I agree with the pirate but would carry it further. Not only vigilant. If you are vigilant, you will see issues and problems coming over the horizon. That doesn't stop them from overwhelming you. You must prepare, for the problems and prepare to defend you ideas, ideals and way of life up to and including using extreme violence to protect them. One must be prepared to fight for what is right., to fight for what is scared and for your right to exist as a free human being. without this commitment, vigilance is nothing.

Boy, 12-15 years is a long time. I wish I were that optimistic. Maybe if we accelerate the end, it might only be 12-15 years.

Only as long as the people are vigilante.

Dear ExIndigo, that was an excellent post! We may not have forgotten anything, but we are overwhelmed by people who willingly choose to ignore reality (ex. James Taggart).

This next analogy is not original, but it bears repeating. Imagine a democracy where a pack of wolves and a single sheep discuss what is for dinner. While we may not be meek like sheep, those outside Atlantis are like the wolves. No,, they are worse. Wolves at least only kill what they plan on eating.

I constantly wonder why people have trouble understanding what the constitution is. Let me tell a story that may open some eyes.

I had a Danish friend named Thorkild Poulson. He worked for the Danish Parliament on the Citizens Tax Council or some such name. He, as part of his job published a monthly magazine on all matters pending in parliament regarding tax issues that affected the populace and other fiscal and political matters. One of the things he did was p;publish the Muslim-oriented cartoons that caused so much fervor.

He read the constitution and constantly berated his American friends on their lack of understanding. In this matter, he undertook to read overy constitution, pact, agreement, edict and any other pertinent document regarding the formation of government and citizen's rights.

Here is what he found. I am paraphrasing his words: The American constitution is the only document that comes from the people to the government. It describes the powers the PEOPLE allow the government to have and specifically denotes powers the government does not have. Every other document of the same or similar name basically describes rights people have that are bestowed by the government. The US Constitution is the ONLY document where the opposite occurs and thus it is the most important political document ever created.

Remember this when you hear people talk about the constitution. It is a document drafted by the people defining limits for government. It is not from government giving rights to people. In fact, it states that government may not limit or do anything to those freedoms reserved for people. It's there in black and tan.

Have we forgotten anything?

As a followup on my Tax Man rant, "Should 5% appear too small, be thankful I don't take it all." Also, "Don't ask me what I want it (your tax $) for... if you don't want to pay some more."

I will gladly agree that Rand would prefer music other than rock-and-roll, but the lyrics of Tax Man would have suited her well.

You and exindigo are, of course, correct. We are well past the point you talked about. Jefferson said that he expected revolutions every 20 years. It's high time for another one.

It would involve debt repayment. The problem is that the citizens of Atlantis never entered into what Democrats call the "social contract". At this point, my "share" of the debt and unfunded government obligations (Medicare, SS, etc.) is about the same price as my fully paid $300 K house.

I got properly criticized (although not much) when I recommended Tax Man as a song Ayn Rand might have liked. I heard it on the radio this AM. The last line is "And you're working for no one but me. (i.e. the tax man)." I started that post on the day that I rendered to Caesar what is Caesar's (i.e. paid my taxes). I refuse to accept guilt, debt, etc. that was not MINE. If I do something stupid that I should feel guilty about, then I'm OK with feeling guilty for a brief time. However, I refuse to accept what I like to call false guilt - the kind that Ayn Rand wrote most of AS about.

I would refer to the post below by exindigo - "The American constitution is the only document that comes from the people to the government." The concept of government by consent of the governed cannot exist without the right of the people to shrug off their current form of government. Right of secession is always retained by the people, violent overthrow only when the holders of power are no longer beholden to the people (situations such as voting manipulation or unwarranted martial law).

Everything in this latest post is correct, particularly the assumed right of states to secede during the Constitutional signing and the debasing of the currency. It is a fair question, however, given the amendments shortly after the War Between the States, whether secession could still be assumed. This is a set of premises that probably will always need to be checked and rechecked, as the Constitution looks less like a fortress and more and more like a piece of badly yellowing paper.

In reading the discourse regarding this question from both before and after ratification of the Constitution, it appears to have been assumed the right of secession. Where the Articles of Confederation declared themselves to be perpetual, this was explicitly dropped from the Constitution. Also, in the actions of Lincoln during the war, he was careful to only declare slavery illegal in the southern states. He could not do so in the northern states since he did not have jurisdiction to do so. By making this declaration he acknowledged that he had no jurisdiction over the south, thereby implying their sovereignty.

It is unfortunate that of all the countries which abolished slavery in that time period, the US was the only one who used it as a pretext for war. Slavery could have easily been abolished without destroying liberty and property rights along with it (the Confederate Constitution actually made importation of slaves illegal).

