My Better Way Conference Presentation Handout
...with supporting links
These are the notes I promised in my presentation, that provide links for more information about some of the topics I cover:
1.
BUILDING PARALLEL SOLUTIONS FROM WITHIN A BROKEN SYSTEM
BRETIGNE SHAFFER
2.
To find solutions that will work, we must correctly identify the problem/s.
- What are the biggest problems?
- Mandating treatments/interventions;
- Prohibiting treatments/interventions;
- Allopathic medicine displacing holistic healing modalities;
- Corruption of research/science (“Fiat science”);
- Astronomic costs;
- Censorship of dissenting voices;
- Insulation from liability for harm caused;
- Medical murders. Hospitals literally killing patients for money.
- What is at the root of each of these? What do they all have in common?
3.
COERCION.
- Govt. licensing:
- Govt control of what can/cannot be produced, bought, sold:
- Govt power to grant immunity from liability:
- Govt hands out research money (“Fiat science”)
- Regulatory state: NOT “corrupted”; CAN’T BE “REFORMED”; Incentives change.
Econ 101: monopoly is bad - ignores the biggest monopolist.
References:
No evidence medical licensing produces better outcomes:
Ronald Hamowy, “The Early Development of Medical Licensing Laws in the United States, 1875-1900”, Journal of Libertarian Studies, 1979, . https://cdn.mises.org/3_1_5_0.pdf
Sue A. Blevins, “The Medical Monopoly: Protecting Consumers or Limiting Competition?” Cato Institute Policy Analysis, December 15, 1995, . https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/pa246.pdf?queryID=d3c204ee19267221cde1b52cc3c08776
Charles H. Baron, “Licensure of Health Care Professionals: The Consumer’s Case for Abolition”, American Journal of Law & Medicine, April 29, 2021, . https://doi.org/10.1017/S0098858800013599
Jeffrey A. Singer & Richard P. Menger, “The Coronavirus Pandemic Shows the Folly of Medical-Licensing Laws”, National Review, May 29, 2020, https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/05/coronavirus-pandemic-medical-licensing-laws-need-reform/
Podcast with Jeremy R. Hammond, “Should Medical Licensing be Abolished?” https://www.bretigne.com/p/should-medical-licensing-be-abolished
What’s wrong with health insurance?
- Podcast episode: https://www.bretigne.com/p/whats-wrong-with-health-insurance?
- “One Hundred Years of Medical Fascism”: https://mises.org/mises-daily/one-hundred-years-medical-fascism
- “Book Review: Big Med: Megaproviders and the High Cost of Health Care in America” https://qjae.mises.org/article/37883-book-review-_big-med-megaproviders-and-the-high-cost-of-health-care-in-america_?auth_token=Y5yX2y8g2_IxPUMUj8wy
Evidence shows FDA does more harm than good:
- https://www.independent.org/article/2000/09/01/economists-against-the-fda/
- https://cei.org/opeds_articles/drug-approvals-and-deadly-delays/
Podcast with economist Bob Murphy, “To Heal Healthcare, Get Government Out” - https://www.bretigne.com/p/to-heal-healthcare-get-government
Monopoly theory, and antitrust law and history:
- A fantastic, concise accounting of “The Protectionist Roots of Antitrust” - https://cdn.mises.org/rae6_2_3_5.pdf
- “Antitrust: The Case for Repeal” - https://mises.org/library/book/antitrust-case-repeal
- “In Restraint of Trade: The Business Campaign Against Competition, 1918-1938” - https://mises.org/library/book/restraint-trade-business-campaign-against-competition-1918-1938
- “Antitrust and Monopoly: Anatomy of a Policy Failure” - https://www.amazon.com/Antitrust-Monopoly-Anatomy-Independent-Political/dp/0945999623/
4.
So important that we get this right.
- Systems founded in coercion are not sustainable. They will collapse—it is collapsing now.
- Unique point in time, with a unique opportunity:
- WE ARE THE ONES WHO WILL BUILD WHAT COMES NEXT.
OUR MOST SACRED MISSION IS TO BUILD THE FOUNDATIONS FOR WHAT WILL GROW IN THE ASHES OF THE CURRENT SYSTEM.
- These foundations must be sound:
- Support individual autonomy;
- Allow for real healing modalities, not just the allopathic model and “sick care”;
-KEY IS THAT IT NOT BE BASED IN COERCION. THERE IS NO LEGITIMATE PLACE FOR COERCION IN HEALTH CARE
- I say that is ALL we need. Remove coercion, and people will create their own solutions.
