Planning on riding MetroRail? Don't bring a camera!
When they passed the ijit USA PATRIOT Act, I said "Alea iacta est," and all my friends said "What?"
After I 'splained, they looked at me like I was crazy and kept on saying, "What?"
Y' broke freedom. We broke it and way too damn many of us cheered it on. Not by laws, really; the USA PATRIOT Act hasn't seen widespread application against you and me, but by accepting and encouraging a fundamental change in attitude, another one of Garet Garrett's "Revolutions within the form."
I have long maintained that 1913 was the knee of the curve and that the New Deal greased the skids; but to break the metaphor, over the last eight-plus years, the bottom has done fell out.
I don't think we're gonna be able to fix it. Slow it up a little, maybe; put some bobbles in it before the last bit of freedom has gone smash, sure; the Roman Empire went under in a long, slow death and our civilization is no less robust -- but you are less free than your grandfather and your children and grandchildren will be less free than you were. The overall trend is not going to change until the next reboot -- if then.
(Radley Balko and a couple of brave fellows did all the heavy lifting on this one).
Related: Don't Report Freelance From The Oil Spill! Hat tip to The Underground Carpenter, who linked it first.
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
8 comments:
I have to agree, We are less free now and if you look at history, we are in Germany in the late 30's. I am afraid for our country.
You know that things are bad when young'uns like me look around and ask, "Hey, didn't I have more freedom just a decade ago than I do now?" Yeah, we're circling the toilet bowl faster and faster, or so my admittedly brief experience on this planet is telling me.
It's too bad that I can't just brush off my own thoughts as unfounded pessimism with a dash of cynicism. It would be awesome to not give a crap about anything more pressing than whatever's airing on "TMZ."
I whole-heartedly agree! You tell it, Sista!
Y'know, it'd be nice to see several hundred folks carrying cameras on the Miami MetroRail over the next few days....
Hi Roberta X,
Great post! Sparkling writing!
Dave
Preposterous no transparency! No that can't be. you must be mistaken. Sleep children sleep there is nothing to see pay no attention to the man behind the curtain........ZZZzzz
Anon 11:14,
Shut up.
I am reminded of the words of the Rev. Donald Sensing (which I quote fairly regularly) from back in 2003:
"I predict that the Bush administration will be seen by freedom-wishing Americans a generation or two hence as the hinge on the cell door locking up our freedom. When my children are my age, they will not be free in any recognizably traditional American meaning of the word. I’d tell them to emigrate, but there’s nowhere left to go. I am left with nauseating near-conviction that I am a member of the last generation in the history of the world that is minimally truly free."
When I asked him if his outlook had changed in October of 2008, he responded:
"Yes, most definitely it has. The demise of freedom in this country has accelerated even faster than I imagined back in 2003."
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