Posted on 11/08/2006 1:55:58 PM PST by joanie-f
More than two centuries ago, Thomas Jefferson observed, ‘Yes, we did produce a near-perfect republic. But will they keep it? Or will they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom? Material abundance without character is the path of destruction.’ Jefferson believed that America's survival lay primarily in the character of her people.
Likewise, Samuel Adams warned future generations by referring to ‘good manners’ as the vital ingredient a free society needs to survive. Adams said, ‘Neither the wisest Constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.’
As the few FReepers to whom I have pinged this probably know, I spent a lot of time over the past three weeks speaking to people about the need to re-elect Rick Santorum. While I was uplifted by the average person’s willingness to listen and comprehend -- and by the number who seemed to be swayed toward voting republican after listening and questioning -- it is still very disturbing to be personal witness to the number of voters who had intended to vote based on superficial perceptions resulting from snippets of campaign advertising, much of which was sheer distortion or out and out fabrication. For every one voter whose door was approached by a conservative intent on informing him, I am sure there were a thousand who entered the voting booth yesterday never having been ‘set straight’. It is beyond disheartening.
So, while I returned home every night uplifted by the fact that people are very one-on-one receptive, the ‘bigger picture’ is pretty grim.
With each succeeding year, the American populace becomes less informed and more special-interest oriented. Combining the ongoing illegal alien problem (whose solution is nowhere in sight) with the ‘education’ that our children are receiving in our public schools (placing less emphasis on our proud heritage, and civics in general, every year – focusing instead on phony, leftist multicultural philosophies), and the Marxist influence in virtually every institution of higher education, exactly what kind of optimistic view can we embrace of the intelligence/knowledge/allegiance of the new (both alien and youth) voters coming down the pike? Where is there a reason to believe that future disingenuous, un-American, anti-liberty candidates and programs will be held accountable by a citizenry that is even more apathetic, disinterested, special-interest-oriented, or leftist-indoctrinated than today’s voters?
Patriotism requires allegiance, education, strength, endurance, courage, resolve, and action. But it does not require the wearing of rose-colored glasses. Until our leadership addresses the illegal alien problem, until the number of voters who feed at the government socialist welfare/entitlement trough (as forewarned by deTocqueville) can be dramatically reduced, and until we determine to educate our children as to their proud heritage and the dangers posed by relinquishing it, election results will continue to fall in favor of powerful liars who can voice the biggest promises to the host of least informed minds.
I believe we are fighting a losing battle. But, unless and until the battle is lost, we are called to continue to do our part to keep the enemies (both foreign and domestic) at bay. To do any less would hold us just as accountable as those passive, 'sideline Americans' who choose not to be a part of the crusade to reclaim this republic from the scoundrels who call themselves leaders, but who bear no allegiance to our Founders and their vision.
I believe the results of yesterday’s election will have strong and insistent implications for the future of our republic. Barring a miracle of God, or a personal/spiritual epiphany on the part of the generally apathetic and/or ignorant-by-choice citizenry (the former is always possible; the latter grows more unlikely with each passing day), I believe that the following events are very likely to occur over the next few years.
Prepare for a dramatic increase in the invasion of America by an irresponsible, parasitic, malevolent army which chooses to thumb its nose at the critical concepts of the rule of law/national sovereignty by illegally crossing our southern border with the over-riding purpose of reaping the benefits of two-plus centuries of courage, moral sacrifice, work, excellence, and unprecedented prosperity … without any intention of contributing their own. In the process, and under the governance of left-leaning American ‘leadership’, they will play an integral role in the realization of the socialization of America. Even worse, we will witness the complete erasure of our borders, and the establishment of a North American Union, in knee-jerk deference to the eventual vision of one-world governance, under which our Constitution will become increasingly ridiculed, mocked, and eventually declared entirely irrelevant, and the vagaries of Marxist/socialist-authored and implemented international law will take precedence.
Personal and corporate industry will find themselves under relentless attack, with government, academia and media working feverishly to revoke the citizens’ right to keep the fruits of their labor, and replace it with a monstrous entitlement state which will ensure a massive, far-reaching, involuntary redistribution of wealth – aimed at punishing personal and business excellence and ambition and promoting personal and business mediocrity, with the end result being a dramatic increase in the power of the state and complete dependence on state largesse for our existence.
There will be continued erosion in respect for, and protection of, the institution of marriage and the nuclear family. Government will become even more of an advocate for homosexual rights, abortion rights, and laws which will continue to attack and destroy any notion of the importance personal responsibility for one’s own actions. Families will find themselves under relentless attack, with the government usurping increasing power over the lives and minds of the children of America, and with parents finding themselves serving simply as biological creators and temporary physical custodians of wards of the state.
