OMG, that preamble is like totally racist and stuff. It doesn't even mention slavery. The only way the nation can heal is more reparations, welfare and abortions.
Maybe that's our problem...we just aren't judgmental enough. Unlike those who wear the mantle of "Holier than Thou" we leave others alone to make their way, stumbling and bumbling but on their own without our meddling advice or castigation.
The preamble rocks. Too bad the founding fathers didn't follow it. There were those who fought in the revolutionary war that had their farms repossessed. But it was allowed, cause laws and stuff. Oh yeah and they only gave land owners the right to vote. Hipocrisy is the name of the game.
Typical of any mass religion, start with great ideas and then whittle them down for special cases. Before it was them, now it's others in charge.
Re your avatar and sub stack name - Edgar Rice Burroughs made many a day in my youth an exciting place to be even if I really only was in my favorite reading space.
I discovered his works much later. Came across a $2 edition of the collected stories of Barsoom in the broke twilight of my doctoral studies, which provided some much needed escapism during that time.
Happy you found him. His works along with Zane Grey's novels provided wonderful escapism and more than a little influence on my budding psyche, but as many will say, it was Ayn Rand's works that brought me to full blossom. Naw, I'm no intellectual. Just a regular American woman, pretty happy and content with the trajectory of my life, thanks to those early influences.
In my case, I'd have to point to Heinlein (Starship Troopers especially), the libertarian-inflected hard-SF of Niven & Pournelle, and the noir cyberpunk of Gibson, as the most impactful of my formative literary influences.
One can not say with enough emphasis that we are at a significant inflection point in the history of civilization. And while we daily face the usurpations of a tyrannical and corrupt government, we must also realize that history is a process, that takes more time than most can comprehend, especially in today's short attention span theater mind-hive.
November will be a litmus test of wills. Either we begin to throw off those shackles, or we whimper off into the cold dark gulag of continual servitude, to masters who are never appeased.
I for one, will not serve them, for they are not worthy.
I will demand liberty, and accept no less.
Thank you for the words that hopefully awaken the soul of our civilization to stand up for its self, and not cower as it waits for its morsel of freedom is doled out.
I think that you overestimate the amount of 'freedom' that most people enjoyed, during previous times. I know that most of us look back with nostalgia at the past, remembering a 'better time', often through a problematic filter of our partial memories and unconscious biases.
If we look back and romanticize the past, we are deluding ourselves. We need to be honest, including of our falts, or else we really will 'collapse'.
I agree that the colored glasses of hindsight often makes the past seem more rosy. But, I also know that in the not too distant past, government intrusion was significantly less.
Im not saying it is as simple as lets go back to the Reagan era, or whatever time period one enjoyed.
I'm saying that the only thing that has progressed in the "progressive" movement, and spread of the globalist plague, is the size, expanse and over reach of government gangs that are preying on its citizens.
Put more simply, in bumper sticker language;
LESS GOVERNMENT = MORE FREEDOM
And especially so when those governments are pretending to be benevolent.
Any chance to turn back the ratchet of progressive strangulation would bring about more prosperity and freedom for more people than any acceptance if the status quo, or desire for a more "helpful" government.
Stop all subsidies, individual, corporate, international. Everything the gov't gives, it has taken from someone else.
Stop government surveillance of private citizens. We are living in a clandestine Minority Report already.
Eliminate at least half of the bureaucracies that have taken over. Seriously, try to think of ONE thing you do that isn't gov't controlled or influenced. I'll wait.
Eliminate the Administrative Procedures Act (or whatever series of ridiculous processes Congress enacted to delegate "authority" to make "rules", to wannabe dictatorial alphabet soup agencies.
Make OUR government live within its received revenues.
Depends on your circumstances I guess - I do remember being able to exercise extraordinary freedoms in the past - being able to say what I really think, or how I see the evidence for a thing, without severe reprisals (Even on the topic of vaccine damage). And I don't ever remember not being able to go places or do things based on my vaccine status, or being locked down, having boarders closed, or not being able to leave the country. These were given freedoms not romantic notions of the past.
Have you been prevented from speaking out? Or were there things you could not say? Considering that you have your own medium, you are your own censor
As for the steps taken to deal with the pandemic, I find that your reception is a matter of degree, and has much to do with how dangerous you see the virus (another discussion). In many countries, some of these steps were taken with out mandates, so much has to do with the people's willingness to comply with the recommendations.
BTW, leaving the country have more to do with other countries than your own.
Have you been prevented from speaking out? - I've not been physically silenced but had been on social media, and to speak freely as I do here would be suicide for my career, so there's been a lot of coercive control to prevent speaking out. Yes in one respect we are our own censor, but so were the many in Soviet Russia to save their own lives. What's your point?
I did not comply to mandates as much as I could but was always in danger of being pulled up by the police, being denied entry to places, etc. Not exactly the freedoms we once had.
And leaving the country had everything to do with our country not others - couldn't get out, couldn't get back in (oh unless you were on some offical government business for example that was sanctioned by the powers that be).
Let us hope people are now awake (but not in the woke way) and will vote with some semblance of intelligence this next federal election.
OMG, that preamble is like totally racist and stuff. It doesn't even mention slavery. The only way the nation can heal is more reparations, welfare and abortions.
Quick! Get me to a safe space! I need stuffies, coloring books, modeling clay and hot chocolate to calm my ruffled feathers.
What ever you need, I'm not going to judge...
Maybe that's our problem...we just aren't judgmental enough. Unlike those who wear the mantle of "Holier than Thou" we leave others alone to make their way, stumbling and bumbling but on their own without our meddling advice or castigation.
