I'm not talking about President Obama; He's just a cog in the machine. I'm referring to this large bureaucratic regime, this clanking soul-draining monster, this federal, state and municipal steamroller that is built, fed and operated by the statists of all parties.
Egypt's situation is fundamentally different than ours, for we do not suffer under a military dictatorship, but read this excerpt and broadly replace references to "military" with "bureaucracy," and you'll see what I'm talking about...
The democratic wave that has finally struck the Arab world is, among other things, a civilian protest movement against the militarization of Middle Eastern life. Old Oriental despotisms, for all their unpleasantness, did not fundamentally assault the civilian nature of Muslim societies, where men of the cloth, letters, the bazaar, and small-town aristocracies defined the “good and noble.”The tyranny we groan and strain under is a bureaucratic one
Robbed of ideology and military purpose (defeating Israel became a millenarian dream, like the ancient Arab aspiration to conquer Constantinople), Arab armies became instruments of political oppression and private enrichment. (Reuel Marc Gerecht - Weekly Standard)
FDR built a civilian statist army back in the 1930's and put it on war footing. Government was supposed to wage war on poverty, ignorance and those on the outside attacking us and our way of life. Instead, it now fosters poverty and ignorance and joins in the multicultural jihad against our borders, language and culture (Yes, I got that from Doc Savage).
This out of control government that cannot manage its own finances nonetheless lectures us on what we should eat and how we should live. It incompetently stumbles and bumbles its way through international diplomacy and blows hundreds of billions on intelligence, only to be surprised when a friendly dictator is toppled. Meanwhile, domestic surveillance of innocent citizens increases.
Fighting Citizens is Easier than Fighting Criminals
Governments across the spectrum have found fighting crime and improving the lives of its citizens too challenging, so it now turns on them, spies on them, regulates and scolds them. America's army of bureaucrats long ago turned on the people it was supposed to serve, and like the Egyptian Army, enjoys its perks and will not give them up willingly.
Real criminals with real guns are robbing and killing in Denver, but the Jefferson County DA goes after a kid with an airsoft gun. This is just one story in an avalanche of government-sponsored outrages and abuse. The EPA demanding dairy farmers treat milk spills as hazardous waste, and calling the dust they kick up "pollution" adds to the bonfire of regulatory stupidities now raging against the job-providers in this country. Our unemployment is government-induced.
Fighting criminals and protecting borders is hard; it's so much easier and satisfying to turn the power of the state against the people. Government is everywhere. They have robbed us of the private nature of our lives and our societies.
The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.
-Plato
12 comments:
The quote from the blog post can be restated thusly:
The Tea Party wave that has finally struck the United States is, among other things, a civilian protest movement against the bureaucratization of American life. Old governmental schemes, for all their unpleasantness, did not fundamentally assault the civilian nature of American societies, where men of the cloth, letters, the marketplace, and small-town working folk defined the “good and noble.”
Robbed of ideology and military purpose (defeating the world's ills became a millenarian dream, like the ancient aspiration to bring about paradise here on earth), American governments at the federal, state and local levels became instruments of political oppression and private enrichment.
(Kurt Silverfiddle - Western Hero)
As long as people have their big screen tee vees I cannot see them getting off their sofas for a while, at least.
For a long time now, Americans have thought cities, counties, states, and the federal government pays for a far-too-long list of goodies. The idiot who became giddy while thinking “Obama” would make her house payment had no understanding that “Obama” wasn’t paying for anything. The American taxpayer is paying … for everything.
For a long time now, Americans living within the several states stood idly by while their states became whores for federal money. As a consequence, states relinquished their sovereignty. The federal government decides educational standards (and costs), when clearly this is an area reserved to the states, or to the people. Note: Today, Obama noted an increase in federal allocation to education. Is he stupid? Why would we spend even one dime on a broken system?
