234 years ago...
Stand your ground! Don't fire unless fired upon! But if they want to have a war, let it begin here!Captain John Parker's orders to his troops. Like many good quotes, probably apocryphal - but part of the mythos, regardless, and captures the spirit of the restive residents of Massachusetts.
BY the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.
On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.
Spirit, that made those heroes dare To die,
and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.
James Madison opined: I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.
Mark Steyn opines on that subject in this post at The Corner on Regulatory Despotism.
No elected politicians passed a law in any legislature mandating that would-be gun-owners explain why they bust up with their sweethearts. But some no-name official somewhere in the permanent bureaucracy did, and that's that. Two centuries ago, Tocqueville wrote:
There was a time in Europe in which the law, as well as the consent of the people, clothed kings with a power almost without limits. But almost never did it happen that they made use of it.
True. The king was an absolute tyrant - in theory. But in practice he was in his palace hundreds of miles away, and for the most part you got on with your life relatively undisturbed. As Tocqueville wrote:
Although the entire government of the empire was concentrated in the hands of the emperor alone, and although he remained, in time of need, the arbiter of all things, the details of social life and of individual existence ordinarily escaped his control.
But what would happen, he wondered, if administrative capability were to evolve to make it possible "to subject all of his subjects to the details of a uniform set of regulations"? That moment has now arrived in much of the western world, including America.
Frequent commenter Rivrdog opines on why this will never happen again.
There is truth in his words. The genius of the Left has been their success as getting so many of us used to or reliant upon government largesse. Myself included - yes, I have my own funds laid aside for retirement, but I'm still drawing a government pension, government disability, and harbor some small hope of getting back some of my social security.
Of course, there are some, such as Professor Teresa Ghilarducci, who propose to confiscate my privately accumulated funds, give me a fixed return (i.e., just another pension) and use the rest for whatever purposes the political class devises.
Because we're all too stupid for words, and the stupid, ignorant and lazy shouldn't have a lesser retirement than the others who earned it - the earners should just lower their expectations and be happy that they have the opportunity to help others. And to feel other than Hopey-Changey about that is, well, unpatriotic and dissent is only the highest form of patriotism when it emanates from the left.
Otherwise... there is no debate.
Jules Crittenden has more on the historical side of things - It was about hope, and change...]]>