1776 & 2014 – Complacency and Revolution

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How long has it been since you thought about the American Revolution? In 2014 not that many of us spend our time thinking about the catalysts that caused that revolution over 200 years ago. Who has the time? Between jobs, families, bills, a bit of TV and some recreation and socializing, there are only so many hours in the day. That’s the beauty of things being settled… you can get on with other things. If we had to spend our days thinking about what kind of government we wanted, how would we get anything else done? It would be impossible. Think about election season every 4 years. From July through November we can’t escape it: campaign advertisements on TV and radio, signs on the side of the street, wall to wall press coverage and endless water cooler chatter. All that and we have a government that’ been largely settled for 150 years.

Sometimes however it makes sense to go back and look at why things happen. In the case of American independence and the Revolutionary War, it was not any single event that caused the war to begin, rather it was a series of things that took place over years.


Among these things were well known events such as the Stamp Act, the Boston Massacre, the Intolerable Acts and the conflict at Lexington & Concord. Then there were other lesser know but equally important events such as The Quartering Acts of 1765 and The Declaratory Act. In all the Declaration of Independence lists 27 grievances against the King. Among them are:

  • He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
  • He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
  • For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

Importantly, the most significant lines in the Declaration of Independence are not among those 27, but rather in the 2nd paragraph.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it…

 

… all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Americans today are acting as Jefferson suggested most people do… they are suffering evils rather than throwing off the yoke of a despotic government. Jefferson suggests however that when the abuses become too much, the people will indeed revolt. So the questions in 2014 are two: Are close to that point of abuse that sparks a revolt, and is it too late to turn the tables on the usurpers?

On the first question, the answer is a resounding yes. While 2014 may not quite yet be George Orwell’s 1984 with an all knowing all seeing – and listening – all powerful government… We’re close. We have a government that uses the police power of the taxing authority to silence its critics. We have a government that has decided that children can be punished for their parent’s mistakes, even if it was the government who made it. We have a government that spies on its citizens with impunity. We have heavily militarized local police forces across the country and every federal agency seems to come with its own SWAT team, regardless of its mission. We have an executive branch that brazenly ignores the clear language of the Constitution. And then of course we have the shrinking pool of citizens who are forced to pay stifling taxes in order to support a growing horde of those suckling at the government teat.

On the second question, is it too late, the answer is less clear. Human nature suggests that at some point those who shoulder the burden of financing the government’s largesse will revolt. Today we don’t see taxpayers manning the barricades and storming America’s Bastilles so we clearly have some time to reverse course and strip the usurpers of their power.

Settled can be good, but as Jefferson notes, it can turn to complacency. And complacency can lead to rot. Whether it’s the five year reign of Usurper in Chief Barack Obama or the last 40 years of creeping comforts and expanding government, Americans have assumed that we’ll get through everything just because politicians tell us we will. That’s not how things work. Freedom and prosperity demand vigilance. Neither can survive where a government decides that they are its to withhold or grant. In 1776 fifty six men risked their lives and decided that they could no longer abide the complacency of accepting tyranny. And they started a revolution. How many Americans will come to the same conclusion in 2014 and risk far less when they turn off the television and enlist as foot soldiers in an electoral revolution in 2016? Only time will tell.

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Tyranny is good, if my side wins and I receive my largesse from the corrupt government. Loyalty and obeisance is rewarded in the Age of Obama corruption, even if your rewards are symbolic.

Don’t all of you take satisfaction when your favorite sports team win a championship? In the Age of Obama, we should take satisfaction in the corruption and the fact that our leader associates freely with celebrities and sports figures, our modern day heroes. Our leader is one of us, the mass of regular everyday people who find solace and redemption with the melodrama of Oprah and Ellen, and of knowing, no matter how ridiculous our life choices have been, there are some people who are even dumber.

It is the collective of stupidity that we take pride in, our mob mentality resides beneath the surface of our collective consciousness. We want to help Obama put his boot and our own boot on the throat of big oil and big business until they realize we are in power, we control the game and how it is played or at least we have our illusions.

I’ve heard several times a ‘buzz word’ being used…I have even heard it be used by a Government Agency figure of the (TSA). The buzz word was ‘ human capital’. I thought to myself what the hell… and who came up with that one…

To use this word to describe a working person…it indeed sounds, in my opinion, very dehumanizing…it has a communist tinge to it. Why this new word? I don’t like it.

