Convenience At What Cost

Lately, every vote is about chipping away at sovereignty at personal rights and freedoms. Not so long ago, such discussions would be horrifying or even unimaginable, but now the reaction is, well, a husband who beats me is better than a husband who beats me and drinks. There is no better loss of freedom and sovereignty than another.

Being at the mercy of private companies or a government that overextends itself and forgets who elected it is the same bullshit. We give away fundamental things for convenience. Instead of “If you give me your soul, I will give you eternal life”, you are told, “You can pay your bills in 3 seconds instead of 24 hours”, and then when you struggle to pay your bill, you are asked, 'Why didn’t you pay it in five seconds?”

It’s part of human nature to be able to buy time, to tell stories, yet our world is becoming less and less a world of tolerance and understanding, but of only compliance. And you think, but look how cool. ‘I don’t need to carry my ID with me anymore, it’s all in an app!’ or ‘Oh, look how cool I can withdraw cash without a card!’ All these things are legitimately impressive, but at what cost?

So am I saying progress is the problem? No, progress is a part of life, and perhaps in Switzerland, we are a bit behind because we mistrust the outside world and the future, yet it doesn’t mean for convenience we trade all that truly matters. That makes no sense. It’s like, let’s give land for peace. How does that make any sense? Trade peace for peace. Trade progress for progress. What use is a modern high-speed world if you are just depressed and enslaved all the days of your life?

Just think about it, every new referendum, every new vote is pressure, often by outsiders like the EU, not even your own government, selling something of somewhat value for something of extreme value. It’s like the colonisers of the Americas selling the natives disease for the riches of the New World. It’s a bad deal.

So is the expectation that every single one of us should be a master negotiator? No, is it an expectation that our government should only have our interest at heart and that they should be negotiating on our behalf? Of course! And our government does well at times. It wasn’t popular to negotiate with the EU to increase monetary contributions to Eastern Europe, but it makes sense. You want the benefits of a club, so pay the membership fee. But when the club says “Now our club rules apply in your home also!”, then clearly at the point you say ”Fuck you and get out of my house!”.

So if the government fails to do so, then there is clearly a problem. At the end of the day, all it takes is one farmer, one doctor, one teacher, one baker, one train conductor, one policeman, one soldier, one truck driver, one taxi driver, one hunter to say, “This deal is not good and I don’t accept. I will only trade value for value and won’t be cheated”.