- Historically, this has been the case:
- Mutual aid - only disappeared because of state intervention (largely at the behest of the insurance industry.
- Homeopathy, and the takeover of medicine by the pharmaceutical cartel.
References:
Mutual Aid:
- A wonderful, concise essay on the history of mutual aid in the US and how it was crushed by government intervention: http://www.freenation.org/a/f12l3.html
- Bibliography from this essay:
David T. Beito. “The ‘Lodge Practice Evil’ Reconsidered: Medical Care Through Fraternal Societies, 1900-1930.” (unpublished)
David T. Beito. “Mutual Aid for Social Welfare: The Case of American Fraternal Societies.” Critical Review, Vol. 4, no. 4 (Fall 1990).
David Green. Reinventing Civil Society: The Rediscovery of Welfare Without Politics. Institute of Economic Affairs, London, 1993.
David Green. Working Class Patients and the Medical Establishment: Self-Help in Britain from the Mid-Nineteenth Century to 1948. St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1985.
David Green & Lawrence Cromwell. Mutual Aid or Welfare State: Australia’s Friendly Societies. Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1984.
P. Gosden. The Friendly Societies in England, 1815-1875. Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1961.
P. Gosden. Self-Help: Voluntary Associations in the 19th Century. Batsford Press, London, 1973. Albert Loan. “Institutional Bases of the Spontaneous Order: Surety and Assurance.” Humane Studies Review, Vol. 7, no. 1, 1991/92.
Leslie Siddeley. “The Rise and Fall of Fraternal Insurance Organizations.” Humane Studies Review, Vol. 7, no. 2, 1992. S.
David Young. The Rule of Experts: Occupational Licensing in America. Cato Institute, Washington, 1987.
- “From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State: Fraternal Societies and Social Services, 1890-1967” (Book) - https://www.amazon.com/Mutual-Aid-Welfare-State-Fraternal/dp/0807848417/
Political takeover of medicine:
- Best book is Harris Coulter’s “Divided Legacy, Vol. III” - recently reprinted by the Brownstone Institute.
5.
BUT… we’re not there yet.
- So how do we start building NOW, while that rotten system is still in place?
- And how do we build a cushion, to support the people who are dependent on this rotten system?
- Health care that respects individual choice;
- Mutual aid instead of welfare;s
- Elder care, special-needs care, etc.
- It’s already happening. And many of the people at this conference are a part of it.
A. BUILD PARALLEL SYSTEMS:
- GoldCare, Remnant Nursing, Functional Nursing Academy, concierge health-care services that respect individual autonomy and offer non-pharmaceutical, non-allopathic alternatives alongside “conventional” services;
- Alternatives to insurance;
- Surgery Center of OK;
- Underground, informal “systems” - just networks of people who refer others to “like minded” practitioners;
- Parallel medical research:
- Pre-print platforms;
- How Kevin McKernan ignited open peer replication of results with DNA contamination in Covid vaccine;
- Independent medical journals;
- Dale Brown, private protection.
Podcasts with Kevin McKernan re: Broken peer review and solutions:
- https://www.bretigne.com/p/kevin-mckernan-is-the-peer-review-983
- https://www.bretigne.com/p/kevin-mckernan-on-revolutionizing-ca2
- https://www.bretigne.com/p/is-fiat-science-starting-to-crumble
Podcast with Dr. Keith Smith of the Oklahoma Surgery Center: https://www.bretigne.com/p/revolutionizing-healthcare-with-dr-00c
My article about private alternative to policing: https://www.theadvocates.org/do-you-ever-get-the-feeling-the-police-arent-working-for-us/
6.
B. Operate in the PRIVATE:
- What this means: PMA, PBO, etc.
- For profit or non-profit
- OUTSIDE of jurisdiction of the regulatory state
- Still CRIMINALLY liable (for actual crimes, not code violations etc.)
- My grandmother’s story
- The history - how widespread, what kind of services and care offered
Link to my grandmother’s story: https://www.theadvocates.org/how-mutual-aid-cared-for-my-grandmother/
C. Nullification:
I said above that govt is a monopoly—but since there is some decentralization built in to our system, we have at least one tool to fight this monopoly: Nullification.
- TenthAmendmentCenter
- Generally requires political action - local
- Examples of success: Cannabis, etc.
- The catch: Local politicians have to be willing to forego federal money (because that’s the carrot they will hold over them)
- … the good news: There may not BE any federal money to hand out soon!
