March 28, 2016 | Gunner Steele

As I mentioned last week, I want to share something with you today that real men (and women) are doing right now to ensure Freedom for themselves and their posterity.

Abandoning Conventional Wisdom and Thinking for Themselves

This is the first and most important step anyone can make in order to preserve their freedom. The reason is simple—nearly all tyranny can be avoided if people will simply think for themselves, learn for themselves, and seek objective truth and empirical facts.

You see, the enemy always works through deception. It's as simple as that. You must be wise enough to avoid deception and that means you need to learn how to actually think.

Now the problem is that most people don't actually know how to think, even though they believe that they do. The reason for this is simple—the majority of Americans went to public schools that only teach regurgitation of random information and not critical thinking.

The second problem is that most Americans get their news from major news sources like CBS, ABC, NBC, and FOX News. All of which are basically propaganda outlets for different causes.

So if you went to public school and get your news from mainstream media, the likelihood is that you might not be as much of a "thinker" as you would otherwise hope to be.

Here's a quick test to see if you can actual think for yourself:

1. Do you think that America is the freest country in the world?
Well, it's not. I wish it was. According to the Freedom Index, an annual report published by the Cato Institute, the USA is now ranked 20th. Its the only major English speaking country to rank outside the top 10.

And the most recent Index of Economic Freedom from the Heritage Institute ranks the USA as #11 for economic freedom. Sadly, America is no longer the "Land of the Free." (Interestingly enough, Hong Kong ranks #1 on both indices).

And this is not difficult to understand, after all, America has the highest taxes in the world, and we are the only major nation to tax its citizens on ALL income they produce, no matter where they earn it.

And just look at how America has decimated religious liberties and freedom of speech in recent years.

2. Do you think there is something wrong with keeping your own money in an "offshore" bank account?
Americans have been taught to think that only criminals, drug dealers, and terrorists keep their money offshore. Of course, this is ridiculous. An "offshore" bank account is simply a bank account anywhere outside of America.

And why is it wrong to keep your own money somewhere else? Its your money. And keeping all of it in America where any bureaucrat can seize it at anytime, for any reason, without due process, is simply irresponsible.

3. Do you think that you need to go to college to get a good job?
This is patently false. In fact, recent reports are showing that, other than a job with the government, having graduated from a 4-year public university can actually prevent you from getting a "good job."

Why? Because colleges aren't teaching anymore. They have become institutes for social indoctrination and they only produce "young skulls full of mush" who are mostly functional illiterates, who otherwise think they are educated and deserving of high paying jobs. But they have zero experience, and are generally irresponsible.

Additionally, even in industries where a degree is "required," a college education is continually proving to be the most inefficient and painfully slow method of acquiring the education necessary to perform the necessary task.

Simply put, college is a rip off. And most college graduates will not get a good job because of their degree. On the contrary, if they can find any job at all, it will be in some field other than the field of their major, and they will usually end up with a life full of debt, dissatisfaction, disappointment, divorce, and disease. That's the future for the average American college graduate.

Additionally, well over 90% of college graduates abandon their faith after attending college. In other words, most parents who finance their children's "higher education" actually end up paying to have someone destroy their child's faith, guarantee their indebtedness for life, and generally ensure their future misery.

But hey, we all know that you need to go to college to be successful, right? See, this is what I'm talking about. If you believe this nonsense, you're not thinking for yourself. Think.

4. Do you think you have freedom of speech in America?
If you do, here's a little test, try to buy some ads for your best friend who is running for office and see what happens. It gets especially interesting if he is running against an incumbent.

As an American citizen, you are not legally allowed to use your own money to support a candidate if you have any connection to that candidate. If so, this will be seen as "coordination" which is illegal and you can go straight to jail for it. Yup. Don't believe me? Then try it for yourself.

And this is just one example because the list of things you can't do with your own money and your own pen (which both are methods of using your voice or speech) is outrageous.

Here's one more example—publish anything which purports to have a cure for cancer and see what happens. Or better yet, discover an actual cure for cancer and then try to publish your discovery. You'll see how much freedom of speech we have in America.

5. Do you believe that America is the most advanced country in the world?
It would be great if we were, but we're not. Its just factually untrue.

Are you aware that America is ranked #13 in internet speed? In the words, 12 countries including the so called "3rd world" countries of South America rank higher than the USA in overall internet speeds. How is that for advanced infrastructure?

And medical options for life-saving surgeries and advanced procedures are more widely available outside of the USA at a fraction of the cost of dangerous and outdated procedures here in America.

In fact, there is an entire industry called "Medical Tourism"—where Americans are crossing the border to get life saving medical treatment—that is exploding right now because America is just not as advanced as most Americans think we are (and because government regulations and bureaucrats won't allow it).

Now look, this is not meant to make anyone "down" on America. I still love my country. I always have and I always will. But, I'm also intellectually honest. If something is true, you gotta admit it. You have to be willing to call a spade a spade.

So if you were not able to answer questions 1 through 5 accurately, I hate to inform you that you're probably not sufficiently thinking for yourself.

I urge you to start thinking legitimately for yourself.

A close friend of mine is a scientist who got his PhD from MIT and went on to serve as the Director for one of the largest research and development labs in the federal government—working primarily on military projects. He had over 1,000 PhD scientists and engineers working under him.

He told me that politics and egos were just as strong there, if not more, than anywhere in the world. And even though they were all scientists, they would quickly abandon the "scientific method" in order to advance their own cause.

So he devised a method for ensuring that everyone looked at facts for what they were—regardless of biases or ulterior motives. Yes, it was painful and many weak scientists became bitter over having their biases exposed, but it worked.

So I urge you to devise your own methods. Make sure you are always seeking truth. Make sure you are thinking for yourself. And as I close this out, I'll give you a few tips:

1. Always be leery of the first thing you've heard, the first thing you were taught, or the first thing you believed.
2. Always study, in detail, the opposing view.
3. Write down your biases and be honest with yourself about them.
4. Be concerned about any opinion you have that is shared by the "masses."
5. Be willing to listen to your critics—they often offer you something that your friends may never offer—the truth.

Until next Monday, I'm yours in Freedom,
Gunner Steele
The Freedom Man

P.S. Next week I'll share with you the #1 life decision that Americans are making that is destroying their health and their happiness. I want you to avoid it. You'll unquestionably be better off for it!