The headline has it that media commentator Nigel Farange is getting the Trudeau treatment: Not quite, but close: No reason has been given, but Farange thinks is because he’s not ‘toeing the line’ on various issues, he’s had his bank accounts closed, and cannot open any others. Trudeau, on the other hand, ordered the bank accounts of those who dared to organize of even fund the Freedom Rally of 2021 in Ottawa frozen, so they had no access to any funds, except what cash they stashed under their mattresses. Either way, without access to money, one’s daily life sort of stops – I strive to have little love of money, and think of sort of like gasoline – or petrol. It keeps your car moving forward.
One could in theory live without money, much as Saint Francis or Benedict Joseph Labre, wandering the streets and byways, eating scraps and whatever is offered. But that is not everyone’s path, and is unsustainable for most. Try it with a few little children in tow.
Hence, it is effective, and Farange is being offered up pour encourager les autres – so that other lesser-known persons get a glimpse of what will happen to them, should they too not ‘toe the line’, stay quiet and afraid – yes, quite afraid.
Of course, Trudeau was not the first to use economic coercion – the threat of financial ruin – to keep his subjects subjugated. The mafia and their predecessors have been doing it from time immemorial. The Muslims used it to keep their Christian and Jewish dhimmi, under the boot of sharia.
But it has also been done in merrie England. Here is an intriguing documentary on the first of the Tudor dynasty – who wrought much havoc upon the land – Henry VII, whose claim to, and hold upon, the throne was rather tenuous, after his troops victory over the rightful king, Richard III, at the battle of Bosworth. Towards the end of his shaky reign, Henry realized he could keep his restless subjects in line by weaving a web of monetary dependence upon the monarchy, and inflicting crushing fines upon anyone he deemed a bit uppity, anti-Tudor, or just not Tudor enough:
It is an effective, but entirely immoral, weapon to wield. At least Henry had to collect his fines personally, by armed officers and courts of law – so it was limited to those he really disliked. He did not have the easy access to computerized accounts that could simply be frozen – or deleted – at a touch and the flick of a mouse. And with digital currency just around the corner, and all banks absorbed into the tangled tentacles of government, we who still love freedom may soon have few options, except, perhaps, to barter.
How many chickens for an F-150? Or, more to the point, how many i-phones for a side of beef?
And what is the cost of freedom and truth?
Everything.