It occurs to me -- it's become a fairly commonplace and untested belief that we, here in the United States of America, have become too rich, too well-educated, too civilized, and just beyond that sort of thing, for there ever to be another civil war or revolutionary war or serious armed rebellion. Not now, in the 21st century. And certainly not with guns. There will be no fighting to the death over politics here. Our polity has grown beyond all that icky conflict. It's no longer a matter of whether there should be a social preference for the ballot over the bullet. The question now is whether it will be the ballot or the bribe that decides our collective situation.
And it occurs to me that if it is true that it is flat impossible to present a serious armed challenge to the government, then it is only a matter of when, and not if, the constitutional guaranteed limits on government becomes a mere historical fun fact, having no contemporary meaning at all.
Government is all about regulation, control, power, and the dependency of the governed on the government for whatever security the governed may get out of the deal. People being what they are and government agencies being what they are, government involvement in one's everyday life will necessarily increase right up to whatever limits on its growth might exist. Without at least the possible chance that government could be overthrown by force, there is no effective limit to the growth of government. The government busies will always find it necessary for yet another regulation, yet one more punishment, another license to be obtained and another agency to be consulted, all for the so called common good. They can't help themselves and it isn't reasonable to expect that they could ever resist the temptation, once the notion occurs to them. Most of them do their job sincerely intending to provide a benefit when passing a new law or making a new regulation. It's just that consequences are frequently unintended and unanticipated. There is no "too much" built into our system of government as things now stand, and mistakes can and do happen frequently.
So, am I advocating armed rebellion? Oh, for heavens sake of course not. That would be horrible. It's just that when armed rebellion truly becomes unthinkable -- then we've all lost the liberty that this country reached for in 1776.
I simply think it would be healthier if we decide that rebellion is far from necessary, for now, for the time being, and not that rebellion is totally unthinkable.
Oh, and once in a while tar and feathers should be applied, simply for purposes of improving the breed, so to speak.
1 comment:
It is clear that we need a revolution of some kind. It is a vicious cycle that we are in of reliance on the government. With programs like food stamps, welfare and now recently health care it's no wonder government gets bigger and bigger. It's time we start relying on ourselves and building up the private sector businesses. With so many people out there dependent on government assistance it's become nearly impossible to elect officials who are for less government. People refuse to bite the hand that feeds them. Those people need to wake up and realize that the "help" they receive isn't help at all and it's leading this country into complete control by the government. This makes us less and less free in a supposedly free country. Excellent blog, I really enjoy reading. Please continue writing because there are so many people that feel these same frustrations but aren't sure how to express themselves. Keeping the discussions going is the only way to make people aware of the direction this country is going.
Post a Comment