Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Remind Them Who They Work For

I'm going to Morristown NJ today to join the grass roots tax protest that Rick Santelli got started back in February with his on air rant about intrusive government. I hope all of you reading this will join us for tea somewhere in a village green near you. This could be the beginning of wresting back some modicum of control for the people of whom, by whom, and for whom our government theoretically exists. Theoretically I say; it is beginning to feel like a cruel joke to speak of a free, elective government, instituted and controlled by the people whose consent alone to be governed makes that governing legitimate. We have already had a revolution of sorts, a decades-long, slow-motion blanketing of our established rights and freedoms by the blob of big government bureaucracy and the machinations of petty tyrants on the make.

John Locke had a revolutionary thought: when the controversy between a government and the people erupts over infringement of right and law-abidingness, it is the legislative that is in rebellion, not the people.

"[W]hen they, who were set up for the protection, and preservation of the People, their liberties and Properties, shall by force invade, and endeavor to take them away; and so putting themselves into a state of war with those, who made them the Protectors and Guardians of their Peace, are properly, and with the greatest aggravation, Rebellantes, Rebels." (sec 227)

And if, he goes on to say, someone should think that a doctrine of resistance to such tyranny is not to be allowed, "they may as well say upon the same ground, that honest men may not oppose robbers and pirates, because this may occasion disorder or bloodshed. If any mischief come in such cases, it is not to be charged upon him, who defends his own right, but on him that invades his neighbors." (sec 228)

Do they really want to press this rebellion against us any longer?

8 comments:

Dan said...

Are you the type who doesn't believe in taxes at all? If not, how does you expect to pay for road maintenance, firemen, policemen, etc? If not, what is the "correct amount" of tax?

~Dan

Dan said...

2nd question should read "If so..." not "if not"... :)

David C. Innes said...

I understand that the spirit of rock and roll is the spirit of rebellion, but not of THIS noble kind of rebellion. Why the choice of those guitars in the video?

David C. Innes said...

Nice to see you, Dan.

David C. Innes said...

Romans 13:7 "Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor."

Anonymous said...

Dan,
Surely you can discern the difference between legitimate government services like police and fire, funded by taxpayers who can expect equal benefits, from the outrageous extravagances being put forward in the name of "stimulus", and the unrelenting intrusion of Big Brother into every last aspect of our lives. Politicians holding seats for life, and federal bureaucrats who ca never be fired--what kind of accountability is there for these people spending an endless pot of money? What they don't take, they just create out of thin air, robbing people not yet born...

And that, David, accounts I think for the ominous sound track of the video. Robbery and piracy of this sort is serious stuff, and there is a limit to it. Locke points out that a wise prince will not push his people to the point of rebellion--it is the most dangerous situation possible, next to the state of nature.
Harold

Dan said...

So where were the teabaggers when GWB was "stimulating" us?

Unknown said...

Hey Dan, I can guarantee you there were guys like me all over Americia coming out of their chairs the day Bush announced the bailout, and the necessity of destroying capitalism to save it. Didn't you read this blog during that time? David and I were both riled, to say the least.
Harold