Were people that stupid?

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is a satirical novel by Mark Twain. It's an illustration of a feudalistic form of government dating back to the early 6th century, with other elements. The connections that can be drawn from the 6th century, 1889, and today is quite frightening. People think their world has changed from the ruling monarchs, but little do they know, they are being ruled by a select few.

The following text includes quotes from Twains text.

People are sheep. All people have been told their entire lives that there are a few people that rule over others the rest, them and us. That in order to act, permission must be obtained from a "higher power".  These select few people that can decide the power structures are chosen in specific ways, either thru heredity, election by the majority, or some other absurd method. We call it absurd because we compare our metrics of living to the archaic way of living. The reason why the story is based on time travel is because its easy to poke fun at something that is completely "different" from what we have today. Mark Twain calls out the absurdity of the past, feudal, government system. People calling themselves freemen, but are treated in a non-free fashion. He specifically points to the government and Church controlling the freemen's wealth and property. Twain presents that people are gullible and will allow certain people to steal their liberty away from them. People don’t understand freedom because they only understand the force of the whip. "And it hadn’t ever occurred to them that a nation could be so situated that every man could have a say in the government. I said I had seen one—and that it would last until it had an Established Church. Again they were all unhit—at first." Only thru education, people will change, for the worst of the best.  The worst being students whom kiss the asses of their teachers and accept everything they say as gospel. Molding people to accept authority and let the all mighty government decide what is right and wrong. People don’t have a moral compass, they have a legal compass. Judging everyone's action of their countries laws, and not the constant law of morality. When you ask the average sheeple if you want to go smoke a cigarette, shoot a full-auto gun, or drink raw milk, they will respond with the phrase "iSnT tHAt iLLegal??". This is the equivalent of someone saying to not shelter Jews from the Nazi's because it would violate the German Law.  People don’t judge the action off the ethics of consent, but only what the government tells them.  Even within this text by Mark Twain, he points out his own ignorance. At the end he proposes the superiority of democracy. This is what we should be striving for instead of the feudal lords. He specifically presents what is wrong with the feudal lords and responds with "I was from Connecticut, whose Constitution declares “that all political power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority and instituted for their benefit; and that they have at all times an undeniable and indefeasible right to alter their form of government in such a manner as they may think expedient". Lets see how democracy is playing out comparing it to the terrible conditions of King Arthurs feudalism. 

"They were freemen, but they could not leave the estates of their lord or their bishop without his permission;" Today, this is the government setting up imaginary borders around property which is owned by private individuals, restricting who can and cannot pass. Government dictates the use of private land, which is slavery. If people from Mexico want to come to a grape farm and the farmer accepts them onto the farm land, then no consent has been violated, thus there is no moral problems.

"they could not prepare their own bread, but must have their corn ground and their bread baked at his mill and his bakery, and pay roundly for the same;" Today, this is the government placing vast regulations and creating artificial monopolies thru intellectual "property" and other grants on the businesses. In 1903, Henry Ford was sued by George Selden, due to the claims that Selden invented the gasoline car, and patented the idea without even having created a product. Previous to Ford, Selden won his patent suit against another car manufacturer Alexander Winton, ultimately making him sign a licensing agreement. This act robbed a car manufacturer of wealth, which could have gone to the development of new innovation. Thankfully Ford won his case or we would not have had the level of innovation we have today. Patents prevent innovation and competition, only being favorable to big businesses or patent trolls. Property only deals with scarce resources, because one thing cant be used for two opposing wants. Property prevents conflict over the use of scarce resources. Ideas are not scarce, thus cant be property. Governments give imaginary privileges to certain people to have our bread baked and our corn ground. 

"they could not sell a piece of their own property without paying him a handsome percentage of the proceeds, nor buy a piece of somebody else’s without remembering him in cash for the privilege;" This today is taxes. The poor vote to take away from the rich. There are two types of people in society, the productive class and the anti productive class. The productive class create wealth with voluntary transaction, not violating the consent ethic. Then there is the anti productive class, who don’t create voluntary transactions, they create involuntary transactions. Using the police to force the productive class to pay them. This type of transaction is masqueraded with words such as income tax, sales tax, gas tax, etc. The sheeple, while forced to pay these parasites, don’t say anything because they are so stupid, as seen with these freemen. They have been convinced that this taxation is for the benefit of all. This is a clear violation of the consent ethic. 

"they had to harvest his grain for him gratis, and be ready to come at a moment’s notice, leaving their own crop to destruction by the threatened storm;" This today is the draft and Jury Duty. In the United States all males are required to register with The Selective Service, aka a nice term for the draft. "Failure to register is a felony punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or 5 years imprisonment," direct quote from the Selective Service website.  This gives the government, Lockheed Martin, Boeing access to young killing machines, and use stolen funds to kill others. Jury "duty" is the same. 

"they had to smother their anger when his hunting parties galloped through their fields laying waste the result of their patient toil." This today is eminent domain. Big businesses or government saying a hotel or park would look nice here, saying it would benefit the public good, and name an arbitrary number for your property. And you don’t have a choice to decline their request. Property rights, which are natural, are constantly being violated by government, which is democratic. 

"they were not allowed to keep doves themselves, and when the swarms from my lord’s dovecote settled on their crops they must not lose their temper and kill a bird, for awful would the penalty be;" This today is the government restricting people from owning certain if not any guns. While they allow their enforcers, police and military, to keep the most, what they call, "dangerous weapons". Then they use these weapons to kill people who also have these weapons, people who didn’t cause harm or violate a consent ethic. In 1993, the ATF tried to raid the Branch Davidians compound for "illegally" converting semi-auto guns into fully-auto guns. The ATF, using their own guns, tanks, and flamethrowers to raid the church ended the 51 day standoff by burning the church to the ground, killing 76 people. Also look at Ruby Ridge. 

"when the harvest was at last gathered, then came the procession of robbers to levy their blackmail upon it: first the Church carted off its fat tenth, then the king’s commissioner took his twentieth, then my lord’s people made a mighty inroad upon the remainder;"  Today that is the IRS, employed by the government, scare individuals with fees, wage garnishment, loosing their house, and ultimately jail time for not paying them what they arbitrarily demand. 

"after which, the skinned freeman had liberty to bestow the remnant in his barn, in case it was worth the trouble; there were taxes, and taxes, and taxes, and more taxes, and taxes again, and yet other taxes—upon this free and independent paupel" And here is just a small list of taxes that people pay after the income tax:

Democracy or a Constitutional Republic (democracy with extra steps) is what is praised by Twain. His examples of terrible rule by monarchs and the resulting feudal state is just what he advocates for. Instead of the power decided by one or a few, the majority control the minority. Maybe in 20 years, a satirical piece will be written about 2024 and how absurd people were, maybe I will.