For Those That Still Think The US Is A Free Country
Posted by Zenphamy 10 years, 8 months ago to Government
How a Bipartisan Majority in Congress Shredded the Constitution, Again. By Judge Napolitano:
"When the government is waving at us with its right hand, so to speak, it is the government's left hand that we should be watching. Just as a magician draws your attention to what he wants you to see so you will not observe how his trick is performed, last week presented a textbook example of public disputes masking hidden deceptions. Here is what happened:"
While we were watching the CIA Torture Report and Cop Abuse, with no public notice or discussion-Congress, The President, and the Bureaucracy did it to us again, big time. Hidden in the Cromnibus Spending Bill to fund the government through next Sept. was a little item eliminating the 4th Amendment to the Constitution. I didn't hear or see anyone talking about this. Maybe I just missed it, but I don't think so.
What's it going to take for even Objectivist to begin to realize that the country we thought we still had at least a piece of left and a little bit of hope to turn towards freedom is no more and it can't be turned around or even re-directed? Just how deep in the sand are our heads stuck?
We now actually live in a country that is a police state, a total surveillance state, that all in taxes us at 50% +/-, whose elected officials blatantly lie to us on a daily basis, that shares the wealth with more people than work to provide the wealth, that's stolen vast sectors of the economy for the benefit of the bureaucrats, that's bankrupted the present and future lives of it's citizens, that's working overtime to steal the minds of our children, has the largest prison population in total and per capita on the planet, and has absolutely no respect whatsoever for it's citizens.
And we didn't even notice, while we posted and commented on our little news blurbs and argued about Objectivsm vs. religion! Just take a deep breath and see what happens in 2015 and 2016. It's going to be a nightmare.
"When the government is waving at us with its right hand, so to speak, it is the government's left hand that we should be watching. Just as a magician draws your attention to what he wants you to see so you will not observe how his trick is performed, last week presented a textbook example of public disputes masking hidden deceptions. Here is what happened:"
While we were watching the CIA Torture Report and Cop Abuse, with no public notice or discussion-Congress, The President, and the Bureaucracy did it to us again, big time. Hidden in the Cromnibus Spending Bill to fund the government through next Sept. was a little item eliminating the 4th Amendment to the Constitution. I didn't hear or see anyone talking about this. Maybe I just missed it, but I don't think so.
What's it going to take for even Objectivist to begin to realize that the country we thought we still had at least a piece of left and a little bit of hope to turn towards freedom is no more and it can't be turned around or even re-directed? Just how deep in the sand are our heads stuck?
We now actually live in a country that is a police state, a total surveillance state, that all in taxes us at 50% +/-, whose elected officials blatantly lie to us on a daily basis, that shares the wealth with more people than work to provide the wealth, that's stolen vast sectors of the economy for the benefit of the bureaucrats, that's bankrupted the present and future lives of it's citizens, that's working overtime to steal the minds of our children, has the largest prison population in total and per capita on the planet, and has absolutely no respect whatsoever for it's citizens.
And we didn't even notice, while we posted and commented on our little news blurbs and argued about Objectivsm vs. religion! Just take a deep breath and see what happens in 2015 and 2016. It's going to be a nightmare.
So what can we do now to counter the forces, or should I say ignorance of our electorate, that are daily reducing our freedom? Just talking among ourselves won't make a difference.
I see no alternative to educating the willing.
Have you seen Alex Epstein's recent book, "The Moral Case for Fossil Fuel"? That's an outstanding example of what I'm referring to.
Can we write books or articles in each of our fields of expertise to advance the cause of freedom?
Such is true of Objectivism. The ability to see and analyze reality at all levels of comprehension and consciousness is not an equal birth right.
As you point out, looking at history can tell us much. I look to our own history including the ideas of the founders and the steady (though accelerated today) decline of the effects of those ideas in our culture. It kind of looks as, if only 3% of the population fight for those ideas supported by only 30% of the population, that the rest are going to go on and ignore those ideas and destroy what the 30% worked to establish.
When we allowed the democratization of decision and policy making, we allowed the destruction of the country and it'll never be able to rise again in the face of that democratization. There are simply too many that can't (some that won't) comprehend the totality or even levels of Objectivism. And those that can't or won't comprehend are easily manipulated into supporting and even believing in the snake oil magic and supernatural solutions of wealth redistribution and central planning and control. They actually believe that wealth exists in some magical way, rather than having to be made or formed or earned, and that they should have their share of it simply because they exist.
This shows an interactive map of all weather buoys in the oceans. Only 1266 buoys are in existence. Typically less than 1000 of the report each day. Many of the buoys do not measure air temperature.
Almost all of the buoys are located between 60 degrees North latitude and 20 degrees South latitude. Almost no data exists for almost 30% of the Earth's Surface.
There is not a 100% consensus among Scientists.
My standards of evidence are obviously higher than the standards of the man caused global warming community.
The amount of available temperature data is hopelessly inadequate to substantiate their claims. Scientists can not possibly determine the average temperature of the Earth with the degree of accuracy that they claim.
Brad Snipes
I have heard reports that we were torturing children in front of their mothers. I hope that's not true.
No, I don't count on my fellow veterans, nor active duty military, to uphold and save our constitution. And have even less expectation that hunters will step up. While there is a sub-set of each that also understand the constitution and would fight to protect it, the slices of them on a Venn Diagram would be rather small.
It can never be "too late" to apply the only effective strategy. And that is to influence those who are not too closd to new assumptions to change. We are not going to change thise in power. We are not going to change the leftist writers and other influencers in sufficient numbers.
Look to history for what works - how did we get from a better state of freedom to the present? How do ideas change in a culture? That's Rand's point - history is driven be the ideas a culture holds.
Those ideas are provided by parents and schools which influence the next generations. Parents and teachers may only pay lip service to some ideas, but the next generation is more likely to act on them without conflict. At what age do children start getting conceptual and challenging parents's ideas?
I saw it in the 60s with the hippy/collectivist/love culture. We have seen it with the "green"/collectivist culture. What was the process? What can we learn from their tactics? That the wisdom that is driving ARI's investments - have a closer look.
So, "too late" can never be an answer - that's called giving up. There are no guarantees that our civilization will not fail as so many others have, but we can fight for our freedom and for reason. Tjise who care can engage while others just observe and butch.
If so, you are correct....and it is unfortunate.
Intimacy and understanding are virtually unknown to most folks.
2) I see little evidence that most of our fellow citizens even care about most of those things. Whether because they don't directly affect them or because they believe that those actions are "good" is unknown.
3) There are a considerable numbers who believe that "By Any Means Necessary" is a proper tactic. Most of them reside on the left, but there are some on the right as well.
4) Too many in politics are from the legal "profession." This leads them to craft laws that are vague and imprecise - which allows the bureaucracy to then write into "law" the specific regulations that they want. And to add/modify those whenever they want. This leads to an uniformed populace that breaks the laws repeatedly without knowing it.
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