Posted on 01/01/2011 7:37:08 AM PST by SeekAndFind
For those legislating and regulating industry out of the country and reducing our living standard back to maybe 1800 to call themselves Progressives requires a sense of humor, but in a way, they're right. Closing Post-Classical civilization to move into a new era can be called progress, at least by some. Most in the newborn Western Christian era during its early Dark Ages might not have seen it as progress but we at the intended end of its flowering of wealth and technology certainly think of it that way.
History leaves no doubt that civilizations rise and fall; the fall always beginning when rising ends. The Classical era passed in under a millennium and a half; ours has already gone longer but Reagan's Morning in America has become Obama's Closing Time. Deindustrializing America is an endgame and if the Obamacrats are saving the planet, it's not for underemployed Americans.
Judeo-Christianity provided the values and beliefs to structure our Post-Classical era, culminating for government in the U.S. Declaration of Independence that rooted unalienable rights in man, authored by his Creator. Those rights in turn, rooted the legitimacy of the state in the consent of the governed and explicitly advertised the related rights of those governed to alter or replace that state at will. None of that is acceptable to Progressives who know what is good for you and expect government to force it onto you whether or not you want it; their new era is to replace Judeo-Christian rule with a government whose constitution is itself and to which the Declaration of Independence doesn't apply.
The deliberate dismantling of the industrial economy and with it, the American Dream isn't the sole indicator; the only proven system of mass wealth creation, Christian capitalism, is equally under government's wrecking ball. Capitalism is entirely a product of the self-interest of free individuals; Christian capitalism limits the selfishness with Judeo-Christian morality but still rests on self-interest and individual freedom. Today's crony capitalism is so intertwined with the state that it's more an semi-formal fascism; that's why it's unable to compete from the U.S. Capitalists no longer make their own decisions; the state does too much of it for them, ending the system that enriched America.
Even more than capitalism, private property underlies both justice and economic success; in America now, governments routinely confiscate private real estate via eminent domain to hand it to crony developers for their profit while police confiscate private guns and cash on mere suspicion without due process of law, often arresting those trying to record their actions via cell phone. Beyond that, not only Judeo-Christian property rights but the right to life is at risk: a November 8th, 2010 news release from the Center for Constitutional Government reported a case it brought in Federal Court jointly with the ACLU under the headline:
Obama Administration Claims Unchecked Authority To Kill Americans Outside Combat Zones
The government argued that it should have unreviewable authority to kill Americans the executive branch has unilaterally determined to pose a threat per the release; the case arose out of targeted drone killings aimed at American citizens allegedly helping the Taliban in Pakistan but the authority being claimed could be used anywhere.
The American citizen famously bowed to no man and stood on his own, worked hard, feared God, enshrined his family, despised dependency and was generous as well as ambitious. Today's citizen is regulated by government and conditioned by public education toward despite and rejection of those values while his elected President bows to despots. While still alive in parts of the body politic, the Judeo-Christian ethos no longer defines American leaders or voters.
These shifts in attitudes and economic practices have accumulated over years; they have not arrived overnight nor have they produced the paradigm shift that underlies revolution. Most still assume we are living in the product of the Founders' planning, brought up to date with computers. Two things are threatening that complacence: the ongoing economic failure and the public relations disaster created by the Democrats' handling of ObamaCare on top of the Stimulus. Both President and Congress made fools of the voters while making incompetents of themselves in the voters' eyes as the price of what seem increasingly Pyrrhic legislative victories. Economic difficulty makes a particularly bad time to tempt voters to question their governors and a worse time to question their institutions.
Behind the recovery propaganda is the unpalatable fact that all but a few U.S. cities and states -- and many counties, too -- are insolvent, with debts and obligations far past any repayment by taxpayers struggling with their own declining living standards. Local governments' pay and pensions are unsustainable; all but about three states are no better and can't meet their bills for schools and social services. The Feds are spending over a trillion dollars beyond their income every year. Taxpayers are obligated beyond $200,000 per family by all that, without considering any family debt. That tottering tower of runaway unreality will follow the old tower at Babel unless the governors cut drastically, shutting off much of the so-called safety net and repudiating decades of political promises. So far, neither Democrats nor Republicans are facing up to that.
Kicking the can down the road is the current Washington phrase for ignoring this reality by papering it over with Fed fun money and borrowing; it guarantees a more sudden and calamitous collapse when the can reaches the road's end. Google: Weimar Republic inflation for a quick view of one way it could go. The other possibilities aren't a lot better. In Weimar's case, it led to Adolf Hitler. In all history, it has led to great instability and uncertainty and has brought everything into question.
So, we have two conditions that greased the skids under Greco-Roman civilization: too few holding to the legitimizing ethos plus a government that destroys the economy. The tipping point, a widespread, destabilizing event, is hanging over us via the impending economic Gotterdammerung; thus do old paradigms die.
