A Call to Arms
American populist angst has been rising for some time now. The optimist in me hopes that the Tea Party movement, and with it the rekindling within Americans of the vision of the founders and the defense of our Constitution can “fundamentally transform the United States of America” to coin a phrase from our old socialist pal in the Oval Office.
Yet while my heart tells me that there is a chance to turn this ship around, the overwhelming evidence that I have documented in my more sober if not brutally honest moments speaks to just the opposite. The progressives have been hammering away at our freedoms for well over a century, aggressively indoctrinating the citizenry with their perspicacious propaganda campaign. While our ideas are better, we have not adequately defended them.
Today it occurred to me that the perturbed conservatives I saw on Ailes’ evil news network harping on the blasphemous spendthrift blowhards in Washington were missing the point in blaming our politicians for their actions. Sure I am just as outraged as the next fellow at the spending of taxpayer money on projects fraught with waste and corruption, the sheer arrogance of our leaders in running roughshod over our economic liberty and in general the out of control growth of the nanny state.
But just as it was these political leaders who were the great enablers for the bankers in the financial crisis, through the gobs of cheap government credit provided by the head of the banking cartel – the government’s Federal Reserve, through their implicit guarantees of too-big-too-fail taxpayer protection and through their push along with the ACORN thugs for providing housing for even the least creditworthy among us, so too was it the American people that have enabled this government.
James Madison said of democracies that they “have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.” Perhaps more prescient, Marx posited that “Democracy is the road to socialism.” But alas, this is the system that we allowed to take hold though the Constitution never once mentions it, and we the people, who were supposed to vigilantly defend our liberty, have allowed our government to devolve into an instrument whereby each group plunders each and every other group. And what is this instrument of plunder of government but a representation of the people?
Herein lies the problem with blaming the politicians. It is we that have elected these scallywags. Their sole goal is retaining power in office, future of the nation-be-damned. Like for the bankers, though they know the system to be unsustainable in the long run, what matters to politicians is reaping the rewards before the storm. It is the American public that has let them continue to be irresponsible, leaving us with over $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities. We have condoned the profligacy and pillaging of our rights.
Throughout history in this country there has been a constant battle waged between those who espouse liberty and those who would sooner trade liberty for tyranny than live in a society based on self-reliance, merit and morality. Even if we have voted against the bad apples, we are complicit in having not convinced our fellow citizens to do so. Instead, we allowed the so-called elites, the political entrepreneurs to take over Washington, D.C., promising the people healthcare, housing and the rest of the hogwash spelled out in the Second Bill of Rights. They debauched our great nation by our sanction.
Now let me turn from criticizing us Americans (I am as complicit in this lack of vigilance as all my Libertarian brethren), lest I start to sound like Barack Obama. What we must do as the antidote to the growing Leviathan is to fight the intellectual fight for liberty on every street corner, in every classroom and through every other media possible. We must infiltrate corrupt and destructive institutions and reveal the truth to our fellow countrymen. We must seek out candidates with no interest in political power – no desire to cut deals but a sheer wish to restore America to its rightful place in the world; to serve as honest and capable stewards aiming to leave a better country for their children and children’s children. We must seek people willing to take unpopular positions with a firm and steadfast resolve, equipped with the knowledge of and confidence in the tenets of classical Liberalism. A good start would be to seek out those who have no desire to hold office.
Good government requires a populace that seeks good government. Further, it requires representatives with the courage to fight for prudent policy, not the petty politics of payoffs and plunder. Most importantly, it beckons those who wish to honor the vision of our Founders, in which the liberty of the most important minority, the individual is protected, in which free market capitalism is advanced through the protection of private property and contract rights and in which the defense of our citizenry and by extension the securing of our freedom is the highest priority of government.
Demoralizing as our situation as a nation may be as a result of a government that we have allowed to run amok, I should say that in some ways I am optimistic no matter what direction this country takes. Should we rally to fight the fight against the socialist sophists and begin to roll back the last hundred-plus years of disgraceful governance, we will succeed. On the other hand, if we continue to hurtle towards the day of reckoning of default and/or hyperinflation in von Mises’ “crackup boom,” the welfare state will collapse of its own weight, and those of us armed with the right ideas will be able to step out of the darkness and help lead the country back to peace and prosperity.
Either way, we must fight on every front to advance the ideals of liberty and engage the leftists (many Republicans included) in debate. We can no longer blame our politicians, but must heed our own advice and take the individual initiative and personal responsibility to ourselves battle to make this country once again a shining city upon a hill. Nothing less than the future of the nation depends on it.
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Mellon's Musings 
Great article whoever you are. You may want to consider joining me in the struggle against socialism at one of their own websites, http://www.opednews.comThey will publish differing views.You can see what I've been up to over there at my profile page: http://www.opednews.com/author/author9441.html
The problems we have today can all be traced back to one source: government. This institution we've placed on a pedestal is a false prophet. It's not our savior and it doesn't exist to cater to our needs. But more importantly, we just can't tame this beast. No one ever could in the entire history of governments. Sure, we could hang on for awhile, as our founders did. But then what? What's gonna happen to the next generation when the people fail to keep a watchful eye on those politicians? They'll end up in the same tyranny we are in right now. And that's IF liberty lovers can convince the rest of the population to agree with their philosophy. Placing your liberty in the hands of 300 million people is insane! People don't have the time to keep an eye on our government's actions. And they shouldn't have to. Let them spend time with family and friends instead of doing "homework" every nite. Everything you say sounds great but it's not getting to the root of the problem. If we want true liberty, we can't have an institution made up of men who have more power than we do. If a politician, judge or cop can make us do something against our will, we are, by definition, slaves. We're wasting our time trying to elect the "right kind of people". It can't work because the state is a monopoly. Monopolies always result in higher prices and lower quality. I think that sums up America, Inc. perfectly. Abolish government and you will prosper!
It is so clear that goverment has failed to serve the populace in a sustainable way, but I hear and see so few comments regarding solutions. Voting for the next scoundrel is not a solution. Until we have public funding of elections and the banning of corporate influence in government, there will be no solution to the problem of having our elected representatives catering to their money suppliers and ignoring their constituents.
Don't blame voters alone. Politicians rig the game, permitting only a select few peers to run for election. The majority-takes-all approach denies a voice to many voters. More people find something better to do on poll day than to vote for "the lesser of two evils."I was disgusted by the GOP debates in the last Presidential election, seeing how Dr. Ron Paul was abused, while people with much less backing were given much more respect. His views were too far out of line with the "mainstream" politicians; too much danger of "rocking the boat."Yet here we are, in the midst of a financial crisis, which only the Austrian economists foresaw, and we're suffering the ministrations of different flavors of Keynesians, which will only make problems worse.
I spent years trying to "change the system", and eventually concluded that politics is much like studio wrestling; the great contest is staged for the viewers; afterward, the D and R politicians go out and have a beer together and divide the loot.Nowadays, I focus on what individuals can do to empower themselves: home schooling and self-directed education; self-defense; building financial security and interpersonal relationships with one's community. All of these supplant the State. Education and protection and the safety net; when people are used to providing these things for themselves, they may start asking "just what do we need the State for?"