Congress definitely has a spending problem, not an income problem. Promises for unfunded liabilities can be un-promised. The fed certainly has a long history of breaking its promises when in its own best interest. Once spending is properly managed, one approach to debt repayment could be to continue to debase the currency, putting the newly ‘minted’ money into the debt rather than the banks and Wall Street. That way the debt would be borne evenly by all currency holders, citizens and non-citizens alike.

Washington said that this great experiment would only work if the people are educated. This is still a representative democracy, and unfortunately, the representatives we have are what the people want (or think they want).

Spark, the $45 K per person assumes everyone pays his/her "fair share", which they don't. It neglects the $100 trillion in unfunded obligations to Social Security, Medicare, Obamacare, etc. It also assumes a 0% return on investment for those who buy bonds. How realistic is that?

The most important thing you wrote, Spark, is the first part about the right to secede. The only state that retained that right to secede when it came into the US was Texas. When the South did secede in 1861, we had the War Between the States. I refuse to call it the Civil War even though I vehemently disagree with slavery, racism, etc. for all the reasons Ayn Rand would have. I do sometimes call that war the "War of Northern Aggression", however. Any state that wants to secede now will no longer be able to do so. I do agree with Mark Levin and j_IR1776wg about the Liberty Amendments and the Article V convention, but the moochers and looters will not let us walk away from their debt without taking us to war. I better get back to 3D printing some of my defensive countermeasures. I am sure the NSA will be reading this one.

Once upon a time there was an example of freedom and how it works, utilizing capitalism and a work ethic based on self reliance. It was called The United States. It took around 230 years, but it is now in a shambles with only a little hope that it will ever become what it once was. Even if a Galt's Gulch were to spring up somewhere, there is no guarantee that over time, the same thing will happen again. Who said "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance?" Will the new Gulch be eternally vigilant? Only a people who are mature enough to rely on reason have a chance for it to succeed and so far, I don't see a very sizeable number of them. Even those who espouse the right thing, often do so for the wrong reason, a situation which will eventually lead to veering off course. I fear the human race is just not ready. I hope I'm wrong.

The message of Atlas Shrugged is that the evils of taxation and regulation are result of producers accepting an unearned guilt. If any previous generation had spoken the words of Rearden at his trial, d'Anconia at the reception, or Galt on the radio, the game of the looters and moochers would have been over. Only William Henry Vanderbilt is on record - and he was also proud of his philanthropy.

"In 1883, reporter John Dickinson Sherman questioned him about why he ran the limited express train: "Do your limited express trains pay or do you run them for the accommodation of the public?" Vanderbilt responded with: "Accommodation of the public? The public be damned! We run them because we have to. They do not pay. We have tried again and again to get the different roads to give them up; but they will run them and, of course, as long as they run them we must do the same." The interview was then published in the Chicago Daily News, but Vanderbilt's words were modified. Several accounts of the incident were then disseminated; The accounts vary in terms of who conducted the interview, under what circumstance and what was actually said. William received bad publicity and clarified his response with a subsequent interview by the Chicago Times. In that interview he was quoted saying: "Railroads are not run for the public benefit, but to pay. Incidentally, we may benefit humanity, but the aim is to earn a dividend." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hen...) But an isolated instance is not enough to reverse a cultural trend.

Following Rand, many Objecitivists claim to admire Ancient Greece, especially the Athenian Golden Age 480-400. But in fact, Athens itself was no friend of philosophy until after the death of Socrates, though it nurtured philosophy and art by attracting "metics", Greeks from other towns.Unable to speak in the Assembly, they wrote books and lectured in gardens. However, that launched a 500-year culture of open inquiry, learning, and exploration, both physical and intellectual. It was at Alexandria in Egypt that the word "cosmopolitan" was coined. No one was persecuted for questioning the existence of the gods, or asserting their own self-interest. Read about Aristippos of Cyrene.

But it was not perfectly explicit or consistent. Merchants were still looked down upon. Slavery was accepted as an institution. Not the Cyreniacs, Hedonists, Epicureans, Peripatetics, Platonists, Stoics, or anyone else developed a consistent and complete philosophy of reason. But it lasted 500 years anyway.

Rand's thesis was that once clearly articulated and demonstrated, the truths of Objectiivsm will endure like any other science.

Similar to Alongside Night in plausibility. And I understand that John Ross spent a lot of time with ATF people while writing to make sure he didn't have a "One-Eyed-Jack" moment with authorities as you did. ;-)

Considering current developments, I would trust my horse more than the CIA station chief.

I might note, as with AS, your story is very prescient, considering its age.

Are you familiar with "Unintended Consequences" by John Ross.

Just finished Alongside Night. Excellent and I eagerly await the movie. As a novelist myself,, I had criticisms, but nothing notable.

I did like the One-Eyed-Jack character (as a good guy) as I have a glass eye and, until recently, owned a one-eyed horse named One-Eyed-Jack.

Gulchers, I highly recommend Neil's story.

Just Kindled your book.