In terms of where we are, we need to look at ourselves and each other. We have a president who sees himself as “above the fray” and needs not be accountable to anyone because he “won”. Then, there’s us. While many believed the president did not deserve to be re-elected, there were those who opted not to vote for Mitt Romney for whatever reason by staying home or not voting the top line of their ballot. They are reaping what they sowed when they feel they’re chafing under the boot of Obama. It’s on them and no one else. When we see what’s occurring on every big and small issue, Obama has us precisely where he wants us. To be quibbling and arguing among ourselves. We see that in the conservative movement, we see that in the center. Our country is center-right politically, and will always be. The more we argue among ourselves, we allow Obama to widen his boundaries and transform our country into something we don’t recognize.

Let’s not compare ourselves with those in 1776, for we know we don’t compare well. They were a wise lot. They were willing to risk all – honor, freedom, family, fortunes, and lives. How many of us are willing to risk our families? Not many of us.

What the founders asked of us is to make a difference, to be that difference. To believe in our country, to believe in our exceptionalism. These are the two factors why so many want to come America, and become American. Obama, he just wants us all to be the same.

@Skook: Indeed. This is why we see very, very little indignation from the left over the IRS scandal, perhaps the most blatant and egregious violation of the public trust committed by this regime. While no one has been killed, as in Fast and Furious or Benghazi, bringing the IRS to bear down on law abiding citizens simply because they oppose the indefensible is the most repulsive actions this administration has committed (and make no mistake, by virtue of the amount of energy this regime has put into blocking revelations about the harassment, this administration is involved in the commission of this act right up to its eyeballs). It takes little imagination at all to imagine the shrill level of protest if any liberal group ever had even half the attention True the Vote received, which is the sole reason why I suggested the other day that a limited time period of liberal targeting should be allowed after a Republican win; just to hear the squeals and be able to say “See? This is why WE objected.”.

Greater hypocrites cannot be found on the planet.

@David: The return to conservative and capitalistic values, which will benefit all who work to achieve a greater good, will be incremental. It won’t be achieved in one election cycle. However, the beginning will be to replace the far left ideology with a Rino, at the very least. Once improvements are achieved, more of the selfish population will be able to see the value in fiscal wisdom as opposed to far left ideological hoping for everything to just work out.

one inch from the index and the thumb, was the gap between the first shooter in CLIVEN BUNDY ATTACK,
YES VINCE THOSE PEOPLE HAD PRAYED BEFORE, AND THEY WHERE READY FOR WAR,
AND HARRY REID IS SAYING IT’S NOT FINISH,
HANNITY ASK CLIVEN WHATWOULD HE DOO IF THEY COME BACK,
HE SAID WE WILL SEE, HE HAD 4 ENVELOPES IN HIS MAIL HE DID NOT OPEN, YET,
HE SAID TO ANSWER HANNITY, I WILL GIVE IT TO THE RIGHT PERSON,
THEY BLM DID SUCCEED TO BREAK THE OTHER RANCHERS, NOW THEY TRY ON HIM,
AND OH SURPRISE, THEY HAD TO GET OUT FAST, SURROUNDED BY THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE,
WHO KNOW WHAT HE WAS GOING THROUGH WITH THE FEDS OBAMA LOYALS,
HE SAID I’M USE TO IT, BUT I DON’T PAY THE FEDERALS, I PAY NEVADA,
HE HAS HIS FILL WITH HIM AND WANT NO PART OF HIM, HE SAID IT’S ABOUT FREEDOM,
HE IS RIGHT ON, THERE IS A TIME TO PUSH BACK, ON THE EXTORCIONIST, THE BULLY , THE EVIL,
AND THE EVIL IS RIGHT THERE DISRUPTING THE BUSINESSES GOOD PEOPLE OF AMERICA
SUCKING THEIR MONEY BY INTIMIDATION, WE HAVE SEEN THE EYE OF THE DEVIL,
AND AGAIN AND AGAIN,
THEY MUST BE STOP FOREVER, OR MANY PEOPLE WILL DIE ,
HE IS NOT WORTHY OF HAVING PEOPLE DIE FOR HIS CRIMINAL ABUSE,

I did not like Romney I didn’t know enough about Ryan to form much of an opinion on him, but given Obama’s behavior in his first 3+ years, I knew it would be dangerous to the survival of our Constitutional Republic if he won re-election. For that reason alone, I distastefully held my nose and voted for Romney. I hated it because I wasn’t sure how far left as an establishment RINO Romney would go, but I believed at his worst he still wouldn’t go as far as Obama was sure to.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

Ron Paul’s nonprofit Campaign for Liberty will fight the Internal Revenue Service’s demand that it reveal its donor list to the agency, despite having already been fined for refusing to do so.

