United Liberty

“I am concerned for the security of our great nation, not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within.” — Commanding General Douglas McArthur

A few weeks ago, a friend sent a YouTube link of a conversation between a radio show host and a man identifying himself as a police lieutenant in North Carolina, who claimed America was about to slide into internal war and martial law, saying the ATF is recruiting from local and state law enforcement agencies to form an internal security force to suppress domestic insurrection. The catalyst for the insurrection would be a collapse of the American economy, intentionally triggered, leading to a complete collapse of the social infrastructure, giving the government a pretext to consolidate power.

My response to her was that this was elements of truth mixed with a heavy dose of conspiracy theory, and suggested she’d feel better if she’d prepared her family for any emergencies by making sure they can defend themselves, and have enough supplies for their basic needs. After all, these things would be useful in situations other than the one she described, whether it be a home invasion by armed thugs, or the aftermath of a natural disaster where there was no access to electricity, fresh water, or food for an extended period.

I hoped that had calmed her fears, but the more I thought about it, the more I could understand how someone could come to these types of conclusions in light of the political environment unfolding in our country today.

That’s great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane - Lenny Bruce is not afraid. Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn…A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies. Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I decline…It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine…” — R.E.M., “It’s the End of the World as We Know It, and I Feel Fine”

Dear world, I sit here writing from an secret underground bunker, the last refuge for my family as the world burns, the moon having turned red and the rivers running with blood, all because the intransigent Republicans refused to budge on (more) tax increases for the rich in exchange for a “balanced” approach of “smart” spending cuts by Obama. We now suffer from the “brutal” and “arbitrary” spending cuts of 2.2% that kicked in when the Republicans allowed the sequester to move forward.

I’ll write as long as I can until my family starves to death, but thirty gallons of water, a case of creamed corn, and a hundred packages of Ramen noodle soup go only so far with a family of ten. Well, nine. I secretly decided to sacrifice my 12- year old son and use him for food. A harsh move, granted, but necessary to prolong life for the rest of us. He’ll probably think I did it because I like him least, but that’s not true. It was a purely practical decision. He is a big, strong boy, with the most muscle mass. Seriously, the kid is as strong as a bull! I sure will miss him.

The Republican Party has an identity crisis. That crisis is rooted in two things; 1) their message is timid and easily demagogued by Democrats because, 2) they are not buying what they are selling. Or rather, while the rank and file members and the grassroots conservative base believe deeply in the principles of their party, the leadership of the party often seems embarrassed by conservative principles, and therefore their defense of said principles is anemic. And one thing Americans can detect like sharks with blood in the water is hypocrisy and lies (granted, that claim is undermined by the election and re-election of the Liar-in-Chief, Barack Obama, but work with me here).

For years I’ve said the problem with promoting conservative policies is liberal policies sound generous and compassionate, and conservative policies sound harsh and heartless. For example, Benjamin Franklin, one of the greatest political and scientific minds in American history, advocated helping the poor by making them as uncomfortable in their poverty as possible, motivating them to better their station in life (leaving the rest of society free to aid the truly poor, needy, and infirm, rather than the slothful and parasitic). Franklin’s philosophy sounds heartless, but nevertheless he is correct. When Republicans forced Bill Clinton to sign welfare reform into law, the liberal left wailed that poor people would be dying in the streets. Yet just the opposite happened. Realizing that feeding at the government trough would no longer be an unlimited proposition, millions of Americans came off the unemployment rolls, took advantage of job-training programs and other counseling, becoming productive members of society, and in the process gained a dignity and independence which they did not before possess.

As we near the end of February, this article also closes a series in honor of Black History Month. In previous articles, we’ve reviewed the establishment of the Republican Party for the express purpose of ending the moral failure of slavery. We’ve looked at the accomplishments of Republicans in securing liberty for black Americans, from the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, to the 1866 Civil Rights Act (with Democrats refusing to uphold the law, and a Democrat-appointed Supreme Court later repealing the laws). We also looked at the violent, bloody history of Democrats and their sister organization, the Ku Klux Klan, which terrorized and murdered thousands of blacks.

Despite the clear facts outlined in history, somehow the Democrat Party has audaciously claimed the mantel as the party that protects blacks, a claim as ridiculous as it is incredulous. Granted, the Democrat Party no longer relies on cross-burning and lynching to keep blacks in their place. However, today it uses far more subtle and sinister tactics to keep blacks on the government “plantation”. And despite their public proclamation of love for blacks in America, their private comments, and the disastrous results of Democrat policies, show us that the Democrats are not now, nor have they ever been, a friend to blacks.

February being Black History month, we continue a review of the long relationship between the Republican Party and black Americans. In the previous two articles, we discussed the establishment of the Republican Party for the specific purpose of ending slavery, and the backlash from pro-slavery Democrats (including a slavery critic being beaten almost to death by a pro-slavery senator) which ultimate led to the commencement of the War Between the States.

We noted the 13th (ending slavery), 14th (extending rights to former slaves) and 15th (securing voting rights for blacks) Amendments, as well as the first Civil Rights Act (passed in 1866) all have a common thread…they were passed by Republicans and viciously opposed by Democrats. Democrat President Andrew Johnson would refuse to enforce the law, and a Democrat-appointed Supreme Court would later rule them unconstitutional. Over the next hundred years following the passage of these amendments and the Civil Rights Act, Democrats fought Republican efforts to secure equality for blacks at every turn, often by violent means.

When Republicans began impeachment proceedings against Democrat President Andrew Johnson, he famously declared “This is a country for white men, and by God, as long as I am President, it shall be a government of white men!” It surely must have galled Johnson when, less than two months later, Pinckney Pinchback and James Harris attended the Republican National Convention, the first black men to ever serve as major party delegates. In the fall of that year, the Democrats announced the slogan for their national convention, “This is a white man’s country: Let white men rule”. It was roundly denounced by the Republican Party.