In a nutshell, Joe Hunt, co-founder of the infamous Billionaire Boys Club, was attributed with the phrase “Lie when it’s to your benefit,” which was quickly coined as The Paradox Philosophy. While the pundit who coined it may not have personally conversed with all the members of the Billionaire Boys Club, I have.

It is highly improbable to believe that a single individual could come up with the so-called Paradox Philosophy and find themselves serving multiple life sentences in a level 4 maximum protection prison chapel. Only the truly powerful and intellectually inclined could conceive such an idea. Some have even managed to convince the entire world that they are total nincompoops, which is a part of what the Paradox Philosophy is about.

The stakes would have to be immense, and those employing the Philosophy would need to be bold and fearless enough to impose the ideology despite its contradictions and inherent danger to humanity as a whole.

Only a President of the United States of America and his close constituents could pull this off without ending up in prison.

Consider that the following wars were deeply influenced and guided by The Paradox Philosophy: The war on Poverty (U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963-69), The war on Drugs (U.S. President Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981-89), The war on Terrorism (U.S. President George W. Bush, 2001-present).

None of these so-called wars were ever intended to be won, such as achieving complete annihilation or total suppression of the enemy.

Arguably, poverty, drugs (illegal and legal), and terrorism are enemies of all mankind. I have come to reason, as I’m sure many U.S. residents have, that our government either cannot defeat the enemies or simply does not desire to. It is more likely that our leaders lack the motivation.

In a 1964 essay by George Orwell titled “Politics and the English Language,” he describes four methods by which truth is concealed through debased speech by those responsible for fatal political actions:

1. Pretentious diction
2. Verbal false limbs
3. Dying metaphors
4. Meaningless vocabulary

It appears evident that as a country, we enjoy being lied to by our government leaders. Did anyone truly believe, then or now, that LBJ genuinely intended to launch a comprehensive attack on poverty in the U.S. and, even more unbelievably, succeed?

In reality, if we strip away the pretentious diction, verbal false limbs, dying metaphors, and meaningless vocabulary, it becomes apparent (in hindsight) that President Johnson did indeed plan to launch and win a war. However, the war was not against poverty itself, but against the perception of poverty. Two very different wars.

What the Commander-in-Chief truly intended was for poverty to no longer be labeled as such. Oh yes, poverty may still exist, and it does. But we now refer to ourselves as upper, middle, or lower-class residents of the nation.

The word poverty should no longer even enter civil discussions. We observe it, label it as something different than what it truly is, and voila! The war is won.

Let’s focus on Ronald W. Reagan, famously known as The Great Communicator. We will set aside discussions of Reaganomics and the Star Wars Strategic Defense System and concentrate on what is widely considered a blatant yet captivating lie: The War on Drugs.

We all want to believe in the necessity and urgency of the war on drugs and its resolute victory. However, this belief does not extend to former President Ronald Reagan and his group, who were instrumental in formulating the idea.

How can one expect to win a war on drugs when the wrong enemy is being fought? The primary battle should be fought at our borders, plain and simple. If drugs were stopped at the borders or, ideally, prevented from entering our borders altogether, theoretically, all remaining illicit and illegal drugs in the U.S. would eventually dry up or run out.

But what has transpired since the Gipper initiated the war on drugs in this country? Mostly, street-level drug consumers and sellers have been incarcerated, inundating the penal system.

Despite this, gargantuan quantities of drugs continue to enter the U.S. through various means such as planes, underground networks, ships, and different smuggling methods.

However, it’s not all negative. I am no pessimist. Mr. Reagan, through the initiation of the war on drugs, created countless jobs for agencies like the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) and other newly established entities meant to combat the drug trade.

We now understand that the creation of the war on drugs served as a means to generate employment, paid with the blood currency of political platforms supported by the lower-class citizens who fell victim to the war on drugs.

Furthermore, a wave of undereducated individuals lacking social skills began filling positions as correctional officers in the growing number of prisons constructed to house those deemed domestic enemy combatants in the war on drugs.

It can even be argued that Mr. Reagan bolstered the economy and families by initiating a war that was never intended to be won. The gift that keeps on giving.

Finally, we come to George W. Bush and his war on terrorism. I will refrain from insulting you or wasting time pointing out the contradictions of this so-called war.

However, there is something that must not go unsaid.

The so-called war on terrorism will never be decisively won as far as the U.S. is concerned. Why? Because this ploy, along with various iterations, will continue to be used for decades as a justification to interfere in the affairs of other nations and systematically strip our own citizens of the rights guaranteed to us by the United States Constitution and the very fact that we are human beings.

So, there is no victory in the war on terrorism, at least not from the perspective of the average person.

These fake wars of The Paradox Philosophy have forged a new world.

Anything that deviates from the truth is mere gibberish.

War on poverty? War on drugs? War on terrorism? Gibberish.

Living behind bars for twenty-three out of twenty-four hours, receiving food through a slot in the door, and being deprived of the resources that would uplift one’s spirits is just a part of what Brian’s current “life” consists of. Brian Franklin Thames describes the complete mockery of justice in which he found himself, the wrongful centerpiece, the flawed procedure that led to his incarceration, and the unwavering, unyielding hope of once again living in a free world.