Why? Because ideologically they're all on the same page - centralizing power & revenue control from a base of secret opaqueness - to benefit themselves.

Bingo. I've recently been pondering human energy. That's all we are, after all, energy. And we use our energy in many different ways. Raising children. Creating art. Working in a factory. Farming. Building a house. Worrying. Shitting. Making mead.

Love is a form of energy, and IMO is the basis for all human energy. One could argue that fear is the real basis, but I would say it's love. Fear, and all other negative energies, are the product of love. Consider that you get angriest at those you love the most, and you fear for them the most as well. If a stranger almost gets hit by a car, you probably won't get angry at them, but if someone you love does, you very well may.

Power and revenue, the basis of my response, how does that figure?

Let's get back to our individual energy. We work. We struggle. And what do we have to show for it? Maybe property, but more likely money. Money is the socially agreed upon, acceptable, transformable unit of energy. That's what it is. If I grow an ear of corn, my energy, along with that of the sun, etc., is transferred into that corn. I sell that corn and get a unit of currency. That currency represents energy.

But here's where it gets tricky. First, governments can simply print the currency. Are they creating energy? Of course not. By printing currency, they are stealing your energy. Energy is limited, that's why it has value. Currency only has value to the extent that it reflects the limited energy it symbolizes. When governments print currency without the backup of energy, they're stealing by devaluing the representational value of that currency.

But there's another form of theft of our energy, and that's anything we give money to that doesn't provide our community (not necessarily us as individuals) with equivalent benefits on an energy basis. Government is a prime example of this as are religions.

This is why I quit giving money to charity. I simply don't trust that the energy my money represents will be translated into the equivalent amount of help to the targeted need via those charities. I don't trust them, as I don't trust governments or pretty much anybody else asking for money. If I want to help someone, I'll use my own energy directly if possible.