Not in our Stars, but in Ourselves

American Thinker ^ | 30 Mar, 2021 | Paul O’Brien

[MtnClimber]

The Constitution wasn’t set up as a talisman, its very presence sufficient to thwart the evil of ambitious men and women. It is a tool, bequeathed to us with the presumption that we would learn how to use it properly and fulfill our destiny.

The late Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin used to tell a story of imprisonment, based perhaps on his own. He said that once behind bars, the prisoner thinks of nothing but freedom, of escaping. Because of this, cruelly sophisticated jailers introduce water into the cell. Now, the enslaved puts freedom off for the moment, seeking first to get rid of the water. From there, the jailers add cockroaches to the poor soul’s misery. Liberty is back-burnered. By the time they flood the cell with blinding light to ensure sleep deprivation, freedom is an ancient memory: the prisoner craves a dry, roach-free existence, preferably in the dark -- nothing more.

Begin knew human psychology. He understood the psychopathic mind and malignant heart of the merciless jailer. Though politically, they were at best distant cousins, Nelson Mandela wrote that he drew great inspiration from the story of Begin’s unjust confinement. The bond shared by political prisoners goes beyond ideology.

Even a year of pandemic-induced lockdowns doesn’t make us political prisoners. But the “opportunity” the COVID crisis presents scarcely seems to wane. Even if its tide were to recede, we needn’t ignore the lessons taught by the martyrs and saints dragooned by despots and statists.

[MtnClimber]

We live in interesting times.

[abclily]

We live in tyrannical times.