What’s Good for the Country
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“Both Oligarch and Tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms.” Aristotle.
“Democracy passes into Despotism.” Plato.
Quotes the Liberals Don’t Want You to Hear: A very enlightening article indeed. It might be interesting to note that Aristotle was a student of Plato. And when our founding fathers sat down to hammer out our constitution, they were all keenly aware of the writings of these great philosophers, as well as many others. They didn’t just “dream” it all up. No, our founding fathers were great historians as well as statesmen. They drew on centuries of wisdom and experiences of the past. Today’s typical politician is not nearly as well versed in history or philosophy. Most are lawyers or businessmen, better at manipulating people or the “system” to get what they want today with little or no regard for the ramifications tomorrow. Today’s political system is no longer “representative”. The government, more and more, decides what’s to be done. The House and Senate really no longer vote what their constituency tells them to vote. They instead get together and decide amongst themselves what’s best for their constituency. Then along comes Barack Obama. A suave Democrat who somehow sweeps into office, despite a murky past, sweeping controversial issues aside, sealing files and hiding facts along the way. Now, with the Democratic Party firmly in control, they are spending and legislating their way to absolute control. Guns aren’t the only way to control the people. What about food, fuel, and yes, medical care!
Plato stated that societies always progress from an Oligarchy (rule by a few elite) to Democracy (rule by the people) and then Despotism (rule by one man). The Oligarchy (the King and Queen and Royal family) stage was probably in England’s earlier days. By the time the United States came along, our founding fathers wanted to start in (and stay in) the second stage, Democracy (rule by the people). Plato then goes on to state that at some point in the Democracy, people fall victim to demagogy (the use of lies, deceit, emotions and propaganda to further an agenda), and a tyrant comes to power. The tyrant’s full fury is not felt until he has disarmed his victims. While I personally don’t want to believe that any Democrat (or anyone else, for that matter) would willingly participate in such a conspiracy, the parallels are scary. Our Farm Subsidy Program controls who and how much of a particular crop gets grown. Pending/proposed legislation for the inspection of farm grown produce, no matter how small the farm could ultimately control availability even in local markets. The storage, transport, processing and mining of fuels has been heavily regulated for years and is getting worse. And yes, medical care. The government is poised to snatch control of your health. By controlling the money for this (or any other service, for that matter), the government assumes the right to determine how that money will be spent and on whom.
It sounds like Plato was warning us about impending danger, doesn’t it? Isn’t it ironic then, that Plato, the author of Republic, the outline of a utopian society upon which Communism is based, believed in a strong central government that controls all weaponry. An excerpt from Plato’s Laws; “no one, man or woman, must ever be left without someone in charge of him; nobody must get into the habit of acting independently in either sham fighting or the real thing, and in peace and war alike we must give our constant attention and obedience to our leader.” Aristotle, on the other hand, believed in the people’s right to work and earn his own living, participate in political and legislative matters, and that the right to bear arms is crucial to maintaining Democracy, the “rule by the people”.
Believing in the People’s right to work and earn his own living, the government should only enforce laws which guarantee safety, or prevent fraudulent activity. It should not be allowed to mandate who does what, when, why, or by whom, by being able to cut off Federal funds. This should hold true at the State level too. We, as a society, must take responsibility for working and earning our own living. Too many people today demand that the government pay this or that, not remembering that every time the government pays something for you, you give up just a little more freedom. And just a little side note; the government does not have any money. If the government pays something for you, it’ll still come out of your pocket someday anyway. By the time it does, you will have paid ten times as much for it, just like a credit card. In fact, the credit card may be cheaper in the long run.
The right to participate in political and legislative matters: We as a society need to get involved and get informed. We need to make our government “representative” again. We need to hold our elected officials responsible and ensure they are “representing” their constituents and not themselves or special interests (this goes for Republicans and Democrats!).
The right to bear arms: We need to watch this one carefully. Remember, there are many other ways to wrest the power from the people before they actually get to the guns. Your gun won’t do you much good if you’re starving, sick and can’t get to the battle for lack of fuel.
This country is in a battle for its very life. There are many brilliant minds on both sides of the aisle. If we could drop this attitude of “what’s good for the party” and adopt a new attitude of “what’s good for the country”, there would be precious few problems this country couldn’t solve.
August 11th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
I added your blog to bookmarks. And i’ll read your articles more often!
August 12th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Amen to giving up our freedoms a little bit more. With every government run program, that’s precisely the result. How many specific freedoms have we given up by giving the goverment more control? Here’s an example: smoking bans. Though it has not happened on a national level, it is only a matter of time before Obama’s ambitious socialist agenda mandates non-smoking everywhere. I happen to be a non-smoker. But I respect those who wish to smoke because it is a freedom that they may enjoy should they choose to. What other freedoms have we given up or may be giving up by letting Obama dictate our lives? Please share…