Tuesday, September 11, 2007

A Treatise on the Police State

I recently made a statement in another forum to the effect that I was disgusted by the Police State that America has become. I was challenged on the comment with the following:

2 problems... 1. would you like to be the police? 2. you cannot assume that everyone will make the same decisions as you would especially in dire situations. 3. perhaps you are talking about something else... because it is hard to get on an airplane. in which i agree with you. you cannot make rules against unknowable or on paranoia.

I think these questions provide an especially good opportunity to record some of my thoughts regarding this issue. The Police State has been (and will continue) to be on my mind - probably as a result of the ever-worsening conditions and our ever-eroding liberty.

I'll start with the third point. No, I wasn't referring to some particular symptom of the Police State. I am referring to American society as a whole. We are living in a Police State. There is plenty of opportunity for things to get far worse, but the present reality is that we are not free, and indeed we are increasingly less free. The observation about getting on airplanes is well put. Consider that air travel is merely a template for the rest of society, and you can see where we're headed. Cameras, checkpoints, random searches, biometric IDs, databases, surveillance. I don't think it's really necessary to belabor the point that things are getting worse.

The first numbered issue poses a question: "Would you like to be the police?"

I have two ways in which I will answer this question. Let me first state that I understand that the implied context of this question is, "The job of the police - to serve and protect - is dangerous and requires sacrifice. Would you really want a job where you put your life at stake every time you punch the clock? If you're not willing to do this job, why are you disgusted by those who are?"

Unfortunately, there is no short way to answer this question. I'll begin by stating that the stark reality is that the idea that it is solely the responsibility of the police to protect society is actually a very recent (and most unwelcome) development. (By recent, I mean 'within the last 50 or 60 years.) It's a direct result of the feminist movement's attempt to make the male obsolete. Protection used to be the job of the man. As part of the attempt to prove that the man is unneeded, the feminists have (successfully, I'm afraid) reassigned this responsibility to the State. Whereas it was previously common, accepted, and expected that men would be responsible for the protection of their families and those around them, it is now common, accepted, and expected that everyone should assume complete powerlessness in the presence of any threat and dial 911. Anyone who does otherwise - that is, anyone who takes responsibility for their own safety and well-being - is immediately suspect, subject to investigation for their actions and often labeled a vigilante. The State (by which I mean the police) always officially recommends that the public behave this way (helpless - dial 911), they always discourage the individual from taking responsibility for their own safety, and they always proclaim that they are the Only Ones qualified/properly trained/professional enough to bear arms and protect the people.

And day after day after day they disprove this ridiculous lie.

The underlined text in the above sentence is a link that will provide you hundreds and thousands of pieces of evidence that dismiss the absurd notion that the police are somehow more qualified than you or I to exercise the rights of self-defense and others-defense. These are everyday real-life documented stories taken from the news all around the country. The link will provide you with search results within a specific blog - The War on Guns. David Codrea - the blog's author - keeps a daily eye on the news and reports on these matters. He files each story with the key words 'Only Ones' because that's what the police purport to be - the only ones qualified, trained, etc.

With this in mind, I'll restate (several times) the question - "Would you like to be the police?"

- Would you like to enjoy special rights and priveliges not afforded to the general public?
- Would you like to truly enjoy the right to keep and bear arms - to be able to always carry a gun - especially in situations where the average joe is specifically prohibited from doing so and is therefore specifically vulernable to violent crime?
- Would you like access to firearms, armor, surveillance equipment, non-lethal self defense tools, knives, vehicles, and communications equipment not available to the public?
- Would you like to be exempted (by law) from virtually every prohibition that applies to the public?
- Would you like to have the guarantee that if you engage in criminal activity; negligently kill, injure, harass, intimidate or abuse an innocent person; negligently lose a firearm purchased with public tax dollars, or accidentally kill a co-worker that your name will be withheld from the public?
- Would you like to know that in any of the above situations, you will most likely be 'punished' with a paid vacation known as 'administrative leave.' Further, would you like to enjoy the guarantee that such violations will only be investigated by the same agency that employs you and not by an uninterested third party?
- Would you like to know that if anyone dares cross you, the full fury of the State will come down upon them?

