Time to Get Out the Spinning Wheel
November 12th, 2009 → 3:09 pm @ Stephen Palmer // No Comments
By Mike Wilson & Stephen Palmer
“Nothing in the political world is as important as the spinning wheel.” -Gandhi
Gandhi liberated a nation with the spinning wheel. Sounds preposterous, right?
Why did Gandhi see this simple machine toiling in each Indian home as being so fundamental? There is nothing magical or powerful about a cloth-spinning wheel, yet for Gandhi it was the key to freeing India from the British Empire.
And for America, the Spinning Wheel Principle is the prescription to cure our diseases of apathy, dependence, and fear.
If a community can provide its own jobs, clothing, and food, the ability for tyranny to gain a foothold is very limited. Furthermore, once a society has been overtaken by dependence and tyranny, liberation through self-reliance becomes critical. This is the Spinning Wheel Principle.
As Gandhi explained:
“I came reluctantly to the conclusion that the British connection had made India more helpless than she ever was before, politically and economically…She has become so that she has little power of resisting famines. Before the British advent, India spun and wove in her millions of cottages just the supplement she needed for adding to her meager agriculture resources. [The British] do not know that a subtle but effective system of terrorism and organized display of force on one hand, and the deprivation of all powers of retaliation and self-defense on the other, have emasculated the people and induced in them a habit of simulation.”
India had been indoctrinated with the fallacy that Britain was making India more prosperous, when in reality they were becoming more dependent on British factories and commerce and less capable of “resisting famines.”
See any parallels in America? How well equipped are the majority of Americans for an economic depression?
Dependence upon international corporations and federal programs for food, clothing, and “security” has emasculated us. Investment and tax laws — combined with excessive marketing by financial institutions — deepen our dependence on governmental agencies, distant business entities, and unsafe investment vehicles.
Do you know that your 401(k), for example, does not even belong to you? (Look for those pesky little initials, “FBO,” on your 401(k) forms and find out what that means.)
Do you think it’s even remotely safe from Wall Street wolves and Washington bureaucrats? Think again.
While interdependence is a healthy goal of free enterprise, far too often dependence masquerades as interdependence. Interdependence is a product of independence — once a person, a community, or a society is grounded in self-reliance, then free exchange can occur without a loss of freedom.
Our current form of capitalism, which is ironically defended and supported by “conservatives,” is a subtle, yet powerful form of exploitation.
It shifts capital and resources away from family and community economies and into the hands of the few rich, who then have power over us. It’s a product of the marriage between government and business — the government favors big corporations at the expense of small businesses and families.
Buck up America, it’s time to regain your manhood.
For Gandhi, the spinning wheel symbolized economic independence for the Indian people. It represented India’s willingness to detach herself from the economy that sucked her people into the vacuum of the British Empire.
It’s time for us to get out our own “spinning wheels” and reclaim our freedom. It’s time to extract ourselves from the cold, tight grip of economic and political power-mongers.
The pliers needed for this extraction include mental liberation, economic self-reliance, and investment savvy.
Mental Liberation
Step one is to stop falling for lies and reject the advice given by those with vested interests in your dependence.
The economy is not driven by your consumption, and it’s not “patriotic” to spend in order to “spur on” the economy.
A 401(k) is not safe — it’s one of the riskiest things you can do with your money. Holding down a 9-5 job in a “stable” corporation doesn’t necessarily bring you security — and in many cases it robs you of true freedom.
Read, study, engage with mentors, and connect with God to break free from New Deal, Industrial Age lies.
Economic Self-Reliance
Grow a garden. Learn how to make bread from scratch. Get out of debt. Start a business, even if it’s as simple as producing something small and selling it to your friends, neighbors, and family. Build a network marketing organization.
Invest in yourself through education before you throw your money at things you don’t understand and that are controlled by others.
Make economic decisions based upon what will build your family and community. Build and maintain strong networks of friends and business connections through service.
Investment Savvy
Economic self-reliance is how you produce to secure food, clothing, shelter, and luxuries. Investing is what you do with the surplus of your production. Break the mold of conventional investment advice and become more self-reliant about your investments.
Make sure that your investments are collateralized and can produce cash flow. Align your investments with your Soul Purpose.
Don’t blindly trust “experts”–become the expert. Invest in your local economy, even if it means a potentially smaller return on your investment.
Also, become an expert on freedom through liberal arts education.
There’s no one who should strive to protect freedom more than those who know how to produce and prosper; they have the most to lose from legalized plunder.
Want to lead the next American revolution? Get out your “spinning wheel” and start spinning…
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