We need a hard reset on who we are—and who we allow to lead us.
Bullies and parasites are those in our neighborhoods and nations who steal from others and reduce them to slaves. They exploit lives to subsidize their own.
This happens in dictatorship and democracy. In communism and capitalism. In government and industry. In our country and worldwide, we all suffer under the manipulations and abuses of bullies and parasites.
It is time for us to recognize it, confront it, and change it.
We can only create a thriving, abundant future for all by replacing exploitation with mutual care.
Bullies start in the neighborhood, but go on to rule gangs, businesses, cities, nations. They victimize for gain, causing loss, poverty, injury, even death. They steal, hoard and bind us by lies, laws and fear. They claim privilege by inheritance, power or divine right. For millennia, they’ve spent our lives not for the common good but to secure dominance—through conquest, control and exploitation. They waste resources that should be used to prosper us all.
An ancient slogan of conquerors and kings has been “Force and Will!”—which literally means hurting others to get what you want.
Bullies glorify this as leadership. They pose as protectors of life, family and prosperity. And we buy it. We elect or support them while they keep us bound through false promises and fear. Our work subsidizes them. We multiply their wealth and power through the loss of our own.
With few exceptions, this has been the human story. If we think this is hyperbole, hype or hopeless, then their deceptions are working.
The goal is urgent: to see how exploitation threatens not just others—but us and those we love. If we are blind to that danger, or indifferent, we guarantee misery for our children’s futures and our own.
We can change it, if we truly see it.
Against exploitation and self-glory, some have stood out—individuals and movements who fearlessly exposed our human failings and then pointed the way to a more abundant future—mutual care.
Mutual care brings thriving and abundance. It frees us from bullies’ control. When we contribute our lives and resources to benefit each other—not them—we increase what’s available to enrich us all. A simple truth with a good result.
Critics scoff: “Nice idea, but naïve. We tried it. It doesn’t work.”
That’s true—for bullies and parasites. It doesn’t work for them. Mutual care ends their theft, hoarding, cruelty and lies. That’s the only sense in which mutual care “doesn’t work.”
So they try to frighten us away from trying it, or shame us as fools.
But for the rest of us, mutual care works. It brings us thriving and abundance. It’s wise, right and imperative: do it—or stay in servitude.
It is truly this simple: Protect each other’s rights, meet each other’s needs. True leadership does exactly this. We thrive when we help each other thrive. Together we create and share abundance.
We can choose that—but first we must fully understand where and how bullies and parasites steal abundance—by stealing from us. That is the first half of this book: exposing the methods of their serial thefts and murders. A wrenching discovery—but necessary for our futures.
We are not predestined to their control. It is neither inevitable nor eternal. But it is where we are now. The sooner we see it, the sooner we free ourselves from it—and our children—and all the generations ahead.
Ironically, the most perfectly selfish thing you can do to ensure care and thriving for yourself and those you love… is to ensure it for all.
When mutual care replaces exploitation, abundance stays with those who make it—you and me. We protect each other. We help each other thrive.
The practical “how” of leadership and vision is the focus of the second half of this book: where no one is exploited, excluded or left behind.
It is right, fair, and wise. And it is time.
That’s what this whole book is about.