The parallels are worrisome, even frightening. In many ways, people now living in the United States of America have returned to circumstances of our revolutionary forbearers. Hopefully, George Santana was not referring to us: “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
In 1776, there was an hereditary British aristocracy that was totally out of touch with the everyday class, in fact preying on it. Today we have an elite class of professional politicians with apparently lifelong tenure in Congress and their minions in a massive bureaucracy that controls the populace by overseeing regulatory compliance.
In 1776, the ruling class protected and extended their power using a military often built through impressment. Today, the power elite fosters a class of government dependents who, in order to protect their government handouts or bailouts, keep the elite in power through the ballot box.
Three nights ago, I moderated a town hall meeting on healthcare. [That meeting will be described shortly on this web site.] In the course of our dialogue, I called for a show of hands asking, “If you could, how many of you would vote out all, repeat all, 535 members of Congress?” Instantly, almost the entire audience enthusiastically raised their hands.
In 1776, King George III dictated to a group of colonies, separated from him by great distance. Today, we have an elected monarch (President) who preaches at (not even to) us, who is totally out of touch with reality. Like King George, the President is separated greatly from his subjects but Obama’s isolation is because of ideologic blinders.
The President blames the rich – not his own policies – for all our national woes. He wants to control the nation in order to redistribute its wealth. We The People want to be independent and free. We, the creators of wealth, want to become rich, not destroy them. As true liberals and therefore followers of John Locke, we deplore being dependent on the government, resent control by the government, and like the Founding Fathers, we will resist.
In 1776 (actually it was 1765), the Stamp Act was imposed on us. It took our money without our consent. As colonists, we declared it unconstitutional. Today, we have “Obamacare” or the PPAHCA, which is similar, almost identical.
The cry of taxation without representation and using our own money against us seems all too appropriate today. Think of our involvement in foreign wars, job-killing legislation, the favored handling certain (campaign contributor) groups, bailouts, and Solyndra.
In 1776, the monarchy – the government – controlled our lives, our liberty, our property, and our precious honor. In response, we declared a Bill of Rights , which was not a list of RIGHTS at all. It was a list of constraints against the government imposing its will on us. Our nation was founded in defense of one single right for Americans: to be free.
There is one huge difference between 1776 and today. Then, we were powerless unless and until we took up arms. Today, we do have power: the power of a single vote multiplied by hundreds of millions.
This is not a call for another armed, bloody revolt. This is a cry for bloodless revolution, called democratic change.
As “government is the problem, not the solution,” We The People should change our government. We must throw out the current power elite: 535 members of Congress plus the White House. We need to depopulate the bureaucracy and force the regulators and overseers to do something productive instead of confiscatory. Then, we should repopulate the Beltway with people who remember what we did and why we did it 235 years ago.
The parallels are worrisome, even frightening. In many ways, people now living in the United States of America have returned to circumstances of our revolutionary forbearers. Hopefully, George Santana was not referring to us: “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
In 1776, there was an hereditary British aristocracy that was totally out of touch with the everyday class, in fact preying on it. Today we have an elite class of professional politicians with apparently lifelong tenure in Congress and their minions in a massive bureaucracy that controls the populace by overseeing regulatory compliance.
In 1776, the ruling class protected and extended their power using a military often built through impressment. Today, the power elite fosters a class of government dependents who, in order to protect their government handouts or bailouts, keep the elite in power through the ballot box.
Three nights ago, I moderated a town hall meeting on healthcare. [That meeting will be described shortly on this web site.] In the course of our dialogue, I called for a show of hands asking, “If you could, how many of you would vote out all, repeat all, 535 members of Congress?” Instantly, almost the entire audience enthusiastically raised their hands.
In 1776, King George III dictated to a group of colonies, separated from him by great distance. Today, we have an elected monarch (President) who preaches at (not even to) us, who is totally out of touch with reality. Like King George, the President is separated greatly from his subjects but Obama’s isolation is because of ideologic blinders.
The President blames the rich – not his own policies – for all our national woes. He wants to control the nation in order to redistribute its wealth. We The People want to be independent and free. We, the creators of wealth, want to become rich, not destroy them. As true liberals and therefore followers of John Locke, we deplore being dependent on the government, resent control by the government, and like the Founding Fathers, we will resist.
In 1776 (actually it was 1765), the Stamp Act was imposed on us. It took our money without our consent. As colonists, we declared it unconstitutional. Today, we have “Obamacare” or the PPAHCA, which is similar, almost identical.
The cry of taxation without representation and using our own money against us seems all too appropriate today. Think of our involvement in foreign wars, job-killing legislation, the favored handling certain (campaign contributor) groups, bailouts, and Solyndra.
In 1776, the monarchy – the government – controlled our lives, our liberty, our property, and our precious honor. In response, we declared a Bill of Rights , which was not a list of RIGHTS at all. It was a list of constraints against the government imposing its will on us. Our nation was founded in defense of one single right for Americans: to be free.
There is one huge difference between 1776 and today. Then, we were powerless unless and until we took up arms. Today, we do have power: the power of a single vote multiplied by hundreds of millions.
This is not a call for another armed, bloody revolt. This is a cry for bloodless revolution, called democratic change.
As “government is the problem, not the solution,” We The People should change our government. We must throw out the current power elite: 535 members of Congress plus the White House. We need to depopulate the bureaucracy and force the regulators and overseers to do something productive instead of confiscatory. Then, we should repopulate the Beltway with people who remember what we did and why we did it 235 years ago.