From the August 2005 Idaho Observer:

A Permanent Vacation for a New Paradigm

by Hari Heath

In last month’s article, The Hundredth Monkey Wrench Gang, I suggested, as a method to topple the tyrannistic forces of corporate government, that we all go on a national vacation: "The non-violent option is to create a hundredth monkey wave and just quit participating with evil and corruption. Let’s all take a national vacation. Quit working at your job, burning petroleum products, buying foreign made products from the box stores, close all your bank accounts, minimize your commercial activity and let the rapine corporate government consortium fall down all around us. It may take a month or two."

Don Harkins and Kevin Tighe state some reasons why we would all do well to take a national vacation in Part 4 of their presentation for the 2005 MZE Conference, "Our modern world: It’s problems and why all efforts to correct them, except one, will inevitably fail." (see pages 8-9).

They state: "No matter how selflessly handfuls of people dedicate their lives to righting any one or more of the aforementioned wrongs plaguing our modern world; no matter how knowledgeable people become about the history of how the world really works, their activities will inevitably fail to result in meaningful change. Why?

"We buy the chemicals, fuels and pharmaceutical drugs that are poisoning everything.

"We step into the uniforms as soldiers to fight unjust wars in foreign lands.

"We send our children to government schools to get government educations.

"We sit idly by while the courts fine and imprison our neighbors for noncrimes.

"We try to obey all of the laws, no matter how absurd and meekly pay the penalties for breaking them.

"We voraciously devour all the mass media we can get and buy the products advertised.

"We are willing to pay almost any price to sustain our vices and;

"We use the financial instruments international bankers have devised to impoverish us."

"The reasons why our modern world is on a collision course with the natural world is merely a matter of economics in its simplest form: Supply and demand. All efforts to achieve peace, end poverty and establish an age where truth and justice prevail will fail until we, each and every one of us, cease being the little engines driving our world and every living thing on it toward the apocalypse."

Don and Kevin continue in Part 4 to describe their sole solution: There is only one way for good people to remake our world in an image of decency: We must do nothing. Or more precisely, we must do nothing to support the systems that perpetuate this current order of exploitation and war. We must find ways to NOT participate in the activities that help maintain the system we are presently forced to endure.

 "We must choose a day in the not too distant future when all of us who interact with this modern world decide to stay home until the world that depends upon our participation grinds to a halt. We must eat stored food and drink stored water until the present system collapses. We must not buy anything or go anywhere while seriously considering our relationships to God, friends, family and community while awaiting the machinery of our modern world to run out of gas—and with the dawning of the Peak Oil age we may not have to wait very long. We must imagine what the new world could be like and vow to take an active role in making sure that peace, justice and good will to all men is the guiding philosophy of the new paradigm."

Starting points

Harkins and Tighe make good points, but like the notion that we must "wake up America," they are only starting points. It’s not that we should really do nothing; we should stop doing all of the things that presently contribute to our personal, local, national and global demise. All of the things which are tainted by the corrupted corporate/government/financial empires must go—and that means almost everything in your current life. If you pay close attention to where things come from and what they do to you and your world, you can discern for yourself what to leave in your life and what to leave behind.

Living on rice, beans and water without crossing the threshold of our homes is not the ultimate solution. Waiting for the machinery to run out of gas may be a long wait. Most people are not that patient.

The solution, as proposed by Harkins, will not appeal to most of us, especially the activistic types, whom we need the most. Humans are by nature, fully ambulatory, self-motivating beings, keen to consume and pursue with curiosity and passion. To successfully shift our paradigm we need to appeal to this side of human nature.

Waiting for the present system to collapse is not our best option. It needs to be collapsed consciously, specifically targeting the system’s weak points. The hundredth monkey wrenchers need to throw their spanners in the works.

A safety net-work

More importantly, we must understand that the basic nature of present day humanity in the developed world is to suck—quite literally. The benefactor socialist "government," that is the model of our times, has programmed the mass mind of humanity to desire and accept all manner of its "benefits." When the system collapses the "free and brave" (fee and slave) Americans will no longer have their favorite nipples to suckle on. They may not survive their weaning, or worse, they will become an exceptional burden on those of us who would rather put our energies towards positive change.

Most Americans no longer have any real sense of personal responsibility. Coddled and catered to since their memory cells began to record data, they expect much without considering the source. The more-for-me-now generations of recent times won’t be happy campers when the infrastructures of their world begin to fail.

There needs to be a hundredth monkey wrenchers’ safety net-work to actively transition "government’s" little puppies and kittens to the new paradigm. No easy task, considering the depths of socialism to which most Americans have fallen.

