Posted on 09/29/2013 11:28:14 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Last week, I invoked the names of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton to trace the roots of American political polarity back to the very foundation of our country.
There is much to recommend both, and we certainly owe Hamilton a debt of gratitude for his contributions to the Federalist Papers and thus for his role in securing our Constitution at a time when our nation was wobbly and transitional.
Nonetheless, with more than 200 years behind us, we can see that Jefferson’s vision of limited government secured for us something much more important than a Constitution, and that is liberty.
We still have a Constitution, but the cancerous central government that Hamilton’s philosophy unleashed on us has made the concept of liberty increasingly irrelevant in America.
What is liberty when you can be forced by your government to spend endless hours toiling in the Kafka-esque maze of compliance and kow-towing that is our federal government today? As businesses and individuals scurry to curry favor with their masters in Washington, D.C., the nation’s wealth is being absorbed into a bottomless drain of regulation and dictate.
And what’s scary is that this is the accepted norm. The Supreme Court has joined with Congress and the president to rewrite the very rules which were intended to protect the people. Now the Constitution of the United States of America is an instrument of the government, not a solemn vow of the people. The blessings of liberty have been replaced with the burdens of noblesse oblige.
To accurately reflect the current situation, the Preamble would today have to be phrased something like this:
“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect welfare state, establish social justice, insure domestic compliance, provide for open borders, promote the general anesthesia, and secure the benefits of big government to ourselves and our posterity, do impose and self-validate this Constitution of the United States of America.”
That pretty much sums it up, and yet because of the “general anesthesia” that has been so effectively levied upon the people for the past hundred years, what should be the self-evident truth of our sad predicament is instead considered the crackpot invention of rebellious “crazies” like Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin. Think “The Matrix,” and you will not be far off.
Of course, all you need to do to see the truth is open your eyes — or read a history book from before 1970 or so. We no longer live in the real world, folks — but it’s still there to be rediscovered.
Take this headline from 1969: “O’Connor Cites Moral Decay; Government Paternalism.”
That certainly caught my eye when I was doing research on some old-time businesses in Kalispell. The speaker was George O’Connor, then president of the Montana Power Co., who was addressing the Kalispell Rotary Club on Maundy Thursday.
Mr. O’Connor was lamenting the decline of the nation. After praising the invention of America and “200 years of American life under the Christian influence of God-fearing people” and noting that “nowhere on earth has so much progress been made in such a little time,” he then concluded that such progress had stopped about 35 or 40 years previously, about the time of the commencement of the New Deal.
“Now maybe it’s time we take a look at what we have reaped,” he told those Rotarians. “There has been a decay in the Christian philosophy. For the first 150 years our people had great respect for the rights of others; today it is the law of the jungle. Our children were taught to respect the property rights of other citizens; today there are riots, demonstrations, and all we as a nation do is appoint a commission to see what’s wrong with our social structure...
“The Supreme Court by virtue of some of its decisions is making it more comfortable for the criminally inclined. Maybe it’s time we start going back to church, not just Easter Sunday but every Sunday, and encourage our young people to go because a majority of them are fine young people.”
This part of O’Connor’s speech is most remarkable not because of its content, but because it happened at all. Whether you agree with his assessment of how Christian philosophy is tied up in our heritage and our success as a nation, you must at least be struck by the fact that in 1969 a major business leader still felt comfortable to promote a moral point of view in public.
This simply doesn’t happen any more. Or when it does, such as the public pronouncement recently by the CEO of the Chick-fil-A restaurant chain about homosexual marriage, there is an immediate national movement to shame, mock and vilify traditional values and those who promote them. Were the CEO of a major power company to even cite “Christian philosophy” today, he would probably be skirting the law, if not breaking it outright. There is almost no chance that a modern-day CEO of a public utility would declare, as O’Connor did, that during the Great Depression, “Americans turned to a servant, Jesus Christ, and he was our master.”
