Friday, March 9, 2012


Signs of Our Disease

Posted in Power to the People  Liberty for All; by R Lee Wrights on September 3rd, 2006
by BetteRose Ryan
 

My sister, when she was state chairman of the Colorado Libertarian Party, wrote a column about salt-water snow.  It was interesting in that it has to be very cold indeed for salt water to freeze and become snow.  Throughout her column she referred to things happening around us, wondering how cold do our freedoms have to become before we get up in arms.  It occurred to me that just in my lifetime, not only has technology accelerated, but so has the loss of our freedoms.

When I was a young girl in school, we studied about the feudal system.  We were told how awful it was, how the serfs had to yield up to 25% of what they grew or created to the lord and his knights.  This of course was given for protection against raiders and space within the castle walls if that became necessary.  Today, we - as a ‘free’ people - give more than 50% of our earnings up to those who govern us!
Later in life, I met a man from the Czech Republic.  He told me of his life there.  I found it truly amazing that people had to ask permission from the government to get a different job.  There was actually a process of getting the current employer to agree to let you go and your future employer agreeing to hire you.  The government then gave written papers approving the move. I shook my head.  How can people live like that?  Not ten years later, I went to get a second job and found I had to get a government ID to prove the employer had the government’s permission to hire me!  How soon will it be before I won’t be able to quit my job without permission from the government?
This man also told me about how traveling papers were required if he wanted to visit his girlfriend because she lived in a different town.  I could not imagine having to ask permission and get documents just to go to another town.  Yet, just three years ago, a friend of mine said she couldn’t pick up a train ticket for her husband. The train company required him to present his government issued ID!  First the airplanes, than the trains, and I’ve heard they are starting with buses, all requiring government issued IDs for travel!   When will we be forced to carry traveling papers with us at all times?  Remember, Americans of Hispanic decent who live in border states already have to do this.
I remember, growing up, that Russia was a big scary place.  The government there could arrest someone for speaking out against it.  It could arrest and hold someone without charges, never letting them see their families, without lawyers.  The U.S. was so much freer! Then, the Patriot Act passed in this country.  And the War on Terrorism brought ‘terrorist detainees.”
China, in just the decades past, crushed all political speech.  Protests were either not allowed or were very controlled.  How lucky we were in this country, to be able to raise our voices in protest, to wave our signs in front of our elected officials!  Then, I discovered the newly developed “free speech zones.”  I even watched as a friend of mine was arrested for not leaving the area.  Why was he asked to move from the area when others were allowed to stay?  Because he was wearing a T-shirt with the ‘wrong’ political message on it.  He wasn’t even making any noise!  What was the T-Shirt’s message that was so scary to our President’s security team? The letters TRT on the front and the words “Tyranny Response Team” on the back of it was enough to take the man to jail.
The truth of the matter is, these changes are not the worst.  These changes can be seen. They are like the dying toes of a diabetic; only the most visible sign of a disease that is systemic and deadly. It is the changes which are slow and insidious, changes which have been happening for decades, that will finally take our freedom.  Those small changes are signs of the belief, by Americans, that a group of elected men and women can somehow protect us from all harm - from being poor to dying - if we just give them the power to do so.  As this belief continues to grow, our country will continue to falter.  While we must combat the immediate and obvious threat, it is of the utmost importance that we address the underlying disease.


1 comment:

  1. And, now, we have a President who issues, inessence, proclamations without Constitutional authority and virtuallyunfettered by either of the other branches of our Federal government.

    Not only that, they try to ACT as if they would do something by publicly whining for their "side" of the aisle - but only as a means of posturing and pandering for re-election.

    WE created and extend our own autocracy by continuing to send these traitors back to "serve us".

    We have the vote - the only real term limitation - and should freely use it to replace everyone up for re-election until the Congress, as a whole, learns that THE PEOPLE, by Constitution, are in charge.

    Quit saying, "Well, MY Congress person got "us" this or that so I'm going to vote for him/her again". It is the wrong message and simply contributes to the ongoing destruction of our democracy.

    ReplyDelete