The Election Scam

In a free and democratic society, the people naturally expect almost all organizations to have some modicum of member feedback.  Thus it behooves organizations - corporate, club, church and such - to at least give lip service to the appearance of an accountable leadership.

Yet lip service is often all it is.

Now there are many ways of rigging an election process - no, not rigging an election as ballot stuffing and such - but a rigging of the process itself so that no ballot stuffing is necessary.

One such way is popular not only with communist dictatorships like North Korea, but a great number of churches of all denominations and sects across America.

Consider it from their point of view.  They are open to the public, and any who profess to accept their tenets and/or get baptized are then full members.  How dangerous that must seem to the current crew of heavy tithers who having invested so much in what they have come to regard as "their" church, do not want to see that damaged or took in a different direction then they believe is "correct".

Yet, at the same time, they can hardly wish to simply - and honestly - say, "Yes, it will be we few that decide things, but all of you keep donating and tithing and serving."

So what's a church to do?

Take a church I am familiar with.  I won't name it because so many other brands/faiths do it, too.

They choose their board by a process not unfamiliar to North Koreans.  The board picks some "choosers" from among their own ranks, or if they feel comfortable, some who they know can be counted on.  Those choosers then pick a "nominating committee", made up of board members and those deemed safe.

That nominating committee is then in theory choosing a name for each slot based upon prayerful seeking of divine guidance.  In other words, they are claiming that the names they provide are not based upon their own personal desires, but that of God Himself.  A bold claim, and if you've seen most church boards, a rather blasphemous one, yet really no church in America fails to make it.

Those names then being chose, the slate - with no opposition candidates whatsoever - is presented to the church members, who may then vote "yes" or "no".  And like in North Korea, any who do not vote "yes" will be regarded with dark suspicion forever more, and any dumb enough to vote "no" will be quizzed as to why, and then will be in the position of having to report problems about various leaders that were already known - but will be denied and then the leader appointed anyway, there being rarely more than one who would be so foolish or idealistic enough to complain.

And then that "no" voter can be ostracized.  You may imagine how many would be critics that silences in advance.

Unsurprisingly, most "votes" for the names pre-chosen for the positions - which will bear remarkable similarity to the previous holders - garner a 100% vote of approval.

Again - much like North Korea.  If by "much like", one means "exactly like".

Still, sometimes a church runs it's affairs so poorly, and the danger of grumbling is so great, and the problems with the current leadership so obvious, that they must go even further.

Announce the "election" without full board approval.  Rush it so that a slate can be put in with the members having only six or seven days notice to prepare.  No two week notice, no general business meeting to get all the members involved, just let it be a random 25% of such members that typically show up for the weekly service.  Don't give the members the names to be took home and prayed over.  Don't wait for the new minister to arrive, get your slate jammed in before his arrival so he's stuck with it.

I see those tricks, and always think to myself, "When they break their own rules, then even they know they're up to something."  The breaking of their own rules lets me know that such is not done innocently, but with full intent.

Oh, such leadership is not entirely dumb, they know to pull some razzle-dazzle.  On a regular size board, appoint some token outsider unlikely to have the intellectual capacity to cause trouble or rock the boat, or even one that probably won't be bothered to attend much.  On a large board, you can appoint even three or four such, on a really large board of around 20, you could get away with five.

Let some few leaders be "demoted" for a term or so, but make sure their spouse, brother, sister, cousin or in-law has it.  Thus they still feels comfortable supporting the church, as they still actually have as much say as ever.

And, best of all, if any do complain, they may be branded as "un-Christ-like" or "power seeking".  Picture the irony of the Communist Party of North Korea accusing some upstart reformer of merely being in it for the power!  It's the same irony to be found in various American churches when those who've had a hammer lock on titles and status for years, shut others out, then brand them "devil-inspired" should they complain.

How does this hurt the people, how does it "scam" them?

Well, the rank and file members, good hearted and there for spiritual guidance and fellowship, are judging things by how their own hearts are, and so will not be likely to really ponder this and realize what's up.  And they derive a benefit socially from their church association, they may have been in it all their lives, and all their family and friends may be from there, so they only need the flimsiest of excuses to grab on to, anything that sounds good and can justify them not speaking up about any concerns they may well have.

