Here’s a hypothetical example of what we could do: say a group of college students at a certain major university are tired of the ever rising costs of college education.  So they organize and protest and get support and are able to have the entire student body boycott all sporting events until something gets done about the cost of college education.  Perhaps, if the students conduct themselves with honor and remain peaceful and dignified, members of the general public may join them in their efforts.  The goal of the boycott could be the elimination of at least one year of Gen. Ed. (General Education) classes for most majors (along with trimming the fat in “administrative costs”), thereby reducing the cost of college education by fifteen to twenty thousand dollars per student.  Would it work?  What if through social media the cause picked up momentum and spread across the nation?

     Or what if roughly the same scenario happened, but instead of boycotting sporting events, 30,000+ students at a major university all banded together and boycotted Gen. Ed. classes, pointing out that for most majors they have little or nothing to do with their specialized field of study, and that the supposed goal of “making well-rounded individuals” is really just an excuse to force college students to take an extra two years of college, thereby making universities (and banks) that much more money and putting the students that much more in debt.  (I can understand the importance of these classes for some professions; for instance, they would be helpful for those who intend to become school teachers, but they could easily be trimmed back by at least half as much as is currently required.)  If students fought back like this all across the country, the universities would have no choice but to concede to their demands.  College would take half the amount of time and cost half the amount of money.  These are the kinds of things that need to happen if we want anything to change.

     Workers need to organize and unionize again, especially in the service and retail industries.  People need to fight for better wages, just like those who struggled in the early 1900’s did, whose hard work and labor caused reforms that many of us still benefit from today.  The decent wages and middle class that the U.S. enjoyed and thrived upon for so many years didn’t just happen—people fought for it.  And now, through years of ignorance and complacency, we’ve let almost all of it slip away.

     We need to put our heads together and find ways to force our “elected” officials to pass trade agreements that benefit workers and regular citizens, not just corporations.  We need to boycott mega-businesses that don’t pay a living wage, especially when their own financial reports prove that they easily can—they just choose not to.  (I realize that some (many?) people don’t believe that unskilled labor deserves better wages, but a simple analysis of historical data shows that these same unskilled laborers make less now adjusted for inflation than they did fifty years ago, while corporate wealth has increased by leaps and bounds, in some cases by 200-300 percent when compared to the leading corporations of half a century ago.)

     We have the power to make great change if we get together, stand up for ourselves, and refuse to cooperate with the people or corporations that use us to make Themselves powerful and rich.

     Think about it—if an entire town got together and said that they weren’t going to shop at a particular supercenter retailer until they started paying better wages and benefits, conducted fairer business practices, and sold more local, state, or national products, they’d be closed down in a month.  Some other business that would accommodate these demands would happily take their place.  So much is possible if we only stand up and work together.

     And if none of these things work or don’t happen right away, you can be an army of One.  Educate yourself.  Knowledge is power.  Do what you can, however little it is.  It all adds up after a while.

     Resist.  Rebel.  Revolt.  Rearrange your life.  Make freedom your primary concern … not just for the sake of being free from Them, but for your own good and as its own reward.

     It’s up to you.  This book is but a small taste of what’s out there.  With tools such as the internet and social media at your disposal, you have the accumulated wisdom of the world at your fingertips.  Use it.  Free your mind.  Aspire to be great, to be something other than a cog in the wheels of the bankers, corporations, and politicians money making machine.

     Rise up.  Fight back.  Stand your ground.

     Be Free.

Excerpted from Them and Us: A Philosophy of Freedom by Adam Soto

     So what can you do?  The most important thing you can do is rebel against them in the way you think!  If you still think the way They want you to think and believe in the “system” and that politicians are basically good people who care about what’s best for you or your country, and that you can change things through “voting” and “elections,” you’re still playing Their game.  And if you’re playing Their game, you’re going to lose because they’ve set it up so that the house wins every time.

     No, the real voting is how you spend your time and money—how you direct your dollars and thoughts.  Every time you buy one of their gadgets—gadgets invented to make them money and you stupid—They win.  Every time you watch Big Brother, The Real World, or other “reality” TV shows, the only thing you’ve done is shown that you don’t understand reality.

     They’ve turned us into TV junkies, addicted to sports, soap operas, dancing shows, Pawn Stars, and other mind-numbing “programming.”

