They’re Not Fighting You—They’re Distracting You: How State Power Thrives on Division and Manufactured Crisis

Crisis Is the Strategy—Not the Problem

It’s not incompetence, or a series of unfortunate events. It’s the operating system of modern governance. For example, analysts count around 90 national emergencies declared in the United States since 1976, many of which are still periodically renewed and provide expanded executive powers beyond ordinary legislative processes. This ongoing pattern illustrates a political power play for distraction, where repeated crisis declarations shift public focus from deeper structural issues while broad authorities accumulate in the executive branch.

The state’s power is not undermined by crisis—it feeds on it. As Michael Matulef accurately describes in his recent Mises Wire piece, the state doesn't merely exploit chaos—it manufactures it. And when society fractures into ideological tribes, when neighbor turns against neighbor, the ruling class consolidates control while you’re distracted.

When people are panicked, broke, and desperate, they’ll accept any “solution.” That solution always comes with more surveillance, more restrictions, more dependency—and less liberty.

This isn't a partisan argument. It’s not about left versus right. It’s about top versus bottom.

Divide, Distract, and Dominate: The State’s Playbook

The machinery of centralized control has always relied on an age-old tactic: divide and conquer. But today, that division is algorithmically optimized. Your political outrage? Engineered. Your moral panic? Marketed. Your identity crisis? Monetized.

You are not fighting your neighbor. You are being encouraged to fight them. Whether over race, ideology, vaccines, flags, or pronouns—it doesn’t matter. Every second you spend hating the “other side” is one less second you spend asking:

• Who prints my money?
• Why does inflation keep eroding my savings?
• Why is my bank surveilling my transactions?
• Who benefits from endless emergency powers?

When you're busy policing your neighbor’s yard sign, the Fed is quietly draining the purchasing power from your retirement account.

Inflation, FedNow, and the Illusion of Control

This is the point where economic reality crashes through the culture war theater. While you’re arguing about the latest headline, the monetary system is being reengineered beneath your feet.

The FedNow payment system, presented as a technological marvel, is merely a dry run for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)—programmable money that gives the state unprecedented control over how, when, and where you can spend.

CBDCs are not about innovation. They’re about obedience. They allow:

• Transaction-level surveillance
• Instant freezing of funds
• Automatic enforcement of “approved” behavior

It is financial surveillance at scale, and it is coming faster than most realize. The infrastructure is already live.

The Death of Voluntary Exchange Is the Death of Freedom

Free societies are built on voluntary exchange—two people trading goods or services freely, without a third-party master imposing terms. That’s what markets are: cooperation without coercion.

But when the state inserts itself into every transaction, every interaction becomes conditional.

• Want to get paid? Use their currency.
• Want to speak freely? Use their platforms.
• Want to settle disputes? Use their courts.

This is not neutral infrastructure. This is a managed reality, one where your autonomy is tolerated only so long as it aligns with centralized interests.

Surveillance Isn’t Strength—It’s a Sign of Decay

As Matulef rightly argues, the rise of surveillance, censorship, and financial restrictions is not a show of strength. It is a mask for systemic weakness.

The state monitors more because it produces less. It censors more because it persuades less. It punishes more because it delivers less.

No functioning system needs to coerce its citizens into submission. A government that works doesn’t need your constant fear and obedience. But a dying one does.

You Don’t Have to Play the Game

The most subversive thing you can do is stop playing their game. You don’t have to wait for the next election. argue to win Twitter debates, or need to “raise awareness”, because you have more power than you think—especially in your economic choices.

• Use money they don’t control. Bitcoin. Gold. Silver.
• Build private networks. Local trade, peer-to-peer markets, encrypted messaging.
• Operate outside the system. Arbitration without the courts. Aid without the welfare state.
• Withdraw consent. Not through protest, but through non-participation.

Every transaction outside the fiat system is an act of rebellion. Every opt-out is a blow to the apparatus of control.

Stop Fighting Your Neighbor—Start Building Alternatives

This isn’t a call to utopian fantasy. It’s a call to hard, practical independence. You won’t reform the system. You won’t outvote the machine. But you can exit its grip.

Stop trying to convert people who’ve been programmed to hate you. Start building parallel systems they can eventually join—when they’ve had enough of broken promises and decaying institutions.

You don’t owe the system your loyalty. You owe your family a future. That means stepping outside the digital plantation before your financial autonomy is erased completely.

Final Warning: The Clock Is Ticking

As the digital dollar regime advances, the state’s need for obedience will become more aggressive. Programmable money, perpetual crisis, and real-time surveillance are the pillars of a coming age of control. The question is not if it’s coming—it’s whether you’ll be ready when it does.

Take Action Now Before the Trap Closes

Bill Brocius has outlined exactly what’s coming in his essential survival guide, “The Digital Dollar Reset.” It’s not theory—it’s happening.

Inside the guide, you’ll learn:

• How FedNow connects to CBDC implementation
• Why inflation is only part of the deeper theft
• Which assets protect you from financial surveillance
• Steps you can take today to secure your independence

Download it now before your financial freedom becomes a memory:
Digital Dollar Reset Guide

The system is collapsing by design. Your only defense is to opt out before it locks in.