And thus a large group of people continue to throw good money after bad for an entrenched leadership that having wasted tons of it in the past, will now continue wasting tons of it in the future.  Were tens of thousands of dollars took in, but little or no outreach done?  No matter, no leader will lose his job, as the members have no real recourse.

In spite of loans and gifts and such, amounting to half a million plus, is the church still a quarter of a million dollars in debt?  No matter, the leaders can continue on, changing and correcting nothing, as it isn't like they'll lose their titles, position or authority if they don't.

Unable to meet even the monthly budget?  Why would this concern them or cause them to correct anything?  Again - they still won't lose their status or be called to account.

Because if any one - like a person not raised in the church and not reliant upon them for all their social interactions - complains, that person can be branded "outsider", "power seeker", "devil inspired", "title hungry" and such.

Thus with no real feed back, no meaningful accountability, no checks and balances, and no means of correcting the flawed system, church after church after church in America goes under, goes bankrupt and fades away.  Abandoned church buildings dot the land, not mostly for people not believing in God, but for an unaccountable leadership running it into bankruptcy while all those who have it in their hearts to donate - but know in their heads that the leadership is scamming - simply move to a better run church.

Because those who cannot truly vote with their hands tend to eventually vote with their feet.

And maybe the new church will have the best doctrine and maybe it won't, but at least when it's donated to it won't just be squandered away on stuff that isn't even about "personal gain" for the leaders but just about "ineptitude".  For most all church leadership at the local level is far more ignorant than greedy.  They aren't squandering the money on fur coats, pinky rings and yachts, but they are squandering it all the same on needless repairs, over priced contractors, useless feel good mailings, videos and other unproductive "outreach", silly pet projects and all other manner of things none of which really does any good in drawing in new members at all.

I've seen the leadership of a church let a perfectly salvageable half a million dollar chapel sit empty for four years while they squabbled among themselves till it was so dilapidated that what could have been repaired at $10,000 would now take $250,000 plus to repair!  And each of them would in all sincerity blame the other, and none would actually have personally profited, but there was no democratic process, no means of the membership to snap their fingers and wake them up, and so an entire church building must be torn down.

And every one who participated in that?  They've been re-nominated for yet more terms, excepting some few who are letting their wives, brothers, and such have a go on their behalf.

Recognize then this Election Scam, know it for what it is, and choose then carefully where you give your donation dollars.  Churches may claim to be of God and under Christ's authority - in fact, all of them claim that - but I doubt God or Christ truly wishes this kind of nonsense to go on, where all the good hearted donations of the flock get flushed down the toilet by such modern day Pharisees.

Go to any church you want - but when it comes to any desire to do the Lord's work, you may wish to investigate as carefully as you would any other investment.

The Tipping Scam

A new meme is going around, pushing for waitresses to be paid a 20% tip.

So if we take that seriously, then if it's a party of five going out to eat, we have to pay as if an entire extra person was eating - just to make sure we get the service we were already paying for?

No.

10% - not 15%, let alone 20% - was good enough for the gals in 1943 waiting for their husbands to come back from WWII. And since percents remain constant with inflation, then 10% of a $10 meal now is as good as 10% of the $2 meals back then. And back then, ten people would have had to eat in order for the tip to rise to the cost of an entire extra meal! Ten people - not five!

The scam is in invoking the Single Mother or the Elderly Old Lady. Or both. As if every waiter and waitress is in some terrible financial position in desperate need of you ponying up just so they can survive the cold winter night. "But...but...they're single mothers! What about all that hard work! The long hours! Did you know they make less than minimum wage?!"

Often it will even be personalized, to greater or lesser degrees. From "Well, the waitress I know is very nice, she deserves every penny she gets!" all the way up to, "Me mum was a waitress...*sniffs, sniffs*...she worked bloody hard to make sure I had clothes on my back...*tear rolls down cheek*...she sure don't need no heartless arsehole like you to stiff her on the tip! If she was alive, that is! She died with a coffee pot in her hand! Some bugger like you wanted a fourth refill!" I cry foul. I mean, honestly, if the wages are otherwise so lousy that the customers have to be begged off of more aggressively each year, then it's time they all quit (yeah, even your dear old mom!) and applied at McDonalds. Or Walmart. Or went to college on loan packages available to all. Or a thousand other options. I mean, what, is this 1850? Is waitressing the only work out there for women? Hardly.

