Defying the laws of nature and economics, the Empire marches on. Country after country falls into chaos. Only the Russians stand in the way of global domination by the banksters. People under age 30 might not understand what “DEFCON” means. They should probably learn the scale. People are learning all sorts of things.

People in what’s left of Libya are leaning that they miss life under Moamer Kadhafi (Gaddafi?).

Those living in the capital say they are exhausted by power cuts, price hikes and a lack of cash flow as rival authorities and militias battle for control of the fragmented oil-rich country.

“I hate to say it but our life was better under the previous regime,” says Fayza al-Naas, a 42-year-old pharmacist, referring to Kadhafi’s more than four decades of rule.

Today, “we wait for hours outside banks to beg cashiers to give us some of our own money. Everything is three times more expensive.”

A UN-backed unity government has struggled to assert its authority nationwide since arriving in Tripoli in March, with a rival parliament in the country’s far east refusing to cede power to it.

On Friday it suffered a new blow when a rival seized key offices in the capital and proclaimed the reinstatement of a third administration previously based in Tripoli.

The turmoil after Kadhafi’s 2011 fall has allowed the Islamic State jihadist group to gain a foothold on Europe’s doorstep after seizing the strongman’s hometown of Sirte in June last year.

Undoubtedly, for the average Libyan, life was better back then. Kadhafi was a strongman. Strongmen can be brutal. They oppress people at times. They also keep terrorists at bay. They keep money in the banks. They maintain order. All of that is lost in Libya.

The first part of the plan was to steal the money. Mission accomplished. The cashiers cannot turn over a depositor’s own funds because the cash is now in London in the possession of greedy thieves. Inflation and suffering follow.

The second part of the plan was to arm and foster the growth of ISIS. Mission accomplished. The banksters also profit from this.The people do not.

In Kadhafi’s place the UN has erected a new “government”. Every single thing ever attempted by the We are the World Gang of the East River has failed miserably from the start. Libya is no exception.

The Empire marches on to Syria. Death, destruction, and waves of refugees (all, oddly, healthy, younger males) follow. Should the Assad regime fall, in short order the survivors in Syria will miss Bashar.

Honest people in Iraq miss Saddam.

It’s kind of a universal condition outside of the West.

Older blacks, in private, in what’s left of Rhodesia, admit they would trade their current status in a heartbeat in order to be second class citizens once again under Ian Smith.

Similar sentiments are expressed in South Africa – quietly, privately, but honestly.

Perhaps my favorite quote from antiquity: “Only a few prefer Liberty, the majority seek nothing more than fair masters.” – Sallust. As I noted a while back, The People Appreciate a Benevolent Dictator.

In the absence of fairness and benevolence, the majority will take whatever they can find. Heavy-handed brutality, while not necessarily pleasant, means stability. It offers much craved security in place of dreaded freedom. The plight of sheep – destined for the diner table but well fed and spared the threat of wolves.

America was different. Was. It is no longer. And the age of the difference is rapidly fading into memory. The founding generation of the Old Republic were men of the ultimate Western variety, descended by blood and ideology from the Greeks, the Romans, The Franks, the Germans, and the British. The best of the best and rather demanding of freedom. So demanding as to slap the face of the most powerful King of their day. No more.

Thirty-odd years ago, Ronald Reagan lied to the world. He said anyone could come to America and become American. In truth they only come. Today the assimilation works in reverse. Since 1965 the nature of the population has radically changed. So has the national disposition, now bordering on the third world. And even that demoted status might be preferable to the alternatives. The way it’s going right now, a Planet of the Apes scenario doesn’t seem so far-fetched. Even if that were to happen, it would not be the fault of the apes.

It’s the people. The masses. Trading whatever they have to in order to appease those fair and benevolent masters. They’re doing it right now, writ large on a national scale. Damn near half the population supports a corrupt, Disney-villain, witch as their chosen ruler. Many openly acknowledge she is a criminal – one the best criminals in history – “their” criminal. She will bring order, security, fairness, benevolence.

The opposition is better but not by much considered in toto.

And all of it is firmly controlled by the same super-criminals who brought down Kadhafi and Saddam, who looted the banks, who profit from death.

The good news is that life goes on. It always does. Cincinnatus preceded Sallust who preceded Jefferson, et al., who preceded us – with plenty of tyranny in between. Best of all, the individual, even amid the crazed chaos, can still live a mostly free existence.

Apmex.

If tyranny is their preferred condition, it does not have to be ours.