Going Deep
Some friends have been actively talking about their Exit Plans – about getting out of this country before the curtain goes down. While there is still time. They believe the situation to be hopeless. That despite the upwelling of liberty-mindedness among some, the vast majority of Americans are not liberty-minded.
That Americans – tens of millions of them – are stupid, unreachable, mean, irrational, authoritarian-minded Babbits and poltroons. People who lust to control others.
Reluctantly, I have to concede the point.
I have had exhaustive (and exhausting) conversations with countless people – some of them probably a lot smarter than I in terms of raw IQ – who just can’t connect the dots.
Or – much worse – don’t care to.
The problem is as much psychological as it is intellectual. There may just be a defective subspecies of human being, homo servilus, who – much like a bee in a hive – is programmed to crave the collective and therefore accepts its corollary – coercion – as the natural and right order of things.
It’s very easy to get these “bees” to reveal their true natures. Their core antipathy to individualism – and its corollary, liberty. Just let them know, for example, that you find sports/celebrity worship disgusting. Or that you don’t subscribe to any particular religious doctrine – or much care what doctrines others subscribe to, so long as they leave you be.
Let them discover that you don’t feel obliged to pay more taxes for “our children” – only an obligation to take care of your own children. Criticize war.
Make a negative comment about cops… .
So, I don’t disagree that jumping ship is probably a smart move. Nonetheless, I’m reluctant to leave the country, for many reasons – high among them just orneriness. This is my country, dammit. I hate the idea of just giving it to … them.
That said, I am beginning to wish I’d “gone deep” when I selected our fallback redoubt. We consciously moved to very rural southwest Va. from the Northern Virginia area (near DC) about eight years ago to a great extent to limit our exposure to what’s surely coming. But I am thinking now that we would have been smarter to have moved to rural Idaho or Wyoming or Montana (like Chuck Baldwin did) instead. There are too many Clovers here.
And signs of sprouting continue to worry me.
For example: Several recent “letters to the editor” in our small community newspaper go on and on about how “we” need to raise taxes on real estate so that “our schools” will have “adequate funding.” There is one school – an elementary school in a far corner of the county – threatened with closure because of limited “revenue” and not enough students to justify keeping it open. So the idea was floated to close it and consolidate it with another. “The children” would then get bussed a little farther to their new school. This is an outrage to the parentsites of these children, who believe others should be compelled to provide the necessary “revenue” to keep the old school open for their children.
Everything discussed in terms of “we,” of course. It’s never my children need you to pay for their school.
If I were to speak at a public hearing about this and ask why don’t people who chose to have children bear the responsibility for raising their kids – which includes educating their kids – as opposed to their kids becoming an open-ended claim on the property – on the liberty – of other people who had nothing to do with it… I’d likely be the victim of a mob beating. At minimum, I’d become a community pariah – regarded as “selfish” and “anti-child” (as well as “anti-education”) … because I am troubled by armed men threatening to kill me and take my property so that it may be given to someone else’s kids – kids I’ve never even met let alone had anything to do with bringing into this world. It is no defense, either, that such a policy makes it that much harder for people who’d like to pay their own way to do so.
Other people’s kids take precedence.
Over everything.
It never occurs to these “freedom loving” Americans that freedom can’t exist when you are no longer free to say no to being forced to hand over your rightful property to other people to whom you properly speaking owe nothing – other than goodwill. That if “the children” becomes a justification for theft, then any other reason is just as good a reason.
But don’t dare say it out loud…. these freedom-loving Americans will very quickly show you just how much they actually believe in freedom… including even the freedom to speak your mind, if your mind differs in any meaningful respect from the parameters of orthodoxical Republican or Democrat parameters.
The only cardinal sin is to commit non-authoritarianism. To state that you don’t want anything from anyone except their respect for your rights – and are willing to extend the same courtesy in return.
It is a thought increasingly foreign to Americans – even here, in a rural southern farming county 35 miles from anything in most places and often a lot farther than that.
Another example:
In our tiny, literally on-stoplight county, the same government that moans about not having sufficient “revenue” for “the children” recently spent probably several thousand dollars painting at least six “pedestrian crosswalks” in town, complete with “safety man” icons imprinted into the pavement plus signage. Apparently, people cannot cross the street unaided here, either. I have no doubt that tickets for jaywalking are right around the corner. Tazerings for the non-compliant.
Signs of the apocalypse.
There is talk of writing zoning laws – which this county has never had – and which will surely mean The End of everything that made moving here worth doing. People will no longer just be able to freely buy and sell their land, to be used however the new owner wishes. There will instead be restrictions on how a lot can subdivided – and what may be “lawfully” constructed on said lot. I can already see a time when BTK-type “zoning enforcement officers” will be knocking on people’s doors, threatening them with onerous fines (and ultimately, county seizure and auction of “their” land) if they don’t mow it, or have too many cars parked on it or a “not approved” shed built upon it… .
Clovers. The god-damn bastards are here now, too.
It only took them eight years to find this place – and ruin it.
