PUSH BACK- PART TWO

Human beings want to live with freedom and dignity. These are two crucial components of a balanced and valued existence yet throughout the history of human kind these very qualities of life have been repeatedly attacked and suppressed by a tyrannical few. Virtually every culture on earth today has, at some point in their history been forced to deal with the unpleasant results of allowing a few power hungry people to regulate and control their destinies. And to a culture, that destiny was tortured to the point where the people eventually stood up and simply said “no more”. Many times bloodshed followed, but in every instance there existed intense conflict between opposing philosophies and ideologies. If a compromising balance was not struck, the issue was usually settled by using the most common of human conflict management techniques. Violence.

The country of Brazil is currently embroiled in several days of civil unrest and violence as a result of mass protests known as the “Vinegar movement”. Brazilians are experiencing the tyrannical and undignified consequences of a big, inefficient and abusive government and when a protester was recently arrested for nothing more then carrying a bottle of vinegar, the fuse was lit that ignited the passion of a citizenry. They woke up and said “no more.”

Brazil’s current situation is not unique by any stretch of the imagination. Pushing a people past their point of tolerance has been a reoccurring theme throughout the course of history and there are currently different versions of it playing out right now in Turkey, Spain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran and Greece. Will it be our story soon right here in the United States?  

Think about it my friends. In America today we have layers upon layers of dysfunctional and inefficient federal, state and local government consuming more and more of our economic resources. Self indulging politicians pass law after law restricting our constitutionally protected freedoms while exempting themselves from the very rules and constraints that they place on the electorate. Our federal government is no longer the necessary evil for the people of the United States. It has become a nation state of its own, clear cut from the moral tethers of it founding principles and no longer accountable. We should have a healthy skepticism toward the government but all I see from where I sit is pure fear. That is unacceptable to a free people.

Our revenue collection agency is criminally corrupt. Our security agency gathers every bit of information it can on its own citizens while casually standing by while terrorists blow us to bits. Our Homeland security agency considers white males the most dangerous threat to this country while laying down the red carpet for Islamic extremists. Our highest law enforcement agency is run like a Gestapo by a racist thug. Our environmental agency is nothing more then an extortion operation for the left. The White House threatens dissenters and destroys the lives of those who disagree. This is no longer the land of the free. But it can be again. If we push back. If we say “no more.”

Federalist number 51, written by philosopher and eventual President James Madison, addresses the case for limiting the power of government:

“It may be a reflection of human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest reflection on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government….”

This is what I take from this passage. We can still function as the force that prohibits government from spiraling out of control, especially since Madison seems to indicate that those who govern naturally begin to think a bit too highly of themselves (Pelosi?) and we still, at least for the time being, are free enough to speak out and freely exchange ideas about our country and its government, regardless if those ideas are contrary to the edicts from the emperor and his henchmen.

Are we on the path to repeat history? Was the Revolutionary War just a scrimmage for the big game later? Do we as a citizenry have the ability to act as the balancing force against a government that has seized way too much control over our lives? I firmly believe the question is not “can we,” but “will we” step up and not only demand accountability, but ensure accountability.

I believe we have the ability. Do we have the courage? Our freedoms and our dignity are a stake. I say “no more.”