Government actions not surprising

Government actions not surprising

(My Clovis News Journal column for March 27, 2015)

Are you shocked when the “most transparent administration in history” turns out to be the most blatantly secretive, passing new laws to hide behind while going after whistleblowers with religious zeal?

How about when a president who talks a good freedom game enthusiastically signs the anti-American “Patriot Act?

Does it catch you off-guard when a politician backpedals-- that's another way to say he lied-- on campaign promises?

Are you surprised when the new "law" you supported turns out to have the opposite effect you believed it was going to have?

How do you react when a law you support is turned around and used against you in ways you never expected?

Are you disappointed when politicians are caught being corrupt?

Are you a slow learner, or just in denial?

You shouldn't be surprised, because the system is working the only way it can. It's like being surprised gravity caused the plate you dropped to fall to the ground and shatter. It's how it works-- the only possible way it can work.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, but that's not the whole story. Power also attracts those who are already corrupt like a cat-hating allergic person attracts shedding cats.

You have allowed a system to be set up, and to continue to exist, which carefully selects for the very worst among us to take the reins and act according to their nature, to the detriment of us all. And then you are surprised by the inevitable.

How do you really expect governing to turn out?

Some people blame Americans for not keeping government under control, saying if only "we" had enforced the Constitution "we" wouldn't be in this mess today. Obviously, many people like to blame the victim; it takes the pressure off themselves, since it is too late to effectively enforce the Constitution now.

The government has now grown too large and too powerful, and there is too much inertia. Most would balk at immediately eliminating the 99% of the federal government which is illegal under the Constitution. (I could be wrong about that percentage- it's probably higher.)

Exactly how you and I, or our great-grandparents, were supposed to work within the system to enforce the Constitution against politicians and judges who care nothing about it, and benefited by ignoring its constraints, is never adequately explained by those who make this claim. They just don't want to admit things are working exactly as they were designed to work. They delude themselves while trying to delude you.

As I listen to people complain, the same thought keeps running through my head: It's government. What else would you expect to happen?

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Anarchy- almost too mainstream

One sad thing about being an anarchist is that the opportunities to do something really radical and different are so few.

Because, belief in "government" or not, everyone lives their personal lives in a state of anarchy the vast majority of the time. If they didn't, they'd quickly end up dead.

So, people generally don't molest others. They hold the door open for each other. They help out those in need when they can. They try to not crash their car into other cars or pedestrians. They don't rob people. They don't go around trying to force everyone around them to obey their every whim.

In other words, anarchy is so mainstream it's almost boring. The best you can do is point this out to statists and watch them sputter and fume, try to deny it, or claim "that's not anarchy!"

I guess the only really radical thing left to anarchists is to not make exceptions for those who act like jerks as a part of their "job".

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