But one ingredient remains missing; old paradigms don't fully die until a new one is available. The Progressives busily burying Judeo-Christianity have none to offer; they are about regression, making do with less under an all-controlling and so wealth-destroying government. They are ultimately nihilists with only Mao's belief: that power derives from the barrel of a gun.
It therefore seems likely that, no matter how bad it gets, we will straggle on down the same decline we've been following, at least until a likely alternative shows itself. And maybe there will be a Judeo-Christian revival; it wouldn't be the first. We seem to be reaching an end but a new beginning isn't visible.
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.
We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream.
It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same,
or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children
and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."
President Ronald Reagan
The Roman Empire collapsed in no small part because the Caesars were never able to tame rampant inflation and high unemployment that resulted from the political need to keep the plebs from being too restive. It sapped away at the foundations of the Roman state until there was nothing left to keep it propped up.
America faces the same fate unless it reverses the direction in which it appears headed and soon.
Zer0’s piano has been drinking.
Their zeal for politics and social anarchism grows with every incremental step of power given to them. It is the gas being poured on the fire of apathy that is consuming the conservative and independent working population of America.
Every time we would be inclined to think it can't get any worse, it does. Yet, no one seems to have the courage or the ability to stand up and stop the runaway train. Each step towards losing our country is met with only the whimpered comment; "I can't believe they did that" , as people go about their business and ignore the rising prices, rising taxes, boarded up houses, closed businesses and lost freedoms.
If our President announced that he was going to suspend the the swearing in of the new congress and run the country by decree as Hugo Chavez is doing the ultra liberal left in those dark blue blotches by the shores would probably celebrate by dancing in the streets. Every indication I have seen and what I read on sites like HuffPo and Kos certainly back up that assumption. It is not radical or stupid it is based on what I see and read. Letters to the editor in our local rags and the solid support the media gives to supporting progressive idealism indicate an acceptance of the trend towards one world controlled by UN mandates.
I'll admit to a dejected attitude right now and am almost ashamed to say that I am [in a way] sorry for the birth of my two beautiful and innocent grand sons who will have to live in the new world order.
I think we have reached [and passed] the point of no return because our population is so huge it can be ruled by political inertia and will not stand in a unified effort to forestall the trend toward a governing style of soft Marxism.
I fear that if the decree of governing without legislative debate and consent were to happen the majority of my countrymen would quietly stand in line to turn in their bankbooks and passports while the leftists jeer at them and celebrate the new world order. "HELL NO!", some people will say. But, we have seen the installation of almost 60 "Czars" over whom we have no control and who's role in government we do not understand. We have seen the authority to create and enforce law given to unelected officials in ungoverned departments like EPA, Security and DEA without serious and strong opposition.
We have watched many of our freedoms and rights slip away . We have listened to insane debates about things like our Supreme Court using international law, or bringing Sharia Law to our courts. We have seen traitors and seditious activity not only go unpunished but ultimately be rewarded by, reelection or TV appearances and book deals.
Our ability to stop the destruction of America is becoming akin to the Charlie Brown character, Linus' worn out security blanket. We think we'll stand up. We think it will stop. But, the truth is it won't. Our simplistic effort of forwarding email hoping someone else will get out and do something isn't going to make it.
In fact, I'm sorry to say, "At this point, I don't think we are going to make it."
Ronald Reagan said that this is the last frontier and if we let it slide, there is no where else to go. He also said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction”. That generation is now here and running our country ...into the grave.
America — a great idea, didn’t last.
Quite a narraTive. How did I wind up on your list?
Yup. It’s dead, Jim.
I became rather depressed a few days ago talking to neighbors (never fun here in MA) and they brought up politics. Okay, fine: I know which way this will go, and I'm ready (or so I think).
I'm prepared to discuss things in a friendly manner. I can say something against George Bush, if it will make you feel better. I can say something sympathetic about Obama, if that will grease the wheels of a pleasant discussion. Let's just chat like neighbors, shall we?
Nope. None of that. The whole conservation was a screaming match of endless reformulations of: "You're wrong! You're stupid! I'm right! 100%!!"
There was a complete inability to treat me like a human being who had any value or anything at all to contribute. Compromise seems impossible. One side will win all the chips. Maybe the Left, maybe the Right. But we can't share this country anymore -- they won't play that game. They are "all in" on the path that Obama has laid out for us.
Do we know what the true short term and long term goals are of the current Republican group of elected legislators? How about the true short term and long term goals of the current Democrat group of elected legislators?
How many of you believed it when it was announced that plans for the “North American Union”, first proposed in 1916, had been cancelled. Did you know Hillary went to an annual NAU meeting last December? Cancelled, yeah, right, Pedro. Tell me another one. Did you know that we built a US Military-Intelligence Megaplex in Mexico City. The building headquarters, which includes offices from the Pentagon, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and the U.S. Department of Treasury is located at 265 Paseo de la Reforma Avenue, approximately 250 meters from the U.S. embassy.
Are any of you expecting them to take another shot at passing the Dream Act or an Amnesty. What are the chances of them correcting the Anchor Baby problems next term? How do you feel about Term Limits or ObamaCare? Take a guess at what needs to be done to fix all of them.