Government intrusion into the education of our children will escalate. Despite the unconstitutionality of the federal government dictating education policy, it will continue its aims at leftist indoctrination of the generations to come through the political power implicit in loans, grants, regulations, activist court decisions, and curriculum manipulation. Government-controlled curricula will continue to downplay, if not eradicate, the importance of our constitutional heritage while indoctrinating our children in environmental mythology, globalist doctrine, and sexual liberation. As a result, future generations will not understand their proud roots, nor be willing to defend the noble society which emerged from them.
The federal government will continue to pass laws focused on driving up the cost of medical care, so as to eventually allow the government takeover of that all-important industry. The direct takeover of medical care in programs like Medicare and Medicaid, as well as the free hand that trial lawyers have obtained in dictating the terms of care (while coincidentally lining their own pockets, and those of the politicians to whom they choose to contribute) have played a major role in the destruction of what was once the most excellent health care system in the history of the human race. The government’s interference in the healthcare free market through ERISA mandates related to HMOs and other managed-care organizations, and the medical aspects of our tax code, will continue to undermine healthcare in American, while lining the pockets of the privileged few, driving good doctors out of business, and eventually placing the government in complete control of our health and well-being. When medical care is forced to circumvent government rules and bureaucratic management, it will not be long before the quality of each and every American’s life will be profoundly and inalterably affected.
The left will eventually impose its own brand of ‘faith’ on the American culture – a secular humanist ‘faith’ in which man and his needs and follies are the focus of ‘worship’, and the mention in the public square of the name of the one and true God becomes legally and politically verboten … there will arise an incrementally, governmentally-imposed ‘faith’ in which moral absolutes are deemed criminally intolerant and situational ethics are raised to the level of holy sanctimony.
The war on Islamic fascism will be transformed into a series of compromises with evil, including the retreat of American forces from the Middle East, which will result in brutality against liberty-oriented Middle Easterners that will rival the bloodshed that occurred in the killing fields of Cambodia. Our enemies, in the Middle East and the Far East especially, will become dramatically emboldened, and our genuine allies, Israel and Taiwan especially, will find themselves looking down the barrels of vicious, barbaric, unyielding guns … and, when they turn around to see who is watching their backs, they will see nothing but darkness.
There will be another terrorist attack (if not a simultaneous series of attacks) on America, made possible by a deadly combination of open borders and failed paper-tiger policies, which will make the holocaust of 9/11 seem like a walk in the park. The increased demands for vigilance, defense of sovereignty, and sense of nationalism that occurred five years ago have all but evaporated into the political ether, and the after-effects of what was surely our final wake-up call have fallen by the wayside. There will be no more wake-up calls. There will be death blows, after which America will be brought to her knees, pleading for mercy with barbaric madmen, and no longer capable of even whispering the word ‘freedom’, let alone defending that noble, precious, God-given gift.
The democrats controlled congress for forty years, from 1954 through 1994. Ronald Reagan was entirely responsible for paving the way for the Republican Revolution. The miraculous and providential accomplishments of the Reagan Revolution are now nothing but a fond memory. And, to those who believe that the pendulum will eventually swing back, and that conservatism will regain the prominence and power necessary to reclaim our beloved republic from the scoundrels, I say there is no time to wait to reclaim her again. We have run out of options and wiggle room. The hot breath of a mad and unprecedentedly barbaric and determined adversary, bent on our annihilation, is breathing down our necks now. They will not be denied ... nor does our current leadership – especially after yesterday’s election results – appear to have what it takes to hold them at bay.
The majority of Americans cannot continue to accept, at face value, leadership which says what we want to hear, and then proceeds to do as they wish (which, in the case of the current, and now future, leftist leadership on the Hill, requires the eventual subjugation of American citizens to the state, and the eventual subjugation of the American state to globalist governance). Simply put, the future of our republic will lie in the willingness of her people to take the time, and expend the effort, to look beneath the surface. Believing the words from the mouth of a leader is a conscious choice that must be made by every concerned citizen. As with any choice, it cannot be made without critical thought. Believing their words was okay when our leaders in Washington were virtuous. It is a deadly practice when they are anything less.
Over the last twenty-four hours, I have heard countless references to the need for bipartisanship and building bridges. Bridges are only as desirable and powerful as the relevance of what lies at the other end. I, for one, want no part of bridge-building, when doing so means creating a meandering, but single-minded, path to self-destruction.
