Troubling Question Answered - Tipping Point Crossed - Atlas Shrugs’!

By the Lieutenant Colonel

We were founded as a Republic of self-governed people championing maximum individual liberty based on property rights and an equally applied traditional rule-of-law. However, a majority, mostly huddled together in America’s major urban centers, no longer comprehends what it truly means to live in freedom; they have spurned liberty centered limited-governance of the intended Constitutional Republic and enthroned a professed benevolent king. America---“Transformed” into just another failing Democracy of needy piglet subjects suckling on the tits of a withering sow.

Prospects for a renaissance of liberty anytime soon are fading. But embers still smolder under the ash. Linking admired stories---like Jedi Obi Wan of the Old Republic, it may be time to rejuvenate in “Red” pastoral America by “Going Galt” and awaiting the opportunity to fight for a “New Hope”.

…”the blood of patriots & tyrants”, I exclaim not now!

By the Lieutenant Colonel

King Arthur: I am your king.

Peasant Woman: Well, I didn't vote for you.

King Arthur: You don't vote for kings.

Peasant Woman: Well, how'd you become king, then?

[Angelic music plays...]

King Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur.  That is why I am your king.

Dennis the Peasant: Listen.  Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.  Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

Arthur: Be quiet!

Dennis the Peasant: You can't expect to wield supreme power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!

Arthur: [grabs Dennis] Shut up!  Will you shut up?!

Dennis: Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system!

Arthur: [shakes Dennis] Shut up!

Dennis: Oh!  Come and see the violence inherent in the system!  Help, help, I'm being repressed!

Arthur: Bloody Peasant!

Dennis: Ooh, what a giveaway!

-- Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

Like many liberty-minded Constitutional Conservatives, I feel tremendous anguish and frustration as I witness the rapidly growing oppressive power of the administrative state toward us “Bloody Peasants”.  The more I study the Founders writings, the “Great Debate” between the Federalists and Anti-Federalist, and ratification of the United States Constitution [1] and the subsequent “Fundamental Transformations” brought about by persistent “Progressive” subversion primarily in past 100 years, I'm unfortunately finding myself in agreement with this assessment on the state of our Constitutional Republic by Joseph Baldacchino…

Government in the United States bears virtually no resemblance to the constitutional republic that the Framers gave us—if, as Benjamin Franklin cautioned, we could “keep it.”  …

“Our whig forebears rejected as “null and void” all acts of the British government that exceeded the limits of the constitution of custom, which was their political and cultural inheritance, their “property.”  To restore the “free government” for which they defied the most formidable military power of their time, today’s Americans would have to be willing to show similar courage and dedication.  To restore government to its proper position “under the Law,” we would have to be prepared like them to risk our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.  But to state that requirement is to recognize how unlikely is the restoration of American constitutionalism within a foreseeable future.”  [2]

It is true that many of the ominous concerns expressed by the Anti-Federalists have come to pass despite the careful crafting and amendments (Bill of Rights) to the Constitution backed by James Madison and other Federalists to reassure them.  The small and limited Federal Government as “Founded” has overcome the constitutionally enumerated constraints and grown to a bureaucratic behemoth.  "We the People" through overwhelming individual comforts and conveniences, mounting ignorance, indifference, and selection of a “professional political class” have subverted or abandoned the "Republic" envisioned by the Constitution’s Framers.  [3] We are now "progressing" toward a "flash and burn" Democracy reminiscent of ancient Greece or Rome.  The seeds of our undoing lie within.  But is it too late, or can a renaissance of individual liberty take hold?  Maybe, but even Ronald Reagan, ever the American optimist, expressed doubt that once created a bureaucratic behemoth government is nearly impossible to restrain let alone reverse.  [4]

So what can we do to reclaim our individual liberty and our Constitutional Republic envisioned by the Framers?  I believe we still have many nonviolent options available, but evidently some do not.

I have heard peoples’ frustration and ire on conservative airwaves, but more frequently, read their comments in weblogs and articles with a “Call to Arms” inspired by Thomas Jefferson’s words…

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants.  It is it's natural manure.”  [5]

While I understand and empathize with their passionate frustration, our situation is far different from that of the American Revolution.  America was an exceptionally unique historical crossroads of extraordinary conditions and brilliant self-educated men of complimentary personalities.  The circumstances and timing for an armed rebellion to “institute” liberty was justified, and yet exceeding complex and very in doubt as to the outcome.  It would have been tragically similar to the bloody horror that followed the French Revolution if not for the “lives, fortunes, sacred honor” and WISDOM of Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, Mason, Adams (both of them), Hamilton and others that charted the turbulent waters… where among our current political class or even our entire populace is an equal assembly of such persons?  Our education system that produced the current “professional political class” will be addressed in a future article by the Colonel.   

