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Ragnar wrote: >--- Patrick Chkoreff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I do not think it is safe and sustainable to engage in a > > little > > socialism. I would prefer none. But that option is not > > available to > > us. Our choices are between less and more. > >A well-known (if not often emulated) "Patrick" in U.S. history >found, in his wisdom and moral fortitude, a third choice... > >"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the >price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not >what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or >give me death! Very well said, Ragnar. As I drove to City Hall yesterday to enquire about watering bans on private wells, I contemplated how continued resistance to even such a silly little regulation as that could lead ultimately to my own death if pursued to its logical extreme. The same ultimate penalty of death could also await those who resist paying taxes, grow and sell bootleg peanuts, sell a sawed-off shotgun, or establish a truly independent church community. As I contemplated each possible petty regulation of government and the possibility of resisting it unto death, a simple question popped into mind: "Is this the hill you want to die on?" And that is the problem with modern tyranny: it pushes us in so many different ways, and it seems that no single one is ever worth resisting unto death. There never seems to be a hill worth dying on. However, the early Americans resisted with their lives and livelihood things that would seem mild by today's standards. They would stake their lives resisting the Stamp Act or a Whiskey Tax, which were tiny compared to today's income or sales taxes. One reason Americans do not resist today is that they suffer from moral cowardice combined with poor education and pervasive propaganda. But there is another reason. Even those of us who fancy ourselves fairly courageous, educated, and skeptical of propaganda know one important fact. Quite simply, we are outnumbered and outgunned. Continued resistance to any one minor aspect of tyranny will earn you ostracism, impoverishment, and then death. So as you think through each modern abuse of power and infringement of liberty, ask yourself, is this the hill I want to die on? Perhaps all this talk of resistance unto death is completely unnecessary, the situation is not as hopeless as we think, and there are opportunities for peaceful reform. I tend to think not. As George Bernard Shaw, an avowed socialist, once said: "A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul." In my opinion Shaw's formulation does not go far enough because in reality the ratio is more like two to one. So I would say "A government which robs Peter to pay Paul and Mary can always count on the support of Paul and Mary." The natural outcome of this democracy is the scenario described in Atlas Shrugged, an agonizingly slow descent to the point where Peter no longer can or will support the government and its clients Paul and Mary. In my opinion this kind of total collapse is coming but not soon. It takes a long time to push millions of productive people to the point of collapse. They will continue to work, and each hour they work will yield more funds for the government which oppresses them. Various diversions and forms of entertainment will keep them reasonably happy for a while. I know it sounds dismal, but personally I reject despair because for me it demonstrates a collapse of reason, a lack of trust in the good people around me, and above all a lack of faith in God's guidance and wisdom. Ayn Rand would shiver in revulsion to hear me say that, but that's just tough for her. So personally I don't think a "solution" exists. Maybe, just maybe, there's enough support for a "Free State," but I don't know. Home schooling will keep civilization alive in the hearts of millions. Perhaps instead of resisting unto death, there can be a strategy of thousands of people resisting just to the point of pain, swamping the government with obnoxious annoyance and passive resistance. Perhaps a combination of all the little things will yield unexpected results. After all, all we really need is for several thousand civil servants and soldiers to just stop what they're doing. That's not asking too much, is it? - -- Patrick -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGPfreeware 7.0.3 for non-commercial use <http://www.pgp.com> iQA/AwUBPVTcwFA7g7bodUwLEQI42QCfQJTzdX81vr2s4m8Zp/hAWcpDFz0AoISW IVcjDk7AWnDt7fmX7++YBHVt =m8EW -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