For now, adieu.
BUMP!
Sadly, I don't see any opportunity for change in direction by our current 'leaders' on either side of the fence for at least another six years. By then, it may be too late.
The North American Union may already be a done deal, as long as they have been working on it on the sly.
Amnesty for illegals also appears to be a done deal in the near future, now that the dems will be joining many republicans in passing the 'reform' they've always wanted.
On another front, I find it strange, if not ominous, that for the first time in American history, a person sharing the political-economic-religious beliefs of the very enemy we are currently at war with has become a member of Congress.
I have no immediate thoughts on how to remedy.
Most of the American people have been trained to think and react like sentimental children, not to be critical, mature, analytical and ethical.
So much said in so few words -- and that one sentence describes why the citizenry is so easily led ... the reversal of which could dramatically reduce the power of the mainstream media, ivory tower academia, and the lying left, and lead us out of this self-imposed wilderness. But it will not happen. The mental sloth, apathy and ignorance is too ingrained.
Thank you for the excellent insights.
Amen, EV!
And sincere thanks for the kind words. Considering their source, I feel especially blessed.
Meant to ping you. Thanks for the heads up!
One thing to consider. The democRATs in either house cannot override a veto. W.'s pen is going to be busy, trust me.
The dems have won a battle in this election. They haven't won a war. It might be good to remind a gloating dem that, "Mission Accomplished," was accolades for a battle won, not a war. A war has many missions.
It is now time to suck it up, find out what went wrong, and correct it. This country will not survive a Pelosi Speaker of the House for long.
The wisdom of Wall Street is that grid lock is good for business. Witness a new record for the Dow today.
I leave with this thought. The democRATs have won an election for Congress the first time in twelve years. Give them kudos, but the real question is, will they be able to govern?
The short answer is, "when pigs fly."
5.56mm
Beautifully said.
Along a similar line, although not related to the illegal alien invasion, I ended a message that I wrote to another friend yesterday morning, ‘I’m off to cast my votes – the senate/governor of which will no doubt be negated by the vote of a dead person from the Philadelphia environs ... or eventually overturned by a contingent of the American Association of Trial Lawyers.’
We have reached the point at which the interests and concerns of the average, hard-working American are becoming overshadowed by fraudulent voting procedures, the fact that the votes of well-informed patriots are cancelled out by apathetic dupes whose opinions are formed by last-minute political soundbites, and the voting power of new ‘citizens’ who really haven’t earned the privilege.
One of my favorite Claire Wolfe excerpts (actually related to the topic here) is:
Legal methods aren't going to move statist control freaks. It might not take violence. I hope it doesn't. But it's going to take resistance -- including lawbreaking. It's going to take people saying, 'I ain't applyin' for your digital ID, ain't puttin' my data in your database, ain't registerin' my guns, ain't obeying your illegal regulations, ain't bein' nice to your thugs, ain't putting my children into your clutches, ain't feedin' your tax gobblin' beast one more dime.
I'm not trying to win a war. I'm hoping we can destroy a wannabe tyranny before it makes total war on us.
That freedom begins with mindset. But that freedom also requires action. Intelligent action. Probably risky action. But action.
They get state permits to exercise rights.
Maybe you just decide to live your own life in freedom, no matter what barriers the controllers build in your path. That can be the hardest, most gutsy, action of all, these days.
When did we get to be so scared, anyway? So bloody compliant? On what day did we all decide to go along with the fiction that the government 'requires' obedience of us -- rather than that we require obedience of it? On what day did we decide freedom wasn't worth living for, as well as dying for?
I don't really have much hope that we'll wake up in a free country someday. But at least we can make the job harder for those who want to control us. And even if that's all we achieve, at least we can live for a while in a spirit of freedom, instead of always cowering in fear or seething with frustration.
Thanks, friend, for your (as always) valuable, pertinent and insightful input.
A sad BTTT....again, joanie, you've hit the nail(s) on the head...
Trouble is, genuine patriots will experience every bit as much pain as those who have done nothing to battle the encroaching tyranny.
PING
Thanks for the kind words, and FReegards back to you, too.
Good read Joanie...
I also agree that a major terrorist attack within the next year is not at all out of the question; nor is the type of collusion to which you refer.
Beautifully said.
All true, and well said.
If the media is the sole reason we lose elections, John Kerry would be President right now.
Thanks for the kind words.
Exactly. Rose-colored glasses can prove to be deadly at this watershed point in our history.
Mind??? Honored is what I'd be. :)
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