But the concerns for the loss of individual liberty today are as legitimate as the Founders were, so it does beg the very grim and disturbing question.  At what point does government’s action transforming the Republic, first toward a direct democracy (loathed by the Constitution’s Framers as mob rule and responsible for the horrors of the French Revolution), and eventually something else well beyond the intentions of the Framers, all with the elected representative consent of a majority of the governed, lead a minority population to charge tyranny and rebel?  What is the “litmus test” for necessity--for justifying armed rebellion against civil authority knowing that it is the government's obligation to preserve itself and the safety, happiness/property and prosperity of the greater part of its citizens?  Apparently the folks tossing out the Jefferson quote think we have passed the point of justification--AGAIN, I STRONGLY DISAGREE!

As already stated, I fully understand the frustration and the fervent spirit to resist tyranny in the manner of Samuel Adams.  [6] But when I read or hear these boisterous outcries I always wonder, what are they really suggesting people do… just start shooting folks who are “accused” of threatening liberty; do they want a “John Brown” like act of rebellion to incite a conflict; [7] have they really thought through the horrible realities of insurgency and civil war?

A time may come when one has to decide whether to violently resist tyranny to prevent servitude or for self-preservation.  BUT THAT TIME IS NOT NOW; ALL OTHER MEANS ARE NOT EXHAUSTED!  Should we be resisting and fighting the past and present encroachments on the Constitution and liberty… most definitely!  Human nature being what it is--the fight for individual liberty and the “animating contest of freedom” never ends.  No doubt, we are at a tipping point.  But, free speech and the ballot box are still there.  The fact that I can freely express my views and effect change says to me a bloodless renaissance is still possible.  Plus, we conservatives insist on the “rule of law” as a founding principle of the Republic, it is deceitful progressives and statist that love incendiary oratory and lawless mob action.

The combined strategy of education, political activism and even some non-violent civil disobedience can be effective tools for us.  Remember the power of the written and spoken words by the Founders; we need to educate ourselves and others to use that power to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. The Tea Party movement is the right idea, get involved…support your local and national organizations such as FreedomWorks, The Heritage Foundation, etc…  [8] Get behind political candidates that you believe truly support and defend our Constitution.  There are many ways to get involved NOW and begin to turn the tide…but, even though liberals believe the Second Amendment is just for hunters, it will not hurt to “keep your powder dry.”

Notes:

[1] I highly recommend the Teaching Company’s course taught by Professor Thomas L. Pangle, Ph.D.  Great Debate: Advocates and Opponents of the American Constitution, University of Chicago, The University of Texas at Austin.  Available at http://www.thegreatcourses.com

[2] Joseph Baldacchino, (2005).  The Unraveling of American Constitutionalism: From Customary Law to Permanent Innovation, The Center for Constitutional Studies, National Humanities Institute http://www.nhinet.org/ccs-res.htm

[3] A condition embodied in quotes of these two great intellectuals… "Find out just what the people will submit to and you will have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or both.  The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”  --Frederick Douglass, August 3, 1857 in a speech on “West India Emancipation” at Canandaigua, New York

"If a Nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be....  If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed.”  --Thomas Jefferson

[4] “No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size.  Government programs, once launched, never disappear.  Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!”  Ronald Reagan, U.S. Republican politician, President. “A Time for Choosing,” television address, 27 Oct. 1964 (published in Speaking My Mind, 1989).

[5] From a letter by Thomas Jefferson in 1787 while he was in France to his friend William Smith.  This phrase is often quoted as an affirmation of the right of the people to rebel against the tyranny of government.  The intended meaning of this quote in full context of the letter and historic setting is still debated.

[6] “If we love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude, than the animating contest of freedom—go from us in peace.  We ask not your counsels or arms.  Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you.  May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”  Samuel Adams from a speech delivered at the State House in Philadelphia, August 1, 1776

[7] Revolutionary abolitionist who in the 1850s advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery in the United States and made his name in the unsuccessful raid at Harpers Ferry in 1859 for which he was hung.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_(abolitionist)

[8] I highly recommend and personally support.  http://www.freedomworks.org/ and   http://www.heritage.org/

