I’m in a bit of a melancholy mood this morning.
I’ve been thinking that in a sense, Marx was right – freedom is an illusion - but not because freedom is a fairy tale, because we have allowed far too much government for far too long. We have allowed collective government fiat to replace individual common sense, common courtesy, faith, trust, honor, and duty.
There is the America that believes in God, self-reliance and hard work, the American dream, American exceptionalism, equal opportunity, secure borders, sovereignty, the sanctity of a baby’s life from conception, private property, the Second Amendment, and an originalist reading of the Constitution – a small and limited state.
Then there is another America that is filled with secular humanists, that believes in collectivism and government handouts, and believes that the American dream is dead (if it ever existed) and that America is inherently evil and imperialistic. They believe in equal outcomes, open borders, a nation subject to the whims of international governance, abortion, abolition of private property, no right to self-defense and a “living” Constitution that can be “interpreted” to create approval for the current political fad and in turn, an overweening and expansive state.
I can see no way that these two radically divided positions can ever be reconciled. The narrow division and fiercely contested elections that produce razor thin margins indicate that if these divisions exist, there is guaranteed an inherent tyranny of the majority. Winning or losing elections 52% – 48% gives neither winning party a governing “mandate” and renders any party line decision one on the edge of tyranny. Party identification is no longer relevant; the divide is between classic liberalism and so called “progressivism”.
By the end of Biden’s only term (God willing), we will have lived through twenty-four years of divided rule and rancor. We got a brief respite from the march through the institutions under President Trump, but the amperage of the hate just increased.
A few years year ago, I believed that amending the Constitution was the answer. I no longer believe that. I believe that the divisions are too deep and too painful. Since the current ruling class (and evidently over half of the country) think that my belief in God is believing a myth, that I must be forced by law to accept “alternative lifestyles” that I have been taught are evil, that killing a “clump of cells” that will grow in to a baby is a “right”, that I am a bigot because I want to stop illegal immigration, that I don’t believe I am a servant of government to be taxed so that my productivity can be given to others and my love of country is the equivalent to Nazi nationalism, I can see little other recourse. I don’t want a theocratic state but under the degraded nation that America has become, I cannot live a life according to my own convictions and faithfully execute my duty to my God and my family.
I just want to be left alone to form the associations that I choose, support the people who deserve my support and not to bear ridicule for believing in the founding principles of this country. I don’t believe that these principles merely granted freedom, but true liberty. I believe the Constitution outlines the plans to execute the promise of liberty enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, which lay out the methods of protection of that liberty for every individual citizen of this country. I don’t want to be told every day that I am an evil person because I oppose illegal immigration and I object to my tax money being wasted and used for things I disagree with. I believe in working hard and playing by the rules – but I’m also not ignorant enough to blindly believe that all the rules are just.
I am not an anarchist, I do not believe in no government – but I do believe in clearly limited government, a government that does not presume to dictate to me and infiltrate every single aspect of my life…and do not be fooled, today we are licensed, taxed, monitored, and managed from cradle to grave. There is a hegemony of sorts that dominates individual conduct. If one steps back to take an objective view, we are living the world of Orwell and Huxley.
But it sure seems sooner or later, something must give.
A while back secession was all the rage. Maybe that is the answer – or maybe the answer is just to create massive city-states where progressives can pursue their Utopian dreams and leave the rest of us alone.
The restrictions in the Constitution mean nothing to the “stop me if you can” ethos of the progressive ideology. That’s why I think an Article V convention of the states is a waste of time. I would like to think federalism is the answer, but the fact the left continues to accumulate power through “emergencies” and has no intention of giving it back, augurs against that idea.
It’s like spilling red wine on a white linen tablecloth.
The only way to avoid a stain is not to spill in the first place. Like the wine stain, the stain of power grabs never completely come out. Having the Supreme Court say something is unconstitutional two to five years after it is done won’t stop the authoritarian ambitions of either the left or right. By that time, it is too late.
The stain is set.
Michael, I despair. America has been Galt's Gulch to the rest of the planet -- witness the millions who for two centuries have thronged to be part of it. I know of no other.
In despair, I retain a hope that the excesses that have intensified for the past 30 or so years will burn themselves out in self consumption.