Premises

These premises are meant to clarify; to expose the framework in which the greater essay is written.

Premise 1:

There is no grand conspiracy about to enslave the American people, through neither government nor private enterprise, or that its influence is negligible for the purposes of this treatise.(In the realm of personal conspiracies, as one who daily lives with a whimsical brand of paranoia, I find the influence negligible as well, regardless of the truth of the matter.)

Premise 2:

Democracy, the experiment in this form of government, as it has been attempted thus far in the modern world over 200+ years, has been a success. And though more may be enslaved now than ever before, we have, on the whole, more free men and women (as free as they can be).

To clarify, by success, I mean that freedom for individuals as a whole is greatly higher than in previous forms of government. (and affluence, if that be a factor for others, though to me, for the purposes I outline, it is unnecessary [besides what affluence is necessary for improved, “base-line” freedom, a topic to be later discussed in depth.])

Premise 3:

There are certain truths of how men behave in our world, some instinctual and others societal. Societal truths can and will change with time, evidence, and belief. The biggest difficulty is determining which are alterable and which not. (though determining which can be changed and which not is a question that can only be answered through the attempt at alteration, meaning that when one knows that something ought to be changed, it is immeasurably more important to attempt that change than debate whether a change is possible, rendering this question quite irrelevant.)

Premise 4:

In the present economy, as we have known it for as many years as the free market (or some semblance of it in democracy), the consumer, his needs and desires (mostly known as the middle class in the United States), represented by the money (produced and supplied by the government, in combination with the private entity Federal Reserve for policy) he has earned through labor, for better or for worse, is the driving force of the U.S. (and world) economy.

As an entity, this consumer is malleable, subject to persuasion by advertising and marketing, often to his detriment, based on irrational impulses and desires to which he is to a certain extent defenseless.

Premise 5:

The human race is capable of much more than its present station. We are a great people, and deserving of a greater future. The spats we have had amongst each other will soon be things of the past; we can and will learn to live in harmony. There is much more to learn, discover, and explore in this world. We are worth it. The lack of extraterrestrial transmissions is not so great a mystery when you understand just how difficult it is to reach a future beyond a species’ (and our) infancy.