Accident and Force

"It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the
people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important
question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing
good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined
to depend for their polititical constitutions on accident and force" -
Publius (aka, Alexander Hamilton), The Federalist, No.1: General
Introduction

Indeed. That was the great question of their day and they answered the call greatly, being men of high character, reflection, and good judgment. Our U.S. Constitution has ushered in the most amazing civilization ever to grace the surface of the earth. All roads of progress since the Revolution, can be traced back to the United States and its quirky concept that it was even possible for a nation to be "conceived in liberty".

The great question of our day, is not nearly so grand or demanding. It is not even worthy of mention in the same thought accept that it must tragically be so, for it is human nature. The great question of our day, was Benjamin Franklin's prophetic words echoing forth: Can we keep it?

Can we preserve this nation conceived in liberty? This Republic? Or are we destined to succumb to the inexorable draw of history, down the path of the ancient Israelites, demanding a king? Man is clever, however. Far too clever. We reject, out of hand, the notion of a king, but we have concocted something far more serious and dangerous; socialism. It promises what it cannot deliver, and in order to obtain it, we must destroy our nation's very conception. Only the desparate person, that has lost faith in a society of free men, would agree to the shackles of socialism.

In order for socialism to succeed, people have to believe that a centralized government is more qualified and capable of making life choices for you than you are. It starts as caring for the poor and needy, and ends in tyrrany. Am I arguing that we should not care for the poor and needy? My goodness, no. I am arguing that the government should not care for the poor and needy beyond the most rudimentary level, as may be necessary to maintain order in the society.

Again from Federalist No.1,

"...and that a dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious
mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidding
appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government.
History will teach us that the former has been found a much more certain road to
the introduction of despotism than the latter, and that of those men who have
overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their
career by paying an obsequious court to the people, commencing demagogues and
ending tyrants." - Federalist No.1, Alexander Hamilton

The connection here is that whenever you rely upon someone else for any portion of your sustenance, or livlihood, you are beholden to whatever choices they have made. In other words, when you go to a birthday party and they are serving cake, you don't get to choose what kind it is. If someone offers you their coat, you don't get to choose the color. When you borrow money, to are beholden to the person or institution that you borrowed the money from. If you need a handout to survive, you don't get to choose what they put in your hand.

It really is very simple, and is a complete explanation of Hamilton's comment on how someone starts as a demagogue and ends up a tyrant. Make no mistake every demagogue has a tyrant's heart, and what he lacks in accomplishments, is only due to a commensurate lack of opportunity, not desire. This should never be confused.

If you take a poll today about the least savory and trustworthy professions in our society, you would find in the top ten, or higher, the politician. If, in that same poll you asked what profession was the least likely to perform any task set before them efficiently or skillfully, you would invariably find at the top of the list, a government worker; be it the Post Office, the DMV, or any federal or state agency you care to name.

No offense to the many people that work in governmental positions that do a fine job and are dedicated, ethical, moral and conscientious servants of the public good, but that is the stereotype. Most people are familiar with the quiet jest about the model of inefficiency that is our government, yet people on the left want to leave important life choices to the people that society trusts the least (politicians), to be administered by the people least likely to work in a productive manner (government bureaucrats), and then expect the result to be just, fair, and inexpensive. It just doesn't make any sense.

But the leftists don't want that converstation to happen. They don't want you to think through that little problem, because you will realize that the government is never the best solution to a problem, and most times it is competing for being the worst possible solution.

Socialism will degrade into tyranny as surely as the earth will continue to rotate on its axis. And when it does, it will degrade into just another form of every other governmental system devised by man, for which the people can rely upon justice to be meted out only by "accident and force", and not from "reflection and choice".

Our only hope for this country, whether we can keep our republic or not, is to remind ourselves of our cultural DNA. We must reread the founding documents and learn what arguements these great men used to devise the government that we have. We must learn what has been systematically removed from our public education system by leftists. We must learn our heritage of liberty, and responsibility and truth...

...and send the demagogues packing.