Posted on 02/24/2013 8:56:58 AM PST by Gennie
George Washington, a man much loved, was the father of our country. Frederick Nietzsche, a man much loathed, was a 19th century German philosopher who brazenly declared that "God is Dead."
While these two men could not have been more different, their descriptions of government were oddly similar. Washington compared government to fire; "Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force. Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." (It cannot be proven conclusively that Washington himself originated this quote. However, it has been attributed to him for over a century and is in keeping with what he and the Founders said and wrote.)
Nietzsche groaned: "The state is the coldest of all cold monsters. Coldly it lies, too; and this lie creeps from its mouth: 'I, the state, am the people.'... Everything about it is false; it bites with stolen teeth." These observations by Nietzsche defy the romantic ideals laid forth by Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address: government of the people, by the people, for the people. Nobody ever said philosophy was easy.
While a safe and civilized society is not possible absent a properly empowered government, there is one lone fact which distinguishes government from all other human enterprises. Government is granted, by consent of the governed, the authority to utilize violence against citizens who break the law.
This singularity is shared by all forms of government; whether Democratic, Totalitarian, Feudal (rule by a noble class) or Theocratic (governed out of religious text.) Fail to pay taxes or send the children to school, and after the letters and telephone calls - eventually the authorities are going to kick the door down with guns drawn. The law is not voluntary, and it is the gun which puts the "force" in "enforcement." Government, while wholly indispensable, is also inherently dangerous.
Arguments about the proper size and role of government aside, I think most can agree that the foremost task of government is to ensure that the citizens are not deprived of life, not deprived of liberty, and not deprived of their (justly acquired) property. Marxists are free to disagree on the last point.
Looking back over the last forty or fifty centuries, governments in general have a very poor track record of protecting human rights. The 20th century was particularly atrocious in this regard - Bolshevism and Naziism produced in excess of 100 million human corpses. Human liberty is an exception - not the norm. We Americans take our freedom for granted.
A crucial feature of the American Constitution is a principle known as the Rule of Law. The Rule of Law requires that no one is exempt from the law, not the police or government officials, not the wealthy or celebrities, not industry or unions. While Rule of Law is far from perfect, unless strictly adhered to, what then remains is Rule of Man - government by whim of the political class.
As with many bygone nations, America finds herself slipping away from the Rule of Law, and sliding toward the Rule of Man - an American Caesarism. At whatever pace, the slightest perceptible movement toward Caesarism is reason to dispense (via ballot box) with every last elected politician in Washington D.C.
So what is American Caesarism? It is when the political class:
- Treats peaceable citizens as suspects of crime (Patriot Act, TSA, NDAA, etc.)
- Plunders the citizens' wealth by devaluing their savings via expansion of the money supply (inflation.) Thinkers ranging from Jefferson to Lenin wrote about this form of stealth robbery. Lenin was in favor of it. This is stealing, and the net results are no different than the forceable taking of ones valuables. Quantitative Easing makes the middle class poorer - especially seniors living off their savings.
- Repeatedly wages undeclared wars outside of our own borders, on other peoples' lands (their property), which causes violent "blow back" (a CIA term.) In his farewell address, Dwight Eisenhower warned of the dangerous influences of the military-industrial complex. Aggressive wars make Americans materially poorer and less safe, while enriching politicians and their favored donors.
- Makes a mockery of free markets by passing and signing unreadable, incomprehensible bills which were actually written by industry lobbyists. Housing, education, and health care are now unaffordable because Congress literally lets the banking and health care industries write their own legislation.
- Allows an entrenched Robber Baron class, which is not "one percent" but actually a tenth of that, to fund both "sides" of national elections.
- Deliberately creates a Moocher class, which is nowhere near 47 percent, in order to secure party votes.
- Allowed the national debt to continually grow at a faster rate than GDP, and then claiming that net output is growing. (See Karl Denninger's book Leverage, and his website www.market-ticker.org.) The U.S. economy has not grown based on the reinvestment of real surplus capital (savings) since before 1980. It is impossible for sustainable wealth creation to occur based on the emission of unbacked credit. What happened in 2008 was an economic prequake.
- That which cannot go on forever, won't. History tells us that an entrenched political class will not just give up their power willingly. It is entirely possible they will turn on the citizenry, just as they did in modern democratic states like Spain, France, and Germany.
While there is much that can be done to reduce gun violence, that is the subject of another article. Peaceable American citizens must not accept any further encroachments upon their right to bear arms. To do so would be a monumental error.
save for later read
If this was all Obama’s (and Michelle’s and even Valerie Jarrett’s) doing this would just be partisan banter.
The scary part is this is more than just a small group acting in emperor type ways. Far more.
This is the Bill Ayers and the the radical Columbia gang from the 70s and 80s getting their last shot.
Remember the 25 million. Remember that Ayers and that crew kill. They killed in 70s and they have no remorse if they kill now.
Obama is a red-diaper baby and he clearly believes what he was taught by Frank Marshall Davis and other communist mentors. But he is not the mastermind.
You have a virtual daughter of Jessie Jackson as his wife. Mr. Jackson has his beef with America after watching his mentor gunned down in Memphis. Do that chip on his shoulder transfer to a girl who literally grew up in his house - of course.
Valerie Jarrett’s grandfather’s vision of integrated neighborhoods were rejected by the racist Chicago establishment. She has a big chip on her shoulder.
But none of these are masterminds of slowly subverting the Constitution and government in general. No budget from Congress, executive orders, using the EPA to destroy companies, leverage the Holder Department of Justice as a virtual SS, Drone strategy, etc. Ayers and his gang of radicals could only dream of what is going on now in the 1970s.
This is not one mans narcissism. Not at all. The overall pattern is driven by a larger and more sinister group. The core of this group is old. But they are on their last run to achieve what they set out to do over 30 years ago.
What the don’t understand is, the snowball effect.
And...they won’t have a snowballs chance in hell when it comes.
I’ve always said that if a few millon of us decided on April 15th to say enough is enough, and refuse to file and not send the bastards any more money, we could start a snowball effect that would cripple this government so bad they would be begging us not to burn down their houses.
Mfl.
Three out of four Gospels agree that there is dire consequence for teaching children evil.
Luke 17:1-2 Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.
Matt. 18:6 But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
Mark 9:42 And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck.
Hanover, PA Ping.
And a bump so I can locate it later today!
Three out of four Gospels agree that there is dire consequence for teaching children evil.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That is what government teachers agree to do every godless school day. They **willingly** seek to support and uphold a godless and socialist-entitlement system of indoctrination that is EVIL for the child and is a threat to our nation. If they **really** cared about children they would be warning every parent they meet to remove their children immediately from these pits of evil.
And....Teachers who seek work where they are compelled to contribute anything to the abominable NEA are under special condemnation.
Well, all I can say is that if America is slipping from the rule of law to the rule of Man it is doing via the rule of lawyers...
Glad to hear it, and not in the least surprised. You have solid convictions and you actually practice them, that takes a lot of guts. I salute you.
PS: Don't know if I mentioned it -- haven't time to back-read -- but in some states, if your income is low enough, you can actually get a rebate of property tax. I will freepmail you in more detail on that.
Absolutely. Yet how very few are willing to do it, even legally. If you stop making money, you don't have to pay income tax. Living on less money than it takes to incur the duty to pay that tax, is not easy. But it isn't as hard as leaving your home and going off to shoot at the enemy for an indefinite period of time with no assurance you'll even survive. That's what freedom-loving Americans did, once upon a time.
Talk is cheap, and plentiful.
Not every FRper will go. Many will hide.
Good way to put it.
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