A Marginal Manifesto

 
By CRAIG EDWARD KELSO

I live completely outside the status quo, outside polite society.

Certainly some of that is due to choice, but honestly the majority of what I know now presently as existence was thrust upon me. I guess that much is obvious.

What it allows me to do is to move inside a system that would rather have nothing to do with me, and MANY have advocated for my death (no exaggeration). And since that is the reality, it does allow me to see things a little differently. 

I don’t have to tow any line. I have no dog in any fight. I am free to be myself, come what may … whatever the consequences. 

What are they gonna do, throw me in prison? Been there, done that! What are they gonna do, force me into abject poverty? On my way! What are they gonna do, isolate me from the population? Uh, done and done! What are they gonna do, rip my life apart? Hello!

You get the idea.

Okay, and so freedom isn’t exactly what I have now … as I am in what is known as constructive custody. Restriction galore. The freedom I speak of is to be beholden to NO ONE. No one tells me what to do. No one funds me. No one employs my opinions. They’re mine, and mine alone.

Some readers find that exhilarating, and they’ve been kind enough to tell me as much.

Are my opinions worth considering? Probably not. They’re often too radical, too cavalier of real politics, and are often in contradiction to the cherished ideals of most people. I understand.

Ideas are the only aspects of life I consider immortal. I push them along, taking from my own experiences and study. If they’re of value, I’ll never really know. Some read me for the freak factor, like keeping tabs on some kind of sorry reality television program. Others are friends who like to peek-in from time to time, seeing what I am up to. Still others enjoy my take on things, finding my ideas different and mildly challenging on occasion.

I do not believe in governments, states. Not at all. I lost faith in authoritarianism years and years ago. It took a life-altering experience to fully seal and solidify the concept for me. No amount of voting, democracy, or whatever you’re going to trot out will convince me. 

I used to show the futility of democracy as a moral system by pointing to the stupid wanna-be gangster kid in the class, asking how much money he had on him; then, I’d ask the class to vote if we should divvy his money up among ourselves; inevitably, ALL the kiddos would vote in the most democratic way to take his dough; some of my students were able to arrive at the conclusion without much more theory or examples (democracy is THUGGERY legitimatized, nothing less).  No politician you worship will sway me. Obama is an empty suit. Clinton makes me wretch. Bush, Jr. was easily the worst industrial leader in history. Republicans are warmongers and corporate fascists. Democrats are warmongers and socialistic fascists. To be an adult, an educated person, and believe in ANY form of governmentalism, ANY form of statism, is to lose my ultimate respect.

I don’t care for your rationales. I don’t care for your tales of woe. WAR in every form, in every instance, is immoral. War by definition is a collective monstrosity, depriving a human of her individuality. War is the abdication of humanity, and whether your grandfather donned a uniform, your father fought over there, or your mom is currently serving, you’re still wrong. War, militarism is anti-human. War is the health of the state, the SOLE function of governments. Nineteen desert maniacs orchestrating the deaths of a few thousand people DOES NOT give you the right to kill a single other person. Never. Ever. You’re wrong. You’re the embodiment of pure evil if you think otherwise.

What’s hilariously sad is how I always get a few who agree with me. Years ago, teacher friends, colleagues, would send me atta-boys … because I knocked the Bush, Jr. administration. When I expanded my comments to include THEIR boy, Mr. Clinton, they didn’t send as many laudatory messages. I overstepped some retarded line. During the run-up to the ’08 election, the same colleagues sought me out for conversation regarding Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton. I pointed out THEN how neither of those candidates were worth much. BOTH were FOR intervention, war, and future war-making. Minority male colleagues LOVED Mr. Obama, but could not point to a single reason other than the scary, cultish “hope” tripe espoused by his campaign. Female colleagues LOVED Mrs. Clinton, but could not point to a voting record out of line with Mr. Bush, Jr.’s agenda. Right down the mark, Mrs. Clinton voted to fund and authorize war after war (as did Mr. Obama).

And now?

Now Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton run/ran US policy. Has ANYTHING changed in ANY significant way? For Christ’s sake, dude won the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE … and promptly UPPED TROOP LEVELS. Look at how the terrible two SUPPORTED Middle Eastern dictators, even as popular uprisings coalesced!

For me to take anyone seriously, I have to get their feel for tolerance of authority. Doesn’t matter their good intentions, I want to know WHY they allow other people to run their lives. Why do they allow other people to run other peoples’ lives? WHY? They’ll inevitably come up with loads of excuses and apologies, be it health care, poverty, housing, education, environmental destruction, drug wars, roads, obesity epidemics, famine in far-off lands, terrorists, immigration, and on and on. Pick a cause … because they each lead back to MORE statism, MORE government power. Not less. MORE. New bureaus, new offices, new commissars, new panels, new cops. Always.

The warfare state is the curse of human life. It will come around to snap you in the end, be it in the form of odious parking tickets, a DUI, tax fines, new regulations you probably don’t even know about, and, eventually, BLOWBACK from US foreign policy decisions (mark my words). Will you continue to vote, continue to put faith in the political class? Probably.

Won’t you ever be an individual?

And I mean it.

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Craig Edward Kelso is a felon, father, husband, controversialist. He lives in Southern California with his adorable family.