I think we are attacking our enemy from the wrong angle. Individual politicians are not the lethal threat to our Life and Liberty that the talking heads on television make them out to be. I don’t think that most FReepers have yet realized that we can defeat the goals of most of these anti-America legislators in one move. That's right, one move! Impossible, you say. Nope, one move and all their plans are flushed down the commode. Get the US out of the United Nations. Bring communism in the US to a screeching halt by getting the US out of the UN. American communism will crumble without the support of the United Nations.
The UN is the primary force behind the anti-2nd Amendment movement. It's the single most powerful force behind socialism and fascism, the force that was desperately trying to get the Kyoto, LAST and START Treaties passed, the force behind making homosexuals and their behavior an accepted part of American culture.
The United Nations is the main force behind the effort to demolishing organized religions, not only across the globe but especially here in North America. They see the Mormons as being far too self reliant. Self reliant people will never accept fascism or socialism. The Catholics have the Pope as their religous leader. The UN cannot accept that because true Catholic believers will never accept any other leader, especially not one selected by Moslem leaders.
I think we should support ONLY candidates who will publically state that they support getting the US out of the UN. Post their names on the opening page with a statement that these Patriots support getting the US out of the UN. Why do I say ONLY? Because that would be cutting the heart out of the monster that is attacking us. Anything else is simply a flesh wound. Getting a Senator kicked off a committee or not re-elected is similar to breaking an attackers little finger. Impeaching Obama would be similar to crushing a robbers hand or breaking a muggers arm. Getting the US out of the UN is a permanently lethal blow to the head of those attacking the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution.
The news media will have a stroke if a anti-UN FReeper PAC becomes known because they too will recognize this is not normal stunning blow to the career of an individual politician but a lethal wound that will eradicate everything they have accomplished up until now towards establishing socialism in the US. Guys like Alan Caruthers and Chris Mathews will never have another tingle running up or down either leg.
It’s okay. I just couldn’t figure out why I was pinged. Lol
Easy enough to say we need to vote in new politicians. One problem though is the people who keep electing scabs like Obama, Reid, Boxer, Waters, Rangel, Frank, Kerry, Pelosi, Snowe, Collins, Murkowski and the list goes on and on. What is motivating this segment of our city and state populations toward clearly un-American values and the Marxist-communist representatives that they keep re-electing? ( i.e., it’s not solely the representatives in D.C., something has gone wrong with a large segment of the population in America).
My basic message is: You have no idea how thin is the support for all the bad things you mentioned.
Excellent post. I am afraid it is exactly the same where I live. It’s a deep blue neighborhood but I think there are a few people here and there who are concerned and aware, but don’t know what sort of plan of action to take.
There are a few BO bumper stickers, but I’m seeing some which have been sort of scraped off.
People still fly the American flag and display it on their cars.
What will they do? What will we all do?
In a conversation with A.P. Hill, Jackson asks, "Tell me, general...do you expect to live until the end of this war?"
Hill replies, "I do not know...but I'm inclined to think I will. I expect I will be wounded. And you, general?"
Jackson answers, "I do not expect to live to see the end of this war. Nor can I say that without victory I would desire to do so."
Jim,
Leave JeffCo more often. Come over to Silverdale’s Silver City Brewpub some Friday or Saturday night and read your essay to the young Marine’s and Sailor’s there and they’ll help you end your depression.
We are ONE strong leader away from getting America back on track. Really, we haven’t had a conservative leader since Ronald Reagan. When another emerges, you’ll see a dramatic shift very, very quickly.
bump
Some like to think so...
Some HOPE they can CHANGE it to be so...
But we will do everything we can to prevent that nightmare.
No, I'm not saying we need to vote in new politicians. I'm saying we need to vote in new politicians who are 100% anti United Nations. Just about all of our problems originate at the UN and then are spread across America as "Programs" such as Agenda 21.
There is probably 5% of the entire FR membership who even has the slightest idea the Agenda 21 covers.
>This global contract binds governments around the world to the UN plan for changing the ways we live, eat, learn, and communicate - all under the noble banner of saving the earth. Its regulations would severely limit water, electricity, and transportation - even deny human access to our most treasured wilderness areas. If implemented, it would manage and monitor all lands and people. No one would be free from the watchful eye of the new global tracking and information system.<
Republicans are supposed to be anti large federal government, well why are our Republican legislators voting for all these programs?
When I criticize Republican legislators on FR, everyone thinks I am being un-American and they have sh!t fits. How could you criticize President Bush when he is such a wonderful man. Look back and you'll see he is a strong proponent of the NWO.
When I say the the Democrats and the Republican legislators are joined at the hip and shoulder and have the same goals. You bet I am being un American because those types of American legislators are the ones who are prodding, pushing and poking us to get into the UN's NWO line of thinking.
Read Post #11 again and see what it is that I said. Think about inflicting a fatal blow to the UN, our primary enemy, instead of just scratches on its skin.
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