Bailing Yourself Out

Over at Lew Rockwell, I found this wonderful article by the great Fred Reed. It's about disengaging yourself from the "evil system" which we explore together here. If I ever write a book, it will be a how-to on how we can take our money out of New York City and put it back into America (as opposed to the United State Government).

When a country works reasonably well – when the schools teach algebra and not governmentally mandated Appropriate Values, when the police are scarce and courteous, when government is remote and minds its business and works more for the benefit of the country than for looters and special interests, then pledging to it a degree of allegiance isn't foolish. Decades back America was such a country, imperfect as all countries are, but good enough to cherish.

So what to do, Fred highlights homeschooling:

Home schooling is an admirable form of disengagement for those who cannot physically expatriate. The primary schools once taught enough of reading and arithmetic, and little enough of medioccritizing propaganda, as to render them other than pernicious. Today, no. Here it is worth reflecting, contrary to governmental insistence, that schools are needless, at least for bright children. An intelligent child quickly reads several years ahead of his grade level, at which point school becomes only an obstacle. He will be savagely bored, regard his teachers as imbeciles, and learn nothing that justifies his being there but much that justifies being somewhere else. In the deepening twilight, home-schooling becomes almost a responsibility, a parallel to medieval monks copying Greek manuscripts.

I would argue that all children are bright and that school does nothing put crush the spirit of all children. There are many kids out there who are not going to fit the molded ideal of corporate fodder, wherein the school system is crafted around a certain kind of personality. Even if a child is not academically inclined, there natural skill might me manual and there is no outlet for it in the public school system. Fred dittos his sentiment for higher education:

Disengagement from the system of universities, or as I should say, “universities,” is also advisable. This is true, first, because if you seek cultivation, to gain a grasp of such matters as history, literature, the arts and the sciences, you can do it better on your own. Professors serve little purpose other than to ensure that the student does his homework. If the student wants to study, he can do it by himself, and if he doesn't want to study, he has no business in a university.
Second, universities these days, with exceptions I hope, are citadels of intellectual darkness. They teach little, and chiefly serve to force the young to borrow backbreaking sums from colluding banks. The wasted time and phenomenal cost cannot be justified unless they provide some remarkable recompense, and they do not.
Universities largely prepare the student for a life of office work in some dismal institution, trapping him in the retirement system and making him a prisoner of the state. In a nation subsiding into the third world, institutions cannot be counted on.

It's not a big deal I can't afford to send my kids to college, it's just a big scam anyway. Fred goes on to disparage the consumerist mindset and encourages us to minimize and simplify. If you make a game of it, it can be fun. For instance, while I have five kids, I only seek to acquire new clothes for my oldest boy and girl. I do get them new underwear and socks for Christmas, as needed. Finally Fred finishes with this:

Again, circumstances differ and details vary. The principle remains: Disengage, cut your expenses, seek the interstices, and don't believe in anything unless you are sure it was your idea to believe in it. What is coming looks to be ugly. If so, it will be every man for himself, his family, his friends, and what principles he believes. The government doesn’t give a wan, eitolated damn about you.

Good advice for everyone; I know I need to get it together.