     I’m not saying a person can’t have any fun, but according to statistics, the average American spends five hours a day watching TV, an hour a day on Facebook, and another hour or two randomly surfing the internet.  They’re filling your head with useless drivel, and you’re letting Them!

     Fight back!  Don’t let them turn your brains into marshmallows!  Don’t be a programmed consumer.  Don’t be like those who have to go out and get the latest “smart” phone or gaming system the day it comes out, even though the ones they have work just fine.  Don’t be like those who as soon as they see a commercial for chicken nuggets at Burger King for $1.49, they go ten times in two weeks and eat chicken nuggets like well programmed consumer robots.

     Corporations put all kinds of time and effort into programming you, even funding psychological studies to find the best ways to sell you their products.  A certain combination of colors or the image of a laughing baby may trigger a deep-seated subconscious emotion that makes you want this or that item.  They’ll give you something for free (something usually worth pennies) if you only spend $35 or $50 first.  Believe it or not, this stuff works!  Quite well, actually—on the uneducated sucker!

     Be responsible.  Save your hard earned money.  Here’s a simple rule or guideline to live by: If you can’t afford something, don’t buy it!  Save up for it instead.  Look at the people you know who don’t have any money or are in debt—they spend more than they earn, right?  They buy everything they want, whether they can afford it or not.

     Sometimes you need things, I understand.  Your microwave blows up or you get a flat tire; try to have some money put away for such occasions.  That’s part of being responsible and being an adult.

     How about the sports package on your TV or numerous subscriptions to magazine or internet sites … these are nice, but do you need them?  Can you afford them?

     Pets are expensive, and so are children, smoking, drinking, and gambling.  Get your priorities straight.  Figure out what you can and can’t afford, and live accordingly.

     Use things until they’re ready to be replaced.  For instance, according to data online, the average vehicle payment for even a used vehicle is $355 per month.  That’s $4,260 a year.  Now, if you can run and upkeep your current vehicle (especially if it’s paid off) for less than that, keep it for as long as you can.  It’s money in the bank.  They’ll have you get a new vehicle every three or four years.  Guess what—that benefits Them, not you.  Do the math—it’s that simple.

     There are other little things you can do.  If you already have enough shoes, clothes, or purses, don’t buy more.  Borrow books and movies from the library.  Walk, take a bus, ride a bike, cook at home, make enough food for leftovers, freeze homemade food, buy in bulk.  Make coffee at home and take it to work instead of stopping at the convenience store every day.  These may seem like little things, but add them all together and they can go a long way in making you more financially independent.

     If you’re like most people you already have the internet on your phone—why pay for it at home, too?  You’re paying twice!  Every dollar adds up.

     Say you decide not to spend an extra $80 a month for internet at home—that’s $960 a year!  $9,600 in ten years that’s still in your pocket, not Theirs!

     Or, what if you go out to eat four times a month and on average you spend $12 each time.  That’s $48 a month—$576 per year!  (I know many people who got out to eat much more than that; more like four times a week!)

     Be as free as you can be!  Explore as many ways as you can think of to fight back!

     If you’re a college student, look for or create opportunities to cut costs.  Get a roommate or two, learn the art of cooking, pack a lunch rather than buying the overpriced food sold on campus.  Have a plan.  Take summer classes; if not, get a job and earn a little money.  Any little thing you can do to be that much more free—do it!  That’s one less way that They control you.

     If you can, organize with those around you.  Rather than Them using technology on you, use it against Them!  There are ways to fight back without being violent or causing bloodshed.  Don’t participate in your own enslavement by going along with what They want you to do and being who They want you to be.  As the quote by Howard Zinn earlier in this book illustrates, the problem is not civil disobedience, it’s civil obedience.  Non-cooperation is one of the greatest tools at your disposal.  There are other tools as well.

     You can protest to help raise awareness for a specific cause or objective, but protesting alone won’t make much of an impact; you must protest and have plans for boycotts if you really want to make a difference.  (You need to hit Them where it hurts—Their wallets!)

     The people of the past knew so much more about the power of a boycott, civil disobedience, and non-cooperation than we do today.  They were pissed off.  They had slogans like, “Give me liberty, or give me death!”  They were suspicious of government and big business.  They fought, and they fought hard, for their rights and liberties.  That’s somehow been bred out of us today.  We need to get it back.