Our future success as a Republic depends on states reasserting their sovereignty. Still, it will be difficult for states to disentangle themselves from federal bureaucracy and totalitarianism. Doing so will require states and the citizens of states to decide some priority for state spending. They will have to realize they can’t have everything. They may even be required to prioritize spending because tax revenues are a limited resource. Example: IF there is to be government subsidized health care programs, shouldn’t this be a state, versus a federal program? If Californians want to support illegal aliens through their “Medi-Cal” programs, fine —but the citizens of Colorado shouldn’t have to pay for it.
For a long time now, Americans have thought of themselves as citizens of the United States; they are not. They are primarily citizens of their states, and that is whom they should be looking to for legislative sanity. It will be a long and difficult journey to fix these problems, so we’d better get started.
Oh yes the Republic. States rights is the what our republic is about .
You cannot centralize government for 300 million one size fits all.
As for democracy in the ME I have to wonder about that as well because there is nothing democratic about Islam just like there is nothing democratic about Socialism.
I think it's time for a larger Tea Party of who the liberals should be thanking instead of bashing.
Mustang and Lisa, we tried that. 600,000 Americans died, and slavery would have continued because of it. Great idea!
The "devolution" of power brought on by the '94 Republican Revolution has led to budget deficits in states and localities all over the nation, skyrocketed property taxes, and cuts in education and healthcare. And you refuse to see it. You just hold your hands over your ears and sing "LA LA LA! LA LA LA!"
Amazing.
Meanwhile you rail against net neutrality, don't give a whiff about the SCOTUS decision to allow full-fledged corporatization of the election system, and fuss over stupid social nonsense instead of the really big things that effect our lives.
Stupid.
JMJ
No Jersey, your cock-eyed reading of history is stupid.
Please explain how the Republican Revolution of 94 devolved power?
How did the GOP (at the federal level) skyrocket property taxes (which are determined at the local level)?
Also, please cite your source for education cuts. Never heard of 'em. DoD was the only government agency to take real cuts.
You've just made a great case for more statism.
What did Einstein say about insanity? Do you think before you type?
@ Silverfiddle...
"When will we topple ours?"
Who knows. Perhaps in another 234 years.
Whenever..... given the belief of an apparent liberal majority.
There really isn't an easy solution to this whole mess. The only thing that we can do is educate the public, and vote out the undesirables.
Silver, I don't know your age, but I'm hoping you remember the "devolution" movement among conservatives in the early 90's.
Targeted federal entitlement spending was morphed into federal block grants to the states, to do with what they will to quite an extent. And the states blew it. You don't remember that?
That's why property taxes exploded. The states blew the federal money on state employee pensions, which were only a third or so funded in the first place, the counties and municipalities were stuck with far much more of the local bills and so they had to increase property taxes, their main source of revenue. Again? Is all of this new to you???
Look, you and I may not like it, we're closer in thought than you think, but THAT'S THE WAY IT IS.
The Most Reverend,
We do not live under a "tyrannical regime." We live in a vast, complex, modern empire. We do not know what it is like to truly live under a "tyrannical regime." I've known many people who lived under "tyrannical regimes." The stories they've told me curled my spine. Let's put things in perspective here, Most Reverend.
Leticia, whatever your position, you are utterly, completely, totally, and refreshingly correct. We have it pretty good here. Why not just vote our will? Why do we let the partisans run the show? Why did Ron Paul win the CPAC poll? Why does Paul frequently work with Dennis Kucinich? Why do most Americans want national healthcare and don't have it? Why do we want out of colonial warfare and yet continue to pursue it? Why do we want fair trade and not free trade and yet we still do free trade with totalitarian communist countries? Why do we want a quality education for our kids and yet happily make it as miserable as possible to teach our kids? We work hard, we try our best - why don't our pols want us to be rewarded for that?
All we have to do is vote.
JMJ
I still need some examples, Jersey.
Anyway, liberals at the state and local level blowing all the money is not the fault of the GOP congress.
And "most Americans" don't want national health care. More than not want the multi-trillion dollar monstrosity known as Obamacare repealed.
Thanks, JMJ
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