It’s entirely possible that nowhere in North America is a safe redoubt.
What happens, ultimately, depends on the character of the people. And the character of the American people – by and large – is one that reflexively defers to authority – willingly, worshipfully. That happily submits to the most despicable degradation if it will “keep them safe.” And which never fails to speak in terms of we.
So, where do the rest of us – the remnant that still believes in I – go to get away from we?
That, friends, is the question of our time.
Regards,
Eric Peters
EPautos.com
for Whiskey & Gunpowder
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In spite of taking a lot of flack from fellow libertarians, I chose southern Vermont. Not perfect (where is?), but so far, so good. Just my two copper pieces.
The only escape is escape. Sad, but true. The destroyers of freedom control the means of propaganda, and far too many are too brain dead to realise the coercion of liberty will ultimately cost them. Just the way it is.
Eric Peters, your piece “Going Deep” nails it – far too close for anyone’s comfort. As I’m reading your observations re “letters to the editor” about what “we” need to do for “our” schools, I am quickly tuned in to a “letter to the editor” that I wrote just this afternoon, responding to the headline “St. Paul schools: Silva urges board to seek levy increase in November”. Silva is the Superintendent. She wants $9,000,000 more. She says it will only cost the average homeowner $65, a small price, of course, for introducing “the children” to some vague unnamed “technology”.
I did not write the editor to support her. I hope you’ll ve happy to hear that. I wrote, “No. No. No. Is there any part of “No” that Ms. Silva does not understand? No. The toy store is closed. Sorry. No more toys. Mommy is broke.” I’m not holding my breath to see it published.
But my real reason for writing to you is to warn you. In the article you wrote, “I can already see a time when BTK-type “zoning enforcement officers” will be knocking on people’s doors, threatening them with onerous fines (and ultimately, county seizure and auction of “their” land) if they don’t mow it, or have too many cars parked on it or a “not approved” shed built upon it…”
I don’t know if this is good news or bad news, but they don’t knock on your door. I guess they used to, but several years ago, an irate citizen had had enough and shot one of them. The irate citizen is doing life in prison. Now, they send form letters that say you have 72 hours to do or undo whatever is bothering them and that, if you don’t – and maybe even if you do – they “may” bring criminal charges resulting in jail time, levy fines, and/or seize the property in question. I know this because I’ve received, over the last several years, three of these letters. And for what crimes? Bad ones – very bad ones:
– Failure to have a house number on my garage;
– Failure to remove minor graffiti from my garage door, which I never knew was there because I open and close the door by remote control, not wishing to encounter whatever crime might be in the alley;
– Stacking about a dozen small branches next to my garage.
My neighbors are criminals, too:
– One had two mismatched shingles on the side of her garage;
– Another had a utility trailer stacked with material she intended to have her Dad haul to the “compost site”.
They don’t do citizens the courtesy of knocking. You’ll just get the letter with the threats. And don’t bother trying to contact them to discuss it; they don’t discuss. True, I’m in a northern city, not rural Virginia, but you’re right – they’ll be coming there soon enough.
I’ve now done enough ancestor hunting to know that my Owen family came from what was then rural Virginia. Now it’s a posh golf course just off I95 in exurban Richmond. Great-great-great-granduncle witnessed a will with no less than Patrick Henry. Patrick would not be at all happy with your Clovers; nor would great-great-great granduncle and the rest of my tribe.
Is it possible to do today what the folks did back then? I see two problems:
1) Today’s oppressors are smarter; they don’t march around in red coats, making themselves easily visible;
2) They are oh-so-benevolent and concerned with the common good. They smirk a lot. Try fighting back and, as a long ago guy in my life said once, “It’s like trying to engage a jellyfish in a fist fight.”
Thanks, anyway, for reminding me that “they’re everywhere, they’re everywhere”.
Sigh.
I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. Most of my adult live was lived in uniform ready to do violence to external threats. I no longer wear the uniform but the oath is still binding. The only thing that has changed is that the primary threat these days is domestic rather than foreign. I will neither surrender to these threats nor run away from them. To those who would run, I offer this:
Our Republic can be restored but there will be much pain in the process. To accomplish this, the current system must either be dismantled to some extent or allowed to collapse under the weight of its own corruption. The rebuilding must be based on the moral principles of the Founders and rely on a return to Constitutional government as it was intended when the document was written. This will be neither easy nor swift but it is the only hope for the restoration of Liberty on the face of the Earth. The success or failure of this effort will depend at least in part on how many of America’s citizens love Liberty more than life itself and will stay to participate in the struggle. Sam Adams said this in an earlier difficult time:
“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animated contest
of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your council of arms. Crouch down and lick the hand
which feeds you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”
The answer, Eric, is to form a community whose charter explicitly communicates the limited extent of its desires. Ordinance #1: No, no, and no. No zoning laws shall be permitted. No liens against private property allowed. No fees, taxes, or levies by the collective against private property.
I am persuaded that all manner of communities can exist and persist as long as that is the will of the community members. The smaller the community the easier their desires can be made manifest.
