What is your liberty worth?

   Perhaps the better question is, “How far are you willing to go to preserve it?” This question was brought to mind as a consequence of the most recent protest I organized outside our local congressman’s office. Most protests, especially in our little backwater and with only twenty five people, don’t make much of an impact. In its organization, however, I sent out an e-mail stating that I was going to hang the congressman in effigy, which I did-life size. We had a good protest, the congressman’s press secretary fielded questions and criticisms for over a half hour and I believe we made our point.

     Two days later I get a call that informed me that my picture with the hanging congressman was being commented on in the Politico.com. The article and about half the comments were less than complimentary. The main point was that if my action was the face of the GOP’s criticism of Democrat Health Care, the GOP was in big trouble. Of course, I do not represent the GOP nor am I a republican. I am just a citizen trying to get his point across. Quite a few thought it inappropriate and in bad taste to hang our congressman in effigy. Personally, I think these power hungry people in our federal Government are traitors to the constitution and the founding principles of the Republic.   None of them are upholding their oath of office.   They are unprofessional-what lawyer signs a contract without reading it!? They are foolish for thinking they can spend, borrow and print so much money without consequence. They are enemies of liberty for thinking that government should have the power to determine the temperature of our homes or the medicines we receive. Most of us know this is wrong and it will not end well for this country if it continues. Barak Obama said he was going to “Transform America”. He is trying to transform it into a Marxist state with power concentrated at the top and no aspect of our lives too small or insignificant to be beyond its control. No thank you.

     This has not happened overnight, its taken one hundred years. One step here, one leap there, sometimes pausing, but never retreating. We have an opportunity now, as president Obama tries the biggest leap since the New Deal, to catch the statist monster in the air and throw it back on its heels. The question is, are we willing to do whatever it takes? Are we finally going to draw a line in the sand? If we don’t now, then when? Ten or twenty years from now when you need that new operation or expensive medicine and the health care bureaucrat turns to you and says, “You’ve had a good run, here’s your pain pill.” It will be too late. When ATF shows up outside your home and demands your guns, are you going to give them up or make them pry them out of your cold dead hands? Where’s all that non-violent claptrap then, or when child protective services forces you to send your kid to a government school or deems your “hateful” form of religion nonproductive to the raising of properly adjusted children? What percentage of your income is too much? 60%, 70%, 90%? When do you refuse to allow your money to be confiscated and given to the non-productive and lazy? What will you do when they come to throw you in jail for being so “stingy”, refusing to put your “skin in the game?” When all this borrowing and spending leads to hyperinflation and wage and price controls and the scarcity that goes with it, who are you going to blame? Are you going to be able to look in the mirror and say “I did everything I could” or will you finally understand that by letting the statist set the rules with political correctness and by refusing to consider all options for resistance, the battle and the war were already lost. 

     The government holds all the cards, or so it thinks. They become more and more bold the more they get away with. Every time an election rolls around and ninety-five percent of them are returned to office irregardless of their out of control behavior, they behave more like kings, and thugs.   When the opposition whines about things they may pause or simply try a new way of accomplishing their goal. I want you to understand something very important.   The goal of the majority of people in government, particularly this current crop, is totalitarian control. Do you get that? They want to control everything. Sure, you may think you have choices but they are only choices approved of by them. The car you drive, it has to meet hundreds of government specs, few of which have to do with safety. This is only going to get worse. They have nationalized banks, they control behavior through taxes and regulation, they want to control the food you eat, the people you associate with (racist!), how much money you earn, the list could go on and on. This is the very definition of totalitarianism and the antithesis of liberty.    It has all happened because we let it. And because it has happened over such a long period of time, we are often unaware of how much we have lost. When do we say “enough?” And if we say it now, how far are we willing to go to show we mean it? If a little thing like hanging the congressman in effigy bothers you, then our cause is lost. The occasional quiet protest, the calls and e-mails, even the occasional turnover of congress will only be a pause in the march to total state control. I, for one, do not want my children to grow up in that nation, do you?

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     A week ago there was a lot of buzz about the sudden announcement that Sarah Palin would be leaving office as the governor of Alaska. There were no specific reasons given so speculation abounded and I am not about to add to that or any musings about her political future. The one thing that is beyond dispute as a contributing factor to her departure is the fact that ever since that army of lawyers and investigators descended on Juneau with her selection as McCain’s VP, she has had to defend herself against one groundless accusation after another. She has racked up legal bills approaching a half a million dollars and spent much more time dealing with investigations that go nowhere than doing the work of the people of Alaska. I find it not a little telling that while there is video tape of William Jefferson of Louisiana accepting a suitcase of cash and using taxpayer funds while diverting rescue operations during hurricane Katrina to retrieve ninety thousand dollars from his freezer, he is not only not in jail but still in office supported by his fellow democrats.   Sarah Palin, however, is under no federal investigation and not one of the ethics probes has ever come up with anything, yet she has been hounded from office.

