Freedom Ain't Yours To Give

by Bruce Elmore
[email protected]

Special to The Libertarian Enterprise

           Excuse me for even asking this, but I have some questions. I have been thinking about Freedom, and this thing we call Liberty. I have been thinking especially hard about these things since the formal beginning of Fascism in America this year.
           It seems to me, that I am living amongst a large bunch of candy assed suck ups who are asking themselves how much Freedom they should be asking the Government for. Forgive me, but I have a problem with the basic premise of the question.
           "Oh what a lovely day it is Mrs. Murphy. Tell me, do you think we should ask our masters for a bit more freedom? Would you like some more tea?" What a joke.
           Why the hell do I have to ask the Governments permission to live as a free man? When did this happen? How did the equation get so turned around that I had to ask someones permission to think for myself? And, for good measure, when the hell did all the rest of you get to decide it was OK to slam my ass into a jail cell if I didn't get prior approval for the way I live my life in the first place?
           Up till now, I have been willing to live with you laying claim to 30% or 40% of my income as tribute. Up till now, I have been willing to live with you forcing me to pay for your schools, your food, your water, and your medical care. Up till now I have been willing to live you with forcing me to pay for the desires of others. Up till now, all of you have had the decency to allow me the pretense that I had some sort of voice in the matter. We had a deal. You pretended to listen to my opinions, and I pretended that yours mattered. It was a pretty square deal, considering.
           Well, your side broke the deal. It wasn't me. I haven't done anything to initiate violence or fraud against another human being, you all did. Each and every one of you who foisted this ridiculous notion that I had to "elect" someone else to "give" me my freedom did. I was perfectly willing to work within your silly, rigged system, but you all had to screw it right into the ground and just lay the whole rotten thing on the table in such a way I could no longer ignore it.
           Your "conservative" faction promised me that if I just let you have power for a little while, you would give me power over my own life back. You promised me that I would be able to keep more of my money, and that you would at the very least, show some pretense of respecting my unalienable rights. I see now that I have been quite completely lied to. One side is no better than the other.
           Oh, I stood by reasonably quietly as the "conservative" side acquiesced to a National ID card, Exit Taxes, and continued trashing of the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments. You all told me you would get around to fixing these problems. Your side told me that I had to "remain loyal" or even worse would come. Well, I did. I remained loyal. I wrote the letters. I made the phone calls. I even tried to "change the system from within". What did it get me? I will tell you what it got me.

SOLD OUT

           That is what it got me. You "conservatives" have agreed to so much that you are now completely indistinguishable from your opponents as far as I can tell. In fact, I am no longer able to figure out what the hell it is you want to "conserve". Do you wish to "conserve" a system which says that as a matter of Law I am an "asset" to be managed for the "common good"? Do you "conservatives" feel that you own 40% of my income? Oh, that's too much. Well, do you feel you own 20% of it? I have a question that you may not like, but here it is anyway. What if I don't feel that I "owe" any of you a damned thing? What if I feel that what I earn is mine, and that you don't have any claim on a single damned dime of it? What if I am sick of this two party Dance Of Death you are doing? And, what if I decide not to play your silly game anymore? What ever will you all do about that?
           I have a pretty good idea what will be done about that. Both sides will find one reason or another to make me a "guest of the state" in a 6' x 8' cell. "Liberals" will do it if I refuse to comply with their completely evil "tax laws". Conservatives will do it if I refuse to go along with their version of "morality". Well, I have some news for you, I personally think your are both full of the product of the rear end of a mule my grandfather used to own. Neither one of you is willing to cut me the slack to simply live my life as I see fit, so long as I do no harm to others. Both sides claim to be right, while both are wearing clothes made from the fabric of hypocrisy. Neither "side" realizes just how naked and butt ugly they are to me.
           In America, my money no longer belongs to me. It belongs to all of you. You "conservatives" and you "liberals" are now merely arguing over percentages. My opinion no longer matters to either one of you. Both of you feel you have some kind of "right" to take what I have earned in the name of "The People". In Arkansas, I can't buy a vibrator without risking a jail sentence. In the Great State of Massachusetts, I can't buy a handgun without risking a jail sentence. Papers, permits, and grants, seem to be the order of the day. All that seems to matter is which particular group of dickheads holds the power invested in them by "The State". And that power is granted in my name whether I like it or not. Once I agree that you have a right to some of my freedom, I have granted you a right to all of it. There are precious few others who seem to have thought through things that far.
           If my money doesn't belong to me, then nothing does. If you can take a dime, you can take a dollar. If you can take a dollar, then you can take it all.

AN ENEMY OF THE STATE

           At this point, it seems that anyone who even dares to think along the lines that I do is some sort of enemy, worthy of financial ruin, prison, or even death. Both of the "sides" involved in the argument think that I am some kind of threat, even though I have never once advocated the initiation of violence against anyone. It doesn't seem to register that they have reserved the right to use violence against me. Hey that seems fair doesn't it? I disagree with the party in power, and I get to vote. The Party in power disagrees with me, and they get to use guns. What a perfectly reasonable and equitable arrangement we have here. How in the world could I ever disagree? One tiny little step out of line, and I am an Enemy Of The State. Maybe I should just go ahead and have the T-Shirt printed up, so that there will be no mistake as to whose side I am on.
           Just this year, the most August body of the Federal Government said it was perfectly acceptable to have a known liar and felon as their Chief Executive. Both parties were equally complicit in this act. There is no disguising this fact. BOTH of your precious political parties are equally guilty. No amount of obfuscation can conceal the fact that we have all been sold down the river of Fascism, and that we are less equal before the Law than our leaders.

"Some animals are more equal than others". -- George Orwell, from Animal Farm

           Freedom ain't yours to give to me, Freedom is mine to take from you.
           By whatever means necessary.

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