That collapse of the invocation of morality in the public square can be attributed in large part to the growth of central government at the cost of our personal liberty, and perhaps O’Connor sensed that his kind’s days were already numbered, for he next lamented the leviathan which government had become.
“But while I’m disturbed by the breakdown in law and order,” he said, “I am more concerned about the growing paternalism of government. A government that is getting to be our master. A government that wants to assume responsibility for the type of toothpaste we use, how it is packaged; for the materials in our clothing; wants to tell us how to run our farms; regulate the pipeline industry; and is an authority on every type of business.”
Please don’t tell me that we have lost no liberty. When every choice we make is circumscribed by the government’s nanny-state do-goodism, when every business has to serve Washington first and the consumer second, when we have a Congress that wants to make decisions for us about our health care, our cars, and our culture, then we have not only lost our liberty, we have lost the land of the noble free.
Is that important enough to write about? Is that important enough to speak out about? George O’Connor thought so, and he told the Kalispell Rotary just why it ought to matter to them, and ultimately why it ought to matter to us these 44 years later:
“Unless we strive to preserve the things handed down to us; unless we let men run their own businesses and if they are lucky enough make a profit and keep some of it; then there will be no economy in the Flathead, Montana, or our nation.”
Let our watchword be liberty, and let us not be distracted by convenience, compromise or derision. Whatever the cost, carry on. That — not a free ride — is the American way.
As long as the Left is given “free” food, healthcare, housing, cell phones paid for by someone else (i.e. “us”) they don’t give a damn. And they will continue to vote for their slavemasters in office as long as their needs are met. The only way the feds wiill probably listen to the producers is to find legal means to refuse to pay for the freebies en masse and may take creative means to do so.
Leftist utopia is a prison
Children of Daddy government
ping
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Really don’t mind if you sit this one out.
My words but a whisper your deafness a SHOUT.
I may make you feel but I can’t make you think.
Your sperm’s in the gutter your love’s in the sink.
So you ride yourselves over the fields and
you make all your animal deals and
your wise men don’t know how it feels to be thick as a brick.
And the sand-castle virtues are all swept away
in the tidal destruction the moral melee.
The elastic retreat rings the close of play
as the last wave uncovers the newfangled way.
But your new shoes are worn at the heels
and your suntan does rapidly peel
and your wise men don’t know how it feels
to be thick as a brick.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9bk2MrMGaA
those lyrics are disgusting
Tremendous article.
This is the issue facing us today.
Great find.
It is the:
The Century of Self. A 4 hour long documentary that Google has recently restricted access to.
Meets: A brave New World.
Thanks for showing me this DVD. It’ll be a good companion for the unit where my students read “Brave New World.”
Disgusting as they may be, they are an affront to the social decline we are witnessing in our country.
It is sarcasm.
It is ridicule with a straight face.
Words only have meaning to those that actually listen and we have increasingly become a society that fails to listen.
They are part of the social decline
It is part of the gutter
Some feel free to crawl into it with them.
I won’t.
You are very welcome.
If you can get the full “faux” newspaper/album cover it will blow you away.
“Little Milton Bostock” and his bold attempt to be an individual thinker was shut down.
It is infantile to blame our problems on Alexander Hamilton. There are more than a few such idiots at FR.
Still, here is a gem worthy of further study. The Supreme Court has joined with Congress and the president to rewrite the very rules which were intended to protect the people. It is a truth that strikes at the vitals of federal, republican government.
We have what the framing generation feared and called a “consolidated government,” meaning a single government that makes all the rules, everywhere, for everyone. Experience showed that large countries, composed of widely different peoples could only be kept together by force. If some central power did not rule over all, the indigenous and varied peoples would be constantly at each other’s throats. The anti-federalists, IIRC, called up the specter of Russia, in which miserable peasants were ruled by czars, nobles. This was the expected fate of America, which was to someday span the continent and be as large and needful of government-by-force as Russia.
