But again, this is why we need to be more involved. We will change nothing sitting at home trying to stay out of it.

I disagree. I think sitting at home and helping people improve their thinking will have a dramatic and lasting change in their actions which ultimately improves the world more so than what I see to be a ritual (voting).

I touched on it a bit here in this ~30 minute presentation, but it can be summarized a bit by looking into the history of central banking, how England held the world reserve currency backed by central bankers beginning in the late 1700's. Fractional reserve lending started funding wars and people realized the real power is in who controls the money creation. The U.S. fought central banks with the First Bank of the United States and the Second Bank of the United States. We lost in 1917 with the creation of the Federal Reserve (and, not-coincidentally, the passing of the first federal income tax). From there (and the 1933 executive order making it illegal to own gold), the central banking machine grew. WWI and WWII were a big part of this process. In 1944, the Bretton Woods agreement basically said, "Hey, world, you're all blown up and we aren't. How about you send all your gold to us, we'll protect it in Fort Knox and issue gold-backed currency you can trust. You can even get your exact gold back if you want it, just exchange your notes for it and we'll honor that exchange." Then the Nixon shock of 1971 completely removed the gold-backing and countries who demanded their gold back either didn't get it or got different gold or were told, "Um, it'll take like many years for us to get that to you. Sorry." The reason the U.S. could do this without the whole world going ape-shit at the largest theft in human history? The power of the U.S. Military and (I argue here) those who sign up and participate to give it that power.

We are not teaching our younger generation what they need to know.

Agreed. Public schools are prisons for children. We homeschool. I really enjoyed Peter Gray's book Free to Learn. It's about teaching creatively the way brains are designed to learn: through play. My Internet is spotty right now, but I'll check those later. I may have already watched them as the names sound familiar.

How do you plan to change this stereotype?

It's changing already. People, even those who support the State on some level as you do, see the BS mischaracterization. Sure, not the majority, but it is changing.

How, can you change the public perception that leads to a positive outcome?

Through many conversations like this. :)

Civil war?

No, NVC and ignoring the government all together using blockchain technology with smart contracts.

We don't have any "Rulers"

I disagree here because companies don't have a monopoly on the use of force which defines government. Apple can't shoot me if I choose not to use their products and services. As to what prevents them from "buying everything up" I like these thoughts form Tom Woods: The Misplaced Fear of Monopoly. It has to do with natural monopolies verses forced monopolies via government violence.

I get it, but why the hell should we let a bunch of old rich guys vote for us without contesting it?

Forced consent is no consent at all. Voting itself can be argued as a violent act when people are put in jail and or killed by enforcers of the state based on laws passed by these rulers (as I call them). Why should I give my consent to that?

There will always be a ruler of something

I disagree and have posted many different posts here on steemit about authoritarianism, tribalism, etc. It's not something we have to accept about our humanity, especially as we approach the age where we can change ourselves beyond evolutionary boundaries.

if you refuse to get involved?

I think the sharing of ideas is the only thing that ever truly changes thing long term. We can try to legislate morality or force people to act how we want them to, but eventually the desire for autonomy wins out if the position on Maslow's Hierarchy allows it.

How are you going to change how the U.S. uses its military?

By encouraging so many people not to sign up for it that it ends up with little power to do anything bad.

Let’s make governments fearful of a large anarchist voting presence at elections, rather than comfortable with the knowledge that anarchists will fail to show up.

That's a really good argument and probably the only reason I'd consider voting for a Ron Paul or an Adam Kokesh. Even if my vote is just a "token" vote, it could send an important signal. Still though, I hesitate to validate a system I think is fundamentally flawed and should be largely ignored with efforts put into more useful approaches like agorism, non-violent communication, educating people about the non-aggression principle, etc, etc.

Great discussion. Thank you. :) I find it interesting how a discussion about the military naturally dovetails into discussion anarchy. For me, democide is one of the primary reasons I don't support Statist government.

Related post:

• The Myth of Authority