I caught a bit of an interview with Senator Trent Lott on the Daily Show with John Stewart on my TiVo last night. At one point, John asked the junior Senator from Mississippi if 'the Republican party really deserved the majority', and then quickly qualified his remark by saying that he didn't think the Democrats deserved it either. At this point, Senator Lott quipped "Is there a third option?"
Yes there is Senator, it's called 'Other'.
Lets face it people, we live in a calcified, non-participatory, gerry-mandered, career-politician system. Voters are apathetic on election day, incumbency re-election rates are above 95%, voter turnout is lower in the US than in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the two dominant parties have successfully tarred any third party with a 'throwing your vote away'-brush.
As Thomas Jefferson once said, "Every generation needs a new revolution". Well Tom, it looks like we have missed a few generations, but we'll make up for it.
(And before people disregard this post as fashionable 'Bush Bashing', don't get me wrong, as much as I think that the current Commander in Chief of the United States is not qualified for the job, he is but a small part in a much larger government problem.)
Mr. Jefferson also once said that "All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent'. A quick glance at Wiktionary defines tyranny as:
1. A government in which a single ruler has absolute power
2. The office or jurisdiction of an absolute ruler
3. Absolute power, or its use
4. Extreme severity, or rigour
Lets look at some examples of government use of power today and see if they fit any of these definitions. Conveniently, yesterday a friend sent me a link entitled 'The Ten Reasons you will not recognize America in Ten Years' . It recounts:
1) The new torture bill signed by the President that 'could subject legal (U.S.) residents to summary arrest and indefinite detention'
2) The new-and-improved PATRIOT Act that provides the government with legal cover to enter and search homes without informing the citizen.
3) The REAL ID Act, which is the 'your papers please' wet-dream of every federal lawmaker, requiring you to have identification with you at all times and surrendered on demand.
4) The 'detainment camps' that are being built by Halliburton for $385M for "..Detention and Removal Operations Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs"
and six more doozies.
I know that I, for one, do not rest easier at night knowing this type of power rests with this government. They can now legally invade, arrest, torture, and detain any citizen indefinitely in special camps. We illegally invade foreign sovereign nations for much less.
There was some brouhaha recently about the Kip Hawley is an Idiot story, where a frequent traveler was shaken down by the TSA and local police after writing a derogatory epithet (at the expense of Kip Hawley, the head of the TSA) with a marker on his transparent toiletry bag going through airport security. Just last night, our rent-a-nanny related a story where her husband had been detained by local police while riding his bicycle on the sidewalk in busy traffic, and told to go back to the prior intersection and 'wait to be waved through'. We are rapidly sliding into a police state people, degree by degree.
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."- James Madison
By the way, just for reference, here is the Bill of Rights (Amendments 1-10 of the U.S. Constitution):
Amendment I: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment II: A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Amendment III: No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Amendment IV: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment V: No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment VI: In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Amendment VII: In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Amendment VIII: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment IX: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
(I always liked this last one. I want to purchase a t-shirt with this amendment prominently emblazoned on it and distribute one to each of the 572,059 residents of the District of Columbia.)
So here is my proposal, dear reader:
Take 20 minutes now and google your Independent, Green, Libertarian (a bit self-contradictory, I know), and whatever other political party on the ballot and research the candidates. Look at their positions, look at their qualifications. Volunteer to help them, evangelize your neighbors not to 'vote the party line' in November. And when November comes, do not vote for a Democrat or Republican. I know that there is a well-documented (and statistically influential) percentage of Americans who 'chicken-out' in the voting booth, and end up voting from fear. This is what both political parties have been preying upon for years, your fear that someone else will not be able to protect you and take care of you (and your tax dollars). Resist the urge, and encourage your neighbors to do likewise, to fall-in-line behind the entrenched government bureaucracy and dual-party system.
"He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice. " -Albert Einstein
I, for one, am not afraid. I do not need nor want a government that thinks it's job is to 'take care of me' (especially in a new Halliburton camp). They were created to be a very thin layer of administrators for inter-state commerce, just as advertised in the Federalist Papers.
As far as anything beyond that that our government, the people we have chosen to represent us as a majority and work for us on our tax-dollar-payroll, have chosen to do, like containment camps, buggering congressional pages, wasting your tax dollars by using 'the world's greatest deliberative body' to pursue baseball players on steroids in order to distract you from a snowballing destructive and uninformed foreign policy, blatantly disregards science for political ends, not only ignores but encourages destruction of the environment and global warming, tortures, legally and regularly executes it citizens, and has grown to what is now 33% of the worlds military expenditures with the tax dollars of only 4.5% of the world's citizens? Please refer to Amendment X.
Well, I've finally developed the attitude that either of the two mainline parties is no longer "the lesser of two evils" value proposition. My libertarian leaning will be exercised at the ballot box this time, as I fear it won't be a vote for the greater of two evils. I hope and wonder if this could be a trend, or am just another of a small minority?
Posted by: Texan | October 11, 2006 at 01:56 PM