Visions And Tomorrows - or do you want any for your kids and grandkids?

Visions And Tomorrows Francis Porretto I wrote some time ago about the   terrible power of the statists' strategy of gradualism. Gradualism cannot be made into a  weapon for freedom. It requires the surrender of all principles of justice, after which the field  belongs to the forces of evil. Thus, we must counter gradualism with other weapons. Whether we've failed to find the proper countermeasure or have failed to use it properly, the  statists have defeated us at nearly every turn. At this time we're barely a hair short of having  a completely unbounded federal government that exercises arbitrary coercive power over any  and every activity known to Man. Mark Steyn has opined that the point of no return is government-provided health care. With  ObamaCare, we're not far short of that. If ObamaCare's designed-in dynamic is permitted to   operate for a few years, we'll take the plunge into a Canadian-style single-payer service, if not  a full-up British National Health Service, whether we like it or not. Not to put too fine a point on it, America is on the brink. *** Yes, the line just above the asterisk-break was intended to get your blood pumping. It was also  intended to get you to ask the critical questions: What "brink?" What could push us over? If we go over the edge, what might pull us back? Most important of all: What measure(s) might pull us back from the brink? The brink is the dividing line between two conditions of society: one that has at least some  possibility of freeing itself by non-violent means, and one that can only reclaim its freedom by  bloody revolution. America will go "over the brink" if ever the following set of conditions should come to pass: The right of free expression is suspended; The writ of habeas corpus is no longer honored; Elections are suspended, or are rendered inherently untrustworthy; The preponderance of coercive force lies with institutions wholly subservient to the  federal government. All four of these nightmarish possibilities are required to plunge us into totalitarianism. We  who have hoped for the restoration of freedom will be left with memories, nothing more. We  won't know just "when to stop and when to go;" we'll be told when to do so. The shadows of  the Omnipotent State won't "disappear;" we'll cease to see them, because they'll cease to  have borders. But we'll have plenty of propaganda organs showering us with "golden lights;"  what we won't have is any voices counterpoised to them. The older ones among us will have memories of freedom, at least particular cases thereof.  But Mankind's "magical vanishing memory machine" -- human mortality -- will cause those to  dwindle and disappear. Nor will uncorrupted records of a free America be permitted to reach  younger Americans' eyes. Indeed, that process is already under way; if you doubt it, check  your minor children's "social studies" textbooks. In such a state, Rousseau's dictum that "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains"  will have to be revised: Man is born in chains, and is everywhere told in a voice of thunder  that he was never free. A reader has written me to pose a penetrating question: For all our disdain of politics, for all our anger at Obama, for all our fear of encroaching  bureaucracy, what would it take for us, personally, to rebel? That is, what would cause us to go on strike from work? Or what would cause us not to pay  our taxes? Or what would cause us to sit, Gandhi-style in front of a politician's office? I'm asking you to ask us, "What is your line in the sand?" We talk about being prepared  with guns and ammo or staples. But what is the thing that might happen that would cause  us to actually stand up and say, "NO!" rather than just prepare for chaos, uninvited and  unchallenged? What is that turning point from being angry to being rebellious? And what would we do? That is the question of the hour. It must be answered both individually and collectively.  Individually, because even in our time a single unbowed figure, a lone man who rises up  and bellows "Non serviam," can make a difference, especially if he backs up his   proclamation with action. Collectively, because even the most fearless and inspiring leader  must have enough firmly committed troops at his back to defeat his enemy. Let's return to my four nightmare-scenario precursors: The right of free expression is suspended; The writ of habeas corpus is no longer honored; Elections are suspended, or are rendered inherently untrustworthy; The preponderance of coercive force lies with institutions wholly subservient to the  federal government. The federal government, or major institutions that have great federal influence, has inched  toward all four of these in recent years: The freedom of the Internet is under heavy attack via "net neutrality," "protection of intellectual  property," and other gambits; An American citizen detained under suspicion of involvement in terrorism cannot count on  the success of a habeas corpus petition; Forces on the Left have labored mightily to corrupt our elections to their advantage, and  have occasionally succeeded; The push for further incursions on the right to keep and bear arms is unceasing. Once again, the key concept is gradualism. If the statists advance delicately enough on  these fronts, they might just succeed in "boiling the frog before he realizes his danger."  Our best hope lies in a sudden acceleration of their efforts, whether from triumphal elation  or panic. That would cause their ends to become visible to all too many Americans,  galvanizing us to draw our "line in the sand" and plant ourselves on it. What are the odds? Though the central force toward an Omnipotent State has historically been the Democratic  Party (including the special-interest groups allied with it), the Republican Party cannot be  held blameless. Its power-brokers have often behaved as if an unbounded federal   government is perfectly all right with them, so long as Republicans hold the levers of power.  Thus it will be insufficient to elevate Republicans over Democrats at the next election  (and subsequent ones). A statist can wear garb of any colors. He can spout rhetoric as  stirring as any other man. It's not how he looks or sounds that matters, but what he does. What we need is a political class with a rope around its neck: officeholders who understand  in their viscera that any betrayal of Constitutional principles will truncate their futures -- and  not just their futures as wielders of power -- absolutely. Reflect for a moment on the Latin root of "state:" stare, meaning "to stand." The State is a  means of compelling those under its yoke to "stand and deliver," in the old highwayman's  phrase. The State itself doesn't stand still; it continuously increases its exactions and  oppressions. As O'Brien said to Winston Smith, the purpose of power is power. If government truly is necessary, it is at best a necessary evil. Our progenitors were more  aware of this than we who have been bought piecemeal with subsidies, subventions, and   "safety nets." If we must have government, it is government itself that must be compelled to  stand still: to confine itself to a fixed set of responsibilities from which it is never permitted to  diverge. Given the sort of character that impels some men to seek power, the only thing that will  suffice for that purpose is an absolute guarantee of unthinkably severe punishment for any   betrayal of Americans' faith or invasion of our rights. The creation of "a political class with a rope around its neck" will not come to pass easily.  Indeed, should the necessary conditions be put in place, the ambition of the power-monger  guarantees that they will be tested. Some who rise to high office will probe our resolve. It will be necessary to prove that the rope is real and the trapdoor functions smoothly. Nor will  we have the luxury of being merciful toward "minor offenders," while waiting for a "major  violation" to reveal our teeth. If the logic of this escapes you, reflect on how we got to where  we are today. They who seek political power must be made to stand very still indeed: "They are the crown of creation, they are ambition fulfilled - they have nowhere more to go.... "Soon they will attain the stability they strive for, in the form it is granted - a place among   the fossils.... "In loyalty to their kind, they cannot tolerate our rise; in loyalty to our kind, we cannot  tolerate their obstruction." - John Wyndham, Re-Birth You may take it as written in the stars that they see us in the very same light. Mr. Porretto's websites are Eternity Road and Musings of an Indie Writer. www.eternityroad.info

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