Excerpted from Them and Us: A Philosophy of Freedom by Adam Soto

     Let’s now look at some of the more personal ways that They try to control and manipulate us.

     Know this: democracy, communism, socialism, nationalism … they’re all an illusion, each one used in its own unique way to take your money and your freedom.

     They’re like cults.  What’s the first thing a cult does?  They reprogram you by giving you a new name.  You’re American or French, Democrat or Republican, Capitalist or Socialist.  Assume one of these names and you’ve redefined your identity, replacing who you are or who you want to be with well-defined ideologies of who you now must be to be part of the group.  Just like an organized religion, all of your beliefs will already be thought out for you.  If you’re a Democrat, you hate war but support abortion; if you’re Republican, you’re pro-life and pro-war.  If you’re Polish, you hate Russians, and Russians hate you.  The same with India and Pakistan, Iran and Israel.  The list goes on and on.

     As time goes on and the money market changes or a certain group or country becomes a threat to Their power, They’ll want you to believe new things.  That’s when reprogramming is necessary.  They’ll use movies, news, TV shows, and entertainers to slowly shape your ideas and beliefs, to make you think and feel what They want you to think and feel.  They’ll use shows like Blue Bloods and Law & Order to make you think that it’s OK to “rough up” a suspect even though it’s an assault on your personal liberties, thus undermining the notion of “innocent until proven guilty.”  They’ll make you think that it’s OK for a judge to decide what’s in your or an entire country’s best interests, even though a judge is supposed to uphold the law, not decide the law (which is the job of Congress and our “elected” officials).

     Shows like Mr. Robot will help you to think that “wealth redistribution” is fair, that someone else’s hard earned money should actually be yours, that it’s owed you, and that you’re somehow a victim who never got a fair shake in life.  So what if you didn’t try very hard in high school, never bothered to go college, and didn’t put any of the hard work into your life that those who are successful put into their lives. Never mind the fact that most people live well beyond their means and spend twice as much as they earn, putting themselves in undesirable situations.  But it’s always someone else’s fault!

     Shows like Person of Interest will condition you to support the “surveillance state” and have you give up even more of your freedoms and privacy for the sake of feeling just a little more secure and to protect you from “terrorists” or those who want to do you or your “country” harm.  Of course They never mention that the real reason for the surveillance state is to protect Them from hackers or other groups that they perceive to be a real threat to Their power and to find new ways to control you (i.e., through digital passports and digital currencies).

     They’ll use news stories, entertainment, sports, and social media to distract you, confuse you, amuse you, diffuse you, so that you’re never focused on Them and how much of your hard earned money and freedom they’re stealing from you.

     Like a cult, They’ll use sex, drugs, science, philosophy, and psychology to break your values and beliefs, beat you down, pummel you into submission—until you don’t believe in anything; then They can reprogram you to Their liking.

     They’ll do everything they can to make you feel empty.  The emptier you are, the more you’ll try to fill the hole with Them or Their products or ideas.  They’ll force you to compete like rats in a race, making you do everything humanly possible to keep up with the Joneses, no matter how in debt you may become in the process.

     They’ll do everything in their power to make Us depend on Them, and not our own independence.  They’ll either use or create situations that appear dangerous (terrorism, financial collapses, system hacks, epidemics, war, etc.) so that We’ll go running to Them, asking Them to save us.  (Which They’ll gladly do at the price of more of our money and freedom.)

     They’ll draw on our fears and our national pride to make Us fight Their wars, saying things like, “If it weren’t for our brave soldiers all across the world, we couldn’t enjoy the freedom we have today,” when in reality, They use the military as corporate goons to advance their own personal agendas and increase their power and wealth, killing millions in the process.

     Did U.S. soldiers fight to “free” the Iraqi people in Operation Iraqi Freedom, or did they fight (and die) to ensure that the (petro) dollar would remain the world currency, something Saddam Hussein was trying to change?  Does the United States really care about the freedom of the Ukrainian people, or are the U.S. corporate handlers trying to draw Russia into a war (making them spend money they don’t have) and ensure that Ukraine moves a little closer to the West, away from Russia, and that they get a bail-out from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who will almost certainly exploit any resources they have for their own financial benefit and to the detriment of the Ukrainian people?^[2]

     They’ll use diversionary tactics—smoke and mirrors—to pit us against one another, using race, religion, and nationalism to keep us separated and distracted while the decay of our rights and liberties continues right beneath our noses.