Collapse the credit "money" dominion

Individually and collectively, we need to consciously steer towards a new paradigm. The real solution may not be to "not buy anything," but rather to refuse to accept or use Federal Reserve Notes, checks, conventional banking instruments of credit "money," credit or debit cards. Instead, only conduct your business with Liberty Dollars (www.norfed.org) or barter and trade. Or start your own community currency (see www.communitycurrency.org).

Without your continuing support and participation, the Federal Reserve Bank’s imaginary credit "money" scheme will dissolve like the Wicked Witch of the West when little Dorothy threw a bucket of water on her. If all the participants in this permanent vacation closed all of their bank accounts on that "chosen day in the not too distant future," the Federal Reserve System could be collapsed by 10 a.m. The IMF, World Bank and other globalist financial enterprises are intrinsically linked to the Federal Reserve. The dominion of their debenture banking’s credit money will soon crumble and the world can be freed from their global economic slavery. You can make a difference, just by closing your accounts and refusing to use their "money."

If this vacation concept catches on, the anticipation of that "chosen day in the not too distant future" may create a Y2K-like anticipation in the public. A prudent person may not wish to wait until the chosen day to withdraw all their "money" from the banking system. Close out early and convert to Liberty Dollars or other forms of commodity money. Invest in things that will be useful during the paradigm shift.

A traveling vacation?

Harkins’ proposal to "not…go anywhere" may be exactly wrong. The correct expression may be to stop using petroleum guzzling, multi-ton transportation devices for personal pleasure and convenience. Terminate the profitability of the petro-industrial transportation complex. Park your autosaurus rex until it can be retrofitted with the efficient technologies that have been suppressed by the petro-gang.

Travel, contact and direct communication may be essential for the success of the paradigm shift. You might, for example, dedicate yourself to activistic expression of the permanent vacation by closing all your bank accounts; converting to Liberty Dollars; buying an electric scooter, bicycle trailer, portable solar panel and charging system; put together a light camp in the trailer, complete with placards and a portable information center; and then travel, with the power of the sun, camping prominently in public parks to spread the message of the permanent vacation and the possibilities of the human paradigm shift.

And what if the movement caught on?

This is not a two-week paid vacation from your regular job where you will return to the everyday humdrum of your regular routine. This is about pledging our lives, fortunes and sacred honor to a permanent vacation with the intent to never again return to the old paradigm of corruption-as-usual. This is about only accepting back into your life those things which are consistent with your own newly-designed paradigm of a sustainable, just, honest and peaceable future for all mankind.

Your new paradigm may not have exactly the same components as your neighbor’s, but the principles that each of us may design into our own new paradigm will likely be quite similar. Decent people, which many of us are, will share a common sense of decency. If the movement catches on, the horrors of history can be replaced with a kinder, gentler future.

Imagine?

Harkins suggests that "we must imagine what the new world could be like and vow to take an active role in making sure that peace, justice and good will to all men is the new guiding philosophy."

"Imagine" is only the point of beginning. After imagining a better future, we must determine the problems to be resolved and apply ourselves to the task of manifesting the solution. What will it take to accomplish the imagined result?

Find the components, assemble them and keep at it until it works. Then imagine the solution to another aspect of humanity’s paradigm shift and keep at it until that works.

You probably won’t have a "job" anymore, and what we currently consider as "money" will evaporate, leaving nothing to pay rent or mortgage with. Since the financial institution didn’t loan you "money" in the first place, only credit, and the credit system will evaporate along with your "debt," you may as well just live in the house you thought you were buying. Then get up in the morning and go about the business of making things work for your family, friends and community.

There will be ample industrial debris which the creative and resourceful can fashion into something new and useful. Plant a garden in your lawn. How many square feet of your current property is dedicated to inedible lawn and shrubbery? It’s amazing how much one man or woman can do in a day with a shovel, rake and a hoe.

Learn to glean and gather. Develop useful crafts and skills which can be traded for other people’s useful crafts and skills.

It begins with you!

To make this happen several things are needed—and you can make the difference!

· The message of the idea needs to be spread nationally and globally. This will take a website and a massive promotion effort, with some form of leadership to champion the cause and communicate the mission. Volunteers?

· It might be called the New Paradigm Permanent Vacation, but there are probably better names to describe it. Do you have one? [name contest?]

· "We must choose a day in the not too distant future." After well reasoned consideration, let’s choose a specific date.

· We will also need an in-depth analysis of possible problems and their solutions during the paradigm transition process.

· We welcome any and all suggestions related to making the permanent vacation happen and especially what components you may consider important to a new paradigm.

· Write or email The IO with your suggestions, commitments and contributions.

This is a concept that has worked on a smaller scale several times throughout history. There is no reason why it cannot be made to work on a larger scale since all life on earth may well hang in the balance.

Start making your vacation plans now. Design your new paradigm and plan the itinerary that will get you there. Gather your family and friends and depart—for here—"vowing to take an active role in making sure that peace, justice and good will to all men is the new guiding philosophy."