Patrick Henry and James Madison went toe to toe over this. In short, Madison agreed with Henry that yes, the new government would become despotic and consolidated ONLY WHEN THE STATES LEFT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
It stood to reason that if/when the states were removed, there was no force to secure the 10th amendment. That is what has happened.
There is zero chance republican freedom can be restored until the states are once again represented in the senate.
GeronL,
They are part of the social decline
It is part of the gutter
Some feel free to crawl into it with them.
No, They are not.
Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull), is the real deal and objectively understood the social decline and expressed it in his music.
Locomotive Breath, is about how Darwinism has eroded the social fabric.
Too old too Rock-n-Roll, is about academia’s influence and it’s death in the real world.
I also happen to be a fan of Jim Morrison, and I will grant you his part of the “Gutter”, however, I have become increasingly convinced that he also became “objectively cynical” of his own audience.
I don’t think these artist, and many others were part of the problem. They did the math and tried to expose the hypocrisy of social trends with their music.
“Heartache and the Loss of God
The Meager food for souls forgot”
Not at all. Someone's been yanking your chain. Ian Anderson was/is troubled about "overpopulation" which doesn't attach to "Darwinism" in any discernible way.
In an interview Anderson talked about his song:
Anderson gave a detailed explanation of the song in our 2013 interview, where he said: "When I wrote it, I wasn't deliberately setting out to write a piece of music on a particular subject. But it evolved during the writing process into being not terribly specific, but about the issues of overcrowding - the rather claustrophobic feel of a lot of people in a limited space. And the idea of the incessant unstoppable locomotive being metaphor for seemingly the unstoppable population expansion on planet Earth. When I look at it today, it does, for me, become very crystallized in being a song about unmanageable population expansion. It's something that concerns me even more today than it did back when I wrote it, when the population of planet Earth was only about two thirds of what it is today. So in my lifetime alone, we've seen an enormous increase in population, and an enormous increase in the degree to which we devour our limited resources. So the idea of population planning and management is something that I think we ought to be thinking about a lot more than we do. Does that mean I think we should sterilize everybody after the age of 30? No, of course not. The size of the family you want to have is going to be your choice. But, you should make that choice knowingly, wisely, and responsibly."
I agree.
States rights were lost with, IIRC, the 16th amendment.
It was not just the Tax issue, but how the senate conducted themselves in Washington and who they answered to.
Please correct me if I am missing something.
No one is yanking my chain.
“Charlie stole the handle” = Darwin.
“The train won’t stop going —
No way to slow down.
“His woman and his best friend —
In bed and having fun.” = Social decline.
There’s more.
Whether his “interview” is an interpretation of what he said or the actual meaning of his song in retrospect, does not change the words of the original song.
There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in this song about “over-population”, saving the planet etc...
The quote I provided you are the writer’s own words. Perhaps you should correct him on what he meant. Try twitter: @jethrotull.
Tell Anderson to stop denying your interpretation. --->@jethrotull
;)
More food for thought:
The framers never remotely considered elected reps with six year terms. They considered one year terms, but decided on two, only because of the difficulty of 18th century travel. Why have two popularly elected houses of congress anyway?
Anti-Federalists demanded a bill of rights. Madison knew that reliance on “parchment barriers” to secure our rights was dangerous. He was right. Stroll through the first ten amendments and consider how many are in effect. He advocated A STRUCTURE of government be adopted that, without flowery words, by its nature, would tend to secure republican freedom.
That structure depended on a senate of the states.
When I read of court decisions, new laws or regulations, I always wonder how they would be different, if they existed at all, if the states still appointed senators.
Cool,
Thanks,
First of all, I am in no way, going to concede my original point regarding the meaning of that song.
There are a few things that even you need to consider as factors for both your position and mine.
If you read his words there seems to be a slight disconnect.
He wrote his “first” song about “climate change” in 1974 ?
WTF ?
Really ?
And in 1971 he wrote “Locomotive Breath” about overpopulation and Greed ? Never mind the song has nothing to do with that.
Is it possible that he (in this interview) was just expressing his “New Found” concerns ?