     When They look at you, they see only one thing—$$$.  Don’t think for a second that They care about women’s liberation or civil rights—They don’t!  Before these movements even started, They looked around and saw over half of the population not working!  These movements were manufactured to get more workers into the workforce so that we could pay more taxes, build bigger houses, borrow more money, and buy and produce more of their junk so that They can get even richer!^[3] 

     And if we ever actually do something that gets in the way of Them making money, They’ll change the game.  As workers at the beginning of the 20^th century labored for increasingly long hours in poor conditions and for little pay, some of them got smart and had the courage to fight back, forming unions to stand up against their corporate overlords.  But over time, as the labor unions got stronger (and in many cases, greedier), the corporations just packed up and moved somewhere else, to another country, like China, where there are so many workers they can’t afford to unionize because if they try, they’ll be replaced in an instant.  Then all that the corporations have to do is lobby (pay off) the politicians so that they relax (change) the tariff laws so that They can ship their products here for virtually nothing (hence the creation of NAFTA and other free-trade agreements).

     NAFTA and other agreements like it benefit Them and Them alone.  Sure, we get somewhat cheaper products, but that comes with a price—namely the extinction of the middle class.  Everything—everything They do is for Their benefit and Their benefit alone.

     But hey, raising minimum wage, that’s a good thing, right?  Wrong!  It gives Them an excuse to raise the price on every good you buy!  It also makes it harder for the Mom and Pop stores to compete with the Wal-marts and mega-corporations of the world, thus destroying small businesses and giving us less choice about who we buy our products and goods from.  Again, it benefits Them the most!  (The problem of low wages is something I’ll address later.)

     You must question everything They do.  Always be on guard.  Even now, I’m doing the same thing They do—I’m trying to tear down your beliefs and replace them with new ones!  You must be wary of anyone who does this, including me.  You must ask, “Who benefits from this?”  Analyze it, pick it apart from as many angles as you can find and see if what they’re saying is in your benefit or theirs.

     Arm yourself with knowledge.  Don’t be a victim.  This book is just a small sample of what They do.  The information is out there if you only dare to look.  If you don’t—if you fail to wise up and continue to play Their game—you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.

     You can do something about it.  You can opt out of Their game; maybe not completely, but there are things you can do so that They win a little less and you win a little more.  Who knows, you may change the world, you may not, but if you fight back even a little, you can change your world.  You are not powerless.  You just need to be willing to take a stand, work hard, sacrifice, and be what you want to be instead of what They want you to be.

Excerpted from Them and Us: A Philosophy of Freedom by Adam Soto

          Question: Have you ever wondered why so many countries in the world are being flooded with immigrants?  Even in the United States, it’s completely unexplainable why the government would let this happen.  It doesn’t benefit your average American taxpayer in the least; in fact, in many ways, it hurts them, contributing to wage depreciation and more unemployment for American workers.  And for the immigrants who don’t work and suck off of the government teat for their every want and need, it means a higher taxpayer burden for those who do work.

     Answer: it gets more people into the consumer→debt system.  It’s all about money.

     Sure, some immigrants are used by corporations for cheap labor, or politicians may pander to them to get more votes, and some may even get a job and pay taxes, but these are merely side effects—fringe benefits of the initial motivations—generating more wealth distribution and government debt.

     I just mentioned the consumer→debt system; corporations are another tool used by the banks to put people in debt.  The more goods, gadgets, and trinkets we buy, the less money we’ll have to pay off loans and the more we’ll need to borrow.  It’s all dollars and cents, and they know every angle.

     What about “free” college education—that’s good, right?  Wrong!  Think about it—what’s better, a system where a set number of people pay college loans for a fixed amount of time, or one where everyone pays for their entire working lives (and maybe even into retirement) through their taxes?  It’s crazy!  Add to that the decreased spending power that results from increased taxation and it’s another win for the banks.  (It’s a scam, people!  Don’t be bamboozled!)