These are just off the top of my head. The Only Ones archives are chocked-full of stories illustrating the fact that the police exist as a separate class of citizenry - above you and I, and not subject to the same laws or restraints that we are. Each story that illustrates the set-apart and protected nature of the police first illustrates that despite all their bluster and claims, they are no different than you or I. In fact, they are statistically far more likely to commit offenses/accidents/suicide with the same firearms that they so fiercely inisist we mere citizens are not qualified to wield.

To address the 2nd enumerated point, "You cannot assume that everyone will make the same decisions as you would especially in dire situations."

I guess my initial reaction is a shrug of the shoulders. Because one citizen cannot adequately protect himself is not a reason to deprive another citizen of his rights. Or perhaps you're wondering, 'But what about the man who is trying to stop a burglar and kills an innocent bystander?' In the first place, the police do that all the time. If you don't believe that statement, I challenge you to take a cursory survey of the link that I provided. It is quite common for the police to accidentally shoot an innocent. In the second place FREEDOM IS NOT SAFE. If we gave unrestricted access to firearms to all individuals who are not locked up in prison (which I strongly advocate) you would still have accidents, suicides, and "gun crimes." I think in the long-run society's restored ability to protect itself would drive down violent crime, but there is no denying that a certain portion of society will always abuse or mistreat the rights afforded to them. But that is not a reason to enslave everyone else.

The cold, harsh, slap-in-the-face truth is that we can trade away our freedom and sacrifice our liberty and give up our rights and we will never be one bit safer for it. The choice is not between freedom and safety.

WE CAN CHOOSE TO BE FREE OR WE CAN CHOOSE TO BE ENSLAVED BY THE STATE.

We are moving rapidly toward the latter option.

Saturday, September 08, 2007

We're the Only Ones Being Picky Eaters Enough

The worst part about this story is that it's not listed as a Ridiculous Item of the Day or soemthing like that.

So if they served the burger to you or I, and we complained to the police, they would have still arrested her, right?

Stark, horrid evidence that there is no doubt - WE ARE LIVING IN A POLICE STATE.

It all makes me sick to my stomach...

Monday, September 03, 2007

This is for YOUR protection...

Alright, so I haven't posted here in months, but this seemed really post-worthy.

I have recently been pondering the unfortunate trend of our country towards a socialist police state, and as a result, I've been more tuned into things like this. Although, let's be honest - with headline coverage on FOXnews.com, it was hard to miss. Edwards' genius plan to "fix" everything that's "wrong" with America is mandatory socialized health care, the costs of which get strapped on the backs of upper middle-class Americans as punishment for their success in life. (After all, they have to "do their part," right?)

So we're going to make it a crime to not go to the doctor? Lovely. I thought it was really nice the way he first states that the coverage is mandatory for everyone, and then he states that, "If you are going to be in the system, you can't choose not to go to the doctor for 20 years. You have to go in and be checked and make sure that you are OK." If you are going to be in the system? You mean the mandatory system? I guess he really means, "If you are going to be an American."

Not to wish the years of my life away, but I can't wait until the baby-boomers are all dead. Ok, let me qualify that with the clause, 'in a political sense.' My parents and a lot of good friends are baby-boomers, and I'm certainly not wishing for the speed of their departure. But I heard it said the other day that the Boomers are going to whine, complain and moan all the way to the grave, and I think it's true. In fact, it's that very entitlement attitude that makes traitors like Edwards and Clinton viable candidates in a presidential election. There was a day when Americans would have laughed in the face of such tyrannical assertions as Edwards has just made. Prior to an election, such arrogant statements would have been political suicide. But the Boomers believe that it's the government's job to provide for them, and they are more than willing to sacrifice all their liberty (and everyone else's) to that cause.

I hold out hope that my generation and those after us will not accept tyranny. The state of public schrewls and the "accept the police state" mindset they push on our kids (see "lockdown drills" for evidence) robs me of some of that hope. Even so, I know several men who won't stand by and idly watch the US become what Great Britain has.

One day the Boomers will keel, and our country will be in ruins from a hundred socialist entitlement programs that will have sucked the people dry in the name of fairness, and the abusive police state will have assumed full control in the name of protecting us from ourselves. On that day, those of us who are left standing in the aftermath must have some plan to recover our country - some plan to take it back from the evil statists, collectivists and socialists who so seek to enslave us at every turn.

Start thinking.