Floyd Bayne | January 5, 2016
So, a group of Americans, calling themselves patriots, have armed themselves and have taken over a U.S. government building somewhere in Oregon.
Just a brief aside, does anyone else find it ironic that this is happening in one of the most left-leaning states in the country?
Anyway, there are those who are lamenting this as a poor decision and telling anyone who will listen how this is no way to make a point or achieve one's goals. You've seen/heard them. What I find fascinating is that this is yet another example of the inability to remain intellectually consistent and think things through.
These same people tell stories of how our Founders rebelled against a tyrannical government to create the very nation that they so proudly claim is the land of the free. They speak proudly of how the Founders had sought redress on numerous occasions in numerous ways and were rebuffed, so they resorted to the only means left to them.Those Founders they are so fond of, whose praises they sing to the masses, rebelled because of.............taxes (and other abuses of power). Taxes that were levied without proper representation of the citizens who were being taxed. Abuses that showed a lack of respect for human rights by a tyrant. Think it through.
Now we find ourselves in 2016 and we are oh so much smarter than our predecessors. We don't need to resort to such brutish measures to effect change, we simply need to talk, use the system, seek redress, vote for better candidates, blah, blah, blah. Overlooking the decades of abuse heaped upon us by federal, state, and local government, the continued efforts to strip us of ever more rights and liberties, the ignoring of our efforts to seek redress through "civilized" means, the ridiculously high taxes that pay for myriad items not enumerated in the Constitution, the ignoring of that same Constitution by all levels of government, the police state, the never-ending wars, the abuses of the Bill of Rights, and on and on and on......
I ask you, How much is too much? How do we know when the "time is right?" At what point do we take the same stand that our Founders did and send an unmistakable message to tyrants of every stripe? When will we live up to the standard set by our Founding Fathers?
