I haven't yet perused the whole of this post yet but I felt the need to make a few observations. Yeah, I'm from that "other board".
#1 The authorof this piece is historically ignorant: "Abe Lincoln taught Americans to fear the government. He laid waste to the South as an object lesson: Washington’s authority is unassailable -- and eternal. The union, at bayonet-point, forever. Like a bad marriage from which there can be no escape save death." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ He seems to be completely unaware of historical precident, Please send him links to Shay's rebellion. He makes a few candid observations but then quickly looses his place in making a central argument. It would be better if he had made a central point but this is the normal expectation for products of the government education system these days. On Apr 23, 6:23 pm, MJ <[email protected]> wrote: > Voting is Not the Problem… Americans Are the ProblemWritten byEric Peters > Monday, 16 April 2012."Democracy" is the great moral system of our time > according to mainstream political thought. But whether the people vote to > impose tyranny upon themselves or it is imposed on them by a tyrant, the end > result is the same.People votefortoo many things. Mostly they vote to take > things from other people either their property or their freedom of action. > Each election in modern America is for all practical purposes a no-reserve > auction of other people’s stuff. Vote for me, says The Candidate and I will > giveyousome oftheirstuff. Or something even worse: Vote for me and I will > forcethemto do This or That. > It is never phrased quite so honestly, but this is the essential character of > what goes on. Everything is up for bid. There is no off-limits. No “not for > sale at any price.” > Apparently, the idea doesn’t appeal tomostAmericans anymore. Most Americans > view their fellow man with proprietary interest. > And they, he. > But the vote is just a mechanism. A tool. It is neither good nor bad in > itself. It ispeoplewho are bad. Envious, malicious, vengeful, controlling > people. Or simply ignorant people. Givethemthe franchise and nature will take > its course. > Envious, malicious people vote for wealth transfers to themselves -- theft > byprocess, rendered lawful. You have more and I have less. Givememore. > Voters with the itch to control their fellow man -- but lacking the courage > to do so directly -- get proxies to do it for them, via the ballot box. It > makes them feel good without requiring them to confront the nature of the > thing and of themselves. People who would never in a million years march over > to their neighbor’s house and knock a cigarette from his lips will > self-satisfiedly vote to have someone else do it for them -- never stopping > to consider that they have just given license for their neighbor to exact > revenge using precisely the same method. > The simply ignorant, in their naivety, vote for laws that seem to them humane > and “liberal” -- never following the sequence of events down the line, to the > unfriendly end of thegunthat willimposetheir “humane” and “liberal” policies. > Or, if they are “conservatives,” for laws they may genuinely believe will > “keep us safe.” Likewise never following the thought-chain to its necessary > conclusion. Never realizing what they’ve just endorsed and how it > willinevitablybe used in ways they may not like very much at all. > But the franchise is itself morally neutral. Like a gun. A gun can save a > life -- or take one. The gunitselfis neither good nor bad. It is thehandthat > wields it -- and themindthat controls it. > And it is the minds of millions of Americans that’s at the root of our > predicament. Minds that have been molded (twisted) by great historical > forces, embodied by a few very specific persons: > Abe Lincoln taught Americans tofearthe government. He laid waste to the South > as an object lesson: Washington’s authority is unassailable -- and eternal. > The union, at bayonet-point, forever. Like a bad marriage from which there > can be no escape save death. > Prior to the war, most Americans still held to the curious notion that > government existed bytheirleave. It was their mererepresentative, charged > with a few specific tasks and no more. When thisrepresentativeexceeded its > mandate, it became immediately illegitimate -- a tyranny. The Southern states > took this literally, attempting to withdraw on the principle that legitimate > government exists by consent only -- and what was being done to them by the > rapidly growing Leviathan in DC was being done manifestlywithouttheir consent > and very much against their will. Hence, they exercised their right > assovereign statesto withhold consent and to sever the relationship. To > depart. > Abe educated them. > The principle of unlimited federal supremacy was established at Appomatox. > The formerly sovereignstates(plural) became little more than fiefdoms > ultimately owned -- because utterlycontrolled-- by the “monarch” in > Washington. The formerly free people of the several states became > citizen-subjects of the United States (singular) -- subject to its universal > authority. Oh, they were allowed to vote. But never given achoice. > Millions of Americans, though beaten on the field, still denied the right of > Washington’s rule in their hearts -- where they remained free in spirit, at > least. They resented the newmassain Washington -- regarding him (rightly) as > a usurper, a tyrant, a fiend. It was understood they were ruled by force and > very much without their consent. > Roughly four score and seven years later came FDR and another pivotal moment > in the changing (the warping) of the American mind. FDR taught browbeaten > Americans tolovethe government. To look upon it as a benevolent source of > Manna (sourceof the Manna always left unspoken). Hard times? Bad luck? > Washington can “help.” Over the ensuing decades, this became > institutionalized -- leading us to the present debacle of annual, every other > year and every fourth year auctions presided over by the most loathsome > characters imaginable -- politicians -- made possible by an increasingly > loathsome -- because degenerated -- mob. > Up for bidding: The property of your fellow man -- including even his > physical person. And as he bidsyou, you in your turn bid onhim. > The auctioneer, meanwhile, collects his commission. > Until enough people to make a difference recover their moral sense and > decline to partake these auctions will continue. More, they will increase in > rapacity as the crowd loses all scruple and demandseverythingwhich it > inevitably will. Because nothing is off the table. Then, of course, there > will benothing. At least, not for the screeching crowd. Everything will have > been consumed and not one of them will have a rightful reason to complain. He > who victimizes cannot object to being victimized in turn. > And the auctioneer? He’ll end up owningeverything-- including you and > me.http://www.americandailyherald.com/pundits/eric-peters/item/voting-is-not-the-problem-americans-are-the-problem?category_id=198 -- 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.
