A call to the fearful

We are in many ways a fearful nation.  We call it political correctness, decency, tolerance and many other empty terms but it, boiled down, is a reluctance to enter into conflict with other humans.  We’re taught from birth “Don’t hit”, “Share”, “Be nice” and we follow what we have learned.  Conflict has been bred out of us here in America.  If there’s a chance to vote, discuss, meet, ignore or even suffer from an issue we will gladly if the only other option is confrontation or violence in some form.  And how’s that working out for us?

There also seems to be a faction of Americans who heard these lessons and were gifted in their ability to ignore the pangs of conscience and just roll over others.  Some would call them bullies and others would say that they just exploit the weakness of their neighbors.  Either way, these folks play by a different set of rules from the “nice” people.  Some of these folks seem to be drawn to the machine of politics as a way to act out on their lesser impulses and the machine, as it exists and the People, as we exist, present them with a “target rich environment”.  The Sheep never do more than complain and ask nicely to be left alone as they are shorn, year after year.  As their lambs are dragged off to be taught how good sheep act and why they should never, ever resist.  Clearly it works well.  We have the record of generations of abuse to our Rights and our Persons at the hands of .gov and other governmental entities and there exists no real record of any sort of real resistance to those abuses.  Lots of posturing exists but there has been no real action by more than a suspect few.

We, as Free-willed People are looking at this all wrong.  We are assuming that somewhere in America, some of us are brave and courageous and they will save us.  I seriously doubt that is true.  The evidence would show that we are a nation of cowards.  The only brave among us have been co-opted and they often work for those who seek to oppress us.  We call them police and soldiers and while they are in harness they are a boon to those who would rule.  Some call them sheep dogs.  A sheep dog is owned by and serves the owner of the flock.  It is when they slip out of the harness and look at what they themselves have become that they are a liability and a threat to .gov and then they become potential domestic terrorists.

God help us.  This rabbit hole is so deep and convoluted.  The work of a few men over generations has done incredible damage to the people of this once great land.  And today they consider the opposition to be weak and gutless based on the lack of real resistance. 

So what should we do?  Exercise.  Not just the body but the courage.  Here’s my thoughts on how we do that.

"Unjust (and unconstitutional) laws exist; shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once? Men generally, under such a government as this, think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the majority to alter them. They think that, if they should resist, the remedy would be worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the government itself that the remedy is worse than the evil. It makes it worse. Why is it not more apt to anticipate and provide for reform? Why does it not cherish its wise minority? Why does it cry and resist before it is hurt? Why does it not encourage its citizens to be on the alert to point out its faults, and do better than it would have them?  Why does it always crucify Christ, and excommunicate Copernicus and Luther, and pronounce Washington and Franklin rebels?"

"If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go; perchance it will wear smooth — certainly the machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another (your children for example), then, I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn."  HD Thoreau, Resistance to Civil Government

I have been struggling personally with the issue of fear.  I feel fear when faced with the future that we as a people are looking at, I feel fear for my children who will have to live in this world, and I hear fear in the voices of my friends and others I talk with.  We are a people who do fear our government and this is wrong.  Free men should not fear their government.  If anyone should fear, it should be those who wrongfully RULE over a free people they have sworn to SERVE.

So, to address a good friend's point on speaking openly about the end of our nation, I would ask should we, as supposedly free men talk about what is actually right or what is merely legal?  Should we self edit our words and thoughts simply because someone in OUR government might no like what we are saying?  Or that it might be perceived as some form of “illegal” speech and thus bring down the feared power of .gov on our forums or even on us individually, as just people. 

Personally I would challenge the owners and mods of the forums we attend to do a little research on the position and effect of local newspapers on the years leading up to the establishment of our once great republic.  They were the backbone of the communications between otherwise unattached groups people, establishing a sense of community and common purpose throughout the Colonies where none had really existed before.  These papers were the force that gave men, real men with real fears for their family’s future, a sense that they were not alone.  Today, forums are filling that same role and building community across America.  The papers today are clearly in the establishment’s pocket and for the very same reasons they resist talk of real Freedom so do the owners and staffs of many forums hesitate today.  It is personal fear warning never to speak out in a clear and forceful manner against the government in power and advocate a reset of our nation.  Fear, a powerless emotion, is deciding the course of our nation.

“The fears of man are many. He fears the shadow of death and the closed doors of the future. He is afraid for his friends and for his sons and of the specter of tomorrow. All his life's journey he walks in the lonely corridors of his controlled fears, if he is a man. For only fools will strut, and only cowards dare cringe.”  James Warner Bellah

Fear is just a feeling.  It’s what you CHOOSE to do when you feel it that makes you a man.