By MamaLiberty
More and more I’m hearing less and less from people who used to be serious about freedom, especially freedom from the bogus “authority” of non-voluntary government. More and more of what I read in the forums and blogs tells me that these people are tired of the fight, burned out in their efforts to communicate. They either give up the fight or just go silent.
So many of the freedom oriented blogs I visit have become little more than a platform for complaints about government. Lots of outrage and condemnation, but little offering of any reasonable counter measures except “letters to congressmen,” lawsuits and the usual political activities we’ve been trying for so long – even when it is quite clear that they have little or no hope of any real change from such things. There are exceptions, but most of them still seem to cling to the “constitution” and the “bill of rights” as magic bullets that will set everything right if people would just accept those chains. And this, of course, means that they still believe that non-voluntary government, one way or another, has that authority.
So, more and more often, people I talk to are wondering if there are any others in the world who think like they do – or even close. Some are convinced that “nobody” really wants freedom, and that “everybody” is too stupid to see the truth, prepare reasonably or ever take personal responsibility for themselves. I am tempted to indulge in that thought pattern sometimes myself, but I truly think there are a great many people in our world and communities who might well be our allies, if we only knew them.
Nobody knows what will be the “trigger” event, or if there will be more than one or two. Nobody knows when “it” will happen, or how long it will take to “happen.” But everybody in the world will be affected, one way or another, no matter what happens.
Truly, all predictions are merely guesses, educated or otherwise, and I’ve been hearing those guesses for at least forty years. But I refuse to give up, or to accept the idea that the statists have already won, that there will be endless tyranny now and that there is no hope for freedom ever again. Nothing is forever…
I may be wrong, naturally, but there does seem to be at least a few rational things we can do while we wait…
Do you get most or all of your “news” from the mainstream media, which increasingly comprises most of what’s available on line? Do you read any foreign newspaper/websites? Do you believe that there is any source for the truth about what is going on in your town, your state, or anywhere else in the world? How do you decide what is true and what is not? Why do you trust some and not others? Or have you gotten to the point where you despair of finding any to trust? And really, just how much of it do you need to know anyway? Give your ulcer a break and turn it off, at least most of the time.
Do you participate in the politics of your town, county, state, etc.? Do you still think that the government could be controlled if you could just get “the right people” elected? Do you still think that “majority” rule is valid in any situation, or that any group of people calling themselves government has any actual authority to control your life or property? Why not give this some deep thought?
Do you know your neighbors? Do you actually ever talk with them about the realities; the police state, the insanity of centralized government and its “war” on everything and everyone? Do you shoot together, or share a church or civic activity? Or do you just wave or make the usual mouth noises about “How are you?” and maybe a word or two about the weather? Do you know anything about their principles, beliefs, or do you just assume they are not like yours? Do you know which of your neighbors you could count on in an emergency? Do any of them count on you?
Seems to me that it is long past time to think about this sort of thing, and to take action to prepare for it the best we can. Only you can discover what that means for you and your family, of course… but it wouldn’t hurt to get busy with whatever it is.
The Price of Liberty 
You pretty much hit the nail on the head there Mamaliberty…
When I discovered the internet and blogging, I went in head first, posting articles by the hundreds per year.
The results?
After 1,909 posts with 103,529 pageviews…
My son is worried my comments and positions may cost him his job. His wife, a minority-loving, progressive, white-male bashing feminist*, can hardly stand to talk to me anymore. Both of them have isolated me from their circle of friends, who, at one time, thought I was a pretty cool senior.
My 1,909 rants(posts) changed nothing, gained me nothing, and cost me the close family ties I once had with my son.
Have I changed my attitude and opinions? No, but I’m much more cautious and quieter.
Final thought… I just turned 76 and none of it will matter pretty soon.
*Why she married my son (who is white like myself – English/French = and his mother – pure 100% Irish) is a continuing mystery to me.
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That’s a real shame, Bob. My children agree with me most of the time. They’ve all been married and divorced, for all the usual reasons, but conflict with me was not really part of it. Unfortunately, they all insist there is no way they’ll move from the west coast… so I remain alone. Can’t understand much on the telephone and none of them write or even email… so the result is pretty much the same. They’ll respond once if I write to them, but there is little conversation. Such is life.
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Fighting the good fight is tiring. I don’t blame people from becoming disheartened, but “eternal vigilance is the price of life”. As i tell my friends, go ahead and take a break. Cry your eyes out, if you need to. When you are done crying, or have gotten some rest, come back and grab a shovel, cause there is still lots of work to do!
As for the “Freedom Oriented Blogs”, i see the same thing you do, but i am not in a position to judge them, as i do not “contribute to the cause” on a regular basis, even much less than most of them. I think some of them start to feel that they are shouting into the darkness, and cannot tell if people are hearing them. that HAS to get old, after a while… Also, it has to be hard to keep the content fresh. how many different ways can you say the same thing? If you are exceptionally creative, longer than most.
Some of them probably don’t want to give the powers of darkness that much control over their lives, and they might feel that they would rather live it than talk about it more. So they say “Withdraw your support”, and then they sign off, and withdraw. Kinda like the difference between living in a bad part of the city and always having to be aware of anyone approaching you, and just moving away to a place where most people do not pose a threat.
So, “nobody” wants freedom?
Sadly, i think there is SOME validity to this argument, the “nobody” part is not. This is NOT just because so many people are suckling at the teat of government. It is really that there are quite a few people that “want a say” in what others can and can’t do. They don’t think that the argument is about whether or not the “collective” has authority, but only WHAT authority it has.