Far fewer such problems in the rural areas of the mountain states. Were I some twenty years younger, I’d be doing some research and then moving. I’m pessimistic about an ongoing loss of liberty, but I could at least try to minimize the impact on the remainder of my life. At age 78, “I’m just too tired to roll over.”
I invite you to explore the Free State Wyoming project and communities.
http://www.freestatewyoming.or.....hy_wyoming
It’s not perfect, of course, but it is a long, long way from the District of Criminals and the parasites of the federal machine.
You can learn more and talk with like minded people at our forum. http://www.fundamentalsoffreed...../index.php
Our annual Jamboree registration closes June 20, but FSW people are happy to welcome folks to their homes and communities at any time. Plan to visit, and plan to join the next Jamboree in 2013.
I’ve found that the “Nanny Staters” are all over the place, including the Internet. I define a “Nanny Stater” as someone who believes they have the right to prevent anyone from doing anything that they don’t approve of. I recently made the suggestion that one reason our health care costs so much is because of prescription laws that effectively give doctors monopoly control over medical drugs. That these same laws greatly increase the cost of health care through unnecessary office visits and lab tests which the doctor can require you to do in order to legally obtain the very same medicine that you have been taking without a problem for a decade or more. The “Nanny Stater” believes that no one should be allowed to take charge of their own health regardless. That doctors should always be the ones who make the decisions. That it is better that you die from untreated high blood pressure rather than be allowed to purchase the same medicine you’ve taken for a decade without first seeking a doctor’s permission to do so. In my opinion the majority of Americans don’t really believe in freedom all that much. The Democrats are “Nanny Staters”, the Republicans tend to worship a police state where everyone is only allowed to do those things that are “permitted”. I’ve been a member (off and on) of the Libertarian Party since about 1983, and while I don’t agree 100% with them, Libertarians are at least far more supportive of individual freedom than any Democrat or Republican is!
The only reason I can see you moving from western VA is to live in a less populated area. We have lived in the SW corner of Colorado for 40 years. Moved here from the suburbs of Dallas and thank God everyday that we got out of there. Big cities, no matter where, are the pits. We have land use plans, etc here in Durango. A gentleman bought property in the city limits a couple of years ago. It use to be a lumber yard. He has been before the planners about 4 times. Between the planners and all the neighbors (who have to be notified of the plans for the property) he can’t do anything with the land. The green weenie, tree hugging bicyclers want the land left vacant so they can access the bike trials. Other neighbors just don’t want anything built close to them.
After the enormous cost of the land, it is not profitable to build single family homes. And if you cut down the number of apartment or condo units to a figure everyone else will be happy with, you can’t make a profit. Our son lives here with his three daughters. As soon as he decides to move else where we will be right behind him.Just haven’t figured out where we can go and still have any freedom.
Real Americans use these phrases often:
“NO”
“It’s none of your business”
“I’ll do it myself”
I came across this blog via searching for news about how Obamacare affects expats. I want to say about this post that you make lots of good points … but you almost ruin them by the extreme egocentric attitude.
Should you think for yourself? Yes! Should you question what the government and media say? Absolutely! Should you always stand up for the truth, even when unpopular, amidst ‘tous pollous’ of the ignorant? Please do!
But are you a sovereign individual without responsibility for ‘anyone else’s children’? Absolutely not! Can you carpetbag into a poor area to escape yuppie liberals and high property taxes in NOVA only to tell people around you that you are sovereign and have no responsibility for the educational system in the area where you chose to live? NO!!! Are you only a true individual if you don’t believe in organised religion and do not want to hear the beliefs and concerns of others? Preposterous!
On the one hand, you decry the ignorance of others, on the other, you wish to remain ignorant of them. Or at least that is the message from this one article.
And note, I have no opinion on the specifics of education policy where(ver) you live. Maybe it is true there is no justification for increasing taxes to protect the school. I could not know. But you can’t claim an extreme libertarian right to not have any financial responsibility for other people’s education just because you moved to the sticks.
Though childless myself, perhaps you should note that despite the exploitation of “for the children” as an excuse for anything pointless or tyrannical, the direction in which the US and whole Western world has been moving is one that is intrinsically hostile to raising families. People are pushed to finish education later, start real jobs later, both parents often have to work to avoid living in the ghetto, wages are stagnant but insurance and education increase at 10% annually, marriage is often punished via the tax system, etc., etc., etc. This is not to mention the ecologist propaganda that big families are parasitical.
Children are an excuse but they are not actually rewarded. Just like fighting for other peoples’ freedom is an excuse for war but both sides end up enslaved. However, society is only free not when a bunch of atheist, atomised individuals live at acres’ length apart, but when people can begin raising families again with security and optimism, when people can rely again on a steady, even if modest, income for hard work, without competition from foreign slaves or illegal immigrants, and be encouraged to settle down and not move every few years. Real change is when we revert in the West to encouraging LIFE and not DEATH.
Everything cannot be sacrificed to invisible children…nor to the ‘liberty’ of a few.