     “Free” universal health care is the same way.  As it is now, if the average person lives healthy and exercises they should only have to pay a small amount of health care costs for most of their lives.  But They want us to pay for other people’s unhealthy lifestyles.  Not only that, they also want us to pay for those who aren’t paying at all (and probably never will) and who never put in the hard work and effort to get a quality job that offers health care benefits.  It’s all a money making scheme to redistribute your money so that They (the health care companies) don’t have to eat the cost themselves.

     It’s all about power, money, and debt.  Dependency on government = debt.  Socialism = debt.  War = debt.  Health care = debt.  College = debt.  Consumerism = debt.

     Another issue that’s been in the media a lot lately is “man-made global warming.”  Would it surprise you to find out that it’s all a fabrication, a strategy by certain world governments, banks, and corporations to get better or total control of the energy market—on a global scale?  (And of course, impose more taxes, regulations, and fees.)

     Not only that, it’s now becoming apparent that They want to use the ideas of “man-made global warming” and “sustainability” to reshape everything about the way we live, telling us which foods are “sustainable” (They want to grow our “meat” in labs, and it won’t be “meat”), what kinds of cars we can drive (if cars will even be deemed “sustainable,” who knows?), what kinds of energy we can use, and how much of it (“smart” meters on every house and thermostat; there are numerous ways that They can exploit that to their advantage) … all so that They can control every single aspect of our lives, right down to the smallest daily activities.

     Who knows how many freedoms (or people) will need to be sacrificed in the name of “sustainability” by the time They are through?  (They believe that “population growth” is also “unsustainable,” and that we already have too many people.  See: The Georgia Guidestones for more information.)

     More and more respectable sources and publications are calling “man-made global warming” the greatest hoax of the 21^st century, and are backing it up with proof, but are having an increasingly hard time getting their voices heard in the corporately owned media who bombard us daily with propaganda and misinformation.

     This is the reality of the world we live in.  Everything They do, they do for Them.  The bankers, corporations, and politicians … They’re in it for themselves.  It’s all a game to Them—and They’re winning.

Excerpted from Them and Us: A Philosophy of Freedom by Adam Soto

     Let’s look at some of the kinds of loans that most banks (depending on their size) usually offer.

–   Car loans

–   Personal loans

–   College loans

–   Home loans

–   Credit Cards

–   Small business loans

–   Corporate loans

     And then there’s the granddaddy of them all—government loans.  This is where the real money is at.

     Imagine the interest paid on a three hundred thousand dollar loan; it would be a lot, depending on the interest rate.  Now imagine the interest paid on a three hundred billion dollar loan.  How about 24 trillion (current U.S. debt)?  Now add to that all of the nations in the world that are in gigantic, unsustainable debt and your brain should officially explode!  We’re talking unbelievable—unfathomable—amounts of money, debt, and interest.  And what does money equal?  Power!

     This power can be used when a nation gets into trouble and needs a loan.  Sure, the banks will give them a loan, and they’ll charge interest, but they may also want a little more.  Maybe as a stipulation for granting a loan, a bank (or group of banks, like the Federal Reserve) may ask a certain world power to “take care” of a country that’s trying to buck the system, or they’ll ask a government to relax a few laws that are keeping Them from potentially making more money (laws that were created to protect taxpayers and citizens from risky investments and practices).  Maybe they’ll even use their power and influence to draw countries into war, causing them to need a loan to help pay their debts.  (So maybe They do force us to get loans!  Add to that the fact that this contributes to each person being individually overburdened in taxes, which leaves every person with less money in their own hands to actually stay out of debt in the first place, and the argument could be made that most people are “forced” to take out loans that they otherwise wouldn’t have had to.)

     (Note: The above mentioned war→debt scenario has happened many, many times.  The war of 1812 and The Civil War are just two examples.  Look into it.  A talk entitled All Wars Are Bankers Wars by Michael Rivero is a great place to start.)

     If the banks want something done (that is, something that will make them more money), they try their best not to use their own money to make it happen.  They’ll blackmail certain countries or politicians to do their dirty work for Them (with taxpayer dollars).  Why else would the United States be giving so much money to foreign countries?  They’re developing third world nations with U.S. tax dollars and putting in place a stable power structure that’s loyal to Them and Them alone.  It’s solely to benefit the banks and corporations.