Part of the answer is that Quite a Few of our neighbors DON’T REALLY WANT LIBERTY, in that they DON’T SEE that to be “Free” means that you have to extend to same courtesy to others, ESPECIALLY THOSE YOU DISAGREE WITH.
For example, there are quite a few members of the “Gun Rights” community that are simply appalled that the “Pot Smokers” seem to be winning the Drug War in Colorado, Washington State, and Etc.
On the Other hand, quite a few “Pot Smokers” don’t see any reason that the “Gun Rights” guys need an ‘”Assault Rifle” with a 30 Round Magazine to hunt Deer’, or why these “Weapons of War” should be “Flooding our Streets”.
Seems like too many people are playing the stupid side of a “Divide and Conquer” strategy.
If you believe that Rastafarians should be ALLOWED to BELIEVE that smoking Marijuana will make them closer to God, JUST AS LONG AS THEY DON’T ACTUALLY DO IT, then you DON”T believe in Religious Liberty.
If you believe “Free Speech” just as long as people are not spewing racist hate, then you really don’t believe in Free Speech.
I rarely get news from anywhere other than blogs, these days. I see that someone is talking about something, and that triggers me to look further into it. Or Not (as least as often not). When i get “mainstream NOOZ”, i find it interesting, in a morbid way, to notice the things they DON’T say more than what they say. Also, the “stories” they cover/don’t cover. Calling news segments “stories” is a refreshing, if uncommon, truth in “reporting” these days…
It seems a rule in “Mainstream Nooz” that it is all but illegal to tell the truth. Sometimes you can discern the truth from what they say, but it is such a waste of time, and insulting to have to try.
“Majority Rule” is valid in ONLY in LIMITED circumstances, but when it is valid, it is. I can only think of a few instances in which it is “Valid”, and not of it’s own authority. Basically, if you agree before the vote, that you will be bound by the outcome, i would have to call it “Valid”, maybe even “binding”, even if it did not go your way.
For example: If a group of individual pipe fitters want to start a union, and they want to “elect” their own leaders every two years, who am i to stop them? if they want to put together a list of “minimum standards” that all of their members “have” to follow, to remain members of the “Union”, so be it. If they want to be able to “vote people out” of the union, good for them. If they want to charge fees to be in the union, also, none of MY business. I MIGHT be inclined to seek out a member of their “union” if i want pipes fit to at least their “minimum standard”. In fact, if they want to compete in the open market against “non-union” pipe fitters, so be it. It MAY turn out to be good advertising for them. If they want all of their union decisions to be determined by “majority vote”, so be it!
I just don’t want them to start thinking that NO ONE can weld pipes together, if they are not a member of the union. I also don’t want them to try to have laws passed that say i have to use a member of their union to have any pipe work done. I don’t want to be told that i can only buy Pipe Fittings that are “certified” by their union. I also think that individuals ALWAYS retain the right to leave a union, if they no longer believe that the union looks out for their interests.
This includes counties breaking away from states, or states leaving the Union.
I don’t think non-voluntary government has any legitimacy at all. If you have trouble with this concept, ask yourself what would make hunting children for sport legitimate? What if we limited it to only children under 8 years old? that seems like a reasonable limit, right? What if we limited it to only unsupervised kids? What if we got over a majority, say 75% of the voters to agree? What if we got 90%? Passing the law might make it LEGAL, but NOTHING would make it legitimate! Some things are not and should NEVER be “up for a Vote”!
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Great thinking! Thanks for writing.
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Mama: There are times when I want to stop beating my heard against the wall, it feels great to stop. I have gotten burned out on a number of times, but I came back to fight and I will never give up. I have drawn that line in the sand, let us see if they cross it.
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Indeed, Darkwing. And everyone has to answer those questions for themselves.
I’ve given up on lots of things over my life. I gave up trying to preserve my first marriage. I gave up trying to influence my children when they left home. I gave up trying to understand organized religion and stopped going to church. I tried hard to work with the Libertarian Party, and gave up when they proved to be politicians after all. I gave up on a nursing career that had spanned many years and became destructive to everything I held dear. I gave up on California, knowing I could never survive there – and not just because of the political climate. I joined a “free state” movement, which has pretty much vanished as most members “give up” on the organization and go on to simply survive the best they can.
What I won’t give up on is integrity, self responsibility, and being a good neighbor. That’s about all I have left. What others think of me is pretty much irrelevant at this stage. I look at myself in the mirror each day, and that face is the one I have to live with ultimately. That’s my line in the sand.
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Wonderfully said.
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Dear friend,
Take heart. We all feel this way, the insane hordes are empowering the tyrants, and at the moment they are winning.
But, what is really going on is that you, and I, and they all know that war has been declared, that battle has been joined, that trouble is coming.
The forces of tyranny while formidable, are thin and shallow. They know it and leverage everything they can with incessant and outrageous propaganda, with ruthless and diabolical enforcement, with networks of spies and traitors. Their actions show their weakness and desperation.
The apparent cowardice of friends and neighbors is simply good tactical judgement in keeping your head down and your weapons in order. So far they have shut down the opposition. But they only have to lose once and they know it.
Keep faith, be good, watch vigilantly.
Evil never wins completely. We simply live in a time where we have the honor of fighting it when it requires courage and honor. Easy times make for lesser people.
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You might be interested in reading my new book, “Consequences.” Available here. http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/?p=7082
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