P.J. O’Rourke once wrote that “Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.” Keeping that in mind, ever notice how all of the really scary news remains out of sight until it just can’t be concealed anymore? Then it all pops up at once like crabgrass in your back yard…
Like the huge new Big Brother-ish NSA data collection center. If it’s transmitted, they’ll not only read it; they’ll store it for future reference. Combined with the CIA’s excitement about spying on people through their TV sets (I mean, really…did they just flat lift the idea from 1984?). It makes you wonder if anything is truly private anymore.
OK, not really. We all know the answer to that question. If you’re still not following me, take a look around at the proliferation of security and traffic cameras. I have never been the paranoid type, but it’s hard to keep from looking over your shoulder when you can’t escape the concrete evidence that somebody else is looking over your shoulder.
And then the White House goes and makes another one of their Friday night document dumps, this one guaranteed to get the black-helicopter crowd foaming up like Maytags…Martial Law, anyone?
Maybe not so much. Here’s a more realistic view at Legal Insurrection. Put simply, WorldNutDaily is full of it. Spend too much time hanging out there (or in Glenn Beck land) and you’ll soon be ready to just open up a vein and get it over with before the Zombie Apocalypse finally arrives (after you’ve dumped your 401k into precious metals, of course).
That is not to say that we don’t live in very serious times, or that these stories don’t share common threads. We are facing the choice of a generation, maybe several to come. The hard-core Left knows this and senses that the (normally disengaged) public is finally on to them. They are *this* close to finally closing the loop on their collectivist designs, and understand that everything will either come together or fall apart over the next year.
The movement’s Fellow Travelers are now realizing how many freedoms must be curbed in order to see their fantasies come to fruition, whereas their True Believer leadership has known it all along (and they’ve been shrewd enough to keep their traps shut about it until the last possible minute).
No one can convince me the contraception mandate that’s being forced on Catholic institutions wasn’t a calculated shot across the bow meant to cow all religious organizations…or at least those that the Left doesn’t like. But if you’re an Indian tribe that wants to shoot American Bald Eagles for religious reasons? No sweat, they’re cool with that. Can’t have the state interfere with religious activities, now can we?
Collectivism runs counter to human nature and therefore always leads to tyranny, whether its proponents intend it or not. Some cling to a belief in their own benevolence and a misdirected desire to do good for humanity. The rest simply seek power and desire control, and are more than happy to manipulate the do-gooders toward their own ends (the “useful idiots”). Both types believe they know better than the rest of us. This is why they are dangerous when given power, because all would have us end up in the same place.
I don’t normally cite so many posts from a single blog all at once, but over the St. Patty’s Day weekend Legal Insurrection offered a pot-o’-gold worth of rational perspective:
On coordinated attacks against media figures the Movement doesn’t like, and how to fight back.
On creeping restrictions against our First Amendment rights (be careful which party conventions you choose to protest this summer).
And finally, the ongoing farce otherwise known as Wisconsin politics.
That last one is serious and bears watching closely. While nominally affecting only one state, the tactics and underlying attitudes are worth noting for future reference. When everything’s on the table, this is how the Left operates. Any majority they held has always been an illusion, but now that their unsustainable rigging of the system is revealed in cold, clear terms (math always wins eventually), they are like wounded animals backed into a corner. Take note of which side relies on overturning those elections which leave them unhappy with the results.
When the highest office in the land engages in coordinated assaults against private citizens who oppose their interests, we are brought dangerously close to seeing violence in the streets. Lest you think I’m exaggerating, the Occupy crowd is back and spoiling for a fight.
2012 is going to look a lot like 1968, except maybe with more violence, worse music, and no astronauts orbiting the Moon at Christmas.
The Chiles Files 