From the July 2003 Idaho Observer:

The Fence

Do you ever feel as if you are one of the few people who can actually see what's going on? Have you ever carried on a conversation with an American who thinks they're in a democracy, the government deserves their taxes, they live in a free country, and policemen are their friend?

Have you attempted to live your life as a responsible, sovereign individual, only to be ridiculed by a high school graduate who can't spell sovereign and doesn't know what it means? Have you at least had a taste of freedom or an insatiable inner knowing of what it should be? Do you feel alone, surrounded by a herd that is contentedly grazing right up to the gates of slaughter?

Who are these huddling, witless masses of humanity and why won't they look around themselves and see the obvious? The easy answer is: the fence.

by Hari Heath

Many of us who see what's going on around us have learned how to live outside the fence, at least part of the time. Some have become rather adept at living on both sides of the fence. And a few sovereign souls have chosen the path of living completely free of any enclosure.

But the present-day “fence” is all encompassing, from horizon to horizon, with cross-fences at every juncture, and corrals, round pens and loading chutes for complete herd management.

And the herd of humanity is well managed. So well managed, that they either look dumb-founded whenever you mention what it's like on the other side of the fence, or they get angry.

“How dare you tell us we don't need all those taxes, laws, or the government to protect us! What do you mean there are all kinds of wild herbs growing free outside the fence that heal and nourish; that they taste better than hay and grain and make veterinarians obsolete? You must be crazy to think you can live free and be responsible for yourself,” say the angry ones in the herd.

Understanding the fence can help freedom-lovers live amongst the clueless without succumbing to their fate. Perhaps, on a good day, we might even inspire one of the herd to look up and begin the process of putting the clues together. And that might eventually lead to another individual who can both understand and spell sovereign.

Where does the fence begin?

Born unable to walk, control our bowels, or utter much more than a cry, we begin the adventure of life very moldable. You might think of it as being in a marsupial condition without the benefit of a pouch. A parent or parents must dedicate considerable effort or the newly formed member of humanity won't survive.

The considerable effort required to raise up a young human has a trade benefit: The parent has the opportunity to mould the future of humanity. And that's no small responsibility.

After the first few years of parenting, comes the transitional phase. Except for young humans with parents who choose home-schooling or private education, the public side of the fence begins with the government indoctrination day-camps we call public school.

The opportunity and responsibility for molding the future of humanity, begun by the parents, is gradually taken over by government and it's commercial cousins. In Latin, it's called In Loco Parentis: In the place of the parent. Parents who do not find alternatives to the status quo become replaced by public educators, TV, video games, commercials, music producers, legislators and policemen.

It begins and ends in the mind. Horses are a good example. Countless times, I have stretched electric fence ribbon around new pasture. A horse who has experienced the momentary zap of 10,000 volts a few times, learns to stay away from the fence. Eventually you can turn off the fence and they will stay within its boundaries. The memory of the shock, and the sight of the fence are enough to keep most horses in. Some become so docile that just tying a single rope chest high will keep them in. They like the fence.

The fence was built in the horse's minds. If we want to be free, we first need to remove the fence from our minds, like those errant*, free-thinking horses who touch a whisker to the electric fence to see if it's on, and then walk on through whenever they don't feel a little zap.

The best laid fence

The best laid fence is one that isn't seen and gives benefits instead barbed wire cuts. You can get more out of a horse by the things you do for it and with it, than by the things you do to it. Sometimes you need barbed wire or 10,000 volts, but feed, grain and a friendly talking to are more likely to produce the desired result.

In the good old days, when ranches had plenty of room between them, the fence was the barn. The horses and cattle enjoyed some free range, but they knew where home was. Food and security kept them “in.” They could forage “out” for the day, but they would be “in” at night and during winter.

Now-a-days, things are more crowded. The animals on the farm never leave the fence. Each farm is fenced where it buts up against another, jurisdiction to jurisdiction, so-to-speak. Like a government that keeps on growing, when does a farmer ever take down a fence, once it's been put up? And with all that seemingly green pasture, what creature would want to take the fence down?