- What ELSE could be nullified?
- CBDCs and other programmable, digital currencies;
- 15-minute cities & other climate agenda items;
- Immunity from liability for pesticide cos, vax cos, etc.;
- Ag regulations requiring farmers to send cattle to distant slaughter houses, etc.
- Other regulations limiting what people can grow, buy, sell.
- TSA
The Tenth Amendment Center’s “State of the Nullification Movement Report” - https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/report/
7.
D. Common-Law remedies:
- Notices of Liability
- My experience:
- 30+ NOLs,
- CA Surgeon General resigned
- Asserting sovereignty informally - my hospital experience, etc.
E. BUILD COMMUNITY. Locally and otherwise.
- A huge part of the foundation for getting everything else done.
- And it can be as simple as hosting dinner parties or movie nights in your home.
8.
F. My idea: Special Economic Zones here in the US
- What is an SEZ? How would it work?
- China
- Separate jurisdiction with its own rules
- Attract investors
- Examples of enterprises: Hospitals, schools, manufacturing, farming, retail, energy production, hospitality… really, anything… (but especially hospitals!!!)
- We’d need local and/or state governments to cooperate with us - probably state and county.
- The incentive for them to do so:
- Attracts investment to their state/county, tax revenue
- Downstream benefits: Attracts more businesses & families to nearby areas
- Possible deals to provide services to local residents
9.
G. Biggest challenge: HOLDING THE CRIMINALS ACCOUNTABLE. Our system does not do this.
- Ultimately, we need to create an entirely new legal system. One that cannot be used to protect criminals in powerful positions.
- Most egregious example: Hospital murders.
-In a sane world, the perpetrators would face criminal charges: Murder. In our world, we have to find other grounds for suing them: Grace Schara case, Danielle Alvarez.
- This is the bare minimum we should expect from a justice system. And we don’t have it.
- When medical institutions are free to kill their patients, over and over again, and nobody ends up in prison for it, we do not have a functioning justice system.
- Near impossible in a monopoly-state justice system.
- We need non-monopoly justice systems.
- Based on natural law/ common law, not administrative/statutory law.
- Not founded on a monopoly.
- Further resources for why I think this, and how an alternative system could work. (See my handout.)
References:
Podcast with economist Bob Murphy on private justice: https://www.bretigne.com/p/what-is-anarcho-capitalism-and-whats
Bob Murphy’s “Chaos Theory” - https://mises.org/library/book/chaos-theory-two-essays-market-anarchy
Murray Rothbard, “Power and Market” - https://www.amazon.com/Power-Market-LvMI-Murray-Rothbard-ebook/dp/B0076DHHEQ/
David Friedman, “The Machinery of Freedom” - https://www.amazon.com/Machinery-Freedom-Guide-Radical-Capitalism-ebook/dp/B00LNDWWMW
Hans Hermann-Hoppe, “The Private Production of Defense” - https://mises.org/essays-political-economy/private-production-defense
Hospital murders:
“What the Nurses Saw” -
https://whatthenursessaw.com/
Rebecca Charles, mother of Danielle -
TN Liberty Network on the money trail: https://www.brasscheck.com/video/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/TLN-Follow-the-Money-Series-Financial-Incentives-t.pdf
Daily Clout on ventilator deaths: https://dailyclout.io/hospital-murder-attorney-unveils-shocking-survival-rates-among-mechanically-ventilated-covid-patients/
Zowe Smith “My Life in the Thrill Kill Medical Cult” - https://www.amazon.com.au/COVID-Code-Life-Thrill-Medical/dp/B0DR3QCMJG - interview here: https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/zowe-smith-medical-coder-defender-podcast
10.
IN CONCLUSION:
- We are standing at a unique point in time. Because of this, we have an incredible opportunity and an incredible responsibility
- We do not need to put a lot of energy into fighting the existing system. It is collapsing itself because of its own nature.
- Our focus should be on BUILDING. And we have the tools to do it:
- Building parallel solutions, parallel systems;
- But even more critically, building the foundations-including a system of justice that actually protects individual rights-for the world that our children and grandchildren will inherit.
========
Where to find me:
On Substack: www.Bretigne.com (also Fantastical Contraption (my fiction), Building Parallel Solutions (private Substack group)
email: bretigne@gmail.com
My books:
“Alligator” short story collection;
“Davey Sunshine and the Big Pandemic” - coming soon!