     For hundreds of years, the best way to get a country into debt was to get them involved in a war.  (It still works pretty well, as a matter of fact.)  But now they’ve come up with another, less bloody way to achieve the same ends—the Socialist/Welfare state.  (Note: Although technically not the same thing, most socialistic societies and welfare states (according to recent data) give out increasingly more money in social programs and entitlements than they collect in taxes, especially as time goes on.  This inevitably leads to government debt, bail-outs, more government debt, increased taxes, more bail-outs, more government debt, etc …)

     “Free” health care, “free” college education, increased unemployment benefits, welfare, social security, entitlement programs … What does all of this do?  It redistributes the wealth in a way that doesn’t cost Them a dime (in fact, They make money), and it puts countries into massive, unrecoverable debt.

Excerpted from Them and Us: A Philosophy of Freedom by Adam Soto

     There are two primary factors that make Them tick: money and power.  They form the nucleus from which everything in the world revolves around.

     Power is purely psychological.  Those in power get off on controlling other people’s lives, getting in their heads, and having authority over people or nations.  It’s like a drug, only better, because the effects go deeper and last longer.

     Money is the vehicle which gets Them there.  One of the most important lessons you can ever learn is that money runs the world.  Anything that They do, They do for money.  This is true in almost every single situation or scenario you can think of.  It should be no surprise then that the most powerful people in the world are the ones who control the money—the Bankers.

     Here’s how it works: Banks use start-up capital and customer deposits to loan money to people, businesses, or countries.  (Or they print it out of thin air!  But that’s a whole other issue.)  They lend this money with the agreement that the client will pay them back the original amount of money loaned and then a little (or a lot) more on top of that, which is called interest.  They then loan out the money they made from the interest and make more money (with interest), and so on and so forth, becoming fabulously rich and powerful.

     To be honest with you, I don’t necessarily have a problem with this, generally speaking.  It’s not like the banks are forcing us to take their loans.  (Well, in some ways that may not be true.  I’ll get into that more later.)  If there’s something that a person wants or needs that they don’t have the money for, this is a viable option to help remedy the situation.  It’s not evil for the bankers to offer this service.  On top of that, they are taking a risk in that they may not get all of the money they loaned back, so the money they make off of the interest is their reward for taking a chance.  In fact, in a perfect world, both college loans and home loans should turn out profitable for both parties involved.  Most people who go to college make considerably more in their lifetime than those who don’t go to college, even after paying off their college debts.  The same is usually true in the value of a home; its value goes up as time goes on.  So you really can’t blame Them.  It’s us—we’re the ones who put ourselves in the undesirable position of needing their help in the first place.

     The problems start when banks use tricks or “fine print” to mislead their customers or partake in other questionable practices such as the use of “fractional reserve banking,” which means that they are legally allowed to lend 10 times more money than they have in reserves (and, of course, make interest off of that money), or they use compound interest or they loan the same money more than once, or gamble with Federally insured money, giving loans to people or businesses whose ability to pay them back is highly questionable, putting the tax payers on the hook to bail them out if the people or businesses default on their loans.  (It should be noted that these things wouldn’t be possible if people were educated about the various forms of usury that exist in the world today and took measures to protect themselves against it.)

Excerpted from Them and Us: A Philosophy of Freedom by Adam Soto

     I’m not going to get into a metaphysical discussion about the nature of the universe (though that is, of course, part of the equation); I’ll leave that up to you.  The purpose of this book is to focus on freedom from external forces and identifying yourself as a free person.

     As I stated earlier, there are forces in the world that are working against you, trying to use you to help Them achieve their goals.  You’re not alone.  Ninety-nine percent of the world is being used this way.  That’s reality.  The question is, what’s the cause of this?  Let’s examine a few possibilities:

1. People are weak
2. People are lazy
3. People are ignorant
4. People are afraid
5. People are comfortable
6. People are consumed by lust and desire
7. People have given up hope that it will ever change
8. People are in denial
9. People are benefiting enough from the few perks (crumbs) thrown their way to want to change anything
10. There’s not enough people who understand what’s going on to make any real impact on world affairs
11. Threats of violence keep them immobilized (I guess that’s the same as fear)
12. Most people aren’t as ruthless or violent as those in power, and don’t want to become so to defeat them

     So of course, it’s all, many, or various combinations of the above mentioned possibilities that contribute to the current state of the world (and even more possibilities that I may not have noted).  As I already mentioned, we must first work on changing these things within us before we can possibly hope to change any external forces that impede our freedom.  We must become educated, strong, diligent, fearless, and discontent with the status quo.  This will take hard work and sacrifice, as any worthwhile cause usually does.  Hard work in that it takes a lot of time and energy to educate yourself and conquer your faults and fears; sacrifice in that you’ll have to give up some of your easy, convenient, comfortable ways of life to fight back against those forces that are trying to keep you down.

