Hard to believe I am going to open this one with a quote from a fictional character.
by J. Marshall Presnell
"No
dictator, no invader, can hold an imprisoned population by the force of arms
forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom.
Against that power - governments and tyrants and armies cannot stand. The
Centauri learned this lesson once. We will teach it to them again. Though it
take a thousand years - We Will Be Free." -- G'Kar of Narn, on the
subjugation of his home world, Narn
--------------
I've
been sleeping. And so have you. Like being plugged into the matrix, we've been
living in a dream world. We've become apathetic, and we need a kick in our
complacency.
I
recently broke free and woke up. It was like coming home after a very long
vacation - back to the grind of living day to day; going to work; leading my
life; having to deal with harsh reality. But what woke up in me was a
realization that we are living in a tyrannical state. It's already happened,
and we somehow missed it.
Tyranny: 1:
oppressive power; 2: a government in which absolute power is vested
in a single ruler; 3: an oppressive, harsh, or unjust act
This
happened long long ago, before some of you were born. It happened when we
decided, as a collective nation, that it was okay for government to take care
of us. WE put the government in the role of father and mother, and then we
decided to revert to being children. In that singular moment, we gave up our
freedoms and opened the path for tyranny.
It
wasn't obvious of course. There are no brightly lit road signs that say 'This
way to tyranny' - the road signs (hints really) are buried within history's
lessons, within the application of logic, and within the founding philosophical
principles of our government's creation.
Is
it any wonder that accurate history, logical thinking, and fundamentals of philosophy
are the forbidden fruit of public education nowadays? Is it any wonder that
those subjects are no longer taught, or are taught in only highly revisionist
terms?
Our
generation is most likely lost. We will most likely never personally taste the
sweet wine of freedom again.
The
only hope we have as a truly free country, and as a unique culture, is hidden
deep within our subsequent generations. Our country was formed based on five
words. Five very simple words: "GET OUT OF OUR LIVES!" That was the whole
meaning behind the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution.
The
problem is a subtle one, and a philosophical and logical one: We have given the
government rights that we had no authority to give them. Fundamentally, you cannot
give away something that you do not possess yourself.
We
have certain rights granted to us by the fact that we are sentient beings: We
have the right to life, to defend ourselves, to worship how we please, to
express ourselves, and a host of others. We do NOT have the right to deny
others' their rights. This is called 'natural rights theory' and is the
cornerstone of American constitutional government. It's also one of the
fundamental theories of libertarianism.
I
do not have the right to go to my neighbor's house (Hey Joe!) and kill him for
fun. But WHY? The answer is simple: that act would deprive him of his right to
life. No matter what I have the right do, that is the one singular thing I may
not do: deprive someone else of their rights. That being said, there are people
(and institutions) who WILL attempt to deprive you of your rights. For that, we
have the right to defend ourselves. While we cannot INITIATE force against
others, we have a right to defend ourselves with force against those who
attempt to deprive us of our rights. (This is the basis of the second
amendment, and if logically applied, means that we would have to have weaponry
of the same quality and nature as any force that could be used against us -
i.e. military grade weapons)
To
extrapolate that to government, we have the right to build a military to defend
us against incursions of our collective national rights, but we do NOT have the
right to pre-emptively use that force against others. Natural rights theory
explicitly prohibits a hostile expansionist empire on a national scale.
If
you look at the constitution, you will see a codified embodiment of natural
rights applied to a governmental framework. Just like the rights of citizens,
the government has some subset of those rights too, BUT CAN NOT have any rights
that are not derived from citizens' natural rights.
Under
natural rights theory, income tax is prohibited. It is a forcible confiscation
of your property - your paycheck. You can't go to your neighbor and steal his
income, can you? So how can we (the people) give that ability to a third party?
Answer: we can't. It's not ours to give.
Under
natural rights theory, socialized health care is prohibited. It deprives people
of the ability to work for whom they choose, for a rate mutually agreed to
between the two parties. I can't go to my mechanic and mandate that to fix a
transmission, he will only be paid $200.00 and he MUST provide it at that rate,
can I? Since I do not have that right, then I cannot give that right to government
either.
Of
course, some people bring up social security at this point. "Well, if you
don't believe in Social Security, you shouldn't take any of the benefits!"
Social Security IS a violation of natural rights. I cannot steal part of my
neighbor's income and put it into an account that he can't touch until
retirement, so I can't give that right to government, can I? However, after
being FORCED to participate against my will (a violation of my rights), I CAN
reclaim my own stolen property after the fact- which IS valid under natural
rights theory.
For
about 100 years, we partially operated under natural rights theory. There were
a lot of problems, a lot of terrible problems, but when applied universally,
those problems go away. Slavery could not have endured under a complete
implementation of natural rights, because it is patently obvious that slavery
is a violation of the slaves' natural rights. Our 'manifest destiny' period
would not have been authorized as it was a violation of other countries'
derived natural rights.
Freedom
is not easy. It's never been. It's very hard, and very scary, and not for the
timid or ignorant.
We
have three defensive weapons at our disposal for dealing with a government that
violates our rights and becomes tyrannical: The first and second amendments to
the constitution, and our ballots. We used to have four. I'll leave it to you
to figure out the one we gave away - by a vote.
The
first amendment guarantees that the government cannot squelch unpopular speech
(why would the government want to squelch POPULAR speech, eh?) - It means that
I can go right up into the face of government and tell it exactly what I think.
And there's not a damn thing it can do about it. It means that a filmmaker can
make an anti-muslin film and not face any reprisals from the government
(whoops!). It means that you can gather your friends - a few million of them
even - and march on the white house. You can make as much noise as you want. It
also guarantees that the government will not interfere with religious
establishments. (Go look up who were the first people rounded up by the British
pre-revolution) It also guarantees that you can petition the government for any
wrongs you believe it has perpetuated. The main thing - the IMPORTANT thing -
is that even if you are one sole voice in the wilderness - the ultimate
minority - the government can't silence you.
We
are free to criticize, malign, make fun of, and demonize the government all we
want. We are free to try to mold public opinion. Try to build coalitions of
people and organizations. Those are our natural rights - possessed by all, and
enshrined in the bill of rights as the FIRST right.
We
have ballots. We can kick the rascals out of office and out of our lives. Well,
as long as we have the elections, that is.
And
finally - when all else fails - the last hope of defense. The second amendment
that says that the PEOPLE have the right to keep and bear arms. When push comes
to shove, and a government finally reaches that tragic tipping point where no
other action is possible - we have the right - and the duty - to take them on
by force of arms. In natural rights theory, it IS permissible to defend
yourselves against those who infringe on your rights. This amendment is the
'nuclear option' in our constitution.
Those
three items are our weapons.
We
have no others.
We
live in a country that was founded on the principle that no matter how big the
majority was, it could not touch an individual's rights. The ultimate minority
- ONE PERSON - can stand against the assembled masses of millions of people,
state and federal governments, and claim, "No, you won't - it would
violate my rights" - and they would WIN.
That
country is gone.
In
the past few weeks, we've seen how government agencies regard our rights. (And
note, there have been numerous instances of this type of behavior in EVERY
administration for over 100 years - it is NOT specific to President Obama even though
I will be using him as an example. Republicans are just as bad. Other democrats
are just as bad. Don't take away the wrong message here.)
The
very foundation of the income tax itself is a violation of natural rights
theory. We've known that for a while. But when you use the tax collecting arm
of the government to harass certain types of groups - groups which are
antithetical to expanding government - well, you have a violation of the first
amendment (as well as the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment).
When
you have the EPA playing fee games with those who are advocating limited
government, charging them for FOIA requests at a rate substantially higher than
for those who are friends of the administration - well, once again we have a
problem with the 1st and 14th amendments.
When
congress passes a law that mandates that you purchase something, say health
insurance - you are violating free association rights. For the right to
associate with whomever you please also implicitly carries the right to
associate with no one.
When
the government jails a filmmaker for producing a video that is unpopular -
you've violated his first amendment rights.
When
the DOJ seizes phone records for reporters (free press, remember?) performing
the normal course of their work - exposing and reporting on problems - you're
violating the first amendment.
There
will be those who attempt to justify these violations. Hell, there will be
those who sing the praises of these actions. These people are what I call the
'ignorati' - they are ignorant of facts, history, logic, and philosophy. And
they will be the death of this country because they can't see consequences.
------------
"You’ll
hear voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some
separate, sinister entity that’s the root of all our problems, even as they do
their best to gum up the works; or that tyranny always lurks just around the
corner. You should reject these voices."
-- Barack Obama
------------
Tyranny
isn't around the corner anymore. These acts are its face. And it needs to be
stopped.
While
you may not like some of the people who have been targeted, you may want to
support their right to say what they are saying. Because it won't be too long
before they come for you. Then who will defend your rights?
It
will get much worse before it gets any better. It's gone unchecked for a
century, and it may just take G'Kar's thousand years to regain the freedoms we squandered.
------------
"America
will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
--- Abraham Lincoln