It could be. I believe in a person's right to fail, to be an idiot. How else will we learn?
But their right to f-k up stops at my door. You don't have a right to f-k me, because of your stupidity. Isn't that part of being a community?
Totally... What were they thinking? And how many LGBTTTQQIAA were represented when they drew this up? White supremacy propaganda no doubt.
The preamble rocks. Too bad the founding fathers didn't follow it. There were those who fought in the revolutionary war that had their farms repossessed. But it was allowed, cause laws and stuff. Oh yeah and they only gave land owners the right to vote. Hipocrisy is the name of the game.
Typical of any mass religion, start with great ideas and then whittle them down for special cases. Before it was them, now it's others in charge.
The tree of liberty is looking rather thirsty, isn't it?
Re your avatar and sub stack name - Edgar Rice Burroughs made many a day in my youth an exciting place to be even if I really only was in my favorite reading space.
I discovered his works much later. Came across a $2 edition of the collected stories of Barsoom in the broke twilight of my doctoral studies, which provided some much needed escapism during that time.
Happy you found him. His works along with Zane Grey's novels provided wonderful escapism and more than a little influence on my budding psyche, but as many will say, it was Ayn Rand's works that brought me to full blossom. Naw, I'm no intellectual. Just a regular American woman, pretty happy and content with the trajectory of my life, thanks to those early influences.
In my case, I'd have to point to Heinlein (Starship Troopers especially), the libertarian-inflected hard-SF of Niven & Pournelle, and the noir cyberpunk of Gibson, as the most impactful of my formative literary influences.
No wonder you've resisted mass psychosis👏
Wonderful piece Mr.O'Brien!
I'll say thanks on his behalf - he doesn't engage with this platform (as much as I've encouraged him to do so) - but I do share the feedback with him.
One can not say with enough emphasis that we are at a significant inflection point in the history of civilization. And while we daily face the usurpations of a tyrannical and corrupt government, we must also realize that history is a process, that takes more time than most can comprehend, especially in today's short attention span theater mind-hive.
November will be a litmus test of wills. Either we begin to throw off those shackles, or we whimper off into the cold dark gulag of continual servitude, to masters who are never appeased.
I for one, will not serve them, for they are not worthy.
I will demand liberty, and accept no less.
Thank you for the words that hopefully awaken the soul of our civilization to stand up for its self, and not cower as it waits for its morsel of freedom is doled out.
I think that you overestimate the amount of 'freedom' that most people enjoyed, during previous times. I know that most of us look back with nostalgia at the past, remembering a 'better time', often through a problematic filter of our partial memories and unconscious biases.
If we look back and romanticize the past, we are deluding ourselves. We need to be honest, including of our falts, or else we really will 'collapse'.
I agree that the colored glasses of hindsight often makes the past seem more rosy. But, I also know that in the not too distant past, government intrusion was significantly less.
Im not saying it is as simple as lets go back to the Reagan era, or whatever time period one enjoyed.
I'm saying that the only thing that has progressed in the "progressive" movement, and spread of the globalist plague, is the size, expanse and over reach of government gangs that are preying on its citizens.
Put more simply, in bumper sticker language;
LESS GOVERNMENT = MORE FREEDOM
And especially so when those governments are pretending to be benevolent.
Any chance to turn back the ratchet of progressive strangulation would bring about more prosperity and freedom for more people than any acceptance if the status quo, or desire for a more "helpful" government.
So what would you 'undue'?
Wow, where to start...
Stop all subsidies, individual, corporate, international. Everything the gov't gives, it has taken from someone else.
Stop government surveillance of private citizens. We are living in a clandestine Minority Report already.
Eliminate at least half of the bureaucracies that have taken over. Seriously, try to think of ONE thing you do that isn't gov't controlled or influenced. I'll wait.
Eliminate the Administrative Procedures Act (or whatever series of ridiculous processes Congress enacted to delegate "authority" to make "rules", to wannabe dictatorial alphabet soup agencies.
Make OUR government live within its received revenues.
That seems like enough of a start, for today.
I'm not sure what you have left, or how this government will be able to govern.
You and I apparently have very different ideas of what "government" is for.
Depends on your circumstances I guess - I do remember being able to exercise extraordinary freedoms in the past - being able to say what I really think, or how I see the evidence for a thing, without severe reprisals (Even on the topic of vaccine damage). And I don't ever remember not being able to go places or do things based on my vaccine status, or being locked down, having boarders closed, or not being able to leave the country. These were given freedoms not romantic notions of the past.
Have you been prevented from speaking out? Or were there things you could not say? Considering that you have your own medium, you are your own censor
As for the steps taken to deal with the pandemic, I find that your reception is a matter of degree, and has much to do with how dangerous you see the virus (another discussion). In many countries, some of these steps were taken with out mandates, so much has to do with the people's willingness to comply with the recommendations.
BTW, leaving the country have more to do with other countries than your own.
Have you been prevented from speaking out? - I've not been physically silenced but had been on social media, and to speak freely as I do here would be suicide for my career, so there's been a lot of coercive control to prevent speaking out. Yes in one respect we are our own censor, but so were the many in Soviet Russia to save their own lives. What's your point?
I did not comply to mandates as much as I could but was always in danger of being pulled up by the police, being denied entry to places, etc. Not exactly the freedoms we once had.
And leaving the country had everything to do with our country not others - couldn't get out, couldn't get back in (oh unless you were on some offical government business for example that was sanctioned by the powers that be).