NESARA and GESARA

I've recently been seeing mentions of NESARA and GESARA online, in conspiracy groups, and also on a badly painted sign at at least one local protest. So I did a little bit of reading to find out what it's all about. So, if you've seen these terms being used and, like me, have no idea what they mean, here's a quick description of their real world meaning and what the conspiracy theorists wrongly think they're all about.

In reality NESARA was the National Economic Security and Recovery Act, a set of economic reforms for the United States that were proposed by Harvey Francis Barnard, an engineering consultant. Barnard wrote a proposal titled “Draining the Swamp: Monetary and Fiscal Policy Reform” in the 1990s, and in it he promoted the idea of his NESARA Act. He sent copies to members of Congress, hoping that they'd see his genius and vote in his new rules. Barnard's plan was to overhaul large parts of the US economy, with ideas like scrapping income tax (and replacing it with a sales tax), abolishing compound interest on loans, and returning to the Gold Standard (well, technically a “bimetallic currency” of both gold and silver). The bill, unsurprisingly, went nowhere.

In conspiracy circles NESARA (often erroneously called the National Economic Security and Reformation Act or the National Economic Stabilization and Recovery Act) is an Act that not only introduces the Gold Standard and the removal of income tax, but also abolishes the Internal Revenue Service, cancels all personal debt and declares world peace! The Act was apparently successfully voted on back in March 2000, and was then signed into law by Bill Clinton. But just as the law was due to come into force, on September the 11th, 2001, a major terrorist attack put a stop to its implementation. Since then, military officials have been trying in vain to enact this new law. Shaini Goodwin from Ramtha's School of Enlightenment, operating under the name "Dove of Oneness", appears to have been the genesis of this conspiracy theory, although familiar names such as Sherry Shriner (whose story is documented in a podcast called The Opportunist) also seem to be involved in its spread. UFOs, aliens, Jesus, reptilians and fake wars have all been woven into the story.

GESARA is an extension of the conspiracy side of NESARA, with the G standing for Global instead of the National in NESARA. I guess conspiracy theorists outside of the US were feeling left out, and so an expanded version of this law that would restructure the global financial system was imagined and added to the conspiracy.

So, there we have it. The reality is that NESARA was a crackpot economic idea from someone who didn't understand economics, and unsurprisingly the US government just ignored it. Conspiracy theorists have taken that idea and run with it, imagining secrets and lies, subterfuge, and a global battle between the forces of good and evil. I can imagine this conspiracy probably appeals to many people, because most of us have some kind of debt in our lives, and it would certainly be nice to wake up one day and have that yoke of debt lifted from our shoulders. But, alas, this idea of our debts being suddenly wiped out one day is not reality - it looked cool when it happened at the end of the movie Fight Club, but it's just a case of wishful thinking, and a total lack of critical thinking to boot.