A Taste of Things to Come

1984 has indeed arrived, albeit several decades late. And in no small measure, as indicated by a number of very disturbing stories from around the world.

In his seminal work The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, English historian Edward Gibbon points to the "loss of civic virtue" of the Roman citizens. He shows that as they gave up their Rights, outsourced their strengths (hiring mercenaries, allowing their military -- a strength of their state -- to fracture and atrophy) and become fixated on "immediate gratification", their civilization became decadent and rotted from within. In essence, the Empire became so wealthy, so great, that its citizens felt "entitlements" and they were no longer interested in being "winners" on the world stage, let alone competitive. They became complacent and relied on their government to "provide" for them.

How prescient for what happened to Gibbon's own country. The British Empire, once the most powerful and wealthiest nation on the face of the earth has descended into a socialist chaos. A state where the government not only spies on its citizens, monitoring their every move, but where the "slackers" have a "right" to be paid to stay home and drink all day (yup, you read that right, the guy gets £20,000 per year so he can stay home and drink and his kids can have video games -- and he boasts about it).

Successive leftist governments in Great Britain, including the socialist in conservative colors, Gordon Brown, have left the country as the punchline to a joke -- often referred to by bloggers and others as the Nanny State.

But this isn't unique to England. This last week, a good friend went to Greece for his honeymoon; just in time for he riots. Now, I know a lot of people don't have the foggiest about what's going on over there, so let me simplify it in bullet points:

• The country of Greece (yup, the whole damn country) is bankrupt. Why? Simple -- because the government is responsible for providing nearly everything for their citizens so that they can enjoy a life of leisure. Think I'm kidding? Read on.
• So, since Greece is part of the European Union and because the tanking of their economy could bankrupt most (if not all) of the EU, they needed a bailout package (sound eerily familiar?).
• The sticky point was the Germans. See, the Germans said, "Whoa, wait a second... if we're going to foot the bill," (Germany will pay more than half of the bailout), "then we expect the Greek citizens to enact some austerity measures and cut back on some of their union benefits, vacations, etc." In other words, we expect you to live within a budget and work for a living.
• That didn't sit so well with the Greek citizens. They said "No way" and proceeded to riot, killing people in the process. They told their government, "Take the money, but give it to us."

In essence, the citizens have become so socialized that they refused to agree to be "responsible" and instead wanted "handouts". The only thing that put a damper on this whole mess was that the Greek government realized its own stupidity and that of its citizens. It woke up and decided to accept Germany's terms.

But it won't stop there. Spain, Ireland and Portugal, other socialist havens, are also circling the economic drain. So more "good money" will be thrown "after bad" and the entire European Union may go with it. John Keynes must be rubbing his ectoplasmic hands in glee.

"Oh," you say, "That's just Europe. That doesn't have anything to do with me."

Hold on a second, there, Skippy. You and I are paying part of the bill -- to the tune of $108 billion. Seems that President Obama, our very own socialist (as even the London Telegraph describes him) slipped that little line items into the "Support the Troops" bill in order to get past the outrage of the citizens againt the $700 billion bank bailout.

But more to the point, the same things that caused this whole mess -- the socialization of Europe -- is happening right here:

• Now we have Obamacare. We've beat that horse to death and even its supporters acknowledge it as socialist as they go running for their "free handouts."
• This week, Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York, is visiting London. Why? To see how the most surveilled city in the world can teach us how to spy on citizens.
• The Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, is brokering a treaty to circumvent the Second Amendment and take away the Right to Bear Arms without having to go through Congress.
• Meanwhile, the Obama administration and a compliant Congress is setting up the country for a continuous series of bailouts and power grabs under the guise of the Dodd Bill, effectively taking over private industry and "socializing" it under government control, one industry at a time.

And, in another classic Socialist Party move, having already moved to take over the private sector and take away the public's right to defend itself, the administrations regulatory advisor, Cass Sunstein, has recommended an Orwellian "Ministry of Truth" by suggesting that the government infiltrate and crack down on what it considers to be "conspiracy theory groups" -- basically anyone who says anything that the administration decides is seditious.

Yup, you read it right. Remember when "Dissent is Patriotic" was the cause celebre? Now that those folks are in power, you'd better not complain or you'll have to face the MiniTruth and Thought Police.

We are sliding, as a compliant group of sheep, into the abyss. We can see it happening in Europe and yet the populace of this country refuses to acknowledge it. Or so the legislators would like to believe. It's time for revolution -- the revolution our Forefathers guaranteed and required of its citizens. I, for one, have had enough of the professional politicians who are allowing this great nation to follow Europe down the drain. I am taking the fight to the polls. I am actively working to get rid of the incumbents who are leading us down this path to destruction and I am encouraging others to do the same.

This is what I'm doing. What are you doing?

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