, relatively well-off Scandinavians, and Americans automated out of their jobs alike.
Sure, money for nothing sounds great on the surface.
But what would the real result of a Universal Basic Income be?
Feudalism. Serfdom. Enslavement.
UBI would fast track us back to the feudalism of the Middle Ages. Sure, we’d be living in slick, modern micro-efficiencies instead of shacks. We’d have some kind of modern job instead of raising sheep for the lord of the manor.
But, in the end, we wouldn’t actually own anything because private property would be abolished for all but the ruling class. We’d no longer have the ability to get ahead in life. Our courses would be set for us and veering off of those courses would be harshly discouraged.
People will be completely dependent on the government and ruling class for every necessity: food, shelter, water, clothing. What better way to assert control than to make compliance necessary for survival?
(If you’re like me and a life of serfdom is not the future you want, you have to take your independence into your hands. Go here for a bundle of self-reliance downloads, absolutely free, to help you do just that.)
Here’s a quick glimpse at peasant life in the Middle Ages, for comparison’s sake.
The period of history from the 5th to the 15th century was known as the Middle Ages. During this time, the law of the land in Europe was the “feudal system.” This system was the manner in which the upper 10% (the nobility) controlled the lower 90% (the serfs or peasants).
It is estimated that just over 90% of the population of Europe were peasants. Most peasants were basically slaves. They were provided with a small shelter on an inferior piece of land and the “protection” of the noble in charge of that area. In return, they worked for the estate, farming the land with no recompense, paying taxes and having no control over their lives. Some peasants were “free” and had small businesses: blacksmiths, carpenters, bakers, etc. They paid for the protection of the “Lord” with money, goods, and services.
Peasants had few rights. They could be taxed at any time, were obligated to use (and pay for) services of the manor like mills or large ovens, and had to request permission for marriages, change of locations or educating their children.
Each year, the peasant was required to give the best part of his harvest to the lord of the manor. The peasants were not allowed to own things that made their lives easier, like oxen or horses, for example. A peasant did not own the land on which he lived and was therefore obligated to live where he was told, grow what he was told, and farm in the manner in which he was told. They were not allowed to hunt on the lord’s land – poaching was an offense punishable by death. They were not permitted to cut trees for firewood but forced to gather fallen branches to stay warm. A peasant was not allowed to have real, effective weapons – those were reserved for the armies of the nobility, to keep the peasants in line and immediately quell any quest for dignity and independence.
Most of the peasants seemed content with the arrangement because they received security and safety from the Lord. He was obligated to protect them from marauders and barbarians and provide enough land for subsistence. (Learn more about feudalism here.)
People will be trapped into servitude because they feel entitled to a lifestyle.
Over the past years, the education has drummed a sense of entitlement into students. And now, world leaders are counting on using that feeling of entitlement to march society willingly right into a tiny gilded cage.
The World Economic Forum is held yearly in Davos, Switzerland. It is at this meeting where a couple thousand of the world’s top economic and political leaders meet to plot our future.
If you think I’m crazy for the comparison between UBI and serfdom, wait until you see this year’s vision for our future.
Ida Auken, a Danish politician who is a contributor to the World Economic Forum, doesn’t believe we should own things. She doesn’t stop at personal possessions, though. She believes we should eschew privacy in our homes, that cash is unnecessary, and that even our thoughts and dreams are not really ours. You can read about her idea of a perfect future in an article for the Annual Meeting of the Global Futures Council titled “Welcome to 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better.”
In her article, Auken idealizes feudalism, and the kinds of people who believe they “deserve” certain entitlements, like the UBI will welcome this loss of individuality and freedom with open arms.
Watch the video below. I couldn’t make this up if I tried.
For more information about a futuristic feudal society, watch the documentary Obsolete, available for free with an Amazon Prime membership.
Speaking of feudalism…it still exists today. For instance, the county of Cornwall in England is actually the Duchy of Cornwall owned by the Royal Family and many in Cornwall are still–many years after it was supposedly abolished–indentured servants! a You tube video talked about this, and I heard this from a Brit lady that used to live around here. The Sanderingham estate of the Royal Family–where various Satanic ritual murders have taken place over the years–has villages on it and those folks too are likely indentured servants. And not just England–read a book written by a black Mississippi sharecropper (who left to get educated in the 1930s) called “Same Kind of Different As Me” aided by a Christian preacher from Texas…when he went back to where he used to sharecrop, he found out that there were still sharecroppers there! Sharecropping is another form of indentured servitude. This matters to me because I am partially descended from Scots-Irish indentured servants who came over in the 1790s.