A Nation of Sheep - Dependent On DC

CapitalismMagazine.com ^ | february 9th, 2002 | By Walter Williams

[vannrox]

A Nation of Sheep -
Dependent On DC
By Walter Williams
CapitalismMagazine.com
february 9th, 2002

"The shift from personal autonomy to dependence on government is perhaps the defining characteristic of modern American politics. In the span of barely one lifetime, a nation grounded in ideals of individual liberty has been transformed into one in which federal decisions control even such personal matters as what health care we buy -- a nation now so bound up in detailed laws and regulation that no one can know what all the rules are, let alone comply with them." That's the opening statement in Boise State University Professor Charlotte Twight's new book, "Dependent on D.C."

 

What accounts for this monumental change in American ethos? Twight says that Alexis de Tocqueville, observing America in the 1830s, explains it in his book "Democracy in America" in a section titled, "What Sort of Despotism Democratic Nations Have to Fear."

 

De Tocqueville envisioned a "species of oppression" that would be "unlike anything that ever before existed in the world" -- rule by "guardians" rather than tyrants. De Tocqueville saw Americans submitting to "an immense and tutelary power, which takes it upon itself alone to secure their gratifications and to watch over their fate." Every once in a while, de Tocqueville believed people would "shake off their state of dependence just long enough to select their master and then relapse into it again."

 

With ample references, Twight demonstrates how Americans became a nation of sheep. First, there's been a ruthless and successful attack on the rule of law. Rule of law means there's governance by known general rules, equality before the law, certainty of the law, a permanent legal framework and independent judicial review of administrative decisions.

 

These specifications of the rule of law have been emasculated. No one can possibly know the thousands of pages of rules published by the IR S, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of pages of laws applicable to health care, banking, education, pensions, agriculture, ad infinitum. There's arbitrary discretionary power exemplified by rules like requiring government permission to disconnect an automobile air bag, or members of Congress deciding to enact agricultural and dairy price-supports or sugar tariffs depending upon whether the agriculture, dairy or sugar lobby contributed to their political campaigns.

 

Twight points out that the U.S. Supreme Court, whose function is to protect the Constitution, has become a part of the mob to destroy it. For example, the Court has facilitated congressional use of the Constitution's "commerce clause" to abuse liberty. The Court's 1942 decision in Wickard vs. Filburn gave Congress the power to regulate anything. In that case, the Court remarkably held that the interstate commerce clause could be used to regulate an individual farmer's wheat production for his family's consumption. The reasoning was that since the farmer grew his own wheat, he affected interstate commerce; otherwise, he might have purchased wheat that had moved in interstate commerce.

 

"Dependent on D.C." discusses how real or purported crises often provide carte blanche for the expansion of government authority, and that's a thought especially relevant as Congress and the president use the war on terrorism as cover to seek more control over our lives.

 

Government control of education has created "despotism over the mind." Twight cites one writer who said, "There can be no greater stretch of arbitrary power than is required to seize children from their parents, teach them whatever the authorities decree they shall be taught, and expropriate from the parents the funds to pay for the procedure." Government education teaches acquiescence to its authority.

 

Twight closes by saying that to regain our liberties we must, like the signers of the Declaration of Independence, commit "our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor" to that effort.

 

c. 2002 Creators Syndicate, Inc

[vannrox]

The Democrats have created a NATION OF SHEEP. Wake up America. Arm yourselves and fight back.

[NormsRevenge]

BAAAAAAAA-BUMP

[Free the USA]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[Russell Scott]

Ahh, great days are just ahead if you love God and His plan! Its beyond natural ability to understand how wonderful its going to be. The evil of this world is going to be overthrown and abolished so fast its going to make your head spin.

Isaiah 60
1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
4 Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.
5 Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.
6 The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the LORD.
7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.
8 Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?
9 Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.
10 And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.
11 Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.
12 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.

[Bob J]

TONIGHT! 6pm PDT/9pm EDT Unspun With AnnaZ and Guest Hostess DIOTIMA!

ELECTIONS and OMISSIONS!

Plus, let's hear from FReepers around the country about what you're doing in YOUR local area with the midterm elections!

Call in! 1-868-RadioFR!