Is it truly forgot that they (waitresses and waiters) each applied for these jobs? That they were not captured by men with nets and guns while they ran across the plains of the Midwest laughing and carefree? That they were not branded and shackled and forcibly impressed into the food service industry?

I had a guy at our sober living home once, and he was a waiter. Same lousy hours - if we count between five and eight hours as lousy. Same hard work - if writing on pads and bothering to remember things counts. He'd put in his hours, but then he'd take the $75 to $100 he made in tips each day and blow it on Hydrocodone. Why not? His wages and just the tips from a day or two could readily afford his weekly living expenses.

Do all the wait staff make $100 a day? Nope. But it'd be an odd shift for them not to bring in $50 a day. And if we assume $10 meals - which with drinks and taxes they are always at least that - and a 10% tip, that assumes they only served 50 people. That is quite livable, and in fact the same in tips as what a day laborer would earn in 8 hard hours of manual labor. (And some of you brighter readers are already doing the math of 'tips you usually leave' times 'customers you see in an hour' times 'hours in a regular shift' and starting to get my point.)

So it is absurd for it to be suggested that a normal family must now pay the cost of an entire extra meal just so Flo doesn't collapse from malnutrition into a snow drift while walking home to the bridge she lives under and leaving seven orphans behind. Because yeah, also in this scam is the tacit assumption that the customer should ever, for any reason, have to pay extra for what he already paid for. And what do we call it, when the reason for you having to give is the alleged distress of another, with no other value offered? Begging. And one does not go to a restaurant to be subject to that.

Try that with your boss sometime. "Yes, sir, well, I'd have been faster with that file, but last time I brought a file to you, all you said was 'thank you'. No tip. And do you know how little I make? I mean, yeah, I know you do, but jeez, it's just terrible. I've kids, did I mention that? How about you start telling our customers to give me a little extra something something on each order? You know, To Insure Promptness in me getting it done? We good on that?"

See? Tipping itself is a scam. And while I accept that we live in a culture in which that has been accepted for some professions - barbers, cabbies, waitresses, as opposed to equally deserving ditch diggers, sewer workers and cashiers - I disagree with the additional scam of forever raising the percents!

I thus say "No" on 20%. And "No" on the previous crap about 15%.

10%. Good enough for the "Greatest Generation". Good enough now.

It Takes a Magician

In ancient times, people believed in Magicians.  Powerful men who could bend the world to their desires with their spells and incantations.

Nowadays, we think this is because they were "dumb" or "primitive".  In reality, they were just referring to a phenomena which we've all witnessed, but just didn't know what we were seeing.

Our cities, our churches, our corporations, our clubs, these are all "social constructs".  They are made up of individuals, but once together, they take on a life of their own.  No, they are not "sentient", but they are susceptible to manipulation.

While it's been speculated that some Magicians earned the title by knowing of and having access to some herbs or potions, and while that was true in some cases, in other cases, these men simply knew how to pull the levers of power in the various city/states and Empires and temples of the time.

Your average peasant - and 98% were country-bound peasants - had no idea what these "cities" were or how they worked.  And when a man with a sword told them "Give me some of your grain!" was he robbing them, or was he the man appointed to guard the gate trying for a bribe, or was he exacting the King's Entry Tax?

The peasant could not know - but the "Magician" could.  And if he knew the guard was just engaged in a shake down, he could wave his hand and mutter in that city's home language (not the trade language the guard used for the peasant) "Let us pass, we've business with Lord Urias.", and the knowledge of the local language, the local custom and the name of a powerful figure within would have the fearsome guard let them pass unrobbed.

Of course the peasant just heard the "incantation", just saw the wave of the hand, and it may well have seemed to be a Jedi "These are not the droids you're looking for!" mind-trick to him!

In the city, the magic could continue.  You will be hurt by the King's Court, unless you know the words to say to deflect that.  Any Lord might summon you, but if you know the laws and customs, then what would be a calamity for another would be nothing for you.

You would observe other peasants visiting and tripped up by 1,000 different dangers, but your escort - really, just a guy who knew all the customs - would get you safely through, your grain sold for a reasonably fair price, and you back to the farm.

Magic.