People aren't much different. Government and its allies in commerce know this. The fence around you is well made and designed to make you like it. And it's about making a trade -- trading your freedom, rights and responsibilities for the security, convenience and comfort of the fence.

The media fence

Media is the great fence maker of our times. It creates the borders in our mind. The well-honed science of media has created a fence so tight, that most people can't see the other side.

That's why they think the pasture inside the fence looks so green. They've never been allowed to see any other pasture, and they are constantly reminded how green it is.

In the one sided fence of media, people never really get to say what they want. But media tells the politicians what the people say they want, while politicians tell the media what the people say they want -- more laws and regulations to protect us from the outlaws outside the fence -- and a tax cut. And what is the result? More outlaws are created inside the fence by more laws and regulations, which require more taxes.

The fallacies of the fence

Do policemen prevent crime when the majority of “crimes“ have no victim and weren't a crime until the police arrived? Do judges promote justice with controlled juries, bar regulated attorneys, self-adopted court rules and judicially controlled, self-disciplining review agencies?

Do we really have a Constitution and Bill of Rights anymore, when almost everything government does is against the Constitution and people are routinely imprisoned for exercising their rights?

When we live inside the fence, we live at the permission of the government. Everything from travel, to our homes, water, food, health, finances, even the air we breathe is regulated. Can regulations make us safe from bureaucrats?

Do we “make money” when money, by definition, can only be a coin and a “one dollar Federal Reserve Note” is issued by a private bank, which isn't federal, doesn't really have “reserves,” and isn't a note because it can't be redeemed? And it isn't a “dollar” because a dollar is 371.25 grains of silver, not paper.

For the errant freedom lover with eyes to see and ears to hear, almost everything inside the fence can be shown to be false, a fraud and corrupted. For the tamed herd, it's all green fields, as far as the blinded eye can see. It all depends on which side of the fence you're on.

The fence chewers

This leads us to an interesting phenomena. One would think that leading the herd to real freedom would be very popular in a land known for its freedom. But quite the opposite is true. We errant folks are often ridiculed and demonized by the herd for our notions of freedom, and especially by the managers of the herd -- the media.

The herd doesn't like fence chewers. Most people are quite happy to live in their illusions. We have to remember, it was all green and growing for them until we came along and made it look like charred grass.

They thought they owned a house, but if the government can take it for taxes, who owns it? It used to be their car, until we showed them how the government stole the title when they registered it. They thought they were successfully running a business, until we enlightened them about how many regulations prevent their options for success. And when we told them they worked over half the year just to pay their taxes, their illusionary green field went up in smoke.

That's why the herd doesn't like anyone who chews holes in the fence. It means they would have to face things the way they really are. It would require them to become responsibile. There would be no more semi-free rides on the back of the welfare nanny-state.

The sovereign's fence

What would a free state, outside the fence of government look like? No more collective herd management in a common enclosure. Each sovereign would be free to choose how much fence they want to put up on their own place. The common ground would be free range and the fence would only contain government.

Government's only duties will be to build roads, deliver mail, defend our borders, mint coins, and register patents on our ingenuity. A sovereign people would be free to engage in commerce with substance. A 371.25-grain silver dollar today, will still be a 371.25-grain silver dollar tomorrow. No more imaginary wealth. What you own, will remain your own, until you choose otherwise. Property would be held in allodium, untaxed.

Imagine a government that provides a bona fide, accountable, judicial forum to resolve conflicts between sovereign citizens and only passed “laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.”

With almost no taxes, we can afford to privately educate our children and contribute to any charities we choose. “Welfare,” would be how well we fare from our own responsible, sovereign efforts, outside the fence.

To make this a reality, each of us needs to free our minds from our former keeper's programming and learn to live outside the fence. Be an example, even if it means you have to eat a little barbed wire. If we each chew our part, it'll be free range for everyone -- whether they like it or not.