My thesis is clear, direct and, for many, uncomfortable: all problems, both individual and collective, are solvable. This is not a utopian vision, but a finding based on the intrinsic ability of the human being to adapt, innovate and overcome obstacles. Some problems can be solved at an institutional level, others require an individual intervention. The crucial point, however, is that many of these problems are not solved for a reason as simple as it is chilling: no one, among those who have the power to solve them, is interested in doing so. In fact, the situation is much worse.
The Paradox of Suffering: A Profitable Business
It is an uncomfortable but undeniable truth: many benefit from people's suffering. I am not talking about a collateral benefit, but about a direct and structural profit. Think about poverty, cyclical health crises, precarious work, social conflicts. These are problems that, with current knowledge and resources, could be drastically reduced or eliminated. And yet, they persist, and in some cases worsen. Have you ever asked yourself why, despite technological advancement and immense available resources, certain social scourges seem endemic, almost impossible to eradicate?
The answer, in my opinion, is that these problems are not a failure of the system, but often a function of it.
Institutions, or better, institutionalizers – those who decide the rules of the game and the direction of society – benefit enormously from general malaise. Every "emergency" seems to justify a new level of bureaucracy, an increase in public spending, and inevitably, an expansion of state control over the lives of citizens. Is it really a coincidence that every crisis seems to strengthen central power instead of dissolving it?
Governments: Solvers or Creators of Problems?
Theory would tell us that governmental organizations should exist to serve the common good, to solve the problems of the community. Reality, however, is diametrically opposed. Governments, as organizations, often do not solve problems, but create them. And not for inefficiency, but for a well-calculated purpose.
Governors, and those who finance and support them (economic and power elites), derive an exorbitant benefit from the people's distress. A struggling population is a more controllable, more dependent, and more inclined to accept solutions imposed from above in exchange for a (often illusory) sense of security. History is littered with examples where conflicts, economic crises, and even pandemics have been instrumentalized to consolidate power or favor narrow elites at the expense of the community.
"Power is not a means, it is an end."
A dictatorship is not established to safeguard a revolution; a revolution is made to establish a dictatorship. The end of persecution is persecution. The end of torture is torture. The end of power is power."
– George Orwell, 1984
This quote, although from a work of fiction, captures the essence of my thesis: power, once acquired, tends to perpetuate and expand itself, often at the expense of others' well-being.
The Great Illusion: Trusting the Jailer
This is, perhaps, one of the most difficult truths for most people to accept. It challenges one of the things on which many base their security and entrust their lives: trust in institutions and governments. It is an evident paradox: people hate politicians, criticize them harshly, but at the same time protect them and rely on them for their future.
This dynamic is the result of a deep social programming. We have grown up with the idea that the State is the guarantor of our security, the custodian of our well-being, the lighthouse in the storm. The alternative, chaos, is presented as the only possible option without government. Is it not a form of collective Stockholm syndrome, where the jailer is seen as the only source of salvation?
How many of you have ever seriously considered that decisions made "for our own good" are actually motivated by much darker and self-referential interests?
The idea that governments are criminal organizations, run by people who operate on the principle "the worse things are for the people, the better it is for us," is a thought that many reject a priori because it would undermine the foundations of their entire worldview.
The Moral of the Story: Don't Entrust Your Life to Anyone
The moral of this story is harsh, but necessary. There is no greater error a man can commit than to blindly believe in governments and entrust his life, his future, his freedom to those in power. Because, and I reiterate with force, governments and institutions are, at their very core, criminal organizations. Not in the common sense of the term, but in the sense that their existence and perpetuation depend on the creation and maintenance of problems, the manipulation of fear, and the promise of solutions that rarely arrive, if not at a high cost.
It's time to stop delegating our existence to entities that have an intrinsic interest in seeing us struggle. It's time to take back control of our lives, develop critical thinking, and recognize that the real solution to problems will never come from those who profit from their existence. Freedom begins with the awareness of this uncomfortable, but liberating, truth.