The Grooming of America, Incremental Steps Towards Tyranny

The governmental shut down. Fodder for ridicule on both the left and the right. The shutting down of the national parks - a demonstration of the penurious and petty spirit in which the current administration has behaved since 2008. But what are the real consequences? Does this have a deeper and more disturbing consequence for America? If America were a family with this administration at the head, (As this administration and others for decades now would like us to believe)what would this current go-round be? There is a good argument to be made that it is an abusive parent grooming his/her children to accept more egregious abuses in the future.

It seems a joke- "Obama tries to close the ocean" - as if that could be done, he should take a lesson from King Canute. One might argue that Mr. obama may actually think he can control the oceans( remember this quote?: “Generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow….”), but he is mistaken and shame on us if we continue to allow him to think he has that kind of authority.

 Yes, it seems a joke, but all too quickly there appear other, more petty and more disturbing tales associated with the way this administration is handling this shut-down. A shut down that they could end in a moment, if only they would accept that the American people are rejecting the innocuously and horrifically inaccurately named patient protection and affordable care act.(Hereafter referred to as "deathcare") The American people are allowed, nay required, to reject legislation when it is as obviously harmful to our nation and as blatantly unconstitutional as this is. That is one of the jobs of the House of Representatives, to control the excesses of government through control of the purse strings. Many members of the current House were elected for the sole purpose of repealing the deathcare act. Should they ignore that commission from their constituents?

Tales of State Troopers not only shutting down Mt. Rushmore, but having been ordered to refuse to allow people to safely stop along the side of the roads from which it may be viewed. Tales of officials barricading access to the Grand canyon even though the state of Arizona has said they will take on the costs associated with running it. Tales of private businesses that operate in conjunction and on contract with the national park system being closed down - by orders from on high. Tales of privately owned and operated memorials and etc that are being closed down by federal order. And perhaps, most disturbingly, tales of elderly people being escorted off their own property by law enforcement because the homes they built on their own property happens to be in a national park and the park is closed.

It occurs to me that most national parks have set hours of operation. Are we to believe that these homeowners are not allowed to stay in their own homes overnight, because the parks are closed at night? Are we to believe that the concessions owners who have buildings(their own private property, mind you)  near national parks are not allowed to be open for business during the hours after the parks close for any stragglers who may come along?

There is a great deal of logic to having people like those homeowners and businesses on-site after hours in and near national parks. They provide a citizen security force just by the knowledge of their presence there. It is an arrangement that makes sense and costs the taxpayers nothing while building the character of America in a small way. While I am sure there are "laws" that could be quoted in these days when the Congress produces bills 1000's of pages long, which they pass without reading and whose regulatory burdens, in the case of the aforementioned deathcare act, are more than 8 times as long as the Bible, is it really lawful in America to throw people out of their own property just because the park is closed? When the closed or open status of the park has never been an issue
before?

 Are we really to believe that charter boats would not be allowed to be in Biscayne Bay or the surrounding ocean because the "park is closed"? Does Biscayne Bay even have open and closed hours? Or do they just have hours when people can expect more assistance, should they have need of it than others?  What exactly would be the penalty there? Because I haven't heard of one instance where a charter boat was sunk  or seized and all on board arrested for being late getting in. In fact, Would the government, in saner times, have even considered that they had the authority to close down 1100 square miles of ocean without the excuse of some grave national emergency?  And even then, such a closure would depend upon the goodwill of the people to respect it.

What if these people had resisted? Would harmful or deadly force been used against them?  And what would have been the justification for doing so? "Just following orders"?  If this continues, it is almost inevitable that there will be an incident or incidents where someone is physically harmed or killed. What will be the excuse of the administration then? What will the officers involved in these acts tell themselves to justify their actions?

Once an individual has engaged in a behavior set that involves this kind of bullying, the tendency is for the behavior, if not confronted and corrected, to become worse over time. Especially when bullying behavior is encouraged and condoned. This is why America was designed for a people of strong character. Designed for a people who have the strength of character to stand up and say "I refuse to comply" when something is wrong. Designed for a nation of people who are able and willing to stand on their own and to do so, regardless of the consequences.

When this nation was formed, there were very few people who had jobs in the way that people today are employed. There were no Wal-Marts, no Lehman Brothers to employ thousands of people in one business. Nearly everyone had a business of their own. They either owned a business or they were apprenticed to someone who did and were going to become a business owner a soon as the apprenticeship was up. Owning and running a successful business takes a different mindset than does merely working for someone else. It teaches responsibility. It inspires freedom.  It requires the questioning of authority when authority oversteps its bounds.  This is the strength of character from which the founders of this nation pledged and gave their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.

Law enforcement is being tested and they are failing. Where are all the sheriffs who swore to uphold the Constitution while this is going on? Why are men and women who swore to uphold the constitution allowing themselves to be made into the bullies and enforcers of this situation? This is not lawful-this is "just following orders". Oh, we have some of those personnel saying they hate it. Yes, they hate what they are doing, but they are not refusing. Yes, they might lose their jobs if they refuse, that's what the oath was about. Will they continue to just follow orders and do their jobs when it turns really nasty?  This is an incremental step in the grooming process, were someone about the business of turning America into a Nazi like state. A state where the government has the power of life and death *cough* deathcare *cough*  over the people.( But simply because those who fled communist/socialist nations to come here have been screaming about it from the rooftops is no reason to worry yet-right?)

This is the difference between being an entrepreneur and working for someone else. Do you see the freedom in being able to close your business when it no longer suits you to engage in it? Can you appreciate the difference in a government built by and watched over by entrepreneurs and one that knows it need only control the employers to control the people? We can help our law enforcement personnel by stepping up, as did Governor Walker in having the state of Wisconsin take over the running of the parks and thus relieving federally employed law enforcement from having to make that painful choice. Businesses could certainly do the same by offering employment to any officers who might lose their jobs over their refusal to comply with orders that require them to behave badly. Step up America. The government is not to be a parental figure, but rather a necessary evil to be watched and constrained. The government is to be viewed as our servant, an unruly child in the public perception to be guided and disciplined by an informed and participatory citizenry, not a parent  in its role. "Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." - George Washington

We still have the authority to control this extremely unruly child, this force, this fire, but only if we are ready to exercise that authority on an individual level. Are you willing to lose your job to preserve the freedom of this nation? That is the question being asked by this administration of law enforcement officers, park rangers and sundry. So far, the answer appears to be "no".

In committing this incremental step to "groom" our law enforcement officers to engage in petty bullying because they were ordered to do so, this administration is committing treason. It is waging war on America. It is, so far, not a war of weapons, but rather a philosophical war on the founding principles of this nation and her people. In many ways that is far more egregious than a war of weapons would be, because weaponry does not sap one's spirit or twist one's soul in the way that the psychological warfare does.

Call your state's governor and ask him/her to take over the national parks in your state. It can be done. The federal government was never intended to own any real estate besides D.C. anyway. We must reclaim our authority - if only to keep our law enforcement from having to make such choices alone. It will not be easy or convenient, but it will be a great deal better than doing nothing to stop the incremental assaults on our liberties. "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it." - Thomas Paine


"Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."~ 1 Cor 10:12-13