https://youtu.be/yLZ9I3M-h8E
On Sat, Jul 4, 2015 at 11:44 AM, MJ <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > * "Why were some British citizens opposing their own government? Because > they had concluded that their government was engaged in grave wrongdoing. > And their conception of patriotism was totally different from the concept > of patriotism held by today’s statists. The Founding Fathers believed that > when one’s own government engages in wrongdoing, it is the moral and > political duty of the citizenry to take a stand against, not blindly > support it. "Obviously that is not the concept of patriotism held by > statists, who believe that a citizen should never question whether his > government is engaged in wrongdoing and instead should loyally support > whatever the government is doing. In the statist mind, that’s what courage > is really all about it -- blindly deferring to government officials and > submitting to whatever they decide, especially when it comes to “national > security.”" *July 3, 2015 > > *WHO ARE THE PATRIOTS ON THE FOURTH? *by Jacob G. Hornberger > > On the Fourth of July, American statists will be praising the troops, > glorifying their exploits in foreign countries, thanking them for defending > our rights and freedoms, and expressing thanks to federal officials for > taking care of them with Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, education > grants, farm subsidies, drug laws, and the myriad other programs that come > with America’s welfare-warfare state. > > That’s what the Fourth of July means to American statists. That is the > “freedom” and “independence” they celebrating on the Fourth. > > Moreover, statists will be celebrating people who, in their minds, were > fighting a foreign army, one that was supposedly trying to conquer the > United States and take away the rights and freedoms of the American people. > > There’s just one big problem with the celebrations that statists conduct > on the Fourth. Their mindsets do not conform to history. In actuality, it > is only American libertarians who will be celebrating the Fourth in a > manner consistent with what actually happened on July 4, 1776, as well as > what happened afterward. > > First, let’s get one thing clear: contrary to popular opinion, the men who > signed the Declaration of Independence were not great and courageous > Americans. That’s an important fact to keep in mind. The reason? They > weren’t Americans. They were British citizens, no different from British > citizens today. The only difference was that they were living abroad, much > as many American citizens live abroad today. > > Thus, the people who were fighting in the Revolutionary War were not > supporting the troops. They weren’t thanking and glorifying them for > defending their rights and freedoms. Instead, they were shooting at them > and killing them. They had taken up arms against their very own government. > > That is a discomforting notion for American statists. They’d rather not > think about that. > > Take my word for it: Their own government the British government did > not consider the men who signed the Declaration to be heroes or patriots. > They considered them to be criminals and terrorists, no different, say, > than how the U.S.-supported Egyptian government today looks on Egyptian > citizens resisting its regime or, for that matter, how the U.S.-supported > Pinochet regime considered Chilean citizens resisting its regime. > > Of course, that’s not to say that every British citizen living in this > part of the world opposed his own government. It’s been estimated that 1/3 > of the British citizens living over here supported the troops, 1/3 remained > neutral, and 1/3 opposed the troops. > > Why were some British citizens opposing their own government? Because they > had concluded that their government was engaged in grave wrongdoing. And > their conception of patriotism was totally different from the concept of > patriotism held by today’s statists. The Founding Fathers believed that > when one’s own government engages in wrongdoing, it is the moral and > political duty of the citizenry to take a stand against, not blindly > support it. > > Obviously that is not the concept of patriotism held by statists, who > believe that a citizen should never question whether his government is > engaged in wrongdoing and instead should loyally support whatever the > government is doing. In the statist mind, that’s what courage is really all > about it blindly deferring to government officials and submitting to > whatever they decide, especially when it comes to “national security.” > > Indeed, that’s one reason why statists dislike libertarians so much they > know that we hold a different concept of patriotism than they do. Like the > Founding Fathers, we’re not afraid to make a critical examination of > government actions and, when improper, to take a stand against them, > especially when opposition to government wrongdoing is entirely peaceful. > > So, tomorrow American statists will be celebrating people whose mindset on > patriotism is opposite from their own. If today’s statist had been living > in the British colonies on July 4, 1776, there is no doubt that, given his > mindset, he would have sided with the one-third who supported the > government and the troops or the one-third who stayed neutral. There is no > way he would have been on the side of those opposing and taking up arms > against their own government. > > There is another important anomaly to consider about the Fourth of July. > Tomorrow, American statists will be celebrating people who had a totally > different belief about the proper role of government in people’s lives than > American statists have today. > > How do we know that? Simple. By examining the type of governmental system > that our ancestors brought into existence, both under the Articles of > Confederation and the U.S. Constitution. > > Consider the fact that our ancestors brought into existence a society in > which there was no income taxation, IRS, Social Security, Medicare, > Medicaid, farm subsidies, education grants, drug laws, welfare, minimum > wage, price controls, fiat (i.e., paper) money, Federal Reserve System, > immigration controls, standing army, Pentagon, CIA, NSA, torture, > assassinations, kidnapping, indefinite detention, rendition, partnerships > with criminal organizations and dictatorial regimes, medical experiments on > unsuspecting people, hundreds of military bases in foreign countries, > military empire, and other aspects of what we today call the welfare state > and the warfare state. > > (Standard disclaimer: I’m not claiming that the 19th century was a > libertarian paradise there was, for example, slavery, tariffs, land > grants to the railroads, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, and corporatism. What > I am doing is focusing on the unbelievably radical society that they > brought into existence notwithstanding the exceptions, a type of society > that today’s American statist opposes with every fiber of his being.) > > So, imagine the spectacle: tomorrow American statists will be celebrating > people who would have found revolting the welfare-state, warfare-state > apparatuses that statists have grafted onto America’s founding governmental > system. > > Of course, they’re not the only ones. Libertarians today also find the > welfare-warfare state apparatuses to be revolting (just as we do the > exceptions to freedom that were embraced by our ancestors). > > Indeed, it’s only libertarians who support the notion of fundamental > rights, as expressed in the Declaration, such as life, liberty, and the > pursuit of happiness, which Jefferson observed adhere to all people, not > just American citizens. That’s why, for example, we libertarians oppose > immigration controls because everyone, not just Americans, has the right > to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I’ll bet lots of American > statists would be shocked to learn that one of the reasons those British > citizens took up arms against their own government was because their own > government had prevented “the population of these States; for that purpose > obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass > others to encourage their migrations hither.” > > So, tomorrow let us libertarians raise a glass to those who began pointing > a light through the darkness of statism that has pervaded mankind for eons. > And let’s just smile when we see American statists doing the same thing. > > http://fff.org/2015/07/03/patriots-fourth/ > > -- > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "PoliticalForum" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- brine http://brineb.blogspot.com/ -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