     Which brings us to the next step: In order to fight back, we must understand what we’re fighting against.

Excerpted from Them and Us: A Philosophy of Freedom by Adam Soto

     Every single day of my life I look around at the world we live in and I feel indignation and disappointment.  Indignation because I see the plight of the common person and how the cards are stacked against them.  If you’re not born into wealth, chances are you’ll never taste true independence, financially or otherwise.  (Not that it can’t be done, but it’s very uncommon.)  The hard truth is, most of us don’t deserve any better than what we have.  That’s where the disappointment comes in.  We don’t educate ourselves to the cons that are perpetrated against us every day.  We want to believe that the world is essentially good, that evil forces don’t exist, and if they do, that they’re not that evil.  (What I mean by evil is selfish, corrupt, ungodly, without conscience … willing to do whatever it takes to achieve certain goals, no matter who it hurts in the process.)

     In reality, there are ruthless, evil people in the world—many of them.  They’ll kill you, control you, manipulate you, and use you without a second thought.  This, then, needs to become one of the foundational truths with which your life is based upon.  Without it, you will forever misunderstand the world you live in.

     You must also understand this: not only are there ruthless people in the world, some of them are extremely intelligent.  These are the ones who really run the world.  Bankers, corporate owners, politicians—they’re all playing a game that you’re not privy to.  Many of them have philosophies based primarily on what they believe to be their superiority over us, justifying, in their minds, why people like you and me need them, that we couldn’t have gotten this far without them, and that we need to be directed like sheep for our own good or we’ll never survive.  They are masters of psychology and will tap into your most basic fears and desires to manipulate you into doing what They want you to do.

     What’s sad is that so many of us play right into their hands.  In our laziness and complacency most of us never bother to explore this world we live in, and fail to wake up to the world as it really is.  We live in make believe dream worlds, seeing what we want to see and not what actually is.

     Perhaps for most of us it’s just too painful to open our eyes.  Deep down we know that evil forces exist, but we don’t have the courage or feel powerless to do anything about it, so we live in denial.

     What it comes down to is that the majority of mankind never asks themselves the tough questions in life.  They accept what they’re told, never thinking about much of anything for themselves.  They fail to develop the most powerful tool at their disposal—their mind.

     This is the first thing that separates Them and Us—they have awakened their minds.  They study themselves and the world around them.  They exercise their minds and try to understand how nature and the world around them work.  But most importantly, they understand how we as human beings work—what makes us tick.  They become successful because they work hard, develop their minds, and bank on you not developing yours.  And guess what—it’s working out pretty well for them, isn’t it?  And it will forever; it won’t change unless we change.

     So the question is, how much of your mind do you want to give Them?  That’s important to understand … They’re not taking it, we’re giving it!  Every day we have a choice—will we be free, or will we be what They want us to be?  They’ve worked hard at making you who They want you to be—probably much harder than you’ve worked at becoming who you want to be; obviously, that needs to change.  We must understand who we are and who we want to become; that’s the basic formula—knowledge and will.

     Knowledge is the key to everything.  The best way to arrive at knowledge is through a process of questioning the people, ideas, and world around you, comparing any (or all) available data, eliminating any useless or untrue information, and ultimately (if possible) gaining first-hand experience of a subject.  Will power is needed to seek knowledge in the first place and to implement any useful knowledge once it is attained.  The best use of knowledge is to use it to help understand the nature of a thing (whatever object you decide upon) and to then use this knowledge to free yourself from anything that impedes your will.  (This works equally for both noble and sinister objectives.)  The level of freedom an individual attains correlates directly with the amount of will exerted and knowledge grasped, which then correlates with a person’s overall happiness in life.  The more free a person is, the happier they tend to be.