The Blunder of Nation Building Idealism

By the Lieutenant Colonel

President G. W. Bush’s version of progressive idealism implemented under the banner “Compassionate Conservatism” resulted in a Middle East foreign policy blunder.  He along with many in his administration believed Sadam Husain’s authoritarian regime repressed a population majority longing for “Democracy”.  The United States would nobly be liberators bringing democracy to the people while simultaneously eradicating the regime’s WMD threat to the region.  They naively believed that the concepts of liberty, tolerance, inalienable rights, responsible representative government, and basic human decency were universally sought if only given the chance to flourish.  Soon after the fall of Bagdad, the complexity of imparting (from the outside-in) largely foreign concepts of societal governance (Nation Building) quickly appeared.  Reaction in the U.S. spanned from, “uh-oh, get out quick and let them fend for themselves”, to “we broke it, and are morally obligated to fix it”.  After nearly nine years with extortionate costs in blood and treasure, it is still unknown whether a stable and lasting, free and democratic nation will endure.  There are few signs Iraq will be different in any way other than Sadam eventually replaced by another strongman in a pseudo election based on religious sects of Shia and Sunni (No Christians need apply).  Unfortunately, President Obama and his administration, infected with an even more zealous form of progressive idealism, are only multiplying the blunders with foreign policy schemes and/or military intervention in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Libya, Turkey, and where next???.

Admittedly, early on I was among those who once proclaimed cautious optimism about President Bush’s intentions as shown by this passage from a post I made to a 2004 on-line article critical of the Iraq War…  “We must be patient with the good folks I'm sure are present in Iraq.  Our independence was achieved by patriots who knew what liberty was, and understood what they were fighting for.  The scenario for the Iraqi people is much different; most have no experience with the concepts of liberty and representative democracy.  With time and education, their desire for liberty will flourish.”

I must concede the folly of my wishful thinking. It is a huge culture-centric miscalculation to think that ideas and values that evolved throughout millennia in the Western ideological environment of Judeo-Christian theology, Greek rationalism, and the European enlightenment… that roused Colonial America’s “Great Debate” and founding of a historically unique Constitutional Republic are somehow universal.  While some societies noticed the prosperity and individual freedoms of the United States, admired and subsequently adopted our Constitution’s doctrines in various forms, other society’s ideals and values were deeply rooted in their own cultural traditions.  The reality is that some society’s culture is completely contradictory to our most fundamental American principles of self-determination and entrepreneurship.  These principles are completely foreign to them, and in their view even threaten their cultures established “social order”.  Such is the Middle East where most see Islam as the “One” ultimate truth and Sharia the only law of the land.  No doubt there are a small number of people throughout the Middle East who somewhat understand and desire “Western” ideas of individual liberty and the governance needed to protect it, but they are truly an exception.

When observing the human misery and poverty inherent in other societies, we “feel” morally responsible to help these misfortunate people end tyranny and we want to “bestow” (i.e., give) them an opportunity for individual liberty that we know enabled our Democratic Republic to grow so prosperous.  However, the message from the Middle East has been overwhelmingly consistent and constant…when monarchs or dictators are overthrown and “popularist” democratic elections held, the masses turn to charismatic leaders and political movements; they substitute one form of tyranny for a seeming “benevolent” Islamic autocracy--they are immortally trapped by their religion that by definition demands to also be their government.  When the religion IS the government, the government by definition can’t be wrong because that would mean God was wrong…but God is not running the government, men are.  You can see the problem they face.  In “Palestine”, Hamas swept to power.  In Lebanon, Hezbollah brought down the moderate Lebanese government.  In Iran in 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected.  In the Iraqi elections of 2010, the big winner was the anti-American Islamist Muqtada al-Sadr.  [1] When Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak allowed some electoral districts to be contested, the Muslim Brotherhood won most of them.  And now that he is ousted, Islamist overwhelmingly win the elections.  Afghanistan, a tribal society mess the Russians couldn’t subdue in ten years, but we’re the nice guys on the moral high-ground bringing democracy to all and will fare better…Now, yet once again, we can see how that is working out.

These people have little or no knowledge of and have no interest in finding out about Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Smith, or Burke.  They don’t have their own Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, Madison or Washington, because these ideas and these men would be seen as an affront to Islam.  [1] They know only their ancient culture and what they are told is from the Koran (which of course no one can question without fear of having their head cut off).  There is a natural tendency for our society having progressed so far over the last couple of hundred years, to “feel” morally responsible to “fix it.” (And unfortunately our culture has come to believe that all problems can be solved in a one hour TV show, minus the 18 minutes of commercials?)  We are certainly naive to expect a different outcome in Iraq, Afghanistan or really any other country around the world than the one we see on our nightly news broadcast.

Post Script--“The Colonel” made an excellent comment regarding this article that I really wish I would have thought of, me being an avid Star Trek fan...

