In the first part of this series (which must be read to understand many of the concepts here), I reviewed how many different industries are dominated by individuals who will put profits before human lives — and that this happens to a degree that is often difficult to even imagine. The military industrial complex, and the recent war in Ukraine best embody this grotesque facet of the human condition, but the same patterns are seen in many other fields as well.

As a longtime environmentalist, one of the most depressing things I have watched in my lifetime has been major polluters hijacking the environmental movement and transforming it from something that fought to against the destruction of our air and water to a fanatical crusade against (harmless) carbon dioxide. Sadder still, this crusade has gradually become a war and has adopted the same playbook used by the parties which lust for complete power over the citizenry.