boblonsberry.com ^ | 07/14/11 | Bob Lonsberry
Posted on Friday, July 15, 2011 9:28:05 AM by shortstop
The light bulb is dead.
The incandescent bulb which has pushed back the night since an American named Thomas Edison invented it, will soon be no more. It was killed, like the innovation it symbolizes, by the federal government.
In one more demonstration of the we-know-better-than-you arrogance which has come to define Washington, the switch has been flipped on the light bulb’s last chance at life.
In a vote earlier this week, 233 voted to keep the bulb and 193 voted to get rid of it, but in the new-math world of parliamentary procedure, the bulb still lost.
Actually, the bulb didn’t lose anything.
It is an inanimate object, a thing we hold in our hands, a product we use in our homes.
The real loser is us.
And what we’ve lost is freedom.
In the steady chipping away of anything that resembles liberty, the all-powerful federal masters even dictate how we light our homes.
They tell us what light bulbs are legal, how much water can be in our toilet, how much ethanol must be in our gasoline, how many ounces can be in a paint can. They say, “Jump” and we say, “How high?”
The notion of the people controlling the government is forgotten, neither taught in classrooms nor understood in society. We are subjects, not citizens, the government is sovereign, not servile. And none of that is good.
It is like the taming of a wild horse.
It runs free, living as it will, until it is brought into a corral. Once habituated to being penned in, the cowboy lays a blanket over its back, which it at first kicks off, but ultimately accepts.
Then a touch, then a bridle, then a bit, then a saddle, then a spur.
And before you know it, step by step, in tiny increments, the once-free horse is waltzing around the arena like a Lipizzaner.
That’s about where we are.
We were given a country of liberty, and we have allowed it to be turned into a kingdom of bureaucrats and politicians. The government plans and often pays for our children’s meals. The government determines how many miles per gallon our cars must travel. The government rules and we obey.
And somehow, sometime we have to stop it.
Because somewhere in our future, by ballot or bullet, this will once again be a free country. History would suggest that there will first be a long and insufferable reign of oppression. But someday, in some American breast, there will burn again the passion for liberty, and the shackles will be thrown off.
Better that we avoid that reign of oppression by throwing it off now, by standing up to it and demanding that we be allowed to live our lives.
A micro-managing government is an oppressive government, regardless of the ostensible motive. Protecting us – or the environment or the children or the economy or whatever else they’re protecting – is not justification for enslaving us.
And government cannot protect you without enslaving you. It cannot protect you from the consequences of your choices without taking away you ability to make those choices.
And so we must wear seat belts and motorcycle helmets and ban transfats and cell phones in cars. Fries can’t have too much salt and cigarettes must carry pictures of cancers and people who buy guns must show picture ID and wait five days. We have to buy insurance and we can't buy fireworks and from zoning rules to city ordinances to state and federal laws, the government seems to see its primary function as putting its boot on our necks.
But you can't succeed unless you can also fail, and you can't be free unless you are left to face the consequences of your freedom. The government needs to learn that, and so do we.
We need to stop being complicit in our own enslavement.
We must stop expecting the government to meet our every need and kiss our every booboo. We must accept personal responsibility for our wellbeing and support. We must realize that life isn't fair, we don't all make the same amount of money, the storms do rage and the earth does quake, and that we can't take a government handout without accepting a government restraint.
This country wasn't formed to make us safe, it was formed to make us free. The purpose of government is not to oversee our lives, it is to safeguard our liberties.
Both we and the government must learn its place.
And it must learnt to keep its nose out of our business.
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Hey, See the Reader Responses on each article,
they are gems in themselves!
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Gunny G: BLOGGER 1984 +
http://gunnyg.blogspot.com
and...
http://gunnyg.wordpress.com/
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The 'Reader Responses; shown on many posts/articles are almost always worthwhile reading.
Often, the comments by readers enhance the posted article greatly, and are informative and interesting.
Hopefully, all will remember to read the reader comments, and post their own as well.
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