In many societies, tyranny begins at the ballot box. Even the Jews voted themselves a king, which is true of several other societies, including the Romans, who elected Caesar to be emperor and dictator. Tyrants throughout history have made sweeping promises, for which the people have willingly given consent, and then once hooked, they reel us in.
I have never understood why elections made things permanent. Unlike the Constitution, which was not subject to a vote by this nation, because it was adopted by citizens of a prior one, there are laws extant that people believe ought to remain because they are laws. What makes a man and his progeny sufficiently prescient so as to ensconce them in perpetuity in positions of power? Thomas Paine wrote that it was silly that an island should rule a continent, and it is likewise silly that a fool should govern the world entire. Just because a man descends from you does not mean he is a great man and more than just because a man comes from inauspicious ancestry makes him a bad one.
Much of this is selfishness. Some of the people who clamour most for continuation of the status quo do so because things are good for them. I know several British people who, making sufficient for a life of certain creature comforts, are not interested in working. They can do NOTHING and in some cases live better than I. Why are social programs like medicare, medicaid, and social security, once started, applicable to people who do not want it and people who don't even know it exists? Why must tyranny persist? Selfishness.
In too many cases, the same people who tell us we must look out for others are first looking out for themselves. Each is selfish to get his due from a government program that they stick it to others. Even when I was looking for a house, I was initially interested in a quick sale so I could get the $5000 tax credit, which I did not earn or deserve. I did not collect on it, and I sleep easy with that knowledge. Last Friday, I responded to an article about how 'women and minorities are hardest hit by the recession' with this comment:
I find it kind of illuminating that some of the people who claim others have to sacrifice are themselves very selfish to maintain that which benefits them most. While I confess that firefighters, teachers, and nurses are important, they are not vital. We can survive without them, but they cannot survive without us. Else on whom will they practice their employ or from whom will they exact taxes to pay their wages? There is a misbegotten notion that the lay person cannot survive without the leaders but that they can get along well without us. That is folly.
Yet, this is precisly the prevailing attitude in many instances.
Frequently, they sell these programs as for the children when they are really for the recipients. It's about looking good. Many people do things, not because they are right, but because they get an ego boost. The people who argue most for social security and point how the evil GOP wants to hurt you are doing it because they want you to owe them. In return, they ask you to deliver all of your posterity into bondage. It is not fair to saddle children with something from which they will never benefit so you can get yours. These do-gooders would crucify you for saddling them with something with which they happen to disagree, but it's ok for them. Maybe that's why the rising generation disrespects their elders. Selling your posterity, even the as yet unborn, into perpetual slavery for a little cash is not love, whether it's to get 'your' social security or to satisfy a gambling addiction. That's really what Social Security is- a gamble. It was supposed to be an 'investment account', but when modern politicians suggest 'privitization' by putting it into the market, that's not ok. It is however ok to force people to pay into it who have no expectation and little chance to ever benefit from it, unlike the first recipient who paid $24.75 in and collected almost $23,000 in benefits. Apparently, it's ok to mandate some things but not others. At least Perry had nothing to gain personally from this. If Social Security isn't a Ponzi scheme, I don't know what is.
Some of the same people who argue the most for equality do not really want that. They want things to be better for them. Too many people bring children into this world without wanting to care for them. They want the children so they look better, get status, can have things in common with friends and neighbors, please their parents, etc. You think that's harsh? Watch them discipline their children and look at the things for which they vote that increasingly saddle their children they ostensibly love with greater costs and other impositions.
The older I get, the more convinced I am that people make decisions based on selfishness. I am not sure anyone does anything for the best reasons. I am not sure we ever do anything altruistically. If you are a person of Faith, frequently you do it to please God or gain a reward. If you are a person without Faith, you probably do it for a legacy, which is about your ego. The trouble for society comes when either side of that spectrum tries to mandate that other people adhere to their value system, tyranny is born. During a more lucid time of political thought, Ron Paul said this:
Character and good manners are not a government problem. They reflect individual attitudes that can only be changed by individuals themselves. Freedom allows virtue and excellence to blossom. When government takes on the role of promoting virtue, illegitimate government force is used and tyrants quickly appear on the scene to do the job. Virtue and excellence become illusive, and we find instead that the government officials become corrupt and freedom is lost, the very ingredient required for promoting virtue, harmony, and the brotherhood of man.
Although it is no guarantee of character, freedom is the soil in which true goodness and virtue can take root. Let us now apply liberty. Let men worship how, when and what they may as long as they return us the favor. People should not be punished for their beliefs, only for their deeds. The Constitution was really written to prevent compulsion and protect freedom.
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