Quite an insightful comment. The chilling Orwellian addition was the Big Brother who doesn't always kill you, but tortures you physically and mentally. If it comes down to that, give me the cyanide capsule.

There is a Gresham's Law in human behavior: predatory dominance drives the idealistic notions of honor, honesty, integrity and morality, out of circulation. The prey has to develop survival tactics. In the name of individual freedom, the subjugated themselves must form collectives for their mutual defense. As with other animals, disguise, camouflage, subterfuge, even pretense of obedience evolve. There is no incentive for the tyrants to voluntarily refrain from exploiting their prey. They just need to measure their bloodsucking so as not to run out of victims. Rival gangs coexist with conditional respect as long as they don't weaken. For lovers of individual freedom, it's a fascinating study in value evolution by a perverted chain of "natural" selection. And can they break our spirit as Orwell foresaw?

It’s ironic that our government is so similar to the magus. They steal from us under threat of imprisonment and confiscation, force us to ask for their approval to do almost anything. It’s very disturbing

Either have I.

I had an older sister who had married a Mafioso, I thought it was interesting that he always said the government hated them because it did not like the competition. He pointed out that they are the same on many levels. Try not getting the state's approval for working or running your business that they promise to protect from themselves if you do not buy their protection.

I have watched what you recommend at work by those who would evade the state. When I was much younger I read a book 'How to Live Free in an Unfree World.' At the time his advice worked very well. He stated that over 90% of the information the state had you had given them. To avoid them quit giving the state your information. The plan worked quite well. It was easy to live unobserved. Now everything is monitored, including our discussions here. The state does not need nearly as many slave masters that need to be well paid to watch the slaves. The state merely writes a program and it watches all transactions, interactions and tracks all individuals at all times making it easy to locate the slave who might even inadvertently be acquiring a group of followers while becoming their leader. Everything is indebted even if your property is 'owned' by the person occupying it is likely they don't realize the state has indebted (bonded) it beyond your ability to repay. It can be taken if you are using it to be self sufficient. I am not aware of any way to avoid the state. Raising food is okay as long as you don't eat, transport, trade or benefit from it in any way.
What makes all of these irrational laws and regulations so terrifying is that there is an army of police, federal agents and etc. who are willing to enforce them and remove your ability to sustain yourself on command while nearly the rest of the entire population will applaud them. Dr. Walter E. Williams (a noted economist) has been telling his children that they should have $50,000 to $75,000 worth of gold buried on their property (not in any banks where it could be easily confiscated) with which to facilitate leaving the country. I don't know that would be possible in that the state will just make it illegal to own or use gold (as it did in the 1930's depression) and it would be confiscated before you could spend it.
It is important perhaps at this time to be quiet and not speak anywhere that might be monitored (oops) but where to go and how to effectively provide for yourself and not be a confirmed enemy of the state is not a plan I have developed yet.

I can see how the idea of being intellectually consistent is a real benefit over time. The difference between straight up objectivist philosophy and what we have now in the USA becomes more apparent as days go by. Even Ayn Rand foresaw the collapse of the country (as in venezuela) and the end result which even john galt and the titans of industry couldnt stop.

Why do you think that the USA wont go down that path. So few people are really intellectually in favor of individual freedom and willing to stand up to political correctness. The CEO's wont even sit on Trump's round tables to put their two cents into reducing regulations and cutting taxes- for fear of political incorrectness taking THEIR jobs away.

"I wont live long enough to see any sort of rebirth, so I agree with the author to do whatever we can to survive"
My thought on this is similar to the discussion in another thread on this site (can't remember which) about how the paradox of Jefferson taking a leap forward in liberty while owning slaves. My mind has no problem conceiving of him making a leap forward in trying to realize philosophical dreams of power flowing from the people to the gov't while still not respecting all people's rights. It's so easy for someone to bring up some horror of slavery and say I somehow condone slavery if I see the good in the progress the Founders made. It's so easy for people to say I condone the surveillance, taxation of a third of our income (more if you count local + borrowed money), the drug war, etc, if I say America is place of amazing freedom and opportunity. I see our problems as being akin to Jefferson's slaves. We are amazingly free and prosperous, more so than ever, but in some areas we're way behind. It's awful we just accept a large/intrusive gov't, but the same person who has to turn over a third of what she earns might not have been allowed to get an education, earn money, and follow her dreams 100 years earlier. I think the average adult, if we include people from all walks of life, could better explain why his life is his than the average person 150 years ago. That's progress.

I'm not looking to a future like present-day Venezuela. I'm looking for the game-changing zero-to-one creations that will reduce statism in 50 years.

Agree...................invisibility!

Not really. It may have at the time the book was written but not anymore.One cannot escape the progressive tax system that is set up at all levels of government, unless you are a hermit.

or is it possible to live free in an unfree world???...

Once USA gets to the status of Venezuela, then perhaps change could happen. But it will take 50 years, and if one looks at Venezuela maybe never.

I wont live long enough to see any sort of rebirth, so I agree with the author to do whatever we can to survive

The USA government IS the current mafia. It has no morality, no limits, does what it wants. It got rid of the former mafia, and replaced it by itself.

Good advice! After spending much of my life in highly classified programs, and becoming uncomfortably familiar with how invasive of our personal lives intelligence agencies have become, I don't put information up on any data cloud, nor present much of my history online. I don't put bumper stickers on my vehicles or post political campaign signs in my yard. I don't participate in surveys online, by mail, or on the phone either. I try to keep my family well supported and safe, but avoid anything that draws attention to my financial situation (I have a home sufficient to our needs, and an old, reliable vehicle, even though we could afford better).

"the Mafia became the embodiment of the inverted morality that takes hold among tyrannized and brutalized peoples"
I am here because 100 years ago my great grandparents came from a village 20 miles north of Corleone, Sicily came to the US to escape the horrible system that sprung up in the absence of the law. My great-grandfather was a hard man who who refused to let my grandfather even talk to people involved with the Mafia in the US. I went back to Sicily earlier this year. I know about five words of their language from hearing my grandparents. I had to communicate using the Spanish, which has a few words in common with Italian, and which ironically I learned at a private school. Surprisingly many people there know no English at all.

My grandfather was more like you describe people having grown up in a world of omerta, where even trivial information could be a weapon. He was a funny guy on the exterior, but hardcore tough in the face of crime. My father became a bank executive and wanted to be far from his rough roots. I just realized all this recently. I've had a privileged life, allowing me not to think twice of sharing this with strangers online or at a random high-tech business networking event. I do think my great grandfather Vito from Sicily would think me pitiably foolish, as you say.

A collapse of the law is not an option for me. We don't follow the Constitution anymore, but it's not too late change. History could view these times as the "post-industrial statist dead-cat bounce" or something like that. I like your article, but like AS, for me it's an example of what not to shoot for. I want America to work. My story of being a complete stranger to Sicily after only three generations is what America is about. I cannot accept things falling apart. Like the Dr Banner (the Hulk), you wouldn't like me to go back to 19th century Sicilian.

Nice work Robert, I wonder if it wasn't for a guy now in exile, that some people would say the gov.
Doesn't listen in on everything , you must be a conspiracy theorist. This line of yours made me think of that.
"Americans are frequently condemned for obliviousness to the lies and depredations of the people who rule them. " Robert Gore

Exactly!

"Never let anyone outside the family know what you're thinking!"
Vito Corleone

Excellent article! This is exactly the reason I read more in the gulch than I speak. Less is more. What people don't know, won't hurt me. :)