Land of the Free, Indeed
Thursday, April 14, 2011 at 2:02PM Woe is us. There is nary a nation state on the planet where a man can be free. The entire planet is a cobweb of governments, police, taxes, laws, rules and regulations.
It is with great sorrow that much of the population of the planet now has Stockholm syndrome. They've grown to adore and fawn after their captors. Billions flock to see their slave masters inaugurated or wed. Prince William of Wales has taken a bride, they shout! What a glorious day!
The tax slaves happily pull up to checkpoints and show their documents. Papers please! Thank goodness for our overseers or we'd all be killed by communists! Sorry, terrorists. We are the communists now.
Yet, the prisoners don't even notice that some of their shackles are starting to rust and fall to the ground. All of the wealth and prosperity has drained from the system now to the point where the entire control edifice is in danger of collapsing - yet the sheep see that as something to be feared, not cheered.
The local police station is closing, they cry! Who will be there to fine us or give us a good tasering, the people wonder. Who will be there to show up well after any problem has occurred and write it down for us?
It's gotten so bad now, they say, that they may have to make some things legal. "We should make marijuana legal and then tax it and give the money to the overseers" they say. We must feed the State! Even if it means allowing some freedoms!
Yet, when actually given the chance, via vote, the slaves line up one after another to deny themselves the right to have freedom of choice.
Goethe said, "No one is more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free".
Land of the free? The poor American, chanting like a raving lunatic that they live in the land of the free when in fact they live in their own proprietary version of North Korea - and in some cases worse. North Koreans can open brokerage accounts in most countries in the world. Americans? Not allowed.
Home of the brave? They stand in line at airports, removing all metal objects, laptops, put their perfume in a see through plastic bag, for no explainable purpose, take off their shoes and belt - all without even being prompted now and silently await their pat down.
But, perhaps through all the brainwashing, hypnotism and indoctrination via their 12-16 years of government 'schooling' and mainstream media they just don't even recognize freedom anymore.
We must attack Mexico! They cry, "Mexico is a failed state!", as though that is a bad thing. Why, drugs aren't even illegal there! Roll out the B52 Bombers, they rail, to the man who holds the Nobel Peace Prize.
If he wasn't so busy bombing four other countries, at the moment, he almost certainly would like to. But Mexicans aren't Muslim and their oil supply is dwindling so they'll just have to wait for their liberation.
Meanwhile on the streets of the United State they twitter, they tweet, they facebook and bleat, oblivious to any reality around them.
Why do they hate us, they ponder sometimes. "They hate us for our freedom", the newscast replies.
Ah, yes, they say, it's so obvious to see. They are just always going to hate us, because we live in the land of the free. Indeed.
Reader Comments (6)
excellent and so true!!
this could be interpreted as sarcasm. if it were not, in fact, just the plain old truth.
although its more like sar-chasm.
that is-- the inability of those being satirized to see the link between the sar-chasm and the truth.
thus the "chasm".
Jeff, Let's just look at airport security. Given that there is a semi-organized group whose members put bombs in their shoes, underwear, etc., the logic of checking for that is understandable to me. Obviously they can blow us up on the other side of the checkpoints if they want to, as they have taken to doing in Moscow.
However, I would also submit that the Chinese have a smarter foreign policy. They just make deals and studiously avoid commenting on how other countries run their affairs. Granted, the Chinese tolerate levels of citizen suppression that would not be acceptable here, but they're also not pissing people off by meddling in their affairs and making themselves as obvious target. There is certainly a case to be made for non-intervention, or at least for truly cooperative intervention, as in my view was certainly needed in Rwanda, as the most obvious example.
So yes, if we stopped pissing so many people off, we might have smaller problems with airport security. I have taken to driving more and flying less due to the unpleasantness of airport travel generally. However, so long as Westjet exists, travel can still have its pleasurable side.
I believe you are being extreme in your case to make a point. However, I also believe your point is valid. So of course the real question is, "what is your constructive program - how do you flesh out your alternative? Do we start with Kropotkin here?"
Hi Laurence,
The alternatives all exist in the free market (without government). As example, in terms of airport security, any security should be left up to each individual airline, or the airport, whichever they prefer. This way one airline could offer "excellent security" and others could offer "no security" and people could choose based on the price and service they want.
And, yes, your point about the American foreign policy CAUSING people to want to attack America is 100% correct. Therefore, if we just got rid of the US Govt (or made it extremely limited and adhere exactly to the constitution), there would be no need to have to 'protect' people... and besides, 99% of any 'threats' are all fantasy... in many cases the Govt creates the threat itself and then they claim to protect you from it.
The drug war is an example of that... if the Govt did not make drugs illegal, there would be no gangs or drug related violence... but the Govt says it exists, in part, to protect us from these gangs or violence which would never exist without the Govt.
Cheers
Jeff
It simply doesn't get any better than that. Thanks.
Laurence, would highly recommend the following blog article in response to government security at airports etc.
http://thomasmullen.blogspot.com/2011/01/youre-on-your-own.html
And everyone else, if you haven't read this, it's definitely worth a few mins.