No.
I think Ian Anderson is projecting back in time to satisfy his interviewer and grab some attention.
Possible ?
NO.
Granted, “The Population Bomb” was published in 1968, but climate change was all about the coming ice age.
If you put Locomotive Breath in context with his other works at the time and subsequent, to suggest that is about “over population” is a stretch beyond even my imagination.
Thick as a Brick
Living in the past
Too old too rock and roll
and many more.
I would be willing to consider the targets of his, and many other artists, ire at the time was BIG GOVERNMENT CONTROL. In the 1960 and 70’s that ire was directed at Conservatives and republicans in particular.
Whether they realize it or not, their words are attacks on the liberal establishment that some of their followers have now created.
If I can use those words against them I will. I still have not conceded my original position.
I have no doubt that “Ten years After” never intended their song “I’d love to Change the World” to have a conservative theme. But it does.
Times change, and it seems to me that we have come full circle.
I like you.
You seem to be tuned in.
Article V ?
I admit that I don’t know it off hand but would venture that it has something to do with cession ?
The logical out from our current state of affairs.
Okay. Nobody concedes on the internet. One is not obliged to...but maybe tomorrow go back and read our exchange and tell me if your position seems valid upon further review.
BTW, I think it's perfectly fine to have your own interpretation-- really that makes music and poems and fiction so engaging, but when the artist reveals precisely his intended message, it informs the substance of it. Incidentally that is precisely why many artists favor not signifying their own work: they prefer their audience glean personal meaning from the material.
Still, we now know with certainty what inspired Anderson on "LM"[primarily concerns about overpopulation and greed; and also where you're broadly correct, a devolution of society but not due to Darwinism] and it's not debatable, or what we take from it doesn't change those facts. Carry on.
I am far from an expert on our founding fathers and the Federalist papers.
From what I do know or understand, I find Madison, brilliant, instinctively.
De-evolution yes.
But not Over-population?.
Not even close.
“and your tan does rapidly peel”
And for you my Friend.
......46 minutes of hard core social sarcasm that you will never recover from.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npk6n5AHnu0
And for you my Friend.
......46 minutes of hard core social sarcasm that you will never recover from.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npk6n5AHnu0
“Blood in the streets of the town of New Haven”
Snip...
“Blood will be will be born in the birth of a nation”
Great Article, Just watched a movie I have not seen in years... Yep rate B but it is so telling and spot on with the days we live in and fits in with the Article well.
They Live!
If you have not watched it in a long time, grab a beer or two and sit down for a interesting vision.
http://www.movies.com/theylive/details/m13193
“As democracy is perfected, the office of the President represents..the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and complete narcissistic moron.” - H.L. Mencken, 1920
I had trouble following the line of logic (if there is one) in this article. How did Hamilton receive all that blame while Jefferson received the blessings?
The Paternalism is nothing more than vote buying, which was identified by, who was that guy? Oh, Plato!
The writer blames Hamilton, which is WAY off target. Read Washington’s Farewell Address, which was authored with the help of Hamilton.
The author probably read some cheap shots directed at Hamilton on the internet. They must be true. It could have been at FR.
None of our framers were perfect, including Jefferson.
I haven't read GW's farewell in some years. I should review it.
I miss all those awesome bands. I was listening to that album in the early 70’s when I was 18 or 19. I woke up to Allman Brothers, with their dualing lead guitars, and Credence Clearwater playing on my squeeze box, this morning. Wow, what happened to all the good music?
The meat of Washington’s farewell address is, do not succumb to party spirit (he then outlines all the dangers), stay out of debt, avoid foreign entanglements, and last, change the Constitution only through amendment.
Let there be no change through usurpation , for those this in one case may be the instrument of good, it is the traditional means by which Free governments are overthrown.
There is no need, and it is in fact dangerous to wander overseas to consult ideas we rejected 220+ years ago.
Marx, islam, Nigerian law, etc. . . are all irrelevant, hostile and have no legitimate place here.
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