(Sorry this arrives a tad late. You’ve heard about Gracie?)
Trying valiantly to keep up with the good stuff on Substack and other sites and scribblers recommended a dozen articles ago, I came across this passage in a respected writer’s recent piece:
“The signals cannot be more clear and yes, I am growing weary of waiting for the nuclear exchange, the EMP attack, the fiscal collapse to address it, even though I know it will take one of these events to spark the revolt. And no, this is not a screed against the government, not the legitimate one, where laws are properly made and followed, especially by the government itself, where justice is a matter of law, where taxes are only used to fund existential and defensive wars, where the offices in Washington DC control only a few peripheral issues. But that is not the government we have, I endorse that one, the one that existed before communists came to operate all levers of power and propaganda.”
It’s not that I respectfully disagree with the writer’s endorsement of a previous state of American governance, “the legitimate one”; I can’t comprehend it.
It took only 12 years for FedGov to stray from the path of righteous Constitutional order, required as written and sworn to uphold by those administering its daily operation. Some of the same Founding Dads who signed the Declaration supported the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1778. The slow drift away from the principles of governance gradually picked up speed. By the time the War of Northern Aggression broke out, marginalization of the constitutionally restricted FedGov was picking up speed with Lincoln’s foot on the accelerator. Then came Woodrow Wilson (no relation), the Federal Reserve, Income Taxes, the 16th and 17th Amendments. The Constitutional chains binding the FedGov were breaking. Eventually, FDR arrived, and FedGov’s downward trajectory became faster and faster.
And now, here we are, just a couple hundred-plus years later, teetering on the precipice every other form of government has faced since every other form of government came. And went.
America’s sad state of being notwithstanding, what constitutes a “legitimate government”? Even if most people claim to be the “governed”, what about those who never “consented”? Is there an enforced obligation to obey the ‘rules of government’? If so, how is that Freedom? Who wrote these rules, anyhow? How did “government” come to be a “legitimate” entity with a monopoly on the force required to see to it the rules are obeyed”? “Our elected representatives!” is the standard reply, but that seriously neglects the reality of decades of corrupt government activities by equally corrupt politicians who perverted the system for their own ends.
Where did this myth of absolute assumed ‘authority” come from? Couldn’t any group of guys get together somewhere and write their own declaration of independence - from Washington? That would be treason. Says who? Says the guys who wrote the original and then came out with the rules in their Constitution. Romantic revisionist American history aside, it’s what we were taught growing up in various venues for 248 years; a little late to set things straight when it’s been so thoroughly ingrained. Longing for the ‘legitimate government’ that never was only adds to the frustration of pursuing a pragmatic solution.
Consider:
What is the nature of freedom? It is an unassailable natural claim against all others, including the government. Stated differently, it is your unconditional right to think as you wish, to say what you think, to publish what you say, to associate with whoever wishes to be with you no matter their number, to worship or not, to defend yourself, to own and use property as you see fit, to travel where you wish, to purchase from a willing seller, to be left alone. And to do all this without a government permission slip.
What is the nature of government? It is the negation of freedom. Just consider recent headlines. Can the Government break the law in order to enforce it? It even has a name for the practice: Lawfare. Hasn’t this made Government become a law unto itself? That is the death of the Rule of Law.
Do you agree with the following quotes?
George Washington: “Government is not reason; it is not eloquence-it is force! Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master; never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.”
“Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority, still more when you add the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority.” Lord Acton
"That government is best which governs least" Henry David Thoreau.
So Government is force, the negation of freedom. The monopoly on Force - Absolute Power – is the lifeblood of Government. It corrupts absolutely, bringing us the thoroughly corrupted manifestation now thriving in Washington, DC, and spreading to the States through various green-mail programs and NGOs with billionaire backing. According to Thoreau, since the best government governs least, no government should be our ideal, not the dream of a ‘legitimate government’ that maintains its monopoly on Force and, despite its best of intentions found in the Declaration, is destined to become just as indecent, anti-freedom and corrupt as the Swamp and Deep State that rules over us today.
Should reasonable people really look forward to the arrival of the next new government? Other than Hope, what basis may one use to conclude that “the next one” after the next revolution will be the salvation of mankind?
Freedom is the absence of a ruling class. You cannot be free with someone ruling over you; they are complete opposites. Freedom can only be obtained by removing the people claiming to be above you. There is no other way to be free than freeing ourselves from a ruling class. As long as there are people who can dictate what you can and cannot do, you will always be enslaved by them, no matter how many privileges they allow you to have. There is no such thing as a good and righteous ruling class because the very nature of a ruling class over someone is to dominate them.
It would be better to work on an alternative. Considering Freedom, constructive guidance comes from Lysander Spooner.
“It is self-evident that no number of men, by conspiring and calling themselves a government, can acquire any rights whatever over other men, or other men’s property, which they had not before as individuals. And whenever any number of men, calling themselves a government, do anything to another man or his property, which they had no right to do as individuals, they thereby declare themselves trespassers, robbers, or murderers according to the nature of their acts.”
When the time comes, as it surely will, let’s be prepared to construct a better form of government than we have today. Removing the word “government” would be a good start.
BW
Thanks for reading (or listening) this far.
For those who didn’t get my beginning reference to Gracie, I’ll try to post some pics of our 15-week-old English Cream Golden Retriever, currently terrorizing her new home by destroying shoes, furniture and sundry items while managing to position herself in every inconvenient spot available with no regard for potential injury. Not of her, of us! But she’s a cutie, and too quickly, the “Cute Puppy” phase will be in the scrapbooks and photo albums, and we’ll regret they didn’t last longer – minor injuries and damaged property notwithstanding!
Be Careful What You Ask For