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Make That Two Exclusive to STR October 20, 2006 Today
I read Bill Losapio’s “I
Hereby Declare Myself an Enemy Combatant.”
Well done, Bill! Your
column makes my heart cry and sing all at the same time.
It sings for the courage it took to write these words and it
cries out in desperation for the circumstances that force more people to
fall under the heel of the omnipotent state.
With the passage of the Military
Commissions Act of 2006, the bastards have finally shown their true
colors. It's the beginning
of the end of this experiment in liberty. They
say the act only applies to foreigners, an effective but typical
“marginalize to neutralize” technique.
It begs the question, “Who’s to be marginalized next?”
Social
Security numbers will never be used for identification purposes, either.
Hah! Try applying for
college, a job or a bank account without one.
This calls for another tried and true government technique.
It’s the old “camel’s nose under the tent” trick.
Once the nose is under, the rest isn’t far behind.
Once the machine is in place, only the slightest, quietest of
adjustments under the guise of national security is required to enable
mass production/destruction. My
husband and I are stunned at the flagrant passage of this military bill
that nails the lid on the coffin of civil liberties.
Anyone who reads Strike The Root is already convinced that
there’s something terribly wrong with life in What
we’re stunned about is that the safeguards of civil liberties are gone
and there is no rioting in the streets.
In the days of Martin Luther King Jr., people made a lot of noise
to obtain freedom under the law. No
one I know is at all surprised, much less stunned by the Military
Commissions Act. Seeds
of Tyranny It’s
not that we thought something like this couldn’t happen here.
Au contraire, mon ami!
It was inevitable. The
march toward tyranny has grown steadily from the signing of the Declaration
of Independence. In
fact, tyranny is forged into the spirit of it: "We
hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That
to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving
their just powers from the consent of the governed,–That whenever any
Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of
the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government,
laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in
such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and
Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long
established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and
accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to
suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by
abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train
of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a
design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is
their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for
their future security." If
you look carefully, you can follow its logic.
It is nicely written, the way gentlemen would conduct a
revolution. The flaw lies in
the basic, unarticulated premise; that government is a given, that it is
some integral part of human existence.
The Declaration states that when government becomes too big and
intrusive, it’s our responsibility to make a new one.
We’re responsible all right, but not to make a new government. That’s
the Way We’ve Always Done It It
is certainly a given that governments exists among men, that a degree of
government is the norm. Today
an advanced degree of government is the norm.
However, there are a lot of bad things in life that are common.
It doesn’t mean we must accommodate them, much less build a
society upon them. Take
the common cold, for instance. Would
anyone refuse a cure for that? Would
anyone say, “well, now our pharmaceutical culture is founded upon
cold remedies, it would hurt the economy to allow citizens a cure
for the common cold, so let’s nix that”? Aside
from the pharmaceutical industry, which happens to benefit from people
being sick, and governments who are the beneficiaries of the
pharmaceutical lobby, no one would object.
We can’t know that a cure for the common cold hasn’t already
been nixed in this very manner. Human
suffering is irrelevant when profit is to be made, and it’s the strong
arm of government that sees to it that that happens.
This is how government grows itself – its primary objective. Pollution
is common. Pestilence is
common. Traffic jams, heart
disease, difficulties and misunderstandings of every kind are all
common. Who wouldn’t rid
themselves of any one of them were it possible?
Government is common. It
is also evil, and not a necessary evil.
Ours
is no “light and transient cause.”
Ours is “a long train of abuses and usurpations.”
Our government has clearly evinced a design to reduce
us “under absolute Despotism” and it is our right, our duty, “to
throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards” for our future
security. I am the only
suitable new guard of my future security.
You are the only suitable new guard of yours, and here’s why. Qui
Bono? Who Benefits? Let
me tell you a story about my son’s job in a machine shop.
He started working at 14, but when he was 16 he began work in the
machine shop. As his mother,
I felt it was my responsibility to keep all his body parts intact at
least until the age of 18. (I’m
not sure where I got this number.) Anyway,
every day when he left for work, he seemed very young to me, and I
worried about him returning home with all ten of his fingers intact.
One day I mentioned this worry to him.
He told me that no one was more interested in keeping his fingers
attached than he was. It
caused me a paradigm shift. No
one, no matter how well meaning (for people who need to assume such
things) is more interested in or capable of protecting your rights and
freedom as you are. There
is, however, tremendous interest in exerting power over you and your
resources for financial gain. Never
forget that the master is always better fed than the servant, no matter
how benevolent the master may appear.
Masters can afford to be benevolent when they go unchallenged. Does
taking responsibility for ourselves mean we are alone in our fight to be
free? No, there are lots of
people out there, a growing number of them, interested in the same thing
as you and I, dear reader. They
are understandably hesitant to advertise themselves.
It’s a jungle out there, a dangerous, predator-filled jungle
full of bureaucrats hiding behind government agencies. Anyone
who writes for I've
started telling my friends that when they come for me, don't believe the
stories they’ll tell about me in an attempt to quiet any objections.
I'm not into child porn, I don't use or sell drugs, I don’t
initiate violence and I don't have any money to give to any bad guys
(government.) Fear for
yourself if you must, but don't pity me when I’m dragged off in one of
“Creevey’s black bags.”*
Ironically, when I'm ensconced in a prisoner camp, I'll finally
be among my fellows, people who believe in liberty and personal
responsibility. I doubt I'll
be there for very long, but I’ll keep you in my heart for as long as I
am, dear reader. They have
the state-sanctioned power to torture me, rape and kill me, but they can
never own my soul. *“Creevey’s
black bags” is from the film “V for Vendetta.”
It is a reference to legalized police state abduction and
torture. “V for
Vendetta” is highly recommended and a relevant parallel to life here
in Amerika today. Retta Fontana is an atheist, anarchist, baker, potter, parenting teacher and a student of forex.
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