We are on dangerous grounds. Our government has run amuck, our taxes are spent by politicians to buy off the mobs, our children and future generations are saddled with crushing debt, our country is in danger.
The question, then, is are we ready and able to confront the government and the vast bureaucracy that supports it?
In the past I have written about this problem. I have asked people in our armed forces what would happen. I have asked people in law enforcement which side they would choose. The answers are guarded. The sentiment is that they would ultimately come to our side, but certainly they are worried about the outcome.
All of us should be concerned about the unknown effects of a peaceful event such as you have suggested. At what point will the government preemptively try to take out the leadership of such a movement? What will we do about it when the vast mechanisms of the government are used against us? At some point someone will resist and violence will occur. What then will happen? If and when we march and occupy Washington DC with millions of people, how will they be fed? Where are the porta-potties coming from? What if while there, the city is cordoned off and people are trapped? What if some come armed?
One could go on but the point is this is a very serious and dangerous proposition. We must prepare more than a document. We must prepare people. We must, as in 1775 start with the pen and prepare a vast number of people for the eventualities articulated above.
This is not to say that it cannot or should not be done. Rather it is to say that the vast mass of government will, if not prepared, will be arrayed against us. There will be failures of courage amongst us. There will be incidents that are intended to break our will. The still powerful “mainstream” media will do everything to break us. We have the internet, but for how long?
Unlike 1776, we are a vast nation, both in scope and in numbers. How will we communicate? Will we have the ability to control events? Or will we find ourselves controlled by them?
Clearly, this effort will take enormous effort and commitment. Clearly, there will be those who fall by the wayside, both literally and figuratively.
Has the time come? I think yes, but be prepared to ride not a whirlwind, but a tornado of unimaginable force.
I have appended an essay I wrote a while back. It discusses us as we are.
Seven Deadly Sins for a New Millennium © 2008 Oneolcop Traditional tells us the Seven Deadly Sins are Pride Covetousness, Lust, Anger, Gluttony, Envy, and Sloth. Today, there are these and a few more we must contend with: Hypocrisy, Hyperbole, Moral Relativism, Willful ignorance, Disdain, Malevolent Bureaucracy, and Venality. In the context of our daily lives, it’s surprising how they have diminished the quality of our lives. I wrote this (hopefully) to get people thinking about the state of society and the reasons for the sad state of affairs. Every day in America someone in a position of power exhibits hypocrisy. Whether priests who preach profess holiness and molest children or politicians who advocate gun control but possess concealed firearms licenses, or the political wonks who profess to be wise and purport to know everything but really only want to steer opinion in a given direction for their own benefit, Hypocrisy runs rampant in American society.
Hyperbole: Hyperbole seems to be having a good run. Much of what is said is so radically exaggerated that it can only be taken as hyperbole. The problem is that the people who hyperbolize will never admit to this fact because basically, they’re liars.
Willful Ignorance is a sad reality in life today. The “Talking Heads” who, when challenged, profess to not know anything about the subject at hand but seem to know everything about everything else. The media play a huge role in this problem. It’s common for the media to suspend their rational skepticism when the “willfully ignorant agrees with the reporter or editor’s personal prejudice. Willful ignorance is destructive to the fabric of our society. In recent years, we’ve been exposed to actors who have strong opinions about politics yet are under-educated, emotion-driven, egotistical and unable to contemplate the thought that other people with differing opinions just may have more education, knowledge, experience judgment and ability to be logical. How often has the mainstream media demanded an actor’s qualifications and expertise and challenged them with an alternative argument?
Many “reporters” “anchors” and television news personalities are frustrated actors. Or, they are people who got into the business of “news” because they perceive themselves as crusaders for justice and want to “make the world a better place”. The problem is that they’ve never really done anything remotely like manual labor, never been in the armed services and therefore have little or no perspective on reality. They merely selectively report on what others have actually done. Watching something happen is not the same as doing it. Willful ignorance is destructive and disingenuous. It is closely related to Moral Relativism.
Moral Relativism: “Well, she did it, so what’s the big deal if he did it too?” JFK had at least one affair in the Whitehouse, so what’s the big deal if Bill Clinton did too? Hell, everybody does it. So who are we to judge? It’s not about judgment; it’s about expecting our fellow citizens to have at least a modicum of self-control.
Liars believe that everyone is just like them—liars. Since liars believe that everyone habitually lies, they see truth as somehow, though indefinably, suspect and not to be trusted. Politicians who are true liars can’t and don’t understand that many people don’t routinely lie. This causes them to conclude that since “everybody” lies; it’s just part of the political process. This causes enormous and devastating damage to legitimate and necessary political processes.
Disdain: When people disparage others to make themselves feel superior, when we feel that others are lesser beings, in reality, they demean themselves. When the bureaucrat, the policeman, the IRS investigator acts with contempt for the people he is supposed to serve, when the government shows condescension in dealing with the citizen, when the public shows disdain for its dedicated servants, the whole fabric of the social order unravels. Disdain just breeds more contempt and distrust.
Malevolent Bureaucracy is probably the greatest threat government poses. The first rule of bureaucracy is to survive whatever the cost.
An elected official is a public figure who can be voted out of office should the need arise. The bureaucracy is a mostly anonymous entity that works in the background, promulgating rules, regulations and procedures that become, over time a greater and greater burden on the people the bureaucracy is intended to serve. The greatest power of a bureaucrat is to say “No” when a routine request or question is at issue. When you call a public agency and the answerer is condescending…when you try to get some information from a public agency and the person responsible doesn’t return your voicemail messages…when public agencies—the police—the bureaucrat at city hall—the IRS hide behind their walls of anonymity and won’t be held accountable, you are experiencing bureaucracy at its most onerous. And you’re being taxed to support this bureaucracy with its administrative “rules” and the burdens it imposes.
It is evidenced in people who merely perform the minimum required by some internal regulation instead of “owning” an issue or problem until it is resolved or taken to its logical conclusion. When your application for a building permit, your letter of inquiry, your complaint goes into the “black hole” of a bureaucracy never to be seen again, you are experiencing banality. Banality goes “hand-in-glove” with bureaucracy.
Venality: Venality is part of each of us. It is the practice in our daily lives of taking cheap shots. We take them for our own gratification or to “count coup” against others. Tribes of American Indians had a practice of humiliating their enemies rather than killing them. The humiliation of having an enemy disgrace one is, for most, a fate worse than death. In our culture, this practice, likely developed as a “survival tool” in high school, has spread into the popular culture and even into our family life. “Needless needling” creeps into otherwise loving relationships to poison and ultimately kill... The practice has become so widespread as to be nearly universal. Cumulatively, the effect of this practice is to create an atmosphere wherein people mistrust others and exist in a permanent state of defensiveness. This state of permanent mistrust contaminates our social environment and empowers the people who want to bring the nation down.
The Root of the problem...great post by the way. The overarching rule of government should be to First do no harm. Unfortunately, our laws are replete with unintended consequences (mostly harmful). Congress has failed miserably in this simple undeniable 'cause celebre'. So they continue to pass laws to fix the laws to fix the laws to fix the laws....previously passed. And here we are, a broken beyond repair gummit. And no one (with any integrity) wants to 'join in on the fun'.
That quote is from Thomas Paine's The Crisis.