“Remember the Star Trek Prime Directive?  Even though the Enterprise had superior social and science development they were forbidden from interfering in the affairs of less developed cultures...see, even Hollywood of old recognized the dangers of such interventions.”--The Colonel

[1]  Note:  Inspired by or cited from various comments on “Welcome to the Islamist Middle East and It’s Not Going to Be Moderate”, Barry Rubin, PJMedia.com, entries October 2011.  http://pjmedia.com/barryrubin/2011/10/25/welcome-to-the-islamist-middle-east-and-its-not-going-to-be-moderate/

Bipartisanship, Compromise… Can’t We All Just Get Along? Ughhhh!

By the Lieutenant Colonel

On Sunday evening March 4^th I watched former Governor Mike Huckabee’s Forum 3 - Jobs, a Republican Presidential Candidates forum presented on the Fox News Channel.  I have to say that while the traditional “at a podium” television debate format does have a place (If the questions are not manipulative and biased), I would prefer to see more candidate “vetting” done using this type of “subject specific forum” style.  However, that is not the motivation for this article.

Three Ohio citizens made up one of the two panels that posed questions to the candidates.  One of the panelists was Ohio State University Senior Devin Largent, a self-proclaimed “Independent” voter.  Throughout the forum he asked thoughtful and relevant questions and he came across to me as a rather bright young man.  But, that impression did not last.  For the forums wrap-up, Gov. Huckabee asked the panelists their thoughts on how the candidates performed.  Devin was the last to respond…I was anticipating a thoughtful and intelligent assessment--instead, Devin’s response left me utterly flabbergasted and shaking my head! 

Devin it turns out was very disappointed that none of the candidates’ responses alleviated his foremost concern… the tone and partisanship of our political environment.  He said “maybe he is just an idealist” but feels what he sees from the political parties is only unproductive disharmony and bickering.  Devin said the candidates should be amicably bipartisan and willing to compromise.  Devin believes he’s an idealist, I think he’s troublingly naive.  Like many, Devin clearly can’t stomach that disagreement and conflict is a reality of the human condition, and shies away from it with wishful sentiment.  A pragmatist understands from the dawn of existence we have battled over competing ideas on how we should live and govern society.  Religious connotations aside, there is “good and evil” in human nature and no repetitive singing of John Lennon’s Imagine is going to produce a paradise of human serenity.  Moreover, the danger of conciliatory idealism is those who seek collective control and power over people at the expense of individual liberty harness this weakness to advance their own dogma and personal status.

Our Nation’s Founding Fathers understood human nature, examined historical civilizations and government constructs, and astutely crafted an unprecedented form of democratic republican government codified in our Constitution.  A vigorous debate ensued that required some compromise to achieve consensus, but the debate wasn’t about more or less liberty, but competing ideas on how best to protect it.  The Constitution was intentionally designed to protect maximum individual liberty and “inalienable rights” by trying to thwart the inevitable determinations of some to seize collective control and power.  But even this distinguished document was viewed with skepticism with regard to restraining the relentless lust for power as expressed in the writings of the Anti-Federalists.  As Benjamin Franklin left Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, he was asked by Maryland delegate Dr. James McHenry, “Well, Doctor, what have we got -- a Republic or a Monarchy?”  Dr. Franklin revealed his own doubts when he famously replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it.”  He clearly understood that even this extraordinarily well-designed democratic republic would be entirely dependent upon the active and informed involvement of future generations of people resolutely dedicated to the ideas of individual liberty espoused by the Founders.

Two-hundred and twenty-five years ago this September the Constitution was sent to the States for ratification and this grand new experiment in republican government was born.  But regrettably, as the skeptics warned, the size and power of the Federal Government has undeniably grown over time to the detriment of individual liberty… by intermittent and small incursions in the first hundred years, and through more sweeping episodes of change ever since (i.e. Progressive Era, New Deal, Great Society, Hope & Change).  The foundational erosion of the obstacles to Federal power enumerated in the Constitution have always been done with calls for bipartisanship and compromise under the pretense of alleviating some presumed complex issue of “modern times” unforeseen by the Founders.  This flawed reasoning is once again in full force.

President Obama and the Democrats, frustrated by their stalled attempts to "fundamentally transform" the American system, are condemning the opposition with shrieks of foul play. Currently, Republicans, and Democrats favorite scapegoat the Tea Party, are organizations frequently accused of being "obstructionist" and "The Party of No," and of refusing to compromise just to spite Obama.  Furthermore, baseless accusations of every immoral prejudice and injustice are flung out for misdirection effect the way a magician uses sleight of hand to deceive the audience.  Obama, on the other hand, portrays himself as reasonable and conciliatory, merely asking for bipartisanship and compromise.  The politically squeamish, “can’t we all just get along” citizens like Devin facilitate this false narrative that veils the erosion of liberty and rush to state collectivism, whether they realizes it or not.