Posted on 04/01/2002 5:42:41 AM PST by B. A. Conservative
That being said, restoration will occur only when the people are sufficiently prompted to pressure their elected representatives. The vote still counts. If enough people, for example, put pressure on the government representatives to ban green cars on the highways on Sunday, green cars would get banned.
The biggest problem is complacency and lack of knowledge. A vast number of people have no idea what the government does on a day-to-day basis. Consider that for each of the 80,000 Freepers, probably half or more simply don't have time to read 20% of the posts made here on any given day. Now consider that of the 100 million voters, maybe 10% have much idea what the government does on a day to day basis.
So, what are the issues? Always at the top of the list is the economy. When the economy is good and people have money to spend, they tend to show less concern about nearly all other issues. Occasionally, they are awakened, as with 9/11, and other issues become important. However, most soon return to their daily routine.
Gingritch had the right idea; he was just the wrong messenger. Create a list of the 10 most important issues facing the Nation. Let these be from the people, not from the party or some trumped up media poll. Hold the elected representatives feet to the fire to get most of these 10 in the next election period. Then another 10, etc. Abortion may be the hot topic for some, while prescription drugs may be for others. The issues have to represent the people. The trouble is, self-interest always takes top priority, with the voters and with the elected representatives. The representatives get elected on certain issues; then conveniently forget them once they settle in Washington, DC. Why? Because the people vote and then go back to their lives and assume the elected will "do the right thing."
It is difficult to keep people aware when the politicians and the media, each with their own agendas, work diligently to keep the voters back home from knowing the truth. Truth is dangerous for the politician. Ignorance is bliss for the politician. So, how do you keep people interested in what their government is "really" doing, and how do you keep them aware?
I suspect most Freepers share my frustrations, but have not let their thinking run as far afield as I have let mine. Quite frankly, I am not at all happy with my answers to these questions. And while this may prove to be a fool's errand, I assure you it is not intended as an April Fools. As is so common on this site, feel free to Freep This Poll.
Lincoln was a tyrannt. What he did demonstrated that fact very bluntly. Lincoln suspended and revoked both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. This is not 1860 and Lincoln is not president. "It is the Union that has made us a great Nation."This is completely wrong. What made this nation great is freedom and best format for government ever devised by the mind of man. Begining with Lincoln and continuing under FDR, LBJ, and WJC we moved farther and farther from the Constitution and freedom. Now we are declining and standing at the edge of abyss. We are going to go over that edge when the unfunded obligations of Medicare and Social Security begin to mature in 2008 and 2012. YOur assertions regarding the pocket book and the economy effect the voters is quite correct. By the time most are willing to vote for change, it may well be too late to avoid the consequences of the mistakes that we have already made. The United States is ending soon whether you recognize it or not. The status quo is likely to end in your worst nightmare as you have outlined it yourself. The questions that I am asking is can we avoid this end, and if so, how. "This Nation is a long way from being a tyranny. Tyranny implies tyrant, dictator."
You have forgotten the words of Franklin. This country has become a democracy. By definition, a democracy is a form of tyranny. It is a tryanny of the majority equating to mob rule. At least half of the mob are Democrats. Democrats are not capable of rational thought. Re-read your post carefully and in the process keep in mind that there many Americans who want to be free. If we cannot secede and establish a sovereign country governing our selves under a Constitution of our own choosing, what kind of country is that we are living in? Does is sound very much like a prison? Not consider that there are some of us who would like to keep the wealth we create rather than letting politicians by votes so that they can remain in power to take even more of our wealth. Are those politicians and their constituents who are dependent on the producers going to let us leave and take the means of production (our skills, not the factories) with us? Is that a form of serfdom or slavery? Is that a formula for a stabile government for the United states? Do you have any expectations that this is a viable status quo? "Imagine what it would be like had the USA dissolved in to separatist states in, say 1960."
1960 was almost a half century ago. It was before LBJ took our government down to new lows. And it was a time in which there was a credible common enemy to all. No secession in 1960 was unthinkable. NOw the weapons systems have changed completely. Desert storm proved that conventional war fare against the United States is unthinkable. Nuclear war has always been unthinkable for the rational world. Nuclear weapons are the rational response for the US as a deterrent to the irrational governments around the world that are building nuclear weapons of their own. We do not need a "United States" to provide for the common defense. And the North American Nato that I was suggesting is to be primarily made up of the six to eight nation states that I see developing out of the fragmentation of the United States. The Confederacy started with a single state, but over a period of years became made up of 11 former states. I still politically allied and economically allied geographic areas with the US. The Pacfic coast, the North East, the South, the rocky mountain states, the mid-west and the south west. These tend to form economic and political units as it is. And they could just as easily form military alliances against a common external enemy.
I actually suspect that one the US fragments, that these smaller republics will be forced to compete for productive citizens and could eventually reunify. Against this is the inherent socialist cultural and welfare state. Some of republics will end up as democracies competeing by offering more and larger welfare benefits than the others. These are the republics that will end in ruin. Who knows what will arise from their ashes, but there is no need and it will not happen that we are all going down in the same ashes. "Military superiority and citizens sacrificing freedoms is comparing apples and oranges. Security is related to the level or type of threat."
Who poses the greatest threat to the freedom of the American people? Is it our own government or some external enemy or foreign country? Do you think Osama can end freedom in the US without the help of Congress? How long do you think it will be before the sand in the desert turns to glass if the jihad against Americans continues? Camel jockeys from Al Qaeda are a threat, but it is limited threat that can be discouraged. The threat from our own government is growing and has the potential to be unlimited. "That being said, restoration will occur only when the people are sufficiently prompted to pressure their elected representatives. The vote still counts.'
Yes, but the wrong people are voting and for all the wrong people and for the wrong reasons. That is why we have this problem. And the swing of the pendulum back is unlikely to happen in time, even if it is still possible at all. We may well already have arrived at the tyranny of the majority. I was very encouraged by the results of the 1994 Congressional elections. Subsequent events and subsequent elections have renewed my growing concerns. "If enough people, for example, put pressure on the government representatives to ban green cars on the highways on Sunday, green cars would get banned."
If you both perceive this to be true and desirable, I have wasted my breath; you are part of the problem and unlikely to contribute to the solution except by illustration.
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