“There is no legitimate reason for the IRS to know who donates to Campaign for Liberty,” Megan Stiles, the communications director at Campaign for Liberty, told the Washington Examiner in an email on Tuesday. “We believe the First Amendment is on our side as evidenced by cases such as NAACP v. Alabama and International Union UAW v. National Right to Work. Many 501(c)(4) organizations protect the privacy of their donors in the very same way as Campaign for Liberty. For some reason the IRS has now chosen to single out Campaign for Liberty for special attention. We plan to fight this all the way.”

Ron Paul suggested that the group will refuse to pay the IRS fine in an fundraising email to supporters about the agency’s request for information.

“Paying this outrageous extortionist fine — just to exercise our rights as American citizens to petition our government — may even be cheaper in the short run,” he wrote. “But it’ll just embolden an alphabet soup of other federal agencies to come after us.” Paul’s email said that the rule requiring that 501(c)(4)s list their donors is “rarely enforced.”

RON PAUL is right, they have to back them up,
the IRS are out of control, they where influence to make the people unhappy,
the make them pay rules is there to be implement said the top guy,
because he wanted to win his election, no matter who he stepped on,
then, BENGHASI KILLING SPREE BY THE COUNTRY HE THOUGHT WAS ON HIS SIDE, THAT GAVE HIM A first warning,
and the IRS GONE AMOCK GAVE HIM ANOTHER WARNING,
now THEY HAVE HARASS MANY OTHER,
HE IS DOWN ON HIS LUCK,
and nothing is working anymore for him,

REID SAID THE BUNDY HELPERS ARE TERRORIST,
well if they where terrorist, they would not have put up with the attack,
the dogs at them, the sequestration of them in a small space,
and the weapons aiming at them,
TERRORIST DON’T PUT UP THEY WOULD HAVE EXTERMINATE ALL OF THEM IN A FLICK OF A BICK,
SO HARRY REID APOLOGYSE FOR YOUR STINKING WORDS, AND YOUR SON ALSO OWE AN APOLOGY TO THE TOLERANT PEOPLE WHO PUT UP WITH YOUR DESTRUCTIVES GOONS WHO HAVE NO MORAL AND ARE KILLERS OF MEN AND ANIMALS, , THE REAL TERRORIST ,
OF THAT INFAMOUS WEEK OF OUTRAGE ON CLIVE BUNDY, ARE THE BLM AND YOU FOR ACCUSING ALL THOSE AROUND HIM,
YOU SAID IT FOR OTHER GOOD AMERICANS WHO ARE BETTER THAN YOU,
YOU HAVE NO PLACE IN THE GOVERNMENT,
ASK THE KOSH BROTHER TO REPLACE YOU,
THEY ARE MUCH MUCH BETTER AMERICANS
THOSE BRAVES HAD PRAYED GOD BEFORE KNOWING THEY WOULD PROBABLY DIED FOR THE FREEDOM OF AMERICANS,
THEY REPRESENT ALL THOSE WHO WHERE BULLIED AND EXTORTED IN THE LAST 6 YEARS, THEY KNEW IT TOOK ONE TO DO THE REPAIR STOPPING THE EVIL OF THIS AMERICA THEY LOVE SO MUCH AND WHERE READY TO DIE FOR,
REID AND SON ARE YOU READY TO RISK YOUR LIVES FOR
YOUR COUNTRY ? ARE YOU ? THE PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW ,

Ditto
what a waste of time, because some like you did not like MITT ROMNEY,
you cannot like all the CANDIDATES, there always is a trait which you don”t like,
but if he has what it take to serve this NATION AND IS 100 PER CENT ON AMERICA
BEST INTEREST AND HAS THE INTELLIGENCE AND KINDNESS FOR THE CITIZENS,
WHAT YOU OR OTHER DON’T LIKE ONE TRAIT OR NOT IS NOT VALID,
AND should not be a right from you and other to say,
I DON’T LIKE HIM, AND I WON’T VOTE FOR HIM, AND ALLOW WHAT IS HAPPENING TO MATERIALIZE for years, wasted
many did it , even RON PAUL WAS DISCREDIT AND SCREW OF HIS CHANCES, SO ALL THE YOUNG WHO
LIKED HIM WENT TO VOTE FOR ONE WITH NO WAY TO WIN,
he would have been better by far,
I HOPE YOU ALL TOOK THE HARD LESSON OF LIFE,
BECAUSE YOU WHERE THE INSTRUMENT FOR DESOLATION OF THESES TIMES,
the revenge is not even yours now but is to the one who took the job, and said vote for revenge,
that is who you put in power,

@ilovebeeswarzone:

Now, you are starting to anger me Bees. I never stay home for any election, I made it quite clear that although I did not “Like” Romney, I held my nose and voted for him in the General Election. I VOTED FOR ROMNEY. The only reason I did so was because Obama is clearly a socialist tyrant, and even a RINO is better than to keep a tyrant in power.

For your information, my state does not have an open Primary Election process where the people vote directly for the nomination of party presidential candidates. Oh no, the crooked leaderships of both major parties here agreed to changed it a number of years back so that we now have a caucus. I suggest you read up on how a caucus works. The Ruling Party Leaders and better supported candidates can arrange like minded loyalists to reside in each precinct. In the caucus, these ringers volunteer to be “precinct captain” and claim they will vote as the majority of the precinct votes at the state convention. But the truth is once they go the state level they are not legally held to this, and they vote instead for the candidate they wanted all along, changing the vote of the majority in their precinct.

Who are you to tell me that I have to like and vote for whatever establishment RINO makes it to the General Election, simply because they wear the badge of Republican? Oh, no my friend. I am not a GOP party Robot. I am a free thinking Constitutional Conservative. The only reason I am registered Republican is so that I can vote in the Republican Primaries, and try to bring the party back to it’s grassroots. Otherwise I would have changed my party affiliation to the Constitution Party years ago.

I am at heart an Independent Constitutional Conservative, I spend weeks meticuously researching each and every candidate for public office, investigating their history, political and otherwise. If they have no describable record or history, and if they refuse to give statements or interviews about where they stand on various issues, I ignore those dark horses as they clearly aren’t in their to get elected but to pull votes from stupid people. I will then compare and vote for whatever candidate most closely appears to meet the qualities I require in a candidate. Be they a Republican, Libertarian, Constitutional Party member, or the extremely rare Constitution loving Conservative Democrat (Some still exist but rare it is that one makes it to the General Election.)

While the candidates I choose may not win, I never considering it throwing away my vote because usually all it take to win is for the person you voted for to get the most votes, nor will I stay home like a sulking loser. I vote with my intelligence and conscience for what ever candidate seems to be closest to a Constitutional Conservative, and who will most likely honor their oath of office.

I hope we can remain friends Bees, but don’t you ever tell me I have to vote for a wacko-bird progressive Washington D.C. establishment elitist crony capitalist just because he has a “R” by his name.

Ditto
i understand your point and i am relieve to know that you research your CANDIDATE,
i saw on the last election , that ROMNEY was the last chosen on top of the other,
so if i got it right as i think i was, he was the only one chosen at the end,
and i think the strategy was to get him to win all,
he was demonize by his own side on the stage where the mudd slinging was flying<
like it was a bunch of stupid humans hating each other
HE ROMNEY END UP ON TOP, WHICH WAS MAKING HIM A VERY GOOD CANDIDATE,
BUT THE DEMONIZING WORDS DON'T LEAVE THE PROFILE, HE PAID A LOT OF MONEY TO GET THE NOMINATION, MEANT THAT HE WAS PREPARE TO TAKE WHAT NEGATIVE COME WITH THE JOB,
I MUST SAY I WAS ANGRY TO SEE THAT CANDIDATE REACHING THE TOP NOMINATION
STILL GET STAINED BY HIS OWN GROUP OR HIS OWN SIDE ,
BECAUSE THIS ELECTION WAS SO IMPORTANT TO WIN,
THE REGRESSION OF AMERICA SINCE HAS ADVANCE THEIR CAUSE WITH THE INDOCTRINATION OF THE YOUTH FROM THE SCHOOL WHO ARE SOLD TO OBAMA, AND AT A PLACE TO LEAD THE MINDS OF THE YOUTH WHO NOW ARE 6 YEARS OLDER , WHICH WE COULD NOT AFFORD TO HAVE THEM
WASTED THEIR BRAIN WITH THE SELLING PITCH OF ELDER ENDOCTRINATED ALREADY,
I HEARD THE WHOLE PROGRESS OF THE ELECTION, AND STILL MAINTAIN IT WAS THE OUTMOST IMPORTANCE TO HAVE WON IT,
LIKE YOU MENTIONED HE COULD HAVE DONE A GOOD JOB AND I'M SURE HE HAD QUALIFICATIONS
FOR IT, BUT ALSO, HE WAS NOT READY TO LOWER HIMSELF TO THE LEVEL OF THE OTHER SIDE,
IT HURT HIM ON SOME DEGREE, AND ALL THIS BRING THE PEOPLE WHERE NOW IS A RUNAWAY TRAIN WRECK,
THIS TIME IS A NEW ONE COMING , AND THE CANDIDATES BETTER NOT BE DEMONIZE BY THEIR OWN SIDE, THEY MUST FIND ANOTHE WAY TO TAKE THE TOP JOB,
I APOLOGYSE TO HAVE LOOSE MY COOL ON YOU, IT WAS AN INSTANT REACTION ON WHAT I FELT IN 2012 ELECTION, I GUESS I DID NOT RECOVER YET FROM IT,

@ilovebeeswarzone:

i saw on the last election , that ROMNEY was the last chosen on top of the other,
so if i got it right as i think i was, he was the only one chosen at the end,
and i think the strategy was to get him to win all,
he was demonize by his own side on the stage where the mudd slinging was flying<

Romney’s campaign was slinging just as much mud as the others, and that is the way it goes in primaries. Yes, he received the nomination at the end, but it was with quite a bit of underhanded tactics played both by Romney’s supporters and by an attempt by Ron Paul’s delegates to create a brokered national convention.

Where Romney sunk himself was in not going after his presidential election opponent (Obama)with the same strength and vigor that he targeted his GOP primary election opponents. He started good in the first debate, but he listened to the damn MSM, and his advisers and peddled a soft-ball campaign against Obama. Romney deserved the ass-kicking he got for capitulating to an MSM that doesn’t want anyone to be tough on Obama. That wimpy weakness of surrender, and his being a “left of middle” Republican is what made GOP voters distasteful of Romney. And it is the exact same reason why McCain lost against Obama. This was all about MSM affirmative action, with special treatment granted the Democratic candidate because of his race.

As the nomination and election of Obama proves, it is not always the best leader who get’s chosen. It is only the one who can win with the most electoral college votes. I disagree wholeheartedly with those who want to get rid of the electoral college. The main problem with the electoral college is, that system has been altered from the way it was meant to work, by some states adopting “winner take all” rules. The Constitution clearly states that the electoral votes for all candidates for each state were to be sent to the US Senate for counting, and not that they were to be counted first at the state level, and then for all electoral votes to be reallocated and awarded to a single candidate before sending them to the Senate.

Ditto, I admire your dedication to citizenship; however, voting against a candidate instead of voting for a candidate is frustrating.

@Skookum:

I agree completely, but with Obama I felt there was no other clear option but to vote for the opponent most likely to be able to pull enough votes to defeat him. Not voting would simply have been an enabling decision to keep the tyrant.

Ditto
HE HAD IT IN HIS POCKET, what screw his win, is the dead voters,
the google experts working down below that big place obama rented
and they where there but no one knew upstairs on their laptop hundreds of them,
plus the 400 UNION GUYS WORKING ALL OVER WITH ACCESS TO THE BALAT BOX
plus the walking votes who where switching to FROM MITT ROMNEY TOWARD OBAMA,
RIGHT ON THE COMPUTER AFTER THE VOTING CITIZENS, BUT BEHOLD ONE OF THEM SAW THE ROMNEY VOTE WALKING OUT AFTER SHE VOTED AND OBAMA SLIPT IN THE COMPUTER,
PLUS THE STATES SHOWING 150 TO 100 OF THE VOTES TO OBAMA,
PLUS THOSE OFICERS OF ELECTION WHO VOTE 6 TIMES FOR ONE OF THEM, BESIDE THE OTHER,
THAT’S WHY HE LOST,
HE SHOULD HAVE GONE ALL THE WAY AND DEMAND AN ANULLATION OF A CORRUPT ELECTION,
i bet GINGRISH WOULD HAVE DONE THE EXTRA MILE AND DEMAND TO ANNULL THAT ELECTION,
and ALL THAT WHILE the IRS WAS KEEPING THE TEA-PARTY BUSY BY HARASSING THEM, AT THAT TIME,PRECISELY,
ALONG OTHER CONTRIBUTER TO MITT ROMNEY,
WITH MORE SMIDGEON OF HARASSMENT
HELL WAS IN THE GOVERNMENT PREPARING TO TAKE THE SEAT AGAIN, STAIN WITH THE BLOOD OF THE AMBASSADOR AND THE OTHER HEROS LEFT COLD IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY OF HATERS WHO KILLED THEM COLD BLOOD,
WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE,

@Ditto: To my knowledge the electoral college has always been winner take all in every state. Are you saying it should be proportional? That would be a substantial change and IMO was never the intent.
Give him hell Bees. It’s that “purity test” that makes it so hard for Repubs to win.