     So as you can see, knowledge is the first step towards freedom.  If freedom is the goal, one of the most important questions we can ask ourselves is, “What forces exist that keep us from being as free as we can be?”  The answer to this question falls into one of two categories: internal and external forces.  Internal forces are your fears, desires, pride, envy, ego, attitudes, etc.  External forces would be the people, (friends, family, associates, government, strangers…) or circumstances in your life. 

     All internal forces related to emotion or thought are connected to the mind, the most powerful tool at your disposal.  Like any tool, it must be used to serve its purpose.  When used to the height of its abilities, it becomes sharp as a razor.  It’s only when the mind is strong that it can be used to control emotion and will, and thus achieve its goals with any kind of consistency.  When it is weak, it only tends to create turmoil.  Before a person can even dream of freedom, they must have a strong mind and an iron will.  In fact, these must be indomitable.  You must have a clear vision of yourself and the people and world around you—not as you want them to be, but as they are.

Excerpted from Them and Us: A Philosophy of Freedom by Adam Soto

     “The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson.”

—Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (1933–1945), in a letter to Colonel Edward M House dated November 21, 1933, as quoted in F.D.R.: His Personal Letters, 1928-1945.

     “Today the path to total dictatorship in the U.S. can be laid by strictly legal means … We have a well-organized political-action group in this country, determined to destroy our Constitution and establish a one-party state … It operates secretly, silently, continuously to transform our Government … This ruthless power-seeking elite is a disease of our century … This group … is answerable neither to the President, the Congress, nor the courts. It is practically irremovable.”

—Senator William Jenner, 1954 speech

     “The individual is handicapped by coming face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists. The American mind simply has not come to a realization of the evil which has been introduced into our midst. It rejects even the assumption that human creatures could espouse a philosophy which must ultimately destroy all that is good and decent.”

—J. Edgar Hoover, The Elks Magazine, 1956

     “The very word “secrecy” is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings … Our way of life is under attack. Those who make themselves our enemy are advancing around the globe … no war ever posed a greater threat to our security. If you are awaiting a finding of “clear and present danger,” then I can only say that the danger has never been more clear and its presence has never been more imminent … For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence—on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day.  It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations. Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed.”

—John F Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, from a speech delivered to the American Newspaper Publishers Association on April 27, 1961.

     “The Rockefellers and their allies have, for at least fifty years, been carefully following a plan to use their economic power to gain political control of first America, and then the rest of the world.  Do I mean conspiracy? Yes, I do. I am convinced there is such a plot, international in scope, generations old in planning, and incredibly evil in intent.”

            —Congressman Larry P. McDonald, November 1975, from the introduction to a book titled The Rockefeller File.

     “There exists a shadowy government with its own Air Force, its own Navy, its own fundraising mechanism, and the ability to pursue its own ideas of national interest, free from all checks and balances, and free from the law itself.”

—Daniel K. Inouye, US Senator from Hawaii, testimony at the Iran Contra Hearings, 1986

     “Government is an association of men who do violence to the rest of us.”

―Leo Tolstoy

     “Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.  To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.”

—Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, An Autobiography, 1913 (Appendix B)

     “A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is privately concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men… [W]e have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world—no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and the duress of small groups of dominant men.”

—Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, The New Freedom, 1913

     “Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men’s views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of something.  They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.”

—Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, The New Freedom, 1913

     “The real menace of our Republic is the invisible government, which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy legs over our cities, states and nation … The little coterie of powerful international bankers virtually run the United States government for their own selfish purposes. They practically control both parties … and control the majority of the newspapers and magazines in this country. They use the columns of these papers to club into submission or drive out of office public officials who refuse to do the bidding of the powerful corrupt cliques which compose the invisible government. It operates under cover of a self-created screen [and] seizes our executive officers, legislative bodies, schools, courts, newspapers and every agency created for the public protection.”

—New York City Mayor John F. Hylan, New York Times, March 26, 1922

     “Mr. Chairman, we have in this country one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Banks. The Federal Reserve Board, a Government board, has cheated the Government of the United States and the people of the United States out of enough money to pay the national debt … Mr. Chairman, when the Federal Reserve act was passed, the people of the United States did not perceive that a world system was being set up here … and that this country was to supply financial power to an international superstate—a superstate controlled by international bankers and international industrialists acting together to enslave the world for their own pleasure.”

     —Congressman Louis T. McFadden, from a speech delivered to the House of Representatives on June 10, 1932