Posted on 06/24/2013 6:02:25 AM PDT by Kaslin
The headlines were telling, but the caption on the protester’s sign said it all: Brazil Woke Up.
Did you see it? It appeared at Drudgereport.Com for a couple of days last week. It linked to a news story that detailed the uprisings which have been nicknamed the “vinegar movement” and the “salad revolt” and that have plagued that entire country for several days.
The protestations have been so named because of a video that recently went viral on YouTube which depicted a journalist named Piero Locatelli being arrested for carrying a bottle of vinegar in his backpack. Protesters theorize that covering ones face with a vinegar soaked cloth helps one to resist teargas, yet law enforcement officers (at least in Brazil) theorize that vinegar can be used to make a bomb (the veracity of either of these theories is, at least in my mind, questionable).
Residents of Sao Paulo were already furious over yet another recent rate hike with their public transportation lines. But then seeing a guy get incarcerated for merely possessing vinegar turned out to be the match that struck the fuse which then ignited the powder keg. So now vinegar is to Brazilians as tea was to Bostonians in 1773.
At the core of the protests lies one important truth: human beings naturally want to live with freedom and dignity. Brazilians are experiencing yet again the tyrannical and undignified consequences of a big, inefficient, and abusive government, and they are perhaps learning all over again that government frequently can’t provide even the most basic of services, let alone fulfill all its promises.
The Brazilians’ story is not unique. It has been repeated throughout the course of history, while slightly different versions of it are playing out right now in Turkey, Spain, Cyprus, Iran, Egypt and Greece. And to a lesser but yet very real degree, it is our story right now in the United States.
Think about it. In America, layers upon layers of dysfunctional and inefficient federal, state and local government consume more and more of our economic resources (and all too often we eagerly agree to hand over those resources), while providing fewer and fewer services. Agents of government frequently enjoy the best employee benefits and retirement pensions at taxpayer expense. Self-gratifying politicians in turn rage against “rich people” and insist that some of our fellow Americans aren’t paying their “fair share” in taxes, while legislatively dodging the very rules and constraints that they place on the electorate.
If that seems overly cynical, think about this: how difficult is it, really, to imagine that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security might one day forbid the public possession of vinegar, claiming that the substance has become a “public safety threat?”
Americans need to develop a healthy dose of skepticism about the promises of politicians to meet our every need, and we should abandon this false assumption that the agents of our government will exercise their power fairly. History suggests that governmental power is usually abused, and America may be on its way to repeating that history.
But here’s the good news: in many other ways, some of the founders of our nation understood human nature so remarkably well that they foresaw a day when future generations would want not so much a President, as a messiah. And some of those same early Americans offered some guidelines that, if we choose again to follow them, could help lead us out of our current malaise.
Such wisdom is yours for the reading in “The Federalist Papers,” that old compilation of some 85 newspaper editorials that argued for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, published between 1787 and 1788. While making the case for limiting the power of government, and establishing “checks and balances” between government’s various “departments,” James Madison eloquently wrote in “The Federalist Number 51:”
“ It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections 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……”
It would seem that Madison the philosopher (who went on to become our Fourth President of the United States) was quite certain that those who govern will never be “angels” (he would probably also concur that a President will never amount to a messiah). Madison also seems to indicate that those who govern will naturally begin to think a bit too highly of themselves, and will have difficulty with ‘self-restraint.”
The good news, even in this brief passage of Madison’s writings, is that “the people” - - those of us who are “the governed” - - can still function as the force that prohibits government from spiraling out of control. Certainly, we are still “free enough” – at least for now, anyway - to speak out, to allow our voices to be heard, and to freely exchange ideas about our country and its government - - even if those ideas are contrary to the edicts of a dead-certain Command-In-Chief.
The question is not “can we,” but “will we” function as that balancing force against a government that has seized way too much control of our lives.
Madison and the other founders set the course. Brazilians are waking up. But will Americans wake up and follow their founders?
That in time, people WILL revolt against corrupt leadership.
While they are protesting and rioting their situation. Will they change their ways and quit electing Socialists/Marxists? Doubt it.
I sense that the “tea party movement” could very well be on the verge of a RESURGENCE. What took place last was a preview of what is to come by the end of summer, into the fall.
As I mentioned before on these pages; the incredible prophesy of author Jack Cashill’s great novel, 2006 - The Chautaqua Rising:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0967235715
Life imitates art . . .
Well maybe with not only the upcoming Catholic World Youth Day Conference coming up next month, but both the world soccer tournament next year, and the 2016 summer olympics could be the incentives to make those needed changes. The world will be watching.
Snowden has exposed the totalitarian beast inside the wire.
The federal government is currently operating well outside of its constitutional restrictions.
Both parties and many careerist fedgov bureaucrats are in on the scheme.
The people must force the fedgov back into its constitutional cage.
The answer is to kill people but we won't or can't.
Whether we won't .. or can't .. really is of no concern.
The fact that we do nothing while the gummint tramples all over us is sufficient to at least make a thinking man angry as hell.
But we won't or can't do anything for a number of reasons ... which all boil down to ...
WE HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFULLY TERRORIZED.
We're afraid to use our God given minds and think clearly (we DO, by the way .. we are very clear in our thoughts and summations), and respond in a manner that puts a stop to the destruction of America.
When enemies riot (f'rinstance) .. we don't wade in and start beating heads .. we sit back and wait for the 6 o'clock news and tsk, tsk, those mulatto bastards at it again.
When we find ourselves in an argument at a rally (f'rinstance) and someone throws a punch, we are shocked that NO One is there to help us fight back.
Those kind old folks walking in protest at Notre Dame some years ago were arrested without a single soul confronting a cop and demanding he turn that man or woman loose or I'l kick your commie ass.
We're afraid.
It'll take the over the hill gang to shed some blood .. most likely our own .. to show you what should be done ... and all we wanted to do is wither away in peaceful retirement.
Well, that’s all well and fine, but did the guy ALSO have a Swiss Army Knife, a Bic Lighter, and Duct Tape. ALL are required for any self-respecting MacGyver Device. . .
“...That in time, people WILL revolt against corrupt leadership....”
And I will pay good money to run the guillotine after the successful conclusion of CW-II - when Dingy Harry and the Ignorant Sl*t Pelosi have to walk up the steps.
Heck, I’ll pay even more to pull the handle twice for each of those worthless pieces of excrement.
I don’t know about bombs but vinegar combined with baking soda has been used for decades in classrooms to make volcanoes. Also to clean clogged drains. Sounds dangerous. The ATF better get on this quick. Some terrorist might figure this out and do some real damage.
All these years later and I still have to laugh at how much MacGyver deplored guns. Yet blowing people away with homemade explosives was hunky-dory.
Revolt is coming.
Throughout history, a little event calling attention to government oppression has been the straw that broke the camel’s back and finally makes the people say, “No more!”
America for the most part has now tens of millions of cowards or low info ignorant people, thus Obama being elected again, though most was fraud.
Egypt, Syria, Brazil, Turkey Greece, many parts of the world have shown more guts , hell France gets millions out on the street to protest marriage form the homosexuals and yet they are passing laws here and nothing and even some on our side “don’t mention social issues , lets mention taxes”
Yea that;s working a charm just talking taxes in an election
Sure, some still do. But it seems like too many would prefer comfort, the illusion of "safety" and "free" stuff paid for by others.
I doubt they are protesting because they want more Democracy. More likely the government isn’t Socialist/Communist enough to their liking.
You think the Germans in the 1930s cared about freedom? They wanted security, and they voted for the guy they best thought could give it to them.
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