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 THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE Number 669, May 6, 2012 "I'm thoroughly tired of all this fascist crap"
Are You Truly Free In America?
Special to L. Neil Smith's The Libertarian Enterprise Give this idea some pause. A lot of my friends in the Liberty movement often cite that they are free men because the Constitution guarantees them their rights. Sure, it's easy enough to cite this; looking at the document itself, there are plenty of statements in there about how certain rights "shall not be infringed", about how Congress is chained down to certain duties and no more. It sounds great, I know. It envisions a simpler time when people went about their lives without being regulated and taxed to death. Where we minded our own business and everything was just fine and/or dandy. But, and please look at the totality of the situation. If the federal government was so restrained, we wouldn't even be having this conversation now. We wouldn't be concerned with nightmares like the NDAA or CISPA, we wouldn't have our pockets picked by the IRS, sometimes even at gunpoint. We wouldn't be told we can't eat or drink certain things, or as some factions will lament, ingest "herbal remedies" freely. If we were really free thanks to the Constitution, would we be worried about getting permission to carry a firearm, or a knife, or anything else to protect ourselves and our property? The short answer to this is no. I refer to my previous post (and no, I'm not citing it as though it were gospel)—the Constitution, for all it's grand talk of freedom and limited government, is either just window dressing, or it was never really intended to protect us. It appears from history to merely be that inital power grab by those elites who hated the fact that the central government under the Articles of Confederation relied on the cooperation of the states for help. They wanted to be able to coerce the states into supporting the central government, not merely waiting for them to help when they felt it necessary. A lot of the expansion of power under the current Constitution came to us via decisions handed down from the Supreme Court, which almost invariably favors the federal government. Notice that while Congress can impeach federal judges, they never do. The judges are the ones who are giving the government the power to expand infinitely, so why would they strike at their bread and butter? Congress is elected (at least in theory), as is the President. But the judiciary? All appointed. The real power lies there, and the ones in power have a vested interest to stay in power. And they stay in power by making sure you and I have less power to fight back with. Under the Articles, if a state did not approve of the central government's actions, they would use their militias to push back. Now—no such thing. That notion was crushed in the Civil War. The government exerts its power on the individuals, not the states. If you don't comply with the laws, they will come busting down your door to force compliance. They don't go after the states. You can't arrest a state. But you sure as hell can arrest people who get out of line. The Constitution is allegedly only effective through the "consent of the governed". But are you free to not consent? Can you say, "No, I don't consent to having my money taken without my asking"? Can you say, "These laws are unjust and illegal, I will not obey them"? Absolutely not. You'll get locked up. You are not free to do that. And if you can't voluntarily choose to not comply, you are not free at all. You are a slave to the government. And you have the Constitution to thank for that. Either through malicious abuse by crafty lawyers and legalese, or through intentional design in the wording of the Constitution, you don't have those freedoms. A sad thought for certain. But look at the facts. You can't decide to not comply without expecting severe repercussions. Happily, some people see this and are working on competing systems like Agorism and other truly free-market systems where the government is not involved at all. It will only be through competing systems, competing currencies, and true competition that we can break free from the yoke of tyranny that all governments eventually become. Do I expect a stateless America in my life? No. If and when the current government implodes, and that will likely be in my lifetime, there will be a void. And odds are that void will be filled with a horrible system. True freedom will take decades if not longer to come about. It is that goal of one day not relying on being ruled that keeps me and people who truly love freedom going. It's not about us. It's about our kids, and their kids. It won't be an easy ride by any means. But it's a ride worth taking.
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