This carries on today, but we do not call them Magicians.  Lawyers, Accountants, Insurance Agents, Realtors, Brokers, Loan Officers, Landlords, Bosses, Government Bureaucrats - these are the men who know the Words of Power, and who against you will always win, unless you can pay one of their own to be on your side, and say back the counter-spell to get you out of your jam.

The City's Bureaucrats write words on a piece of paper delivered to your home, it says you need a new roof.  And you will lose your home and all your assets if you do not bow to them and do as they say.  But when you know the right counter-spell, you can write other words on a paper, and if you send it back correctly, you have yet more time to do it, or sometimes, do not need to now do it at all.

The scam I am speaking of then is where Evil Magicians, who are well versed in the Dark Arts - er, the "customs" of our age - use their knowledge of the Words of Power to harm you, safely knowing that you do not know how to ward off those Words, nor can you afford any of their own who could tell you those Words.

Thus a City Bureaucrat - "Evil Magician" - might send a spell your way to compel that roof fix, even knowing that the law allows you more time.  But he hopes to scare you into giving up, and then he gets to seize your house.  But you either learned of the secret Words of Power, or can scrape up enough money to hire a Magician - er, Lawyer - who can, and so you back him off.

It's a scam because they know that they have no right to what they want of you, but they're counting on you not knowing what words to say back to get them to lay off of you.

Businesses do this to screw you.  They'll say that while you think the service you got for your money was lousy that there is nothing you can do.  But file the right words at a local courthouse, and all of a sudden they will give your money back.  Because they have repented of their evil?  No, because they see you know the counter-spell, and can hurt them back, and they only go after those with no "magic".

The weak.  The defenseless.  The uneducated.  The poor.

These have always been the Evil Magicians targets, from days of old to now.  And they can only be fought with magic, if you try and use force, it always fails.  For they use more spells/words to summon the fighting forces of the City/State or the police of the town to stop you from fighting off their robberies by force.

No, when an Evil Magician is stealing from you, only magic counters it.  When a modern day non-violent thief tries to scam you, only knowing the words that frighten them work.

"Civil suit".  "Small claims".  "Redress".  "Tort".  "Actionable".  "Remedy".  These obscure words and related phrases may as well be incantations, and they work nearly as fast.

Peasant/Citizen:  "Will you please refund me, as you did not give me what I paid for?"

Evil Magician/CPA:  "No, that's what you paid for.  Sorry you were unsatisfied, there's nothing to be done about it."

Peasant/Citizen with no magic:  *walks away broke*

Peasant/Citizen with magic:  "I've noted and marked the number of errors, any of which would have had my application denied by law and my fee not refunded.  These are actionable under IRG 9128:12(a).  I am prepared to file a small claims suit in pauperis formis, which will cost me nothing, but will cost you twice what I'm asking just to defend against.  Therefore if you have not refunded me in X number of days, the filing will occur."

Evil Magician/CPA:  "Without admitting liability, we will settle this as a courtesy to avoid further hassle.  Expect the check in X number of days."

So, yeah, in case any of you are wondering, why yes, I did get the CPA who screwed me to agree to a refund.  But what if I had not those words of power?

What a sick and sad society we live in, where we can all know that if you are small you are screwed - and we do nothing about it.  We say the little people have a representative government, but do the schools teach them how the law works?  Do the courts offer legal advice to those who by their taxes pay their salaries?

Did you know that when the police tell your teenage son, "If you don't answer our questions, you're Obstructing Justice, a felony?" that this is but a spell to get him to wave his 5th amendment rights?  Did you know that the counter-spell is "I will gladly answer all your questions in the presence of my attorney, please arrange for me to have one quickly so that your investigation is not unduly delayed."?

It's the difference between one kid going to jail - having incriminated himself - versus the other going home, as he really had been innocent any way and failed to frame himself for what they thought he did.

Did you know that when I petitioned a law firm for a refund a few years ago that they would not give it to me until I could prove to them by correspondence that I knew enough to file pro se against them?  That had I failed to demonstrate my knowledge of the Words of Power that they'd have kept over $1,000 from me?

Did you know that when nearly anyone tries to make you do something, it's based on their hope that they have the right words and you do not?  That you can do almost anything - it will even truly seem magical - if you have the facility and education to come up with the right Words of Power on the spot?

Police Officer:  Could you come down to the station, answer a few questions?

Me:  Are you investigating a crime?

Police Officer:  Well...yes.

Me:  I'll need an attorney present before I answer any questions.

Police Officer:  You can bring an attorney.

Me:  I'm too poor to afford one.  Will you be providing me one?

Police Officer:  No, Mr. West.  Thank you for your time.

Does it always work?  Well...yeah, actually.  Quite a bit of the time.  Understand, it's not truly "magic", obviously the cops had to know that there was little or no evidence of any supposed guilt of mine.  But what a terrible night it would have been for me "proving my innocence" if I had not known what to say.  3am, a small room, and the officer saying, "Let's go over this one...more...time...!"

But note that in each case, "powers that be" are trying to get a little guy to do something he does not wish to do and he deflects them not by force, but by knowing the right words.

If you can understand this lengthy explanation, really understand it, you will start to notice instances in your own lives where this happens.  Where you are swayed or deterred or otherwise harmed by the words of others, because you did not know what to say to get your way.

Now, it is no scam that you do not always get your way.  But again, as I mentioned, it IS a scam for you to be unjustly deprived of liberty, property and such because an Evil Magician knew the right words, and knew you were unlikely to have the counter-spell.

Go to our courts - and all courts are just two magicians flinging words at each other, with a "Judge" to decide which one's words are most likely to resonate with those above him.  Or which words weave a story that allows a judge to do what he wanted to do.

Haven't you wondered how two lawyers can fight each other in the first place if the law is clear and objective?  Well, the law is never in any case "clear" and "objective".  So one lawyer can argue "community standards" as a reason for you to not paint your house purple and the other lawyer can argue "private property" as a reason for you to be able to.  And then the Judge decides which words he likes better, as either set of words could be said to be valid.

A government then of men, not of laws.  A government - and a whole culture - based on who can phrase things the most cleverly, who can weave the best narrative.  Was it you who dropped your phone who is owed no refund?  Or you who dropped a defective phone who is owed a refund?

Who phrases it better?  Who knows what to and what not to admit?  The company may well know there is a defective batch.  You may well know you dropped it.  Both may have took place.  Who's phrasing it better?

The corporation will usually win, as they are large and have staffs of magicians - lawyers - on stand by.  You must either hire a free-lance magician or know the words yourself.

VISA's local counsel to my wife a few years ago:  We are suing you over a debt of $1,200.  Show up at such and so court in 30 days or the judgment will be entered in against you.

Me writing up a pro se motion back as if I was my wife:  You are suing in State court, but your listed headquarters are in Virginia while I am a resident of Illinois.  Citing therefore diversity of jurisdiction, this matter needs to be at once transferred to Federal Court.  I also declare that I desire a jury trial, as is my right as the Respondent.  I also will be seeking to subpoena the records of each merchant that alleges charges were made at their establishment.  And I will be seeking to depose the various employees of your corporation who approved such purchases.

VISA's local counsel to my wife:  At this time we are dropping our suit at law while retaining the right to file at some future date.

And they never then did.  Words of Power.  They had no right to what they sought, but had I not known the counter-spell, my wife would have had a judgment entered against her.

I've pulled stuff like this all my life.  I suppose it makes me a minor magician.  But what of those who don't have my facility with words?  Can you even begin to calculate the human misery, and throughout all of history, due to the powerful knowing these words and these games and these spells and knowing most of all that the poor are helpless in the face of them?

All of it is a scam, a pretense that we have all gave up violence for justice, when in reality we've all gave up violence so that the physically weakest - but mentally most predatory - can prey on all of us without fear of being gave bodily harm.  Not a one of them would dare try this type of thing should the System falter for a moment.

This is why the Supreme Court says what the laws mean - instead of a dictionary.  This is why courts will not aid citizens in how to file the appropriate motions and counter-motions.  This is why public schools will not teach children how to exercise their rights.  This is why corporations have 21 page contracts and floors of lawyers on stand by.

It's a scam, then.  Of the over-educated and against the regular Joes working for a living.  You've heard of the maker, takers and fakers?

You're the maker.  The random street thugs who 95% of you have never encountered are the takers.  And the Evil Magicians, who have got over you your whole life in every way conceivable, are the fakers.

No real surprise - the word "faker" comes from the word "fakir" - meaning "magician".