Click HERE for RadioFR Archives!

Click HERE for the RadioFR Chat Room!

[dheretic]

Nice try but God really doesn't care about politics

[buffyt]

LIVE FREE ~ OR DIE.

[Orion]

The Democrats have created a NATION OF SHEEP.

Ahem...
They had lots of help from the "loyal" opposition. I don't see any Pubbies making any progress toward individual liberty.

Keep listening to Rush. The Pubbies are blameless, freedom loving, patriots. How do they stand on the income tax? Affirmative Action? Welfare? Spending, spending, and spending?

[Ahban]

http://www.constitutionparty.com

[WaterDragon]

Here's another excellent review of Dependent on DC

It's an amazing book!

[weikel]

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship.
The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence:
from bondage to spiritual faith
from spiritual faith to great courage
from courage to liberty
from liberty to abundance
from abundance to selfishness
from selfishness to complacency
from complacency to apathy
from apathy to dependency (America is here)
from dependency back to bondage." -Alexander Tyler

Big Bump

[supercat]

The Democrats have created a NATION OF SHEEP.

Everything worthwhile that humans do is driven by a need to improve. Whether people improve themself, their pocketbook, or their world, they have a fundamental need to improve something.

The fundamental nature of liberalism is to undermine people's individual need for improvement. The liberal leadership cast their claimed goals in all sorts of high-sounding rhetoric, but their real goal is to create a class of slaves by ensuring that everything is just "good enough" to prevent the slaves from seeking anything better.

The liberal idealists are trying to recreate Eden(*). What they fail to grasp is that not only was God unable to make Eden compatible with the human spirit, and not only is mankind going to be less capable than God, but if mankind were to recreate Eden it would be Hell on Earth.

(*)The liberal leadership, or at least key players in it, have no such goal. As noted above, they seek to create slaves. They rely, however, upon a large number of idealistic "useful idiots"; it is the latter who wish to recreate Eden.

[hosepipe]

Good Article....
I wish it was'nt true. But, alas it is.
Americans will only revolt if the fed. TELLS THEM TO.
Why, a revolution would put a serious kink in their/our lifestyles.

[supercat]

I don't see any Pubbies making any progress toward individual liberty.

Ron Paul seems pretty good in that regard. In general, though, the Republican Party is sorely lacking.

In some cases, the problem is RINOs. In others, it's an over-willingness to "compromise"/appease to try to make what they see as gains in the areas that they care about. A more fundamental problem, though, is the lack of people who possess all three of the following qualities needed to preserve human freedom and dignity:

1. Respect for morality, ethics, and human dignity
2. An understanding of human nature
3. The power to act usefully

Unfortunately, most of the people who have (2) and (3) fundamentally lack (1), those who have (1) and (3) lack (2), and those who have (1) and (2) lack (3).

Perhaps the biggest problem is that nearly everyone in society has accepted what I might call "the liberal creed" [though there are many damaging beliefs that might earn that title, I think this one is fundamental].

Hardship is bad, and should be eliminated to the extent possible.

The above creed is simple and obvious, and would seem indisputable. It is also, however, FUNDAMENTALLY WRONG. Unfortunately, it has been so ingrained into people that anyone arguing against it will be seen as a crazed demon.

Fundamentally, the thing that makes human beings unique among the animal kingdom is the fundamental desire for improvement. Anything which one perceives can be improved will be perceived as a hardship. To be free of hardship is to see nothing worthy of improvement. Some might see a life truly free of hardship as being Eden. To anyone not a sheep, however, such an existence would be Hell on Earth.

Unfortunately, I don't know any way to make people realize that the liberal creed, while seemingly self-apparent, is in fact a vile lie.

BTW, as I was philosophical in various threads and come to new revelations like the above, I sometimes wonder if I should search through the archives and try to distil my various thoughts and posts on liberal philosophy into a unified essay. I suspect that many of the notions I'm touching upon are things others may not have thought of (since I've not seen them written anywhere before), but I feel like I'm perhaps finding certain formerly-unidentified elements of the Liberal Beast. I wonder if others here agree with my observations and can use them to help extract this evil cancer from society.

[spodefly]

bttt