     This is a tactic the statist Democrats have learned well. And this time I will include the party in this because it is the Democrat party that engages in this behavior against their enemies. Behavior that is tolerated or even celebrated among their own is jumped on by them if engaged in by the opposition. One word at a birthday party, one hint of impropriety and the media and the lawyers descend like a ton of bricks until rumor becomes fact or an insignificant word becomes treason and their opponents are rendered ineffective at best. More often they are hung out to dry by their own and leave office or, like Scooter Libby, end up in jail. Add to this the threats of activists like ACORN and it is no wonder that Republicans have lost their backbone. Politicians in general want to remain in office and be liked by the people, their colleagues and the media. If the opposition makes any misstep, if they push too hard on an issue, if they really rock the boat and become a credible threat to the statist agenda these kind of attacks are what await them. It is no wonder that few of them are going to have the courage to speak and act in real opposition.

     When is is all boiled down, the fact is that the statist always uses the power of the state to intimidate, threaten and coerce people and the opposition into submission. From John Adams and the Sedition Act to Woodrow Wilson jailing dissidents and opponents to Barak Obama threatening lawsuits against former Bush personnel, strong-arming banks to take TARP money or using ACORN to intimidate executives, it is all the same tune played over and over. The fact is that the difference between what the statists do in the US and what Hitler and Stalin did is only one of degree. The founders understood the danger of political power and the men (and women) who want to wield it. Most of them want power and the only reason to have it is to use it. That is why they took as much power from the government as possible and left it among the states and the people. But we have given more power to government than any other in history. And now we are talking about letting them have the literal power of life and death over us by running our health care?! Have the “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” “rugged individual” Americans gone nuts?!

     The British tried to impose the same kind of tyranny on the colonists and amid the protests and the legislative maneuverings, the fact is that the conflict between liberty and tyranny devolved into a deadly conflict. That is because tyrannical governments will always try to impose their will at the point of a gun if all else fails. Some are quicker to do so than others but government, by its nature, is force. If we give it limited authority and resources, its ability to use that force against us is limited. That is not the case here and now. We can protest taxes and even take our case to the court but unless you are one of the privileged elite, you will go to jail. When they come for your children and force them into government schools, they will use force at some point. When they come for your guns they will be more than happy to pry them from your cold, dead hands.

     Is deadly conflict between tyranny and liberty inevitable? Almost always. There are very few instances in history where the people rose up against tyranny and the conflict remained bloodless. I am in no way encouraging that escalation, let me make that clear. But we also have to be realistic. Government will continue to become more oppressive, take more of our money and liberty, because that is the nature of government. If we choose to stand up to that tyranny, we must be ready for the evolution of the conflict. Right now, those who love liberty are on the ropes, losing badly. Government is taking great strides in expanding its power. The old methods no longer seem to be effective. We call our representatives, we write letters, we blog, we have even gotten out in the streets and protested. We are still ignored. It is time we took the conflict to the next level.

     To that end I launched Project Liberty on Independence Day. It is based on the ACORN model of intimidation. I believe it is time the intimidation began to flow the other way. If ACORN can get a bus load of people to show up at the homes of AIG executives, we should be able to get a caravan of patriots to show up at the homes of our elected officials and let them know what we think and expect of them. It is not a long term solution, it is only to stop the current bleeding. Long term we need elected representatives that are going to dismantle the monster we have created. But we need to stop a march into fascism that has turned into a run. It is time we started intimidating the statists. It is time our elected representative know that if they are going to reach into our wallets and our homes with their foolish and destructive legislation, we are going to do the same.

     In the twenty years prior to the Revolution, Samuel Adams and others formed the Sons of Liberty. It was they who first pushed for independence, it was they who intimidated British officials and protested the loudest, it was they who were responsible for the first tea party. It is time that a new breed of patriot arose, one who is willing to do more, to take a greater risk, to act a little more radically in defense of liberty, not only for themselves but for our children and grandchildren. This is a turning point, it is not yet too late to turn our country back to liberty and freedom. However, if we allow our government to continue to expand unfettered, the likelihood of the conflict becoming very nasty goes up considerably. May our decisive actions today prevent such an escalation.

For more information on Project Liberty go to www.patricksamuels.com and click on the “